July 10, 2014
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| Red White and Blue Through & Through |
How was your 4th
of July? I was surprised and impressed
at how much work went into celebrating the holiday! Nothing very interesting
happened during the day other than regular classes but that evening instead of
study time we got to go to a Fourth Independence Day celebration in the Gym.
Something that really surprised me though when we arrived though is that pretty
much the entire MTC presidency and their wives and the support staff was there
with us. I thought that the missionaries were the only ones who had to miss out
on so many things, but I think that many people forget about the hundreds of
people who have jobs and callings here at the MTC that spend the holiday's
behind these walls right alongside the elders and sisters. Especially the MTC
president and his wife President and Sister Nally. Wow tons of sacrifice. So we
got to enjoy a pretty good program with lots of musical numbers, then a speaker
who spoke on how all can have freedom through Jesus Christ. Then I was sure
they were going to send us to bed but President Nally got up and announced that
they were going to let us watch 17 Miracles. Whooohooo! The movie got over
around 10:20 and I got bummed because I was like awww we missed the fireworks
and now they are going to send us to bed. But even better, President and Sister
Nally let us all outside where there was an ice cream truck with ice cream for
all of the missionaries and we got to watch the remainder of the fireworks from
the Stadium of Fire. Not the greatest show from behind a fence and rather
annoying building parked in front of us but it is better than going to bed
early. We ended up finally getting to bed around 12 ish, the next day you could
definitely see how tired and haggard all of the missionaries were. No wonder we
go to bed early here! So yes, the Fourth was pretty good actually. Not as good
as spending at home with the family, but it was satisfactory!
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| Our 4th of July Outfits!!! |
Another great thing that
happened this week was on Wednesday (yesterday) we got to host the new
missionaries entering the MTC. This is something I have been dreaming on doing
since before even I entered the MTC for myself. Over 800 elders and sisters
were dropped off in about a 2-3 hour period and things go pretty smoothly. I
was upset because at first I got assigned to relocate the early arrivals who
were international missionaries who were in temporary housing already here and
I worried I wouldn't get to do any curb side hosting. But it was great because
I got to eventually do both, and not gonna lie curb side hosting is pretty raw
emotionally and physically hauling peoples luggage around is hard! I have a new
respect for the sweet Sister Stewart who just left to Portugal this week who
helped welcome and settle me into the MTC. My international missionary was a
sister from the Philippines who will be serving in Arizona English speaking. She
was such a sweet heart and I enjoyed getting her books and new room and then
introducing her to her new class. Then I sprinted off to the curb where it is
an all out war among the sister missionaries trying to get a sister arrival.
Finally after twenty minutes of running around I got one!!! She was a sweet
sister from the Utah area who will be serving in Tacoma, Washington, which is
actually where Grandma and Grandpa Benson live so I was thrilled to tell her a
bit about it. Honestly I think her mum wanted to punch me in the face for
taking her daughter away hahaha, but I got her all settled in nicely! Then I
went back and grabbed another sister in one of the last waves who was also
going to Tacoma which was cool! Her name is the only one I can remember, Sister
Rasmussen. Overall it was great, but I looked like a sweaty beast by the end
haha. Yesterday really reminded me of when we dropped Drew and then later me
off at the MTC. This is weird but honestly I remember it being more heart
wrenching when we dropped Drewbie off. So many families making so much
sacrifice.
My Polish is slowly
growing, not as quickly as I wish but oh well. In our classes we are not
allowed to talk now unless we can do it in our language which is frustrating
because my grammer is horrible. But my Eurotrashinese ( what we call our
attempt at speaking Polish ) is finally picking up and hopefully by the time I
leave I will be able to piece together a decent sentence. My teacher Brat Tribe
asked me what my vision was for the language. I told him, it’s crazy but I want
to change the world... Especially the Polish world. My problem is I suck at
making the short term goals and steps that will get me to my long term dreams.
That is how we came up with " Dream Big, Go Change the World... but Do it
with a Plan!" So that is what I am working on now is trying to make my
dreams a reality in small step by step plans. It’s slow but we will see how
that all works out!
Sister Benson
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