Hello, Bonjour, Ia Orana!!!
How are you? Comment ca va? E aha to'oe huru?? :)
Ok so I am on my 10th week here at the MTC, hoping to receive my travel plans in 2 days (fingers crossed that my VISA came through)!! I know about 200 words in Tahitian, slowly but surely getting the hang of this thing. French is lovely of course and much easier in comparison to Tahitian. I am praying my heart out over here so I can learn these languages, otherwise I would be nowhere as confident.
I realized that I haven't been sending you the good stuff regarding the speakers that have visted the MTC and spoken! Without further ado, I would like to send a few awesome quotes that I hope will be as relevant to you as they were/are to me.
"We spend too much of our lives acting as though we're going to stay here, but we can't and we won't." Elder Holland (quoted by Sister Sheri Dew when she spoke on Easter evening)
"The most important thing in this life or the next: real growth." Lawrence E. Corbridge (Quorum of the 70)
"Love is a celestial respiration of the air of paradise." Victor Hugo (quoted by Bishop Gerald Causse)
"The veil is removed from our minds and memory when there is no longer a difference between faith and reality." Bishop Gerald Causse
"The Devil can have us in his power if he can do these three things:
1. confuse us about Jesus Christ, the Savior
2. confuse us about who we are
3. confuse us about how to hear the Spirit, Holy Ghost
If we are strong in these three things, the Devil will have no power over us." Sheri Dew
"The Gospel doesn't let you stay the same." Sister Barker (she used to be shy, but callings in the Church pushed her out of her comfort zone)
"It is no coincidence that Nephi and his brother 1st got the plates and then 2nd got wives." Brother Michael T. Ringwood (spiritual maturity before you raise a family)
General Conference was AMAZING and so incredibly neat watching it with over 3,000 missionaries here at the MTC!! If you saw the special feature in between Conference sessions on Sunday, I was wearing a brightly-colored, kind of African tribal shirt and we were on camera at least twice for the part where the choir sang! My life here at the MTC is swinging from one dynamic to the next, one personality to the next. From the time I wake up at 630 AM (I have only slept in once, and that was because we forgot to set the alarm) until I go to bed at 1030, I am learning. I am studying Tahitian and French, teaching at least one lesson a day and I have been filling my time with studying language, reading Jesus the Christ, and all the other scheduled things.
I just now mentally calculated that I have taught about 25 lessons in French and 12 lessons in Tahitian. "Faitoito!" is pronounced like 'fie-tweet-o' and means 'stay strong'! :) I had the opportunity to speak a little Arabic last night with a RM who served his mission in Indonesia and it was so great but French and Tahitian are crowding out brain space for Arabic, I've forgotten a lot.
My district is great, the Elders are like brothers and they are so sweet to us, Sisters. They take our trays, buy us Powerade Zero, tell us how awesome we are, thank us for our help, and are gracious when we win "Elders vs. Sister" competitions. :)
Family, I will be replying directly to all of your lovely letters in a hand-written letter which you'll get soon! Everyone, thank you so much for the love and support, the letters are so fun to receive and even though I don't always get to reply as soon as I like, I will reply at some point so thank you for your patience. :)
Love Sister Carter
