Week 3 - The MTC

September 25, 2009

Hello!

Thank you everyone for the letters and everything this week. It makes life so much better when you know your family and friends are supporting you.

Well can you believe it, this is my last letter from the MTC! It really just seems like I have been here maybe a couple of days. But it is fun to look back at my notes from the first few days and see how much I have learned. So we have to talk to one of our teachers every week to see how we are doing, and yesterday I was talking to Brother Warner. He was telling me how much he has seen me grow and learn since I have been here. It was actually pretty funny, because near our classroom is the Visitors' Center sisters classroom. That is where we were talking and we were joking about how it is such a girl classroom. I was saying how I could have been a VC sister, and he told me, quote, "You are way too hardcore to be a VC sister!" So apparently that is a compliment, and I thought it was pretty funny.

Anyway, I am leaving to fly out on Wednesday morning. We have to leave the MTC at like 6 am, which will be super fun. Sister Frandsen and I are actually the only ones leaving on Wed. One of the sisters (Ulibarri) and 2 other elders (Evans and Simmons) are leaving Monday to go to Denver. And the rest of them (Sister Anderson and Elders Fultz, Larsen, Biggs and Jensen) are leaving Tuesday to go to Macon, Georgia. So it will be just me and Sis. F on Tuesday, that will be sad/fun. I am going to miss everyone so much! It is crazy how close you can get in just a few weeks.

Well, I do have a couple of good stories for you. On Sunday in Relief Society they always have on of the sisters who is a convert get up and tell their story. This week's really affected me. It was a sister who grew up in Washington in a really rich and powerful family. Her parents were traveling a lot and all of her siblings were older than her, so she was basically alone most of her life. Her family wasn't religious at all. When she was in high school she had a bunch of hard times, and she talked about them with her science teacher who she became really close to, and she was a member of the church. Anyway, to make a long story short, this sister ended up joining the church and her family completely disowned her. They cut her off totally, even wrote her out of their will and everything. Her teacher's family adopted her, so on her tag is her new last name. She has finally been in contact a little with her biological parents, but her mom has cancer and will probably die while she is gone. Anyway, I just share that because it just made me realize how incredibly blessed I am. This sister had everything in terms of the world, and it was all taken away from her. But she is still here, because she realized that the gospel is so much more important than having money or power or prestige. It just isn't important! I thank Heavenly Father every day for the blessings I have of amazing family and friends and the knowledge I have.

Another thing, I am really starting to feel more confident in my teaching abilities. I know I will probably be all overwhelmed again in like 4 days when I actually have to DO it, but I am not scared anymore. I have really seen how if you are working hard and prepare and learn the doctrines, He will step in and help you know what and how to say things. He wants people to join the church and to feel the spirit! We are not alone here. Yesterday I was practicing teaching Sis. Frandsen for our T.A. on Saturday (we teach a volunteer pretending to be an investigator). They give you a little background on what the "investigator" will be like, and I have been really praying for the person we will teach and to be able to meet their needs. Anyway, so I was teaching yesterday and I finally felt like I got it, a little bit at least. Instead of focusing on the lesson of the plan of salvation and going through it in order, I listened to the concerns she had and just tried to answer them. I was jumping all around the lesson, but that is the point! That is what we are supposed to do! I hope I can remember how that felt to really be able to help that person and because I had studied, I knew what to say. I know that in part it had to do a lot with my study about the Atonement. For the past few days I have been studying it and really trying to get a better understanding of it. It is so important! There would seriously be no point to even living without the Atonement. I love what it says in Alma 7 about the things Christ suffered for us, and I learned something good in there. Christ suffered for our specific pains so not only does He know how we feel, He knows how to help us! I know that is true. We don't have to go through life alone. Since I am a missionary, I am going to challenge you all to study the Atonement more! A good place to start is True to the Faith. It gives tons of good scriptures and makes it really simple. I know that if you study it your testimony will increase so much!

Anyway, now that I have completely sounded like a missionary, I will close. I love you all so much! I am excited to hear from you all when I get to Missouri!

Love, Sister Hafen