April 2, 2013

This is the last time i will say HELLO! from the MTC.

 

HELLO!

 

So we got our flight plans on Thursday of last week!!!! wowwww this is now real. actually it still doesn't feel real and it probably won't until i'm on the plane. the elder that i always have competitons with challenged me to another competition. we're trying to place a BOM before we get to Thailand. we'll see how this goes. if the opportunity comes up, i;'ll cease the day. but i'm not going to attack everyone in the airport and make them listen to me. haha. so i don't have very much time on this computer, but i have to tell you about a few things this week. the MTC experience wouldn't be complete without one day of 'English fasting'. So on Thursday, our whole district decided we were going to speak Thai all day long. wow that was pretty exhausting. I was actually surprised with how much i could say. and then i was also surprised with how much i couldn't say. i know a lot of gospel terms, but if i want to tell someone about my hobbies, or how to get to my house...i have no idea. haha i guess that just showed me i need to work on more vocab. so anyway, our thai day was good, and we all did pretty well...until we were at dinner and our DL gave us our flight plans...then all Thai went out the window. soooo we made it til 5pm and the rest of the day we pretty much couldn't focus at all. there's 3 groups of us on different flights, because there's so many of us. i'm in the biggest group with 17, and they split our companionship up:(. but i think we meet up again in Hong Kong, so that's ok. our teachers tell us we have a lot of time to study on the plane...but let's be real. i think we'll all be too excited to do anythign productive.

 

let's see. Oh! Easter was AMAZING. they told us before hand that our choir was preparing a special musical number and that it was going to be a very 'special program'. so then i totally convinced myself that the prophet was coming. yep. i started a rumor that the prophet was coming, because they were planting flowers and fertilizing the trees, so naturally he had to be coming to talk to us. hahaha. well he didn't come, but the presiding bishop, Bishjop Causse came and spoke to us about LOVE. and it was SO good. i think that of all things, this gospel is about LOVE. and our specail program really was special. i had the chance to be a part of a sacrament meeting with over 3000 missionaries, all partaking of the sacrament at once, 100 elders serving the sacrament, all of us renewing sacred covenants, promising to remember Christ, and celebrating our Savior on the day that He was resurrected and overcame death. the spirit was SO strong. it really was the most amzing experience, and i'm so lucky to have been a part of it. it kind of made me think of what it will be like when the Savior comes to the earth, and all the Saints gather together and we all get to have one big sacrament meeting together. it just reminds me of how important the sacrament is. and how thankful I am for my Savior. Easter really was wonderful, and even though the prophet didn't come (haha), we got to hear from Sheri Dew that night! so that was great. and overall, it was just an awesome day, and a day that i grew even more close to Chirst.

 

So i leave on Monday, at 4:30, and our flight leaves at 8pm. i've been feeling a lot of emotions lately. i'm scared out of my mind. i'm more excited than ever. i'm sad to be leaving those that i lvoe here. i'm so excited to be meeting people i will love in Thailand. so far, my mission has been SO MUCH MORE than i ever expected it to be, and i haven't even really started yet! and that's why, even though it's a little sad to leave my comfort zone here, i know what's ahead of me, and it only makes me happy. i can fast forward in my head and see myself in Thailand, having good times and bad, but never remembering the bad. The worst days are the best days to turn to the Lord. this gospel is true. i know it. i know that God is my Father, that Jesus is my Savior, and that this gospel brings the purest happiness i've ever experienced. i came out here because God told me to, and because i love Him. and I felt indebt to my Savior, so I wanted to serve Him. But as i've been out here, my motives have changed a bit. I am out here because i love God, and I LOVE His children. ALL of them. this is not about me, but about God and His children. and as i've served so far, i've only found more reasons to be in debt to my Savior, because He strengthens me every day. "for I know in my own strength I am weak, but I can do ALL things in God, who strengthens me."

 

I love you all, and the next time you hear from me will be from THAILAND!!!! whoa.

 

Love, Sis. Steele

 

p.s. if you're ever having a hard day, just imagine a T-rex trying to make a bed...