Planet MTC

Priveyet family and friends,

 

Good news, i have survived another week in the MTC! I hope everything is well with all of you.  A recap of this week: we go to class, sleep, eat, speak russian, and play lots of sand volleyball haha.  Russian is coming along.  I feel like i am grasping some of the conjugation concepts and what we call "cases"...those are just blessed things that come along with learning russian.  All of our new russians come in today, and we are so stoked.  Although it has been so cool just to have our zone here for the last few weeks.  We have grown so close together and i seriously love everyone.  we had testimony meeting on sunday and it was seriously so amazing.  and saturday nights make the mtc so much better because we all go outside and sing 2 or 3 hymns, it sounds lame but something so little like that can make your whole week so much better.  Our devotional last night was by Elder Ron A Clarke of the 70 and he had a lot of good insights to make us better missionaries and help us along our path of finding people that we need to.  he was a mission pres. in bolivia and he said one day one of the elders knocked on his door and the elder had been there for 2 days. he said "president, i don't like the food. i don't like my companion. i don't like my bed. i don't like the climate" and elder clarke said to him "give me one month to change your mind" and the elder said "i will give you 2 weeks" so 2 weeks later the elder came in and said "president, i don't like the food. i don't like my companion. i don't like my bed, and i don't like the climate. but i met a bolivian family that i love, and the holy ghost has changed my heart. i will stay for them"  man that story just hit me so hard because even if we just bring 1 soul unto Christ, it can change our hearts.  I have been reading the Book of Mormon and I am into Alma, and my goal is to have it finished by saturday so that should be a fun challenge.  sister lewis is the coordinating sister (kinda like a sister zone leader) and so we have the wonderful priveledge of performing what a "companionship inventory" should consist of tomorrow night for the 2 new districts coming in.  we really are so stoked, it's gonna be so fun. 

 

one of the biggest highlights of my life happened last night--all of the foreign missionaries come in a day or 2 early to get more orientation/training stuff--and we had an elder come in yesterday that will be in our zone.  he is from ENGLAND and his name is ELDER POTTER!!!!!!!!!!! i thought about saying all of these cheesy harry potter lines like "why did you break the elder wand!" or "happy christmas harry!" but instead i just talked to him like a normal person and he is awesome, i'm so stoked to have him in our zone.  we also got an elder from germany that is adorable. 

 

other than that, the mtc is still just amazing.  some of the worst parts of it are waking up when you wish you had 3 more hours of sleep, but some of the best parts are just putting on my nametag every morning.  my teachers make class so much easier to go to and so much better to be in.  i am slowly understanding/speaking more russian.  last week in the TRC we didn't even use any of our notes, we just had conversations with them from memory and it felt so good.  i love all of our elders in our zone, they make life so great.  my teacher bro doroshkin even takes time sometimes to quote Nacho Libre with us-funny story about that-apparently him and his district when he was in the mtc used to quote N.L all the time because its so funny/applicable to missionary life in the mtc, and one day him and his comp. were quoting it in the lunch line, and this sister missionary in front of them turns around and just says "BABYLON" and walks away hahahaha. so, so many gems in this place. 

 

well this week should be amazing with conference coming up, it's going to be like a vacation in the mtc.  all saturday classes are cancelled and we will watch the sisters broadcast thingy while the elders are in priesthood.  i encourage you all to pray about something you need/want an answer to and look for it during conference.  i love you all and i'm so grateful to be a missionary in this dispensation.  it is truly an amazing, life changing work for all involved.  i can really feel the prayers and the love, and i'm so grateful for you all.  keep living life in the outside world. LOVE YOU ALL!!!

 

cectpa demille

Pictures!!

Sis. Huber, Sis. Hart and Sis. DeMille

MTC Companions - Sis. Lewis and Sis. DeMille

St George friends - Sis. DeMille and Sis. Pead

The Book of Mormon

Prievyet family and friends!!!

 

Life here in the MTC is just going grand...how is the outside world? I hope I haven't missed out on anything too dramatic.  This week was great, and full of ups and downs.  Let me get into last night's devotional...all the missionaries in the MTC got copies of Oct. ensign early, and they told us to have them read and bring them to the devo last night.  We are just singing and guess who walks in with his cute wife...RUSSELL M NELSON!! i swear, we are the luckiest group of missionaries.  his talk was all about the ensign and the book of mormon.  i was so touched by the spirit that was brought into the room.  not only were we in the presence of an apostle, but we were talking about the book of mormon.  he gave us a lot of facts and history about it. here are a few i remember

 

the book of mormon mentions the resurrection more than the bible

 

it is now translated into 107 languages

 

the translators who are continuing to translate into different languages work on it and finish about 1 page a day..joseph smith translated 8-10 pages per day.  wow!!

 

he was so funny and so spiritual.  he had 4 missionaries come up (2 sisters 2 elders) and had them answer questions/bear testimony of the BOM.  elder brinton got called up, it was so funny and great.  one of the sisters is actually a girl that is going to italy, we are on the same floor as her so we are friends.  turns out he is her grandpa!! so it was way cute because he just hugged her and kissed her. 

 

i encourage you all to read the ensign, it is so full of power and testimony and love.  my testimony of the book of mormon has grown so much.  i'm reading it right now, and my goal is to have it finished by october 1.  one cool thing that elder nelson mentioned was that without missionaries, the gathering of israel couldn't be completed, and without the book of mormon, it couldn't be completed either.  the combination of missionaries and book of mormon will bring great success throughout the world.  he mentioned our responsibilites as a church: 1-strenghthen faith in jesus christ. 2-helping in the gathering of israel 3-helping others and ourselves prepare for the second coming.  so amazing!! and we get conference in a few weeks. man i'm so excited.

 

a couple of fun things this week: sister lewis and i sometimes like to do crazy/rebellious things, so this week we decided to do a "sand burial".  i was buried, in the sand, on the volleyball court. it was epic! we have to entertain ourselves in here. the language is still coming slowly...we are told not to compare ourselves with others, but i realized that i'm a little behind some of my district. i feel like it just hasn't clicked yet and it's so frustrating.  i had a couple of rough days last week, but i'm just trying to turn discouragement/frustration into motivation.  i love what i'm learning and how i'm growing.  it has been such a blessing and amazing experience to be here.  thank you all for your prayers and support, i am humbled.  i love you all and thank you for the prayers for the missionaries everywhere.  with love,

 

cectpa demille

Devotional. Week 4 I think?

family and friends,
 
another week has passed in the fabulous planet mtc in provo utah.  i love being a missionary, have i mentioned that before? we are so so blessed to be members of this church and to have the restored gospel.  i love putting on my nametag everyday and representing christ. it's amazing.  well, our devotional last night was awesome!! M Russel Ballard just walks on in with his cute wife!!! i have a feeling we might see apostles every few weeks.  his talk was great, he talked a lot about the basics of missionary work and how we are so blessed to have the resources and tools that we do as missionaries.  he told a lot of stories from when he was a mission president and when he was a missionary.  one thing that stuck out to me in his talk-he quoted president hinckley and said how "we need to be ourselve" let testimony flow through us, know the doctrine so we can recall it when the spirit tells us to, and trust in the Lord.  he emphasized that the more we reach out to the Lord, the more the Lord will become acquainted with us and reach out to us.  the spirit was so strong when he bore testimony and he is just a solid apostle.  i am so lucky to be in the mtc right now when so many wonderful people come in. 
 
russian is coming along...it is really, really hard but such a cool experience to learn a new language.  i am starting to just try to think in russian and say as much as i can.  it is way cool to have this experience.
 
all of the older russian districts left this week, and it was so sad.  they were such good examples to us and they will all be amazing missionaries. saying goodbye to my roommates was so sad.  the worst part about the mtc is you form relationships and attachments to people, then you all go your separate ways.  our zone now is only 19 people, which means we will all probably speak in sacrament meeting sometime.  yikes!! scary.  the other zone only has 20 people too.  we are supposedly getting the last 35 russian missionaries coming in for the next two years, and they come in in two weeks ish.  they will split them up into our two zones, so max we will have 16 ish missionaries.  it's exciting, but overwhelming to know that we will be the "older districts" now. 
 
the best part about the mtc is the missionaries and the people who serve the missionaries.  we constantly are striving to all do better and i meet people from all over the world.  there is no other place like this.  sometimes i just never want to leave haha.  i appreciate more than you all will ever know for the prayers, letters, and encouragement.  it is tough, but it makes it easier knowing i have some people rooting for me.  i love you all, and thanks again so much for everything,
 
cecpta demillle

Week 3 or 4?? I can't remember

Family and Friends,

 

This week was great once again!! I love the MTC.  It is hard, but it is amazing.  I love everyone that i meet here.  There is nothing too new or exciting to report, just another week of learning Russian.  We are having a blast learning and trying to make it fun.  Our teachers are so funny and seriously they make learning Russian so much better.  This next week the older districts are leaving.  That means there are 100 Russian speakers leaving, and there will be about 50 left..crazy!! Supposedly some more are supposed to be coming in at the end of this month, but not as many.  It's a little crazy to think about, but I am still excited to keep going in the MTC.  My elders are constantly making me laugh, and they are so different haha.  I wish I had more exciting news..but unfortunately I don't!! I am grateful to be a missionary and to be around so many missionaries.  I am so blessed and I appreciate the prayers on all of the missionaries behalf.  We had a devotional last night by Elder Jay Jensen of the 70, and He was talking about how the Bretheren kneel down in prayer for the missionaries every week, so cool.  I love you all! I miss all of you but i try not to think about it too much...Thank you for all of the support, love, and prayers. 

 

 

Cectpa DeMille

MTC Update - Week 2

Hey everyone, this week has been great.  Still tons of ups and downs with Russian but I'm starting to pick it up more and everything.  I'm gonna dive right into the big news this week...we always have devotionals tuesday nights and supposedly now that it's fall we will have some apostles coming in, so last night we are in the room waiting for the speaker to come in.  Me and some of the girls had excellent seats because we sing in the choir every week.  So we are singing and guess who walks in.......JEFFREY R HOLLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I started crying and I was so happy, he is my absolute favorite.  He spoke a lot about our duty as a missionary and what we can do to better ourselves continually.  He spoke very very boldly about how we should act after our missions.  He was practically yelling into the microphone and saying that we have "NO right to defile the divinity of this calling"  I could feel so much love behind this because he was so passionate about our missions and how much it will bless our lives forever.  Here are some favortie quotes/thoughts from him:

We are the chosen dispensation.  Prophets of old testified of this day and how much we will change the world.  Their missionary efforts were partly unsuccessful, but they had hope and kept going because they knew one day our missionary efforts would be successful.  This is the last dispensation of missionary work, we will finish delivering the message to "every nation, kindred and tongue"

There is no other religious organization that does what we do.  We go out and spread the word of the gospel, which some would consider a sacrifice.  We have support from all of our church, and people look up to the missionaries.  If the LDS church had an icon, it would be two missionaries walking.  We have so much support, and because of that we are so so blessed.

He shared a story about an old lady in her 70's that was a recent convert to the church.  A priesthood holder in her new ward was trying to help her ease into the ward, so he asked her a question in Sunday school one day.  "Who is the most perfect person you have ever known?"  He expected her to answer, The Savior, which would lead into his lesson.  But she replied, "The most perfect people I have ever known are the two missionaries who converted me into this church."  Amazing right?

We had a Q and A section where people had submitted questions earlier, here are a few.  These are his answers.

What is the most important thing Christ wants us to know?----That he told the truth.  Every thing he said, did, and prophesied, happened. 

What is the best advice you ever recieved?---Go on a mission, Get married under the right time, circumstances, and carefully choose; and Get as much education as possible.

What is the comparison of being a missionary and being a General Authority?-----Nothing really! I am an Apostle, you are an apostle.  I am a Missionary, and you are a missionary.  I have a divine calling, and so do you.  (notice the difference in the capital letters) All I do all day everyday, is try to spread the gospel, and so do you.  I don't have any money, and neither do you! (haha).  We are both witnesses sent with a message. 

The best thing was how much love he had for us missionaries.  He talked so much about how the whole church prays for us, and how we have a divine responsibility.  We are called of the Lord to do a special work.  Man I loved every second of the hour and 20 minutes he spoke to us.  The spirit was so strong when He walked in, and we noticed there were no teleprompters, he came and spoke by the spirit.  Everyone was in tears.  We truly felt the love and the spirit that he brought.  I am so grateful to be here as a missionary.  An elder in another district asked me yesterday why i went on a mission, and then said he is impressed by women who go because it is a sacrifice.  But I don't look at it as a sacrifice, I feel so lucky to be here and feel of God's love for me, and every person on earth.  I love you all, and I can feel your prayers, I appreciate it more than you will ever know. 

Love, Cecpta DeMille

Week 1 update

ok so there are 2 new branches here of russians.  3 elders in my district are going to Nepper, so they will be my traveling buddies.  the girls i met going to my mission have been here for 8 weeks and leave in 3.  our schedule here is insane, but we are getting used to it.  we had an amazing devitional last night by Bro Claudio Zivic of the 70 and supposedly it will be Apostles here on out (hopefully!) we sang in the choir and its really cool.  thanks for everyone's emails by the way and letters!! i was so lucky, i have gotten mail everyday here.  please keep it up, you all are awesome!! i love everyone here.  i talk to everyone i see, i love everyone in our zone and especially the 2 new branches.  there is one kid in my district named Elder Lyons, he brings so much joy to my days in the most awkward way possible.  hopefully i can send a picture of him soon to illistrate the great son of God he is hahaha.  russian is....difficult.  we have pretend "investigators" and we have already taught him 4 lessons.  he is actually a teacher here but we're not supposed to know that.  sundays and tuesdays and wednesdays are by far my favorite days.  Wednesdays are cool to see all the missionaries come in, and it's P-day.  tuesday's schedule is just awesome, ending in a devotional.  sundays are just wonderful in every way.  our zone gives talks in all russian, and they announce the speakers when sacrament meeting starts, so everyone has to prepare a talk everyweek.  i will die if they call on me on sunday, so let's hope they don't.  i wish i could call and speak to you in russian or something, because i will tell you how a few words sound but the letters are all different, and that's what is really frustrating.  i can't even read my own name tag!! me and sister lewis have lots and lots of goals so we are always busy.  by the time we are out of the MTC we want to: have read the BOM in English, and the Kniga Mormona (that's how it's pronounced) in russian.  we want to have read all of preach my gospel.  we read the white handbook everyday.  i am reading Matthew right now before i start reading the living christ.  goals are excellent though.  just pleaseeee pray that i can catch on to russian fast.  it is so hard.  i learn so much everyday, but it's hard remembering everything.  but on a bright note, i can already say plenty of greetings, give a prayer, bear a simple testimony, and read a little bit.  there is this thing called TALL (technology assisted language learning) and it is amazing.  you hear natives say words, then learn the letters, record yourself speaking it, and take tests about them all.  it is such a great help.  before i forget there is something i want you guys to watch.

go to lds.org.  go to menu, youth, videos, and watch the ukraine temple celebration.  my zone leaders showed it to me and i tried really hard not to cry the whole time. these are my people! and most of the time they are speaking russian.  it is only 6 minutes, and it is incredible.  let me know what you think.

sister lewis and i are best friends already.  she is not normally someone i would associate with (she likes bug collecting and plants) but i learn so much from her everyday and she always brings my spirits up when i'm down.  the other 2 sisters we came with are also amazing and i love all of the girls i room with.  i see so many people here that i know.  3 friends from USU, McKay Lindsey, i haven't found elder austin yet, becca ricks, and a few others.  i love it it's so fun.  i have grown so much this past week.  i have been stretched beyond what i thought i could do, i learn so much from my district and people around me, the spirit here is incredible.  one of my highlights of this last week was: i ran into this cute elder and he had an accent and i asked him where he was from and he said malaysia. i made a funny squeaky sound and said my best friend was serving there and long story short, lisa was serving in his branch!!!!!!!!! small, small world.  man i love it.  there is this elder named elder brinton in the other district going to yekaterinburg, russia, and i try really hard not to flirt with him. he is great.    i wish i could tell you more, but i will try to write another letter soon.  thank you everyone again for the emails and letters.  it brightens my day.  i loved all the stories about kate and dance haha tell the kids hi and i love them.  i love you all!!!!!!!!!!  this place is great, just keep me in your prayers i'm trying to work so hard.  tell megan to write me or something, i dont have time to email everyone back.  i'm gonna send a copy of my schedule too so you guys can see what my day is like.  thanks again for everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!      dasvedanya (goodbye)

cectpa demille