Sister Bailey Guthrie

8/16/16

HELLO

I'm alive and well. I don't have too much time to email today, but my prep day while i'm here will be Tuesdays. Once I get to Little Rock my day to email will change to Mondays. Anyways, the MTC is NUTS (in a good way). This has been the best, longest, most difficult, most amazing, most spiritual, most fun week of my life. I was all calm and collected until the moment I was given my name tag that says "SISTER GUTHRIE" above "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints". I teared up as I realized that I'm a missionary. It's nothing like I imaged it would be, BUT its also a thousand times better than I ever could have imagined. My companion is Sister Green. She's from CA but she went to BYUI. She's serving in Little Rock too! We probably have too much in common and get along too well. Our district is amazing. The Elders keep us laughing and keep us on our toes. I love my people. I was thinking earlier in the week that when I email home I don't want to dwell on the tough parts of all of this. Sitting here right now 1. I cant even remember the parts of this week that made me feel like this was too much to handle 2. The bad is temporary, ALWAYS and 3. In MTC (and the rest of my mission probably) the good outweighs the bad in a big way. I've learned so much this week. I've already learned things about myself, the gospel, my savior, and life that I don't think I could have learned anywhere else. Sister Green and I were having a tough Saturday night. We were frustrated about a lesson that didn't go well and struggling to feel confident in our ability to live up to our calling as missionaries. We prayed together (hard) and may have shed a few tears. The next morning we were called to be the Sister Training Leaders of our zone. Instead of feeling even more overwhelmed, we both knew without a doubt that this was the answer to our prayers. We are going to be able to serve the new sister missionaries that come into the MTC for the next two weeks (until we leave for Arkansas) by welcoming them, orienting them, and being there for them in times of need (just like our STL did for us). Elder Bednar gave a talk to the missionaries a few years ago titled "Character of Christ" in which he encourages us to look outward, serve, and be more like Christ. He says something along the lines of "lose yourself.. in doing so you will find yourself". This morning my zone met to go to the temple at 5:13 am (lol). It was pitch black and as we walked towards the temple Sister Green and I had a cool thought. When we aren't focused on the temple and following that light in the distance, we start to lose our way a little bit. When we have our sights set on what is most important, its a straight shot. I wish I could tell you all every detail of this week and how my testimony has grown more in 6 days than it has in my entire life. Missions are underrated. People say that missions are amazing and the best time of their life but that really doesn't even scratch the surface.

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong among them." Ether 12:27

".. how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the father, but by me." John 14:5-6

Enos 1-19