Week Three, Happy as Can Be!

Hello everyone!

It's crazy how long the days are and how short the weeks are here. It makes no sense. This week was super intense because we moved over to west campus and have been having a lot of choir rehearsals. I'm so excited to be singing in the broadcast tonight! I'll be wearing a bright orange shirt. I'm a second alto so I'll probably be on the far right or the far left...probably the far left. Hope some of you get to see me!! It's been such an amazing experience being a part of the choir. Every morning when we rehearse the Spirit is so strong. it's incredible being part of this amazing work with so many many sisters. It's such a blessing!

I have grown this week in more ways than I thought I could. I think Heavenly Father knows I need to learn a lot of patience because He's certainly been showing me this week that I need to rely on Him and have faith in His plan. When we moved to West Campus we were shocked to find out that we would be sharing a three bedroom apartment with 12 sisters. Yup, 12 sisters in two,  tiny bathrooms. Luckily the mission isn't about us, or this would be really hard to handle. We've come to work it out so we can all get a semi-warm shower and get to bed on time...waking up is another story though haha...it's crazy how early 5:15 comes! It's actually been super fun living in an apartment. We are in the old Raintree apartments in 5R. It's been really fun to get to know the other sisters in our apartment better, even though it's pretty cramped. Luckily we don't spend much time there :)

Our classroom is in Raintree, as well...it's kinda funny how the Church converted all these apartments into classrooms. There are 3 classrooms in each apartment: two in bedrooms and one in the living room. our new classroom is definitely a LOT smaller than our old one, but it just brings us to bond more as a district! The food on this campus is much healthier and tastier than main campus. and guess what?? My friend Kevin Shirley works in the cafeteria and he said that BRIELLE PETRIE has been hired to work there and is just finishing up her paperwork!! I'm going to be able to see one of my best friends almost daily!! I'm so excited :))))

My new address for west campus is:

Sister Mckenna Gustafson

OCT 21 PHI-URD

2025 N 900 E Unit 925

Provo, UT 84602

Send letters there! 

We started teaching our new "investigators" Ernesto and Mark this week. We had our first lesson with Mark on Monday. I was totally stressing about learning all the Tagalog that I wanted to say for the lesson and then at the last minute my kasama and I decided to ditch our notes. We said a prayer right before we went in to teach that we would be able to remember the things we had studied and that we would have the Spirit to communicate the things that were in our hearts. And it was an amazing lesson! Although our grammar was far from perfect, we were able to teach him that the Gospel blesses families and that God loves him. The Spirit was there and I know Heavenly Father helped us to remember the Tagalog we had been studying! Aside from the fact that I accidently told him that we believe Joseph Smith is God and that I had 4 kids (instead of saying there are 4 kids in my family) I think we were able to get our point across :)

We've been teaching at least one investigator every day, and it's been really helpful for my Tagalog. I know how to conjugate a bunch of types of verbs and I'm learning more vocab every day. Prepping the lessons is tricky, but it's been helping my Tagalog so much! I'm working on memorizing Joseph Smith's account of the first vision in Tagalog before I leave the MTC. I've broken it into tiny parts and know a good chunk of the beginning! It's so fun to be able to speak Tagalog with my zone :)

Our district's favorite word of the week is "mga ding ding". it means wooden walls and is pronounced "munga ding ding". we say it literally every chance we get, which is a lot. 

Heavenly Father has blessed me with an amazing district. We really are like a family. I don't know how I would make it through these long days without them. Similarly, Heavenly Father gives us families here on earth to learn and grow and make mistakes. We learn from each other and are taught by His teachers that He has placed on earth for us to learn from. Without our families we wouldn't be as successful and happy in this life. The happiest families (and districts) are based on love, respect, prayer, and the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I am so grateful for my family (and my district) that Heavenly Father has blessed me with! 

I love you all so much! Sobra Mahal!

Sister G :)