Last Friday: when we had P-day I spent so much money on candy (M&M's) just cuz im starving all the time haha so I made a big candy drawer in my room so I can have all the candy I want whenever I want it :) and that was the highlight of P-day. I didn't know we didn't get the whole day off on P-day so i was kinda disappointed.. but whatever we have until like 3 so it's fine.
Saturday: It was Halloween, so i got to eat even more candy! haha jokelang. No one even cared it was halloween besides me... It was so sad. Thanks for sneaking in that Halloween candy package for me Mom, it made my whole life! Also Courtney you looked so cute in the pictures Mom sent me. I can't even begin to express how much I miss you. I hope you got a lot of candy. Also the Provo batch came to stay for five days and then leave for the mission field on Wednesday and KAELIN TUMBLIN was part of the batch who came! I saw a picture of her and tried to look for her everywhere and then on Sunday I finally found her! Ahhhhhh you guys have no idea how good it was to see someone from back home.
Sunday: Was the longest day of my life...... Fast Sunday. Oh my gosh THEY DON'T EVEN FEED YOU. hahah We had to fast until 5:30 and I was starving. I literally thought I was gonna die.. and apparently you can't drink water when you fast, but I did cuz I always have and I feel like you can do what you want. It's between you and the Lord & I don't think the Lord will care if I drink water while fasting. but anyway I also got to see Kaelin like a mentioned and that was great! I took a lot of pictures Sunday cuz everyone leaves.. and a bunch of the Filipino's kept coming up to me and Sister Holzworth asking if we could take a picture with them. haha I felt like a celebrity! It was so great! Also, I found my companion Sister Vaosea who was suppossed to be my first companion.. haha I guess she did show up we just couldn't find eachother haha but I think she really wants to switch and be companions with me. She is Tongan and she keeps bringing me food as a friendly gesture and keeps telling me how much she loves me and wishes we were companions. haha it's so funny! I love it tho cuz she brings me good food like sandwiches and cookies and things.
Monday: was a pretty boring day. We just studied and taught... but here in the Philippines everyone in the MTC makes a book of remembrance, just so they can have everyone sign it and have memories I guess.. So this Filipino came to sign mine and he had it for 2 days.. When he gave it back he wrote this love note in it and oh my gosh it was the cutest thing. haha the Filippinos are so funny. He always tells me how beautiful I am and how I am so nice to him. haha man it was sad to say bye to everyone.
Tuesday: ME AND MY COMPANIONS GOT CALLED AS SISTER TRAINING LEADERS!!! Can you believe it? haha I'm a sister training leader in the second week of my mission. Sister Holzworth and I were jumping around in the girls bathroom for a solid 10 min! We were so excited. Sister Thatcher is super humble so she didn't, but YAY WE ARE SISTER TRAINING LEADERS. :) And to top off the day we got a way good dinner because the provo batch, older batch before us, and our Filipino batch all left the next day. So it was kind of a goodbye dinner. We got the most amazing spaghetti, pizza, salad, and cake and ice cream. It was so good and the best part, was there was no rice!! haha but that night we had to say goodbye to everyone. Literally like 175 missionaries left. I said goodbye to my little Filipino friend who has a cute little crush on me and he gave me his Moroni pin as a goodluck present. It was so sad cuz his sister had been here in the MTC as well so they had to say goodbye to eachother and they both were crying and hugging and I guess that made me kinda homesick watching them say goodbye. I feel like I had to say goodbye to my family all over again when I said goodbye to everyone. (maybe not that dramatic) but it was really sad.
Wednesday: Now there is just 18 of us in the whole MTC.. but the bad news. Is we changed companions again. I was in a totlo with Sister Holzworth, and Sister Thatcher, but Thatcher got changed with another girl who is having a really hard time so now i'm just with Sister Holzworth which is fine cuz I love her!! It was super sad tho because I feel like Sister Holzworth and Sister Thatcher are like my close friends now.. and we all just started crying when they said we were splitting. It was super sad. We will still see her luckily because there is like no one in the MTC, but still. It's hard to explain, but since us sisters all came from foreign places. We all kinda grouped together and now our whole district is like a family. So when they said we had to split up it was just super emotional. I don't know how i'm going to actually say goodbye to everyone in 4 weeks. But on a positive note, I got Rachel Anderson's letter! (Mom keep that in mind how long it took when you send my christmas package ;)) I was so excited to get a letter! haha It's so weird how little things mean so much to me now. haha I also saw the video my Mom, Kelsey, and Jensen put on my camera. I was looking through my pictures and saw it and it made me so happy. So thank you. I love you guys.
Today: We just went to the temple and man can I just say what a blessing It is that we get to go to the temple every week. Ahhhhh best part of the mission. haha but really I love the temple. And now I get to go take a nap, cuz i'm so tired all the time.
Sorry this email is years long. I just have so much to tell you guys and this is hardly anything haha. I love you all so much and I feel so blessed to have the friends and family that I do. The spirit here in the MTC is amazing. I know the gospel is the center of my happiness and I love sharing it with other people. It's a challenge and I get discouraged a lot, but I know I can do it. I love you all so much and if any of you are ever bored WRITE ME LETTERS!! Cuz I love them. :)
Mahal,
Sister Barton
So the way to Markell's heart is through food!! Haha! :) :) :)
ReplyDeleteI loved reading her letter and I can so relate to how hard it is to fast on a mission. OMGosh! Missionaries fast so much and so long over their areas and investigators and also the monthly fast. It was a big challenge for me too. I totally remember praying and asking God to help me get through all the fasting we did. I never fasted so much in my life to date than I did on my mission. ;) I rarely fasted in my youth and I need to do better at teaching my girls to fast so they won't struggle as much as I did. It's so hard!