K just to clarify the portuguese phrase I wrote on my envelope meant "God created families to make us happy!!!" Jeeze epic fail on google translator! I love the MTC! It's basically hogwarts! Oh my Lanta! I love the MTC! It's just like Hogwarts! There is totally magic here! We have the great hall, or the cafeteria. We have gryffindor tower, or 17M (my residence hall). Our district is totally Gryffindor! ha ah there are "secret" passage ways everywhere! (more like I'm still getting lost after 10 days) We have hogsmead or the bookstore. And we have the MTC gates just like the Hogwarts gates. And best of all everyone says we have angels and spirits fighting off the devil all around the MTC, so It's like the magic surrounding Hogwarts to protect it. We also have to have "passwords" to get into all the buildings. (aka our swipe cards). It's like all my dreams are coming true! Oh and we all got "Hogwarts" letters! :) LOVE IT!
Thank you for the packages! My district loved them! and the Berries are AMAZING! and the Better Cheddars are a gift from heaven!!
So for Christmas we have two Devotionals. One on Christmas and one on Christmas eve! They won't tell us who is coming to speak. But the MTC president told me one day at lunch that in all the years he has served here he has never seen anything like what is happening on Christmas. We are all placing bets on which apostle will come! (food bets of course)
I will try to give you a heads up on when I will be emailing on Christmas so we can chat!
So I'm just going to give you one monster journal entry, sorry if you've heard it before, but I don't know what I've told to who!
I did it! I'm a missionary. I am currently in the MTC and have been for 10 days now! Today is our first P-day. I was set apart as a missionary on December 10th 2013. My companion's name is Sister Pratt and she is living proof that our companionship is divine revelation! She is the living embodiment of Hermione Granger. She is so smart and LOVES rules! ha ha
Saturday was Dermival's second lesson! and It went so well! we taught him how to pray and then he agreed to pray WITH us! It was such a big step for him! I am so filled with joy for him and his family! and on wednesday Dermival said that he wanted to be BAPTIZED! What an amazing blessing! Even though I only speak broken portuguese, the spirit spoke to Dermival in a way that I couldn't have even in English!
It has been hard to be away from my family. I miss my mom's hugs and my dad's words of encouragement. I miss Levi's nonsense and Riley's jokes. But I am so grateful that I will have that for eternity. And that's why I'm out here! So others can have what I have been so blessed to have forever! My first Sunday in the MTC we went to the spoken word broadcast with all the sisters in our zone! It was their special Christmas broadcast that you guys went to! so It's like we went together! It made me think of all the people at home and what they must be doing. I'm gonna miss our game of hide and seek. There was a guy in the program that looked exactly like Austin Russell! I had to do a triple take!
Keep me in your prayers. my district is leaps and bounds ahead of me in learning the language. But i know that Heavenly Father answers prayers!
We got to leave the gates on Sunday! After sacrament meeting we got to go on a temple walk to the provo temple. It was sunny and beautiful, with the glistening snow it lifted my heart to the angel moroni! We took pictures and laughed! It was so great!
And you'll never guess what else I did on Sunday! I joined a choir! ha ha not only that, but we performed in Tuesday night's devotional! And it shocks me every time my companion tells me I have a good voice! Our district just continues to grow closer and closer! Tuesday night after the devotional we shard our own spiritual gifts and bore our testimonies.
I'd like to take a minute to do so here: I know that my redeemer lives and loves each one of us. I have felt his love for me and I know that Christ went below it all. He experienced the deepest pit of sorrow, but no just that. He experienced YOUR deepest pit of sorrow. He spoke your name a syou cried out for help. He carressed your face as you were brought to your knees. He cheered and tears stained his cheeks as he witnessed you triumph over death itself. He has felt it ALL. I have the spiritual gift of a testimony of the savior, and I challenge you to seek the same. His love is POWERFUL! I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Love, Sister Culley
Thank you for the packages! My district loved them! and the Berries are AMAZING! and the Better Cheddars are a gift from heaven!!
So for Christmas we have two Devotionals. One on Christmas and one on Christmas eve! They won't tell us who is coming to speak. But the MTC president told me one day at lunch that in all the years he has served here he has never seen anything like what is happening on Christmas. We are all placing bets on which apostle will come! (food bets of course)
I will try to give you a heads up on when I will be emailing on Christmas so we can chat!
So I'm just going to give you one monster journal entry, sorry if you've heard it before, but I don't know what I've told to who!
I did it! I'm a missionary. I am currently in the MTC and have been for 10 days now! Today is our first P-day. I was set apart as a missionary on December 10th 2013. My companion's name is Sister Pratt and she is living proof that our companionship is divine revelation! She is the living embodiment of Hermione Granger. She is so smart and LOVES rules! ha ha
Saturday was Dermival's second lesson! and It went so well! we taught him how to pray and then he agreed to pray WITH us! It was such a big step for him! I am so filled with joy for him and his family! and on wednesday Dermival said that he wanted to be BAPTIZED! What an amazing blessing! Even though I only speak broken portuguese, the spirit spoke to Dermival in a way that I couldn't have even in English!
It has been hard to be away from my family. I miss my mom's hugs and my dad's words of encouragement. I miss Levi's nonsense and Riley's jokes. But I am so grateful that I will have that for eternity. And that's why I'm out here! So others can have what I have been so blessed to have forever! My first Sunday in the MTC we went to the spoken word broadcast with all the sisters in our zone! It was their special Christmas broadcast that you guys went to! so It's like we went together! It made me think of all the people at home and what they must be doing. I'm gonna miss our game of hide and seek. There was a guy in the program that looked exactly like Austin Russell! I had to do a triple take!
Keep me in your prayers. my district is leaps and bounds ahead of me in learning the language. But i know that Heavenly Father answers prayers!
We got to leave the gates on Sunday! After sacrament meeting we got to go on a temple walk to the provo temple. It was sunny and beautiful, with the glistening snow it lifted my heart to the angel moroni! We took pictures and laughed! It was so great!
And you'll never guess what else I did on Sunday! I joined a choir! ha ha not only that, but we performed in Tuesday night's devotional! And it shocks me every time my companion tells me I have a good voice! Our district just continues to grow closer and closer! Tuesday night after the devotional we shard our own spiritual gifts and bore our testimonies.
I'd like to take a minute to do so here: I know that my redeemer lives and loves each one of us. I have felt his love for me and I know that Christ went below it all. He experienced the deepest pit of sorrow, but no just that. He experienced YOUR deepest pit of sorrow. He spoke your name a syou cried out for help. He carressed your face as you were brought to your knees. He cheered and tears stained his cheeks as he witnessed you triumph over death itself. He has felt it ALL. I have the spiritual gift of a testimony of the savior, and I challenge you to seek the same. His love is POWERFUL! I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Love, Sister Culley