I cannot wait to share all of the new things for me this week! First, surprise! My PDay while in the MTC is Friday! Since I've only been here since Wednesday they've only given my District half of a PDay, which is kind of sad. We basically get to do everything we normally would but we don't get to go to the temple, which is a bummer. It makes me even more excited to go next week!
I absolutely love my companion!! Her name is Sister Kartchner and she's from St. David, Arizona. She's 22 and graduated from ASU with a Geography major, so that's pretty cool. She loves musicals and Brian Regan so we're constantly quoting something.
My District is also amazing. There's four sisters and four elders, but the companionships have been kind of weird. For the first day one of the sisters and one of the elders weren't here, so we had three trios. The other sister who was in a trio with Sister Kartchner and I is Sister Cost. Sister Cost has the most amazing testimony and she's so open about sharing it. She's a convert and has only been a member for two years. She came from a horrible home and her parents are both in and out of jail and are drug addicts and she said that she started down that path as well. She was lost and had no purpose when a friend of hers finally broke through and she agreed to meet with the missionaries. Her testimony has already taught me a lot. She said that missionaries came to her door multiple times before she accepted the gospel and even though she was awful to them, with each one her heart softened a little bit. She's incredible. And all three of us are serving in Philadelphia. Sister Laxton showed up later than night. She's from South Korea and is serving in New York City. She's not with us again today because all of the international missionaries were taken to Temple Square to attend the temple. The Elders are all so great as well. They're Elders Smith, Baker, Furan, and Elam. Elder Elam just showed up today, I think we scared him a little bit, but that's okay. They're all going to St. George. Elder Baker has named us "The One True District." There was so much love and support in my District right from the start, and we could all feel that. I mean, our first conversation was about Disneyland and we talk about musicals every day! It feels like I've known these people for a lot longer than three days.
The classes are so spiritual. I've had a good number of teachers but my main two are Elder Blair and Sister Peterson. The spirit is so special here, it's kind of hard to explain it. it's definitely always present. If it leaves you notice immediately. Everyone knows that I'm the biggest cry baby when the spirit hits me personally, so my District has seen me cry a few times. It's just an incredible atmosphere and while I am so glad that I'm only staying for two weeks I completely understand why everyone loves it so much. One of the best classes so far for me was today's main District lesson. We roll played inviting investigators to be baptized. With uneven numbers I paired up with today's teacher, Brother Jones. We did tons of different scenarios with the roll playing and the one that hit me was when Brother Jones' answer was no because he didn't feel like he was worthy. I immediately felt this horrible sadness come over me and I was able to teach about how through baptism we're able to be cleansed and that through repentance we can all be forgiven and he did agree to be baptized. It was an amazing feeling, Brother Jones said that he wished I wasn't a Sister for a minute because he wanted to give me a hug. It was just so powerful for me and I'm so grateful for it. The spirit really is such an incredible gift. I don't think I ever fully appreciated it until I came here. Not only have I been comforted, but I'm able to remember scriptures and doctrine more vividly than I'm used to. Sister Kartchner and I are currently discussing our second lesson that we're teaching to our investigator, Sam, and through prayer we completely changed what we thought he originally needed. In our first lesson we focused on God being our Heavenly Father and taught him of Ammon teaching King Lamoni. He committed to pray for that confirmation and we get to meet with him tomorrow about how that went.
I guess I was definitely just rambling on up there. Hahahah, sorry about that. I love you all and I'm so grateful for all of the examples that I've had in my life. I know I wouldn't be here in the MTC without them. I love you all!
Sister Petrick - (HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!)
Sister Rachel Petrick
NOV11 PA-PHIL
2009 N 900 E Unit 174
Provo UT 84602
NOV11 PA-PHIL
2009 N 900 E Unit 174
Provo UT 84602
