Je Ne Sais Pas (I Don't Know)

Bonjour everyone!

I honestly don't know what to really say. The MTC is crazy, but it is so amazing! My P-Day while I am in the MTC will be on Fridays, so you can expect all of my emails then. I have only been here like two and half days so I am still trying to get the hang of this, and I don't really have a lot to tell you. However, my companions are wonderful! I am actually in a trio, so I have two companions and their names are Soeur Begay and Soeur Southwick. They are AMAZING! They are both going to serve in Tahiti, so they have to learn French and Tahitian, and everyone else in my district is exactly the same. So all of the elders are going to serve in Tahiti and will be learning two languages at the MTC as well. This means that I am the only one in my district that is going to Barbados and I will leave the MTC three weeks earlier than everyone else in my district while they learn Tahitian. Both of my companions are from Utah and they are so sweet and even though it has only been two and half days I already love them so much, and I am so sad that I will have to leave them (and the elders) here in six weeks while I go to Barbados. Also, fun fact, I am the only person in the entire MTC that is going to Barbados, so basically I am pretty unique here. 

So after I got dropped off on Wednesday, they took me and my bags to my room after I got my name tags and a few other things and we dropped my bags off and i went directly to my classroom to meet my teacher and everyone else in my district. As soon as I walked in the door my teacher started speaking French to me and refused to speak English. I was super lost, but eventually I figured it out and I kinda responded in French. That first day was really hectic. We pretty much had no idea what we were doing and went to a lot of meetings. We all had a big meeting with the MTC Presidency and they tried to make us a little less nervous. Then we went to dinner, which once again was a really hectic experience that we had no idea what was going on in, and then we went to more meetings where we actually sat down in a room with investigators and we got to learn how to talk with them and get an idea on what to do when first meeting with someone. Then we went back to our Residence and went to bed because honestly we were so exhausted. Also, another fun fact, my companions and I share a room with our Sister Training Leaders (STL's) and they since we room with them they are super helpful and always make sure that we know what to do and feel comfortable. Yesterday we had another crazy day. We went and picked up all of our language study books, and they weren't joking when they said twelve pounds of books. We all had huge packages that we had to carry all the way across the MTC campus to our classrooms that were filled with books that we will need to learn French, and it was even worse for my companions because they had to carry books for French and Tahitian. But anyways, then we just studied, went to seminars, and went to class. My companions and I are setting SYL (Speak Your Language) goals of memorizing words and phrases in French so that hopefully we can learn faster and be better prepared to teach the gospel in French. By the Way SYL is a program in the MTC where they are trying to get us to always try to speak French and if we don't know then we can say it in English or ask how to say it in French so that we learn faster. But anyways, last night we got to meet our branch presidency, and they are all SUPER nice! They all speak French, except for their wives, and they all have amazing spiritual backgrounds. They just kinda interviewed us to get a feeling for who are and why we are serving and then they just gave us information about our branch and how church works in the MTC. Church in the MTC is nothing like church outside of the MTC. For starters, in Sunday School you meet only with your district and have a lesson, by the way my district has eight people in it. And the biggest change from regular church and church in the MTC is that everyone is given a topic and each week you have to prepare a five minute talk in your mission language, and then you don't actually know if you have to give a talk until you walk into church on Sunday morning. It's pretty much terrifying at this point, but we are all figuring that once we know French more we will get it. Today we got to go to the temple, and do a session before we had breakfast there and then did service in the laundry room. It was so great!

And now I'm emailing you guys, but honestly I have only been here two and half days and I honestly feel the Spirit so much and I am so grateful to be here learning. This church is so true and I feel beyond blessed to be able to serve the Lord. I can feel my testimony growing each day, and I am so excited to see how I continue to grow! I love you all so much and miss you like crazy, but I am so happy to be here serving the Lord. I love you all and I will talk to you next week!

Love,
Soeur Connery

P.S. Today was my first and possibly my last time going to the temple on my mission because they are closing it for July, so that stinks, but all is well and the gospel is good!