Tuesday, January 26, 2016

HELLO FROM THE MTC!

FAMILY!

Wow. My first mission email. My first week in the MTC! Not even sure where to start! But, I am happy to be here, that's for sure. 

So, first off, after mom dropped me off at the airport super early, everything was fine there and I bought a bagel and was standing at the gate lookin' like am missionary in my long skirt and shoulder bag. I saw a girl nearby that I thought kind of looked like a missionary too and the spirit was like TALK TO HER but I was all, "Dude, I only got 4 hours of sleep and I'm super tired and I just don't want to." But, the whole time I kept looking over at her and kept wondering if she was also a missionary. Then, on the plane, I saw another girl across the isle from me dressed like a Sister, too, and reading the Book of Mormon and I was like, "Yup, missionary." But, again, I was too selfish to say anything and fell asleep instead... (I later saw her at the MTC)  Ha, good start, eh? :) I was tired... Keep the first girl I saw in your head, though, it's important.

Blanca and her husband picked me up from the SLC airport and they took me to lunch at Zupas (best place ever!) and it was great to see them! I appreciated them doing that for me! They drove me to Provo and it was weird to be in Utah in a new light, as a missionary. I entered the gates and who is the first person I see at the curb greeting...?? ELDER WILDING! No, not the Texas Wildings. :) My great friend Mary Kate from BYUI's brother! I know him from school and we were friends and such and I was hoping I'd run into him and BAM! There he is! He's going to Mongolia! I shook his hand and then I was on my merry way, being told to go this way and that way with all the new missionaries. I got my tag and I felt AMAZING! I finally had the tag! My name, Sister Eldridge, is on the familiar black tag that says The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Wow! What a feeling! I was ushered to and fro and honestly had no idea what was even going on. The MTC is a small campus and for some reason I imagined it as one building, haha. Not sure why! But, the spirit is mega strong here. It reminds me so much of  BYU-I. Similar buildings and similar faces. It felt like coming home when I came here. :) 

I dropped off my stuff in my residence (which is basically a college dorm. With a community bathroom. Hahahhh.), and before I knew it I was in my first MTC class. My teachers, Brother Bennett and Sister Thompson, are incredible. They teach with such love and awesomeness. Because they're awesome. I met my companion! And...guess what? She was the girl at the airport that I said I didn't talk to! Whaaat! Sister McClullen is from Allen, Texas! Right next door. And she went to BYU-I for 7 semesters! And so she's an "older" Sister like I am (23). We are kindred spirits. We get along so amazingly. I love talking to her about BYU-I,  too, and having that, and Texas, in common. We are an incredible companionship, I must say. I am super blessed to have such an incredible companion right off the bat. We are both going to Federal Way. We both came out on a mission for similar reasons, too. Basically, because God told us to. :) But, we are finding that we are VERY glad we came. I know I am. Even though I was sick for the first 4 days, or so. It was miserable! But, I'm better now. 

The MTC, as you've all heard, follows a very strict schedule. But, since I'm used to that sort of thing, I felt right at home having every second of my day planned out. It's super awesome to me, but a lot struggle with it. Especially the waking up at 6:30 part. But, I'm fine with it all. We are in classes most of the day and have a LOT of time for personal and companionship study. So, yeah. All day every day is the gospel and it rocks. Well, except for right now, because it's P-day, but hey, still always living the gospel anyway. :) Oh and  your first day here you have a pink dot on your nametag telling everyone you're new. I can't tell you how many times I heard, "Welcome to the MTC!" that day. So. Many. Times. Hahaha.

Here at the MTC we are split into districts, which is basically the people we have class with. I LOVE my district! The sisters that we live with are INCREDIBLE and we all meshed so well. It's like we've known each other for years but it's only been not even a week together. The Elders are rockstars. They work hard and have such strong testimonies. There's an Elder in my district from Louisville, too. More Texas!! All us in are district are going to Federal Way, Las Vegas, Irvine, CA, and San Diego. COOL THING, the other sisters in the district are all going to Vegas, exactly where I just lived. I told  them to look out  for the sisters I went on splits with and to tell them I say hi if they meet them. So cool I was just living in some of their areas. :) I seriously love my district so much! I know we'll all keep in touch. Or, we better! When we first get here, the "senior district", or the missionaries that have already been here a week and are about to head out to the field, take care of us noobies. So there's district leaders and zone leaders, and also STLs, or Sister Training Leaders, who are over the new sisters. Our STL's were SO AMAZING! They left for the field this morning and it makes me sad, but I know they will do great things. One of them is going to the Pocatello mission and part of that mission is the BYU-I campus so I told her to take care of it for me. :) One of the senior district Elders, Elder Anderson, went to BYU-I  for a semester and was in saxophone ensemble, so he knew ALL MY SAXOPHONE FRIENDS! Jarom, Matt, Breegan... :) Ugh, it made me SO HAPPY! Love all the connections here. 

So we met with the Branch president, who is the bishop of our ward while we are here, on Thursday night. That's when they extend callings and such and tell who the new districe/zone/STLs are going to be when the seniors leave. Well, guess who the new Sister Training Leaders are...? Yeah... Me and Sister McClullen! Woah! I couldn't believe it! When I met with one of the branch presidency members, he goes, "You're the wise one, aren't you?" haha, because I'm the oldest sister in the entire district and a college graduate. It is a big responsibility to be an STL, but me and Sis McClullen are really excited! New sisters come tomorrow!!! 

So, teaching investigators was really confusing and hard at first, even though I thought I was going to nail it because I have an education degree...haha... but what we've learned is that you just have to let go and let God. The spirit is the teacher. We were humbled pretty quickly. We are teaching two investigators right now, Jessy and Lisa, in the Training Resource Center here. They are so wonderful! Jessy is the sweetest person I have ever met and loves the missionaries. Lisa is a quiet spirit, but so kind. She is learning ASL and I told Sis McClullen it would be SO COOL to greet her in sign language in our next lesson. If only we knew how! We are going to try to find people that know how and learn a few things for her!! I wish Elizabeth was here, she could show us in five seconds how to do it! I only know how to say two  things in sign language: "thank you", and "bacon."  HAHA. I'll walk in and say "bacon"....just kidding.... 

It's so surreal all the time to look down to my left and see that black tag. Is this real? Am I REALLY a missionary? Wowwww... It's incredible how God's work cannot be frustrated. He wanted me out here, and he got me out here. We'll see why. Oh, the other night we had a WORLDWIDE Missionary Training session from the first presidency and the missionary presidency and it was incredible. The theme is "Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts" Really think about that last part! We were told how and why we do certain things in missionary work and new ways to ask for investigators through members. For example, instead of asking "Do you have any referrals?" we are asked to say, "Do you know anyone who....just had a baby? ...just moved? ...just had a huge life change?" etc etc. It's a great way to find new people and those are the type of people with open hearts! So cool! 

I'm just learning and growing so much. For the longest time, I thought I had learned all I could about life and that nothing could take me by surprise or be hard anymore because I had done hard already... Hahahah. I'm funny. Life is about continually becoming and growing. So, of course harder is always coming. We can handle a little, then a lot, and then we grow even more after that. This has been hard, I've been tired, but we all help each other out and support each other. And pray a lot. 

I got my camera, but, there's no way for me to connect the camera to the computer... I didn't get that cord from ya, Dad! Only a charger! So might have to get a new camera. Hopefully will be able to soon! Cuz we went to walk the temple grounds yesterday and took so bomb pictures I wanted to show you. :( Soon! Maybe!  We get to go to the temple today, too, for P-Day, and do a session. I am SOOOO STOKED! It's going to be great. I love that place. (It's also a little odd having already been endowed for a year/one month and having been a temple worker when everyone else is newly endowed! ;) )


Well, fam, let me tell ya...
It's all about them. It's about the investigators. It's about God's children and their salvation. This is not my work. This is the Lord's work. It's not me that's going to convert. It's the spirit. Time to forget myself. 

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!

Take care, all. 
Love, Sister Eldridge

TELL EVERYONE TO WRITE ME THROUGH dearelder.com

 Sister Juliann Eldridge
FEB02 WA-FDW
2005 N 900 E Unit 108
Provo, UT 84602



Saturday, January 23, 2016

I'm alive!

Hey, family! 

Oh, my gosh. It's so amazing to get to write! I've been wanting to since I got here. Right now I only have a brief second to write, so I haven't read any of ya'lls letters yet, if any. My P-Day is Tuesday when I will write for real.

I am having an AMAZING experience so far. The MTC is great, it reminds me a lot of BYU-I, which makes me happy. Coming here felt like coming home. I'm back in my element of working hard around those of similar faiths. 

Crazy story real quick - My companion, Sis McClellen, is from ALLEN! We were on the same flight to the MTC. I actually saw her at the airport and got the prompting to talk to her, but ignored it. Lame of me! She is also going to Federal Way. We are kindred spirits and exactly alike. Love her!

Anyway, all is well. Talk on Tuesday! 

Love,
Sister Eldridge