Revelation through Cake
Hallå min familj och vänner! Hur går det med du?
Life in the MTC continues. This past week has presented some interesting challenges. I caught the cold at the MTC, and my insulin decided to start going bad- meaning it still worked, but only when it wanted to. Between that and the MTC food, my blood-sugar has been fun- fun enough for me to write in my planner "Revelation through Cake." I'm pretty sure I meant "Revelation through Church," however, the concept of good food is so foreign at this point, and essentially miraculous, so maybe i was being smarter than I thought when I wrote that. Not that I think I'll actually be receiving revelation anytime soon by eating cake. Oh well, only two more weeks of MTC food, and then I'm off to eat potatoes and pickled herring for 18 months! Yum!
Life outside of food and blood-sugar has been great. Syster Stewart and I are still having fun walking the MTC singing Disney songs. The new dutchies thought we were kidding when we told them they'd hear us coming- they now have to admit they were wrong. We have fun as a district and zone. What started as a rivalry with the Norwegians has calmed down a lot now. We still tease each other mercilessly, but we're all amazing friends now. We still enjoy our Eldste Edwards-isms. He says and does the most interesting things. Apparently cream cheese is the nastiest thing he's ever eaten, but the MTC did an okay job with fish and chips- he looked like a kid at christmas when he sat down with two plates, and didn't talk to any of us until both plates were clear. Oh, and he was about a tenth of a second away from a spit-take the other day when I did my impression of Wallace and Gromit- "Cheese, Gromit!"
All of the Sisters are great; we have Disney parties in the showers, and eat ridiculous amounts of food- seriously, I have an entire shelf on my desk which is just food. How I'll finish it before leaving the MTC, I don't know, but I'm not gonna let that go to waste anytime soon.
So, Syster Stewart and I had a rather unexpectedly awesome experience with one of our investigators, Alex, last week. We've felt a lot like we've been struggling to get through to him in the last few lessons. So we planned this lesson less to teach a new doctrine, and more to gauge what he's learned, what he's hoping to gain by continuing to meet with the missionaries, and how we can help him build a testimony of the gospel through questions. We were expecting a lesson a lot like the others, with a lot of "Um's" and "Ja vet inte's." However, we were only a few minutes into the lesson when we started feeling the spirit so strongly as he bore testimony of the things he had learned with us. At the end of the lesson, we asked him why he hadn't decided to be baptized, and were shocked when he answered, "Because you haven't asked me!" Oops! However, it was a good reminder on our parts that even if we're not always on top of what's going on, the Lord is, and He can turn a situation into something far better than we ever had planned.
One of my favorite words that I've learned på svenska is 'omvändelse'. It literally means 'an about turn' or 'to turn around,' but in a gospel context, it means both "to repent" and "to be converted." I'm not sure if I'm using the verb form right there, but no matter how you use it, it means the same. I've been thinking about that a lot lately, and honestly, I kind of wish it worked the same way in English. Atonement literally means "an at one-ness" with the Lord. As we repent we become more in sync, or at one, with the Lord. I think it's an interesting concept, that our conversion, and the degree to which choose to repent are in many ways the same thing- choosing to put behind you old wrongs, and to turn back to the Lord. Anyways.
Oh, another interesting tidbit- both Brother Bush and Brother Jorgenson (two of my teachers) were Adam Webster's mission companions. It's a small world. And admittedly, it was a little strange to have Brother Jorgenson explain he's been to the Webster's new house and old house, and to figure out that means he's seen my house. It's a VERY small world.
One last note- thank you so much to my beautiful soul sister, Miss Oakleigh Yost. I got her belatedly birthday present yesterday, and I was a VERY happy missionary! I'm now the proud owner of my own sonic screwdriver, some doctor who pins, and doctor who post-its. Dalek post-its will soon be invading the MTC. :D
this is said happy missionary!
Anyways, I love you all, I miss you, and pray for you! I love getting letters from everyone and hearing how things are going with y'all (it's amazing how using that word på svenska makes me want to use it more på engelska).
Med kärlek,
Syster Maxwell
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