letter#1


My companion is Sister Snow and she is from St. George. Actually, my whole district is from Utah? Most of us are going to WV but 4 elders are going to Atlanta, GA. We'll be leaving around July 16.

My mailing address in MTC is:
Sister Ellie Emiko Isobe
JULY 15 WV-CHAR
2009 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84602
and my email is ellie.isobe@myldsmail.net

Wednesday, we had orientation with all the new missionaries. We also did role playing/group mock lessons with MTC who are converts. It was kind of crazy but we learned good stuff. It's so insightful!
Everyone here is so respectfully and happy and friendly! I love it because we're all here for the same reason and we want to! I know it sounds crazy but I really just want to go out in to the field already! I know I'm not ready yet but I'm just glad I'm not learning a language and staying here for 6 weeks! I've seen a bunch of people from Timpanogos and BYUH. I saw Sister Laurie Robertson so that was really exciting!

We seriously have no time to sit and take a break! We're always in class, "studying" or in cafeteria (the food is pretty good but still typical cafeteria food sometimes but I love all the options). July 4 was a different schedule. We had this cool devotional where we got to watch 17 Miracles. It's so good! So funny and so spiritual at the same time! We also sang so many hymns! We sang like 4 opening songs! Tiring but also awesome to hear so many young, strong voices singing with their spirits! There was an awesome special musical number of a flute accompanied by piano; they started out all nice and calm then jumped into ragtime and upbeat marching. Everyone was laughing!

We had some assigned gym time today which was fantastic because my lower back is killing me from sitting all day! It's worse than carrying a huge backpack around school! Anyway, it's great they set aside time for us to get some exercise. I ran around the track a little (I knowI hate running) and did some weight lifting. It was so good!

It's beautiful here. Not just the scenery and whatnot but the spirit. The spirit is so beautiful. All the people here are so wonderful. Now I know what Elder Strom Clark meant when he told his mom "why don't I just live here??"

I have an amazing district. We are all already so close to each other. We goof off and have fun but we can also be serious and spiritual. After all, you're supposed to have fun on your mission right? One of the elders in my district (from Lehi) said his bishop told an overly-obedient missionary that it's okay to break a rule or two because this shouldn't be a chore. So if anything happens, it wasn't my fault. o.0

July 5, we got our first actual lesson under our belt. Each companionship got to go knock on a classroom door and teach an investigator (who was really our teacher). The goal was to commit to baptism when they felt they are ready. It went pretty well. I have a bad habit of zoning out for literally a second then it's clearly my turn to speak and I'm like "uhh...well~" and I go off on something. Maybe that's how I's supposed to learn to rely on the Spirit.

Okay this is getting kinda crazy. Well all in all this experience is HUMBLING. Shows you your weakness. Ether 12:27 right?

Love you all!
Sister Isobe