Life at the MTC

Firstly, if you are not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and you ever have questions or don't understand a term I use, check out mormon.org, lds.org, or ask a member of my family. Thanks!

So I'm finally getting used to buhay ng sa MTC (life at the MTC). The schedule is exhausting at times: awake by 5AM, three hour class blocks three times a day, and only a few short breaks. But, I'm learning to love it. The language is really hard. This week we started learning about grammar structure and it was just plain tough. Tagalog is so backwards sometimes. At times I get stressed out because I feel like I should be learning more because the class moves so fast, but then I realize I've learned the equivalent of nearly six weeks of material in two weeks. I just have to be patient with myself.

Teaching is going well. My kasama and I are now teaching two investigators and one less-active, all in Tagalog. The first few lessons I would write a detailed script and read it word by word. Now, all we take into our lessons are our scriptures. Mixing Tagalog and English, Taglish, I can usually teach just fine. When those we teach talk to fast or use a word I don't understand, we just work it out. I've gotten really good at the phrases "Will you please repeat that?" and "What does that word mean?" and "I don't understand". It's a huge challenge learning such a complicated language in such a short amount of time, but the work I'm doing is so rewarding.

Here we are split up into three batches, new batch, mid-batch, and senior batch. On Wednesday morning the senior batch left and we became the mid-batch. Pretty crazy, I don't feel like I'm ready to be the person who answers other's questions. This morning we were in charge of welcoming the new batch, 86 Phillipino natives, 9 Cambodians, 2 Samoans, 1 Fijian, 1 Togan and 3 Americans! Two elders from Arizona and a Sister Valerie Morgan from Utah. We actually talked a lot on Facebook before she got here, so it was so fun to see and meet her! I was in charge of explaining (in Tagalog) what each person needed to have before they entered the MTC. It was easy, until they talked back...but I figured it out. I'm excited to get to know them and help them around the MTC. 

So I've become good friends with the head of the kitchen, Brother Garcia. He's 24 years old and has tons of English knock-knock jokes to share. He found out I'm a vegetarian and he has cooked me a meal himself every day this week. We're best friends now. So, I'm not nearly as hungry as I was last week. I'm thankful for his attentiveness and kindness.

I'm so thankful to be here. I love the work I'm doing, even when it's hard. The testimony I am gaining of our Savior, Jesus Christ is something that I will treasure for all my life. I am so thankful for all of my friends, family, teachers, and leaders who have supported me and helped me get to where I am right now. Alam ko po na totoo po ang ni ebanghelyo ni Jesucristo (I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is the truth). Nagpapasalamat po kami para sa pamilya 'nyo. (I'm so thankful for my family).

Trust in our Heavenly Father. He knows you and he loves you. Until next week,

Sister Cork