Week One!

Buna Familiea!!!

Oh my gosh. This is crazy. I'm writing one of those missionary emails. The time has come!!  The MTC is a great place to be. I really do enjoy being here, and I love visiting with other missionaries. Every time you open the door for someone, they tell you "Thank you" in a different language. I love it. My companion is awesome. Her name is Sora Hebden and she is from Pleasant Grove. She and I clicked instantly. We had two other roommates until yesterday. They left for Canada the other night, and they were so funny! They told us all the tricks of the MTC which was nice.  Our district is so great. There are two districts going to Romania here right now, and there are 12 of us total. Sora Hebden and I are the only sisters so we've been trying to adjust to the elder's sense of humor. We love them though:) One of them is from Australia and had all of us try his Vegemite for "initiation".  Okay, not so good.

I have seen SO many people I know here. It's insane! And they just keep coming! Today as Sora Hebden and i were walking out of the temple, we ran into my friend Suzy who reports today! She's going to Oklahoma. Seriously, Wednesdays are exciting days here. There's so much energy with all the new missionaries coming in! They walk around wide eyed and confused. That was me just a week ago! You get used to things here really quickly. By day 2, I felt pretty normal again. It really helps to have a companion who is experiencing pretty much the exact same thing. I actually had a far easier time adjusting then I anticipated. I don't really miss music, or Facebook. or even my phone like I thought I would. They just keep us so busy all the time here we don't have time to miss them! I also never, even for one day, had a problem waking up at 6:00 am.I'm always full of energy and ready to go. Um. Can you say Miracle?

The MTC also reminds me a lot of being at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It feels the same to me!! No wonder you two were called here!

The language is coming along. We've already taught our first lesson in Romanian to our "Investigator" Elena.  We pretty much figure out how to write a lesson in Romanian and then carry a script in with us and teach her in a class room. We usually just have to guess as to what questions she asks us at the end, and try and use whatever words we know to answer her.... We're pretty sure we get it right 10% of the time. haha :)  Two Elders in our district got back from there lesson and they held up a paper and said, "We couldn't understand Elena's question so we had her write it down. Can any one translate it for us?" Elena had written down "When Can I be baptized?" We all thought that was so funny... Except for those two elders!

Some days I feel like I'm getting the language so well, and some days it feels like I have no idea what my teachers are saying. I have to keep reminding myself it's only been a week! 

It's not always easy being at the MTC, but every time I have a really difficult day, small miracles happen. A few days ago, I was so frustrated the language. SO frustrated. And just felt like it was such a barrier and couldn't teach how I wanted to teach. Sora Hebden and I were studying in an empty classroom figuring out our lesson plans, and out nowhere, this sister from Tonga walked in our room and started talking to us about how wonderful a place the MTC is and how she sometimes has really hard times here, and struggles often. She told us about how grateful she was that she had those challenges though because she knows they are teaching her to be a better person.She talked to us a little longer, then she just left. It was a little odd, but an immediate and personal answer to my silent prayers. I am so thankful she did that. We still see her a lot around the MTC.

Fast Sundays here are INCREDIBLE. There's nothing like a testimony meeting with 50 missionaries. And we have incredible devotionals on Sunday and Tuesday nights!

This place really is incredible. I am so grateful to be a missionary. After being here just a couple days, I already feel like I want to go out and teach! I am so excited to get to Romania. Those 5 weeks will go by super fast though, I'm sure. I can't believe week 1 is already over!! They say the days go by like weeks and the weeks go by like days here. I've already found that to be true!!

Seriously, Overall, I am so HAPPY to be here And I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

Sora Ralls