20 June 2013

 Hola,

They moved up my p-day to TODAY [Thursday],  so you get to hear from me a day early. Because of all the Mission Presidents coming in they moved our in-field orentation to tomorrow and to the Cougar Chapel by the stadium so they moved our p-day up a day.

This week has been amazing. My testimony has been strengthened even more and it has just been so great. Most days have been pretty normal. We didn't have too much excitement at the end of last week. A little more about my teacher leaving - he is studying at BYU to be a Special Education teacher and so now he student teaches every morning. He doesn't officially teach us. He is still around but not as our teacher. So, the short story is that we have had a few substitutes over the past few days.
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Sunday was a really wonderful day. Relief Society was amazing. Sis. Neill F. Marriott of the Young Women General Presidency spoke to us. She was amazing. At first I was a little suspicious of a Young Women leader talking to us Relief Society Sisters, but it was truly amazing. One of her great pieces of advice is to truly turn your heart = might mind and strength - over to the Lord and that if you are getting distracted you need to get right back in line and keep doing the work 100%. The other sweet thing was that she told her conversion story. It was really great and so inspiring to hear the power we have as missionaries to bless and change the lives of others. Then her husband got up and said a few quick words. The ones that touched me the most were " No matter how low you get you can always turn to the Lord". I really needed those words not because I was low, but to know that the Lord always, no matter what, wants us to turn to Him.
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I almost forgot about Music And The Spoken Word. It was Fathers Day themed and it was soooooo good. They had these cute clips of kids talking about their fathers. My favorite song was " Who will Buy" from Oliver. [See the arrangement HERE.] It was this gorgeous arrangement and it was just such a wonderful experience. Then we had devotional which for the the first time, was broadcast from the other campus. It was Stephen Allen again and he showed old Church commercials. They were funny and sweet.  It was nice to have a lighter evening. Then, for our last opportunity to watch a "movie". We decided to watch Testaments. It was amazing. I had forgotten how powerful the story of Christ is intermingled with the saints in the Americas. By the end of the movie, when it says that Jesus came and will come again, all of us Sisters were sobbing really hard and everyone else turned around and looked at us. We just start laughing.  Really the story was so powerful and perfectly timed for me to remember what Christ did on this earth, the power he has and sacrifices he made.
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This video made such an impact on me. In the part where Christ is in the Garden I just started balling because I really realized all the pain he suffered just for me and for all of you. I realized that all the pains I feel, especially on a mission, that I have created for myself have been things that he felt. In a moment it made me feel guilty for not realizing and using the Atonement more when He knows how to succor us personally. It is SO amazing. I know that Christ suffered and died for us to enable us to return to live with God after this life and because of the sacrifice, we as a family can all be together forever as long as we follow the doctrine of Christ and do what God has asked of us. I also know that He lives today and administers to us, but usally only when we ask.
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Monday, if you can believe, was even better. In the morning we had another substitute. He was amazing. He was full of life and really fun to learn from. He was understanding and just great. After some language study he started to have us practice teaching the first lesson in the 5-minutes-or-less. We all really struggled with it and then he asked, " Do you really get what this lesson is about?". He turned to Moroni 10:3-5 and read to us. What he made clear is that God loves us and because God loves us he has helped us throughout time to be better, to be happy.  After the people rejected His only begotten Son, he still came to the earth to restore the gospel once more. This simple fact made the whole gospel shift for me. We all realized that this was now the point of this first lesson. Not apostasy or dispensations, but the love of God. It really envelopes the whole gospel. Now I understand what the basis is and then I can build on the need for every individual investigator and member from there. It was amazing. We all just finally understood what our teachers have been trying to teach us. Afterwards we found out that he is the boss of the teachers who teach Spanish and it all became clear why he was so good. It was such a wonderful experience.  It was just great. That evening we had more class that was also really good.
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On Tuesday we had a substitute again.  He taught us even more about focusing on the investigator. He said that teaching is the last thing we do and not the first. We need to be able to love them and realize that we are teaching a gospel that they need  We are teaching them as an individual not as just a lesson. Then we had our devotional on Tuesday which I call the "cherry on top"! The first thing he said that I liked is that to Preach is the invite. It is not to throw a lesson in their face, but to invite them to find for themselves. Another thing that I liked that he said was teaching with the spirit means to understand the investigator, which means asking inspired questions. The Spirit is so essential in missionary work. It is the only way for us to be truly effective teachers. We are young adults and we don't know what we are doing, but the Spirit does, so all is well.
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Wednesday we had two interesting things. We had our first class with our new teacher and our last class with our old teacher. In the morning we had our new teacher Hermana Arbon. That is right an Hermana teacher. She is so friendly and nice. We only have her for a few days, but she seems great. It is a little odd to get someone new, especially our woman teacher when we are use to men.  I am sure she will be wonderful. The sad thing was that we said goodbye to Hermano Ferguson. It was kind of a little sad for me, since it has felt like a lifetime since we have been here and he has been with us the whole time.  The nice thing was that he was full of wisdom. The other sad thing was that it was our last time teaching his investigator Pablo. It was such a spiritual lesson and he committed to baptism in a few weeks because he feels so peacful when he reads the Book of Mormon. It was so great. I almost cried a few times though. The piece of adivce that I loved the most was that we need to desire to work hard for the Lord.  We need the Lord to help us fulfill our desire. He talked about how much his mission changed him.  It made me finally understand that the changes I have made here at the MTC are just the beginning. There is so much more work to do and so much more fine tuning for me to do in it all. The sweet thing was that he came to our session at the temple this morning and it was such a sweet expeierince to say goodbye to him in the Celestial Room.
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Today is the start of packing. I can not believe it is the time for me to really go out into the world - well Santa Rosa - and teach the gospel in Spanish. I am so excited to go out there and continue this wonderful process of sharing the gospel. It has been a rougher road, but I am now ready to be an instrument in the hand of the Lord.

So - a little about my travel plans -  we leave this coming Tuesday the 25th. The rough part is that we have to check in at 4:30 in the morning at the travel office here at the MTC. Our flight is not until 8:36 and we arrive in Oakland California at 9:38. Man, am I glad that I don't have to fly all around the world. I am so excited to finally be in Santa Rosa.

It is going to be such an exciting journey.  I am so excited to just go and do it even though I have no idea what it is going to be like. Next time I write you it will be from Santa Rosa California. Ahhhh - It is so weird, but I am so excited. I love you all so much and can not wait to be able to tell you my tales as a missionary out in the field.

Love ya,

Hermana Cornwall

p.s  By the way, for the broadcast on Sunday,  I will be wearing my royal blue collared shirt [see below] and Hermana Vance will be wearing light turquoise shirt. Also Hermana Whitely will be wearing bright pink and she will be next to us too. I am so excited to see if you see me!

Sister Cornwall and Sister Lemmon

The Sisters in my Zone

Our District in Class

Our District at the Temple this morning

14 June 2013

Hola,

I can not believe that I have been in the MTC for a month. So much had been accomplished that it feels like much longer and then at other times it feels like I was just with you all a few days ago.
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Life here at the MTC is as grand as ever. It feels so momentous to be a missionary at this time. My last week has been wonderful. I got my huge package last Friday. Everyone gave me really funny looks and asked what it was and it was really fun. Also, thanks for everything it was like all the things you sent were brand new and it is so nice to have fun shampoo and conditioner and body wash.
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Classes have just been wonderful this past week I couldn't ask for anything better. Then, on Saturday I got the packages of trail mix. Man that stuff is good and my class was very appreciative. Saturday was just an average day and it was great. It is so fun to learn how to teach better. We mess up a lot but it is nice to grow and develop while we are here. Sunday was amazing. After church I went to the meeting with all the district leaders, zone leaders, and the branch presidency. It was sure odd to be the only sister in a room of all men but it worked out. Then we had Relief Society and our speaker was Anne Clegg. She was amazing. She talked about being a mission presidents wife in Spain and had some really wonderful advice for us. During my study later in that day I was was reading a conference talk and looked up one of the scriptures in the talk to gain more understanding  in the footnotes. The scripture was Luke 5:23. I encourage all to look at the footnotes for the scripture because it really cleared things up for me. Then we had choir practice. It was such a fun experience. There were so many people because it was the first practice for the upcoming broadcast. So, to let you all know I will be in the choir for the broadcast [on June 23rd] so keep your eyes peeled. The director is hilarious and we spend half the time laughing, so it was great. That night we had a devotional with Richard I. Heaton who is the administrative director here at BYU. He testified strongly about the investigators and their needs and how divinely created Preach My Gospel is. It is truly the words of modern day prophets and it is the doctrine of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Then we watched an old devotional by Pres. Utchdorf, which was about how his wife joined the church and what a blessing missionaries are. It is really amazing how we can touch the lives of so many people. The sad part of the night was saying goodbye to the only district older than us. I had become good acquaintances with one of the Elders and as we shook hands he gave me some advice and I just started to ball. It is such a wonderful experience to be around worthy holders of the preisthood. I was sad to see them go, but I know all of them are needed in their missions in Mexico.
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Nothing amazing really happened on Monday.  But Tuesday at the TRC was awesome. We taught two couples and they were so sweet and helpful. It is fun to think of inspiring message for other members of the Church. I truly feel endowed with power to teach and speak when we do TRC. It is always a wonderful experience. In class we learned the importance of making goals. Goals help us to gage how we have been, how we are and what we can become. They are often hard to accomplish, but they are great. Tuesday was a very momentous day because we had our devotional at the Marriott Center it was a little weird to go to place I been so many times before but at the same time it felt normal. I was also in the choir for the devotional and it was a choir of like 2,000 missionaries.  It was awesome. Elder Arnold of the 70 spoke and my favorite thing was that we need to know our purpose. No matter our stage in life we need to know. As missionaries we are to Invitar a las Personas a venir a Cristo (Invite others to come unto Christ). We say it everyday in class and yet sometimes I forget it. Whenever I am focused on that goal the work gets easier, I teach more effectively and I miss you all less. It is amazing so find your purpose and keep to it.
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Then on Wednesday we got to host the new missionaries coming in. Our job is to welcome them, tell them they have a few minutes to say good bye and lead them through a few tasks and then get to their classroom. It was amazingly crazy. 800 missionaries came in this Wednesday and so it is a big job. I hosted three sisters and it was so fun to welcome them and a little sad too. We stand right there and watch them say goodbye to their families and at one point I was at the same station I had got dropped off at, but it was still wonderful. I did see Hermana Moore, which was fun and I have also seen many other people I know as well.
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The work is really moving forward and I love to be a part of it. The funny thing with class that day was that one of our teachers got a little harder on us. He talked to us about our investigator and he was really direct on the things that we needed to improve on. I am glad to learn because they are necessary changes but it just feels like things are getting down to the wire. Then in the evening I welcome the new Sisters in our zone. We got two new districts and I got 6 new sisters to watch over.  It was wonderful
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Thursday evening we were with the new districts again and it was so fun to learn more about them. We were able to teach them a few things and I got to bear my testimony in Spanish to them. It was so wonderful. Then I got released afterward and now my companion is the new Sister Training Leader, so I will show her all of the ropes. It was so wonderful being the leader, but I don't think I am going to mind having my time back.
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I have loved my experience at the MTC and I can't even imagine what it is going to be like in the field. I know I still have over 2 weeks, but it is coming very quickly. Well, here is my second to last sign-off from the MTC campus. I know this next week will be amazing. Happy Fathers day to all the fathers out there that have been key in my life, most especially my own. I know this gospel is true and it is so important to share it with others because they need it even if they don't realize. The Lord loves us all and wants us to return to be with Him again. This work is so important and I am glad that I get to help it along.

Love ya,

Hermana Cornwall

Getting the "Big" Package Mom and Dad brought up when they came to Hannah's blessing last week.

Service

Service, service... service

District That Left

My Zone

Roses At The Temple

My Zone

The Sisters of my Zone

New Roomates

Switching And Wearing Each Others Clothes

Package Goodies

07 June 2013

Hola,

Wow I can not believe that I have been the MTC for 3 weeks. Time has really been flying now and I can't believe that I am over half way. Hermana Lemmon said, "like, we are in the teens of how many days we have left". The MTC is amazing. Everyone from the President to the custodians are just wonderful. I am so grateful for all that I am doing and learning. Mom has been asking me to write a little bit more about what it is like to be in"the wave" and I don't have a very good answer because I am in "the wave" and don't know what it is like to not be in it. All I know is that there are a lot of missionaries here at the MTC and it is just wonderful. The thing that is unlike the past is that the split of number of Sister and Elders is almost 50/50 which is a really big deal here at the MTC.

The big news this week is that I was made the SISTER TRAINING LEADER in my zone. They use to be known as Coordinating Sisters but now the name has changed. I told you last week that a district was leaving and there are no Sisters in the other district in the zone so all of us Sisters knew that it was going to come from the four of us. I was surprised that I was honored with such a calling. It has been the most amazing expereince. I have been given even more power from the Lord to help me in this new calling. It has been one of the most amazing weeks but I will get into the details a little as I talk about the week.

Mom has also asked that I am an little more specfic with my average days so here is a little more detail: 

Last FRIDAY I did initiatories with the other Hermanas in my district. It was so empowering to hear that ordinance. Every Friday morning we go to the temple first thing. It is our p-day but it is so nice to have the opportunity to go. Then we eat breakfast at the temple. The food is soooo good and it has become a fun little tradition. Then we come back do some missionary assessments and then write our families. Ta-da! Then we have a time slot to do laundry which is always needed every week. Then we have personal time and then dinner. After dinner we have our 3-hour class (all classes are 3 hours) and then have additional study time and then plan for the next day. After that we return to the residence and get ready for bed. Each night is exactly the same so I will not talk about it much more.

Then we have our SATURDAY schedule where we do personal study and then a service assignment which usually invovles cleaning showers and then we have gym. Gym is fun because it is full of so many activities. You can play a few indoor sports, run on the indoor track, use the machines or just do a personal work out. I like the variety and it is fun to interact with other missionaries as you do it. Then we have lunch and then we have back-to-back classes with dinner in between. Classes are amazing. Every time out teachers come I am so uplifted and strengthened. They are amazing and so dedicated to helping us be good missionaries.

SUNDAYS are also wonderful. We don't have scheduled class but we do have a lot of study time and somehow the day just flies by. We have church at 7:30 and then a break until we watch Music And The Spoken Word and have Relief Society. This past fast Sunday, and every fast sunday at the MTC, they do a Mission Conference with the MTC Presidency where they speak to us for 2 hours. It was fun to have that extra time to be taught. The coolest thing that the President told us was about the MTC missionaries who serve right here at the MTC. Most of them have disablilities and their call is to respond electronically to investigators of the Church. I have seen them here and been very curious about them. They are so sweet and kind and some bore there testimonies and it was so sweet. Man, Fast Sundays are very long here at the MTC, not that I will have anymore but it all turned out to be wonderful. Sunday is when I was called to be the Sister Training Leader. My objective is to love the Sisters and lead with a Christ-like attitude. It has been quite an experience to re-adjust to MTC life with a slightly new schedule, but it is just wonderful. The coolest thing was the Devotional on Sunday. Ted Gibbons portrayed the life of Joseph Smith through the life and eyes of Willard Richards. It was so powerful and interesting to hear him speak. I loved it because I love Joseph Smith so much.  It was a wonderful experince. Then after the Sunday Devotional we watch a spiritual "movie" of our choice. It is things like The Testaments, Legacy or old devotionals from the MTC. We watched one by Elder Holland and it was just wonderful. Then, I had my first leadership training meeting with all the other leaders in my zone. Of course I am the only Sister and it was so odd to be away from my companion even for a short time. In the meeting our Branch Presidency helped us to become better leaders.

MONDAYS are more of a regular day. After breakfast, right away we have class. It is nice to just start the day on a good note learning and progessing. These are the times were we teach investigators, who are our teachers. It is just a portion of class and if we don't teach them we have language study. This week I have really felt the Spanish coming and I love it. It is amazing to speak another lnaguage for the Lord. He helps you so much and this week I have just felt really good about it and it has seemed pretty easy. I understand amazingly well and I can basically talk back most of the time too. Again, our teachers are amazing, even the ZRTs, who are not our teachers, are amazing. They really have the best and the brightest here. The odd thing is that I went to school at BYU with all these people like 2 months ago! Then we have personal study time, lunch, gym and then companionship study. Our study times are so amazing. It is so great to just have so much dedicated time to study for yourself but mostly for your investigator lessons. I am learning so much about the gospel and every day just gives me more. Then, we have language training on TALL which is a computer program that helps us learn and practice grammar principles. Then we have dinner and then class at night which of course are always amazing.

TUESDAYS are a little bit different.They start with personal, physical exercise where you can workout in the residence or outside and it is nice to change it up occasionally. Then we have personal study, Tall lunch and companionship study. Then we have a block of classes. Tuesday are different because we go to the Training Resource Center. This is always the highlight of my week. The people we teach are members of the Church who speak Spanish and we just come and talk and teach with them for 20 mintues. Though I get really nervous before I always feel amazing after because we do it without a plan. We are able to just speak the language. It is amazing. My Spanish and teachings skills always grow in confidence on those days.Then we have dinner and have study time until the Tuesday devotional. This week we had Tad Callister and he was great. He talked about the Blueprint of the Church of Christ. Something I sure dad would have loved. It was very informational and nice. They did make one bigger announcement. If you have heard anything about the conference on the 23rd you probably know more than me. What they told us was that they needed missionaries for the choir for that meeting and so if you will be here til the 23rd which i will be you can sing in the choir. My companion and I are totally going to do it and we are very excited. The one downfall to my calling this week, which it really wasn't that bad, was my situation on Tuesday night. There was one Sister left from a District that was leaving.  I had to sleep in her room so that she wouldn't be alone. I had to wake up with her at 2 am to make her 3 am call time at the front desk of the MTC.  It was an odd expereince, but it is still nice to be able to serve.

Then on WEDNESDAYS we have the exact same schedule as Monday (so see that one for information). This last Wednesday was amazing because we got a batch of new missionaries in our Zone. The best part is that I got to welcome them their first night with the zone leaders as part of my new calling. There are 6 new Sisters and 4 new Elders. It is so fun to have new people coming into our Zone. The next big news is that we are getting two Districts next week and I will still have my calling, so I will be able to welcome them as well. The new Hermanas are so sweet and kind and ready to be missionaries.

THURSDAY is the same the as Saturday, but no service assignement (so see Saturday for that). It was a pretty average day this past Saturday, but then it the evening we had a big meeting with the Branch Presidency for the new District. The scary part about it all is that I had to bear my testimony in Spanish to the whole group. It wasn't to bad but I was a little worried about it. The sad thing was that I had to miss class. It all worked out for the best. It is so fun to be the little helper to these brand new Sisters. Even though I have only been in the MTC for 3 weeks it really makes a big difference in the long run.

So there is my average schedule. Everyday we learn and practice so much to help us be better teachers out in the field. The preparation for the work is awesome. Feel free to send off questions and anything really. I hope that this gave you a good idea of what life is like here at the MTC. These place is amazing and the Lord truly qualifies you for the work you are doing. The Lord loves all of you! Each and everyone of you, no matter what you have done in the past, or the mistakes you might be making now, no matter the size, Hhe Loves you so much - as do I as his servant. Thank you all so much for the love and support. You all are the reason why I am here. Thank you for your loving examples.

Love ya,

Hermana Cornwall 

P.S.

My mission advice this week is the read the Book of Mormon and preach my gospel everyday. They are amazing especially if you are preapring to serve a mission there is nothing better! The book of mrmon is the medicine we need everyday so don't forget to take it.