Hi Everyone!
Sorry its taken me to long to write today is the first day that we've had a P-Day! This week in the MTC has gone so fast, and slow at the same time. The days feels like years and the weeks feel like days Its super hard to explain. I am learning a lot and continue to have my faith strengthen everyday. Big shout-out out to the Geist family for picking me up in Salt Lake City and showing me headquarters the history is so rich and it really was a great experience. Utah is beautiful the mountains are something to see. I've already ran into so many people from SVU here. It was fun to catch up. Utah really has great scenery here. Thanks to my mom who has sent 10 Dear Elders in 6 days. Your a champ mom thanks. I love getting letters. If you get a chance use Dear Elder. Its super nice to get letters and I love reading them before I go to bed.
So the MTC has been a truly wonderful experience. I already feel like I have changed since the time that I entered. One of the sisters told us if you don't stop to recognize how your changing by the time you leave you will have no idea, As soon as you entered the MTC you go to about three lines and by the end you have your name tag and are off to your residence to drop things off. Then its off to class. They have your working as soon as your step foot in the door and its great. The next day we met with the Branch Presidency( they lead our church meetings) and my companion and I were called as Sister Training Leaders in our Zone. It has been a tremendous blessing and I love serving. There are tender mercies around every corner and inspiration everywhere. We have missionaries here who have walking disabilities or hearing whatever it may be and they have set there lives aside to come serve the lord they are a wonderful example to me. My companion and I began teaching three Investigators Levi, Patty Catherine. Catherine has committed to baptism and we are preparing her its been a great experience. Levi prayed for the first time after we have invited to pray in two previous lessons he always declined because he felt like he nothing to say to god. After his understanding grew about who he was and Our Heavenly Father he felt more comfortable praying and that was a truly neat experience. I cried during his prayer. I love teaching and learning how to meet the needs of our investigators. We all have a spiritual side and at some point in our lives we become curious about things. That is our investigator Patty. She loves learning. Levi was convinced we wanted him to become Mormon because his family is as well. We helped him understand that as missionaries our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ, to follow his example. I feel like I've been out for like a month and its only been a week. But its exciting because I'm so excited to see how I continue to be molded and refined by the Lord.
I have a companion her name is Sister Stranger and she is from Utah. We had a great start but then she got homesick for three days and would do nothing but cry and talk about her boyfriend and how she wanted to go home and get married, This was probably the hardest part of the MTC for me. Over the 8 hours of studying and investigators shooting questions at you. Her crying and complaining took a toll on me and our investigators. It really was a struggle but it brought me closer to Christ. The lord sometimes has to knock us down in order to build us up into the person we are meant to become. Although this was a challenge I tried my best to help her learn how to teach, build confidence and remember that this mission is not about her. All the time we have is for the lord and in his service. That brings me to my favorite part of the week (other than today) which was Sunday we got to watch a movie at night after our devotional. There is this talk entitled Character of Christ by Elder Bednar that you actual cant see outside of the MTC. he teaches us that as we follow the example of Christ we are required to look outward rather than looking inward. Perfect example when the Savior had suffer in the garden of Gethsemane that his sweat were great drops of blood, after leaving that garden and about to be arrested. Peter his disciple smote the ear of one of the persons arresting him. Jesus healed the man. Again thinking outward rather than about the bitter cup he had to bear. There are many examples in the scriptures and I invite you all to search for them and think more "outward in your lives".
Things are great in the MTC and Tuesday morning I fly to Idaho. I'm the travel leader for our group and hopefully I don't forget some Elders or Sisters at the airport it will be hard to explain that to the mission president! Hope you all are doing well. Here are some pics!
All my love :)
Sister Cleveland
