FAMILY!!! Oh my gosh I have so much to tell you and I have
like no time... haha but to first start out, I’m doing great!! I love the
Philippines! The people are sooooo nice! haha :) Second, I can't press enter
on my computer... so Mom, if you could edit it that would be great! haha
Soooooo to start off, the plane ride was soooo long. I thought i was
gonna die and when I got off the plane from Tokyo to the Philippines,
you could just tell how hot and humid it was.. It's like walking
outside, but youre walking out to a sauna everyday.. hahaha WE EAT RICE
EVERYDAY... it is terrible hahaha and oh my gosh... The food is
absolutely disgusting.. even here in the MTC.. haha but i'll talk about
that later...
Okay, soooo Friday: I'm now in a totlo, trio because my companion was a
no show.. haha So i'm companions with Sister Holzworth and Sister
Thatcher. They are so great! I love them so much. Both of them are super
chill and just positive and it makes adjusting sooo much easier! They
are both from Australia. Sister Holzworth is from Brisbane and Sister
Thatcher is from Melbourne. Jens you are right tho, they think Australia
is the most amazing place on earth and its just like no. America is.
hahaha but on the car ride from the hotel to the MTC it was so humbling.
We went from first class city area, to low low low class ghetto terrible
area. It is so sad to see how these people live. We are so blessed to
live in America. I'm slowly starting to speak in an Australian accent
tho hahaha its terrible. soooo that's kinda weird.. also on Friday, we sang called to serve as a missionary
batch and OH MY GOSH. The spirit was so strong seeing all these
missionaries sing called to serve. Wow. I was just so filled with spirit
I started to tear a up a little bit. Also when i received my sister
Barton name tag I started balling. I am so happy to be a missionary, and i absolutely love the MTC.
It's hard having a 16 hour day and such a go go go schedule, but its
also so amazing. I can already see so many blessing I’m receiving from
being a missionary. The Filipinos also love me here because i am American
haha i love it.
Okay so then on Saturday: We just studied all day. The Tagalog is
coming along really well. It's hard, but apparently we are the fastest
learning batch so that's awesome! :) My district is awesome and I love
everyone in it. I am the only American girl which is kinda weird... I
thought there would be at least one more haha but everyone is super
chill I love it. Also I was assigned group leader for companionship so
that's super cool! We taught our first investigator in Tagalog on Friday and
oh my gosh we did sooo bad. Haha we went in there only knowing the basic
words and we just killed it. Like literally. we did terrible. hahaha it
was hilarious.. we just came out laughing so hard haha but as the week
went on we got way better.
Sunday: The food was still gross haha and it sucks so
bad not getting Sunday naps.
They just expect you to adjust to the time difference so fast and it is
so hard. But i'm used to it now so it is good. Sunday night,
Elder Schwitzer came and spoke to us and he did so good. When he walked
into the room he just had such an amazing spirit about him and you knew
he was just full of love. He gave some really good missionary advice and
It was so nice getting positive thoughts on a mission, cuz for some
reason when you’re in the MTC you get discouraged a lot... I haven't
gotten homesick yet.. only the first night, but I’ve been good since
then so don't get me homesick with your letters please haha.
Monday: I ate all of lunch! And that was the highlight
of my day... hahha just kidding. we taught our first investigator again
and Oh my gosh we did so good. She reminded me so much of Mom I actually
cried in the lesson. She had been having problems with her marriage and
just didn't know what to do, and I testified of the Faith my mom had
when she went through almost the same thing and how strong she was in
the gospel and how loving she is to her children and man that i guess
made me kinda homesick just wanting to hug my mom cuz she is just such
an amazing lady. I LOVE YOU MOM!!!!
Tuesday: We taught again, but this time it was a lot
harder, honestly just because of the language barrier... It is so frustrating
not being able to speak to the people because you don't speak the same language..
but we still got gross food and rice sooooo ya... and mom the ice cream
machine you talked about... We only get it once a week so that was a big
let down.. hahaha.
Wednesday: We watched the Provo devotional in the morning
where Elder Neil L Anderson spoke and he did such a good job. I also saw
Rachel Anderson (Sister Anderson) Singing on TV in the Provo MTC so that
was a cool considering i'm halfway around the world and I saw one of my
best friends haha but Wednesday night was the night
we had the fish. Literally the fish was just cooked and slapped on our
plate. I had to cover the face cuz it grossed me out so bad.. haha and
my MTC president's wife saw my face (cuz i make faces with my emotions
lol) and came and brought me some chicken instead soooo that was the
nicest thing I think anyone could’ve done for me at that moment in time haha.
Thursday: WE GOT FRIES AND BURGERS FOR DINNER!!!
OMG IT WAS AMAZING!!! I went back for seconds and thirds and oh my gosh
that was definitely an answer to my prayers haha and obviously that was
the highlight of my day on Thursday haha just kidding, another thing was
that was the last time teaching our first investigator, and it was one
of the most spiritual things that has happened to me this far on the
mission. We were teaching and asked a question. Our investigator
answered in Tagalog and I could understand every word she was saying.
Knowing I had no idea what the words were. It was crazy. The gift of
interpretation is real. It was honestly amazing how the spirit works.
Friday (today)
is finally P-day and we got to go to the temple this morning. And oh my gosh
that was the most spiritual experience. I love the temple so much. It
brings so much peace. We are lucky here in the MTC because we look out
our window and you can just see the beauty of the temple. I wish we were
able to go to the temple every day, but that's just not how it works.. instead
we just study haha I did get really lucky with my district tho because
all the guys are super funny and just crack jokes so we don't feel like
stressed. It's just good. I haven't felt really way overwhelmed with the
language or anything yet. It is frustrating when trying to teach an investigator
and they can't understand you.. but we have learned so much of the
Tagalog language and it has only been a week. I can pray, testify, ask
someone to be baptized, and have quite a bit of vocabulary I know
already. It's cool knowing another language... also sorry this email is
so long.. it's just been like a week and a half since I’ve seen you guys
so i wanted to tell you everything. I honestly thought it would be weird
for me being a missionary and doing church things all the time, but the
spirit I have with me and the spirit of my companions and the whole MTC
is just unreal. I love being a missionary and I love the MTC. I'm so
blessed to have what I have. When we first got to the MTC on Friday, some Filipino sisters were freaking out
about how there was a washing machine and I was just like well duh...
how else would we do our wash? But then i just thought like wow I'm such
a spoiled brat. haha we have so much back in Utah and America and the
people here do everything just to survive. We are so blessed. I now
understand just a little bit how Jensen felt. Anyway I'm running out of
time, but I love you all so much. Know I’m doing well and i love getting
your emails. You are all so great to me. Thank you Thank you Thank you.
I hope you all have a good week. My P-days are on Friday in
the MTC and when i get out in the field it will be on Monday.
Love you guys! Sister Barton :)
ps. I'll try to send photos, but I don't know how to
do it on the MTC computers cuz we are like really restricted haha
