WEEK 2: Kumusta!!! Week 2 in the MTC!!

Hello everyone!!! Another week has passed! Where does the time go? Here there is a saying that goes "a day feels like a week but the weeks feel like days" and I have never heard anything more true. So on Saturday after I emailed you all last week, we went to the Provo Temple which was awesome. Then we prepared for our lesson with our investigator Teresa. We taught her about the Restoration and about the Book of Mormon, which was kind of tricky because we didn't know many of the words that lesson required to know hahaha so basically we just have her read scriptures and tell us how she felt. It's hard because we want to share with her all of our knowledge about everything and we just don't have the Tagalog words to say back so all we could really say was "Mahal Diyos Kayo" a hundred times, which means God Loves YOU!!! and still she just sits there and is probably thinking we are crazy. But it was nice because since we didn't take notes in, we left room for the Spirit to guide us on what to (try to) say. So basically we just testified to her in our simple Tagalog testimonies. It was amazing to see that even though we had no idea what we were saying, she could feel the Spirit. I just love teaching her. The Spirit is so strong. I can't imagine how strong it will be in the Philippines when they are actually real investigators!!

Sunday was like the best day ever. It was our first Sunday and it was also fast Sunday. First we had a Missionary Conference in the morning. They had like 7 speakers and it was a powerful meeting! Seriously every meeting I walk out of here makes me want to be the best missionary ever. The MTC is really the best place ever. Every devotional and meeting is geared towards missionaries and is so applicable to my life everyday. I wish I could just tear out all my notes and send them to you all instead of writing this letter because it is THAT amazing here. I am obsessed with it. On Sunday we also had testimony meeting as a zone. In pure Tagalog. A big group is leaving to the Philippines this weekend and it was so inspiring to hear their testimonies. And it was an awesome feeling to actually understand a lot of what was said in the meeting! It is amazing to hear them all speak in pure Tagalog! Gives me some hope haha because right now it feels like a lost cause. Joke-lang. Kind of. It just gets really frustrating sometimes but then I have to remind myself that I have come a long ways and its only been a little over a week! That night we had Sunday Night Devotional and guess who spoke? The old Philippines MTC mission president!! So awesome. Basically he talked all about the Filipinos and it was the best thing ever. Afterwards, Sister Fonua and I went up and met them! We told them we are serving in the Philippines and they were so excited for us. Then, since we aren't allowed back in our rooms until 9:30 everyday, we all got to go to either a church movie or a talk or whatever they have for us. Our district chose to go to Character of Christ by Elder Bednar. Basically that talk opened up my whole world. I wish you could all hear it, but unfortunately I think it is a special devotional just for missionaries. Seriously amazing though, and we all were speechless afterwards. 

Basically Monday-Friday are the same so I apologize that it may get a little boring. Haha we are in class basically all day everyday so there really isn't anything new. But on Monday, we taught Teresa another lesson. This time we testified of the Book of Mormon and of the power of prayer. Somehow we got the words out to commit her to pray every day to know it is true so that is a miracle in itself! The Spirit was definitely working with her on that one. As I was testifying, the Spirit was so strong and she started crying! I'm pretty sure that was the best feeling ever. I have really learned these past few weeks that the more we rely on the Lord in everything we do, the more He really does blessed us. I have seen His hand in my life more than I ever have before, and as I really give it everything I've got, I know He makes up for the rest. It really is amazing. I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK. Even if my investigator is fake. Haha. Tuesday, we had a devotional in the Marriot Center. I even got to be part of the choir so that was awesome! The choir director is so funny so it is a good break from being in class all day. The choir director told us to keep coming to choir for the next few weeks because he has a surprise for us to practice for, so everyone is speculating we will sing in Conference or at a world wide broadcast or something. So basically I will be TV famous, no big deal. Joke-lang, just kidding but that would be awesome. He only said it to us Sisters so everyone is freaking out. That Devotional was super good though, Elder Evans from the Seventy spoke to us. It is awesome because they always share stories relating to missionary work and they are so inspiring I love it! They have really been focusing on our generation and how great we all are so its a confidence boost for sure. Haha his whole talk was on revelation from the past year since the age change and it was amazing to see how far we have come! After this fall, we will have 85,000 missionaries in the field! It is so exciting to be a part of something so great. Oh, and on Tuesday our investigator Teresa became our Teacher! Hahaha apparently that is the secret of the MTC. Your first investigator becomes your teacher. Her real name is Sister Osborn, and she is the best. She served in the Philippines San Pablo mission I believe so she has a lot of knowledge of basically everything. You can just tell she was an amazing missionary and she has taught me so much already. Not only has she taught me a ton of Tagalog, she also teaches us how to be better missionaries. It's awesome. Oh, last night we were allowed to teach a full lesson in English which basically felt like Christmas or something hahaha it was nice to not have to worry about the language and actually be able to express myself fully. It was just a practice though to each other but it was still fun. Want to hear a funny story? Okay good I knew you all wanted to. In one of our lessons I wanted to get Teresa to read the Book of Mormon so I asked her in Tagalog, and it is Aklat ni Mormon, but I accidentally said anak ni Mormon, and anak isn't book, its child. Hahaha so I asked her to read the child of Mormon. She just stared at me and pointed to the Book of Mormon and once I realized what I said, I just laughed and said "oppo," which means "yes." Hahaha

Basically the rest of the days have been pretty average, class, class, study, eat, study, GYM, class, eat, and more class. Haha but it is so so great. It's weird to get used to such a strict schedule and always having my kasama (companion) with me but I am so grateful I get along with her so well. We keep each other sane when we get super frustrated with the language. Everyone here stresses not to worry about the language and that it will come eventually, and even though it feels like it never will sometimes, I know it really is true. Guys THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!! I am obsessed with all things missionary and especially Filipino. Thank you all for being so amazing! I'm sorry I don't have much time to respond to your emails but I will try. You can also dear elder me from the computer and they print it off and give it to us that day so don't forget that :) Mail is golden here. You all keep me going!!!! This church is so true. It is a message of hope that everyone needs to hear. Hope that there is a God, knowing that our God loved us so much that He sent His son to die for us, that we might have a way to become perfected and return with Him! Isn't that the best thing ever? Ah I just love it here. And I love you all!!! Keep me updated with the real world. 

Mahal kita,

-Sister Reategui

PS- here are some pictures of our district. And yes, especially for my Plato's people, a picture of me wearing my crocs. :)