Hey everyone!
Holy mackamoly. I cannot believe I have already been here three weeks, and going on to my fourth on Wednesday! So weird. I have a ton of emails from my Birthday, so thank you all for the nice words! I love you guys! (:
So, guess what? Elder Richard G. Scott came to speak to us on Tuesday! I cannot express how amazing it was. The spirit was so strong when he walked into the room and everyone stood up. He said after the chior sang the hymn, "I think I just dies and came to Heaven." That was incredible. I was in awe that he was honored to be in OUR presence when he is a General Authority. It was seriously amazing. He is such a sweet man. Did I mention we were in the third row away from him? AWESOMENESS! The most powerful parts for me was when he gave us an Apostolic blessing and when he ran back up after the closing song becuase he felt like he needed to say a few more things. When an apostle does either of those things, wow. He spoke on the importance of prayer. It was amazing to have an apostle there to speak to only us. We knew that everything he was saying was just for missionaries, and that we needed to hear every word. It was so amazing. He talked a lot about missionaries learning languages, which I needed to hear that week. He said that when we do something that we have never done before (learning a language), we have to do things we have never done to learn it. Good advice. I have been trying to take it to heart. He said when we serve our missions we will "discover things we never knew about ourselfs and discover a greater capacity to love." My favorite part of the whole thing was his testimony. It was so powerful. I know that he is an apostle of God, I have no doubt. He said at the end, "I know Jesus Christ lives, because I know Him." I wish I could write every thought I had, but all I can say is that I am so gratful to have been there while he spoke. I get emotional just hinking about it, it was such an amazing blessing and the spirit was so strong. I'm grateful for how my testimony grew that day.
Sister Mary Edmunds spoke to us last Sunday in R.S., she is hilarious! One of the things she said was, "Maybe you are thinking, 'What if my District Leader is 18 going on 12?'" Hahahaha! I was dying! So true! The Elders here are so young haha. She also said, "Don't touch the Elders! But, keep track of the ones you want to touch, and when you get home, touch 'em!" Hahaha what a lady.
Sister Esplin from the General Primary Presidency spoke to us this Sunday, it was awesome. She is such a sweet lady. The new General Young Womans Presidency was there that day too, very cool. I cannot wait for tonight's devotional! It will be great, as always.
One funny thing about the MTC is that everyone is always singing church hyms, especially "Come Thou Fount!" You will always hear at least on person humming it throughout the day. Ohh, the MTC. We also find entertainment it very odd things. Such as telling Elder Hayter to eat a bowl of cereal for no reason, and everyone in the cafeteria joining in yelling "EAT IT EAT IT!" Also, having conversations with each other via banana. The things that you do to have fun at the MTC... Haha. I love it.
I saw Olivia! That was such a great surprise! We were on our Sunday temple walk (I'm sure this was the day Layton gave his talk), and some just came up and hugged me. I have never been so happy to see someone! Haha it was so great! We reunited, I met her man, and we chatted a little bit. I will send the photo we took. (: It was so great to see some family accidentally. So great. I hope you are all doing well. How was Layton's talk? I'm sure it was awesome! I'm sad I missed it.
I have been chosing a Christlike attribute to study each week. Last week I studied patience. This week I am studying charity and love. I love doing this, I got the idea from Elder Huckvale. It has really been helping me be patient and focus on things that will make me a better missionary. Preach My Gospel has a great section on those attributes too! READ IT! Haha I love Preach My Gospel.
We have ice cream twice a week here, and I eat like 3 scoops every meal. It's a problem. Good thing I will not have stuff like that in Mongolia haha. I have to enjoy it now, right? (;
One funny thing I forgot to say last week was that in General Confreence, when they announced that Elder Holland would be speaking next that whole gym was like "Ahh, ohhh, whisper whipser, yay" hahaha. It was so funny. Everyone loved Elder Holland here.
One interesting thing about learning this language is that I already feel like I have learned it before. Sister Magleby feels that way too. We feel like we are just re-learning it or something. Like when we learn a new word, it feels like we always knew that word meant that. I can't really explain it. I feel like it is probably part of the gift of tongues and also just a comfermation that Mongolia is where I am supposed to teach. We did an English lesson the other day, not good. It did not feel right to teach in English haha. I know I am supposed to be going to Mongolia. I am so blessed!
We teach two investigators a day now, in Mongolian. We have been getting much better at planning, and so it has been much less stressful. We sang to two of our investigators yesterday. Our teacher said that in "I Am a Child of God" our Mongolian was perfect and we sounded great. That was a compliment! We sang "I Know that My Redeemer Lives" to our other investigator. That made me think of you, mom and dad. When we all were touched at Sam's homecoming when we sang it. I love that song so much, and the Spirit is always so strong when I sing it. Especially in Mongolian. The scriptures sound so beautiful in Mongolian too. Ahh. I am so grateful to be learning this language. I think it is finally starting to come a little better this week. My mind has been really clear as I study hard and have faith. I am so grateful for the gift of the Spirit and the comfort and guidance it give me. I couldn't do any of this work without the Lord. I love this Gospel, and I love my Savior. I hope you all know that.
Well, after moving buildings twice for class, life is pretty crazy. But so amazing! I hope all is well, I love you all! (: Have a great week. I keep you all in my prayers! Pray for me to continue to learn the language well. Thank you. (:
Love,
Sister Ackley
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