Settling in at the MTC

Sam holding a picture Abby drew.

Sam and her companion, Sister Arnold.

K i'll get started....geez, I wish I could print out your emails because I can't remember the questions.

So I did my laundry...I'm not drying anything because I never dry clothes hang. I sure hope I have enough room in the closets!!

So Dan (our teacher role playing)) doesn't see why he needs the gospel. He role plays soooooo well. It's insane. So we've been gearing lessons to help him understand why he needs Christ in his life and why he needs faith. I wish I could go into more detail....! There is a cool scripture we're sharing with him D & C 8  that is so packed with great things but in particular versus 1 and 10. I love the scriptures sooooo much!!! It's cool because as my love for the Book of Mormon grows my love for the Bible grows. They are both words of God. I for the first time used Exodus today chapter 18 and thought about how there are patterns in the gospel. For example, there is one man called of God to receive revelation and holds the keys and then he establishes priests/apostles to help him. So I think chapter 18 relates? What do you think?

We are also teaching Melissa!  In reality (we don’t know which), she is either a new convert or a legit investigator. She is a non-denominational Christian and the first lesson we really focused on letting the spirit guide us and we had just come from learning in class about the apostasy soo....haha we started there.  I know I know big mistake....ha the lesson was so confusing. So we were so bummed. I teared up for sure after just feeling so dumb. I was a little too Bold/Blunt to in describing why he takes the gospel off the earth....So I was bummed. We strived sooo hard to know what the spirit wanted us to teach her. But we learned some key things so the Lord definitely works in mysterious ways. Sometimes he answers prayers and teaches us in ways we do not want to be taught :).

During district prayer I received revelation. I was brought back to the time when I was worried about serving a mission and in the blessing dad stated: I needed to feel confident in my decision to go on a mission because I had received an answer and that I would have some regrets on my mission but I'd love it. At the time I was so confused why the blessing said I'd have regrets.  But now I totally love that it said that and I was sooo comforted. 

Sam with her district.

Sam, after a long day of lessons and teachings, staggers up the stairs :)

We learned that she wonders why we need a prophet to receive revelation and why she has to accept another Christian gospel. So we studied and studied on it and felt like we learned a lot. We even told her we'd answer her question about prophets. But when the next lesson came around we totally felt like that was not what we were supposed to teach. And if the spirit isn't going to help us teach it than there is NO use in trying to word vomit! :) We felt strongly to teach her about how earth life is a time for us to grow and learn to accept Christ in our lives. We sang Come unto me...which was almost perfect until the 4th to last measure or something haha but it ended well. Spirit was so strong! She didn't show yesterday (we hope she is okay!)

I really want to play the Violin in our zone sacrament next meeting...i'm not sure if i'll be able to rent one/play it haha (I haven't played in a year!) I played the piano for our district and it went well. I really want to get better at it!

Okay funny story. So there was this chocolate mousse in the cafeteria that I really wanted but when they served it I was fasting so yesterday they were serving it again and I went to get some but it was all out so I sat back down and Elder Call (26, going to Toronto) said, “Sister do you have enough faith to get that pudding?”

I looked at him and said, “no no no it;s okay don't worry about it!!” to which he responded, “ YOU don't have faith?!”  So I said, “Okay look I'll plant a seed of faith!” Then he yelled across tables , inviting an elder to give me his mousse: "ELDER BUTLER DO YOU WANT TO DO SOME SERVICE?" I dropped to the floor. I was SO EMBARRASSED!!!!! Then this poor sister sitting next to Elder Butler gave me a bite of hers. It was so funny but quite embarrassing. We were all laughing.

Jessica shared a cool quote from President Hinckley about having Joy! Definitely describes the MTC. After Sunday days have FLOWN by! It's been so happy, and it's been drinking out of a fire hydrant. Mom!! Thanks so much for all the packages and everyone else for the letters!! I'm going to respond hand written letters to the ones I received! :) Aunt Jonell knows one of the sisters in my district!! It's great!!  We are all going to Canada and the ones in my district (they're is only another sister companionship)  and we love each other sooo much. We love exercising haha. Ps. I haven't gained weight. But my hamstrings are Sooooooooooooo sore. Like So bad. hah ugh. I did one of Cole's arm work outs....I couldn't move my arms for like 3 days! It was great.

My packages are great its so funny cause sister Arnold is loaded with sweets and mine healthy stuff. She is from Kaysville.

Okay so on Aug 15 I was fasting and it was so cool. While I believe that the fast helped the person I was fasting for....it really helped me. Crazy how that works, huh? Turning outward always helps us in the end :). I really just gained the strongest testimony on how fasting really helps our strengthen our relationship with God.

Mom I don't have the necklace, since I didn't have a gold chain that worked! How was abby starting preschool??! How was emma's first day?:) I'm excited to respond to their letters. Daphne and Jeff....What the heck! Write me ;)  Yes! Let sister yates have my info? hahaha I saw Ethan here at the MTC (I did sepcial needs seminary with him it was great.) MTC has great food. I have a picture of it...I'll send it next week. Really appreciated your packages though! Epseically this morning!

Abby! thank you for your drawing of water for me!!

I haven't read all the letters in my case yet.

Dad thank you so much for your email! I want to see Steffani’s hair!

Thanks to Mom, Sam has received no shortage of care packages so far.

Sam and her roommates. I love it how they even wear their name names

with their PJs.  Hopefully, they take them off before they go to bed!

In the field hopefully I'll be able to print out your letters and really digest them.

I love you all so much! Church is totally true and God loves us. Answers come in mysterious ways some times. I had a thought at the temple y'all should think about. Satan his giving his best efforts to tear you down, even when you think you're fine, and you’re not. He doesn't take a break. Are you giving your best efforts? In the BD under atonement it says--"The atonement is conditional"....please go look at it and I want to hear all of your thoughts on what you're doing. How you're letting Christ into your lives.

Love sister reeves

First Letter From the MTC

Hey Mom & Dad and Friends who will be lucky enough to read this! ;) haha

Okay so I will just tell you what's on my mind as a try to vomit it out with my fingers on this keyboard. So I just checked the computer and there is no place for me to insert my SD card and I guess I didn't bring my computer chord up from my room...that or I dropped it on the way (hope not!). I lost my ring in the MTC on the first day.  There are a MILLION bathrooms in the residence halls! Sister Arnold (that's my comp) and I looked in all of them (well we thought). I prayed that I would find it but by the end of our looking. I decided I just had to shrug it off. Then right about as we were about to leave I found it!!! It was great. I lost it again yesterday too... then again, I didn't know I lost it until I saw it in the bathroom again.

My Companion is FAntaStiC! She knows Bailey Carling, a girl on the UVU track team; she cheered with her. She also knows Nate Pierpont and Kyle Hendricks (her cousin).  They live right by Shelby, and she thinks she has seen Shelby before. I described her by saying the girl with the looooong braid. hah!

Sister Arnold is dominant (like someone else I know J) so we usually help the district get on track:  hopefully they don't mind that.  But now that we have district leaders, zone leaders, and sister leaders in our district so I think that will help. Sister Arnold and I are in charge of sacrament meeting music and the MTC portal. She loves working out and eats pretty healthy so it's been fun. Sometimes I feel like I have nothing to contribute to our discussions because we're on the same page on just about everything. It's been cool to be studying for our "investigator," Dan, and have no idea where we want to go with the lesson but then pray about it and talk later and it will turn out that in our personal study we were studying the SAME scripture! So that's pretty fun. A blessing for sure.

We live with two other sisters in our room, Sister Dayton and Sister Watkins, who are both amazing as well.  I was prepared for the worst based on the stories I’ve heard from friends about some of the challenges they have with companions and mission roommates.  Thankfully I’ve been blessed with great sisters in my room.

Okay, the food is great! So far I've stayed away from the gluten, I have a veggie and fruit every meal. I made on exception to the gluten avoidance, and that was a donut I got halfway through before I was instructed, on my way out of the door, that you can’t take food from the lunchroom. We learned that yesterday.  Before we knew that, comp. and I were taking apples or bananas and saving them for later in the night when we were STARVING! We eat breakfast around 5:45...weird huh?!

Okay, so there is this optional yoga/kick boxing/Pilate, etc class for sisters in the morning. Technically you have to be up by 6:30 but the class starts at 6 so we get up at 5:40. It's actually pretty fun! Kickboxing was pretty fun. I thought of Marci saving her kickboxing tape and not giving it to Tanner...ha anyway yoga was great too. It was definitely harder to get up this morning than on Thursday! I think the adrenaline is staring to wear off. And going to the class makes the time between breakfast and lunch seem a little longer...but it's a great opportunity to do these classes while we have them (that’s what Sis. Arnold and I think along with the other two). Sister Dayton asked me last night out of the blue how I got my Arms to be so Buff (secretly I was exploding with joy inside). I proceeded to show her the work out the Cole gave me for arms. We have struggled at getting to bed on time and that'd definitely be why! We don't get much time to chat but we are definitely working on it. I discussed a plan of how we can get better while including the fun chat...We are progressing though: it was 11 the first night and 10:38 this last night!  Tanner, did you have that problem? I assume that as we get more and more tired it will be easier and easier.

The first night of sleep! I didn't get to sleep for forever! I didn't have a pillow to hold...(I always sleep with two pillows) Eventually I grabbed one from the empty bed. Also, the pillow I have is Huge! So I’ve switched them up...last night was definitely better :). Sorry for the spelling and grammar issues: I just want to say everything and I don’t have time! I actually have like 30 min left sooo It's not as crazy as I expected.

Okay so I ran into Max....It was odd calling him Elder. He wrestled on the UVU team. Anyway I saw brooke! So that was good. Remember how I was super emotional entering the MTC? Well once my escort got me, it vanished! So that was good:) Sister Arnold and I are teaching Dan tomorrow. WE are pretty excited to share with him what we have because we've felt like we've been guided by the spirit. It's been kind of hard being Genuine in prayers because we pray all the time. ALL the time. :) But working on it; lots of opportunities.

My favorite Class was this class where non-members/recent converts came and as a group we taught them. It was a fun experience and by the 3rd person we were better at balancing getting to know the person and also teaching them.

I guess that is one thing that I’ve really learned in the MTC and I am excited to practice because I love getting to know people’s stories. My district has two other sisters and two sets of elders.

I learned more about what "real intent" when praying means. It means to be willing to act on the answers received. I never thought about it that way. I shall let you guys know how our lesson goes with Dan! Be praying for us to communicate but also to learn! We are excited to ask him to believe in Jesus Christ and take that step because we know how the Savior has changed and helped our lives. There is a quote by Elder Holland that I liked:  “everything in the conversion process must happen to you before it can happen to your investigator." If you want your investigator to feel Christ's love, then you must feel it first. If we want them to forgive, we then  must forgive. So that is a nice thought for the week for y'all!

Tanner, thanks for the help you have given me through the sharing of the Love of Christ that you have. Remember that orange dot you get on your first day at the MTC? Totally thought about how you called in your “Noob” sticker. My mom called it the “dork dot.” It's funny how little things bring back memories.

Sister Arnold and I have made it our goal to be the most  friendly sisters at the MTC. We have goals for that but one fun thing is that we ask people how to say Hello and Goodbye in their own language. Definitely haven't got a repeat yet....so i can't remember any! Beside Mauna Loa? I'm not sure on the spelling but that's from Madagascar.

NONE of the sisters can figure out how to work the computers for camera....I went to my computer but it doesn't show on Sister Arnold's computer...I don't think they print photos out at the MTC... if they do I'll send some! I'll get help from a Zone leader next week. So Sorry what a Bummer! I'm loving having Teeth implants! It's great, I still try to take out my retainer...haha

ahhhh time is coming to a close. We can't use ipods in the MTC but I can in the field so no stress.  If you could get the piano piece from Charly that'd be cool. It'd also be nice to have a pad for my bag strap...I can't think of anything else. If I remember I'll write you! Oh we can have headphones but I didn't bring any...

Got to go! LOtsof LOVE!!!

Sister Reeves

MTC Day

As I mentioned earlier, I am trying to keep my commentary to a minimum; however, yesterday--MTC Day--involved the family, so I am going to insert us into the conversation. This should be one of the last such entries.

Our day began after a short night: I think it was around 3:00 a.m. when Lisa and I retired, finishing up last minute tasks.

Mom, doing some last minute organizing of Sam's stuff.

We spent the morning at the Provo temple, where Sam was able to participate in sealing ordinances for the first time.  She was a bit nervous that she was going to have to perform those ordinances with some random young men that she didn't know; I assured her that that would not be the case (although I must admit that as we were ushered into the sealing room along with what looked like four elders from the MTC, I started second guessing myself).  As we walked to sealing rooms, Sam said, "I'm not getting sealed to them, even if it is for someone else."

"Honey, no worries, they don't let missionaries do sealings anymore, " I told, at this point only half believing myself.

We were grateful to learn that MTC missionaries were only aloud to serve as proxies for the children. The last thing we needed were four overly-anxious elders, believing they had just been given a "sign" that they should marry the petite sister they met at the altar.

The sealing session was a sweet experience.  During the session, the sealer shared some thoughts on how often the dead for whom we are officiating are close by and involved in the work.  He then made the point that this work is all about individuals, and that behind every name is an individual.  As we left the room and walked toward the locker room, I reminded Samantha of what the sealer and said, and told her, "Don't forget--your mission experience is all about individuals--real people with real lives; go touch them one at a time; you're an individual too, so let them know who Samantha Reeves is."

Lisa couldn't help herself; she had to buy some Canadian flags to adorn our vehicles.

After the temple, we went home for last minute preparations: mom scrambled to find Sam's immunization records; Sam was busily trying to download classical and church music onto the iPod Shuffle we just bought for he; I was trying to make sure that the Wifi-enabled camera that we bought the night before actually uploaded her photos to the cloud as advertised.

After all the work was done, and suitcases were finally zipped up, we had one last family prayer, and I was able to give Samantha one last Father's blessing before she departed.

We then went to lunch as a family at a quiet restaurant.  Sam was busy during most of the lunch, writing letters to each of us.  Each of us took turns expressing to Sam the ways in which were going to miss her.  She then explained the ways in which she was going to miss each of us.  Yes, several tears were shed--except Jeffrey, who remained stoic throughout (although he did choke up the night before but he probably won't admit that :)).  Below are some photos from lunch:

"Group hug" before we left to the MTC.

From there it was on to the MTC, an experience that was actually much better than I had anticipated.  I went into the MTC in the 90's during the "good old days," where family, friends, girlfriends, grandparents, and I suspect even a few pets all sat through an hour long meeting, filled with a talk by the MTC President, a video that was made to make you cry, and the MTC choir to make you cry some more.  That whole affair had apparently become to much, and so the MTC now has you just drop off your kids curbside. I had heard that people felt rushed, as "impatient" greeters whisked one's missionary away.

Our experience was quite the opposite.  Perhaps those who would otherwise rush us were intimidated by the sight of our 8-passenger, V-10, Ford Excursion (aka. Mormon Assault Vehicle), complete with Canadian flags flying from the windows.  We were politely told where to park the vehicle, where we were greeted by Sam's host, a fellow sister missionary, who told us to take our time, take pictures, and give hugs.  We had done most of that prior to arriving, so we were relatively efficient in doing so curbside.  After some more tears and hugs, Sam left with her escort.

I was proud that she didn't look back.

Scenes from the MTC below:

The day was a beautiful day, a wonderful mix of what those who send missionaries off usually experience: mixed emotions of pride, excitement, fulfillment, emptiness, melancholy, and peace.  I wrote the following letter to Samantha the night before she left, which describe some of those feelings. I'll close with that letter.

Samantha Marie,

Ok, so I’ve never really called you that, but it just sounded good.  Tonight, after you went to bed, I thumbed through my mission box—a treasure of photos, letters, and journals—a startling sensation of nostalgia (coupled with an odd sense of melancholy) swept over me.  I have such sweet and tender memories of my missionary experience, and tonight as I thought about that full-time missionary service long since past, I felt a little sadness that those two years are behind me.  An odd feeling really, as normally I just feel joy in those memories.

Perhaps that melancholy is simply there because I am realizing now, as a few tears start to well up in my eyes as I write this, that not only are my full-time mission days behind me, but my little girl is behind me too.

I cried at your baptism; I cried as we took you to the temple for the first time, and I cried at your farewell. I suspect I’ll shed a few tears tomorrow. A friend of mine, who just put his son in the MTC a few months ago, didn’t’ shed any tears as his son departed. He was so grateful that his son had actually made it that he felt nothing but relief, fulfillment and satisfaction. Today I asked him about that experience, and as we talked I suggested that I probably wouldn’t experience the same feeling he did when he dropped his son of at the MTC, to which he replied, “Of course, you won’t. We were getting rid of a liability; you’re getting rid of an asset.”

And that is true.  You are an asset of the most rare and valuable kind.  I will miss you.  I will miss your always-inquisitive mind, you relentless pursuit of improvement, and your belief that you will be the first person on the planet to actually fit 27 hours into a 24 hour time period.  Yes, I will miss you.

But even as I type this, my soul swells with excitement over the adventure that awaits you.  At the moment, I am looking at a photograph of me at the MTC on July 10, 1991.  I was ready.  You are ready.  And when you a ready, and when you allow yourself the freedom to make mistakes and the freedom to grow, your MTC experience will be life-changing.  Your time in Toronto will be even more life-changing—exponentially greater than your MTC experience.

Don’t take yourself too seriously; revel in the glorious atonement that truly does compensate for your weaknesses.  Find ways to laugh at yourself, and move on.  Don’t see failure and weakness; see opportunity and strength.   I was blessed with the unique ability to be hard on myself, but to quickly allow the Savior to forgive me.  I pray you’ll do the same over the next 18 months.

Find the good in your companion and roommates, and turn your attention to lifting them.  Do not wish for the MTC experience to be over with; suck the marrow out of it while you’re there.  I loved the MTC: I loved the classes, the teaching, and I loved the breaks for lunch and sports.  The devotionals were out of this world, and the testimony meetings were even better.  The MTC is like EFY on steroids.  And please, as hard as it may be, don’t complain about the MTC food (like everyone else does). It’s not that bad; in fact, I recall quite liking it.  And while you’re there, indulge a little. A bowl of lucky charms won’t kill you J.

Sometime today, you will settle into your room, and you will have a few moments to record your thoughts in your journal, or to write a letter home to Mom and Dad (don’t you dare forget that part!). Take time to do both.  They will provide treasures for you—especially 23 years later, the night before your daughter enters the MTC. In fact, they’ll probably bring a lot of joy and little bit of melancholy.  I love how the gospel continually presents these beautiful paradoxical moments for us.

As your write in that journal or that first letter, I thought you might find it fun to see what dear old Dad wrote when I was in your shoes 23 years ago.  Attached is my first journal entry, along with my first letter home.  When you arrive in Toronto, I’ll send you the first letter I wrote to my mission president.

I love you, Sister Sam.  Good night.

Love,


Dad

Farewell, Sister Reeves!

I am proud to be the editor-in-chief of the Samantha Reeves missionary blog, as she serves the people of Toronto Canada. Most of the text on the blog will originate from the content of Samantha's letters home, but there's a small chance her old man may exercise his editorial powers and wax poetic from time to time.  The editor apologize in advance.

That said, I promise to stay in the background.  With that, I'll dispense with all other formalities, and post a few pictures from "Farewell Sunday" as well as the audio from her talk in case you missed it and had 11 minutes to spare. Click on the video below to play the talk (I had to create a movie with one still shot and audio, as there isn't a simple way--that I'm aware of--to add audio to blogger).

We love you, Samantha!!

Farewell Talk