Week 2!

Hello MY PEOPLE :)

TODAY IS A GREAT DAY IN THE KINGDOM. I'm so glad it's P-day! My district has started calling it rejuvenation day. It seriously keeps me going sometimes! It's the BEST. AND besides emailing you guys, I get clean laundry... the little things in life. ahhhh.

ANYWAYS. I have officially been in the CCM (MTC in Spanish) for 15 days! WOO. Time is the funniest thing to me.. I've been thinking about it a lot. It seems honestly like yesterday I was walking around on my first day here, but at the same time it seriously has felt like an eternity since I have seen you all. It's the weirdest thing to me. Hopefully this email sense. It's hard to organize a week like I've had into one email. But I'll definitely do my best. 

RANDOM THINGS AND FACTS AND HAPPENINGS FROM THIS WEEK:

-I don't know how much I told you about my companion but her name is Hermana Jackman. She went to Lehi, and we seriously get along so well! It's the best. I have learned so much from her these past two weeks, and I love learning and growing with her, and struggling with her, and supporting each other. She is great. Her family owns Roxberry which is super cool. There are a total of 4 Sisters in my district. The other two are Hermana Johnson who is from Shelly, Idaho. She rocks and is better than all of us at Spanish, but she is great. Super super sweet. Both Hermana Jackman and Johnson are going to my same mission. Last week I told you about Hermana Allphin.. she is going to Calgary - Spanish speaking. She is from Highland and went to Lone Peak, but graduated in 2014. SHE IS SO SWEET. LOVE HER. **Family that is in Calgary, PLEASE LOOK OUT FOR HER** I love her. She is super super sweet

-So every morning we have gym at 6:40 am.. It's the BEST way to start my day off and I've loved being able to run by myself and think and practice lessons or speak Spanish to myself, or just think. It's great. So one day last week after gym we were heading straight to breakfast, and we were in line waiting for food, and Hermana Johnson kind of bumped me from behind and I was like "what the..?" and I turned around and she was falling toward me.. GHOST WHITE. She totally passed out. It was so crazy. We laid her down quickly, and she immediately woke up again. We think she was just a little dehydrated and the smell of donuts right after workout got to her.. but she's good now! So that was an adventure. She hasn't passed out since, but we are always keeping an eye on her, especially when donuts are around... haha.

-FUNNY THING* So on Sunday's before any of our meetings, all of the sisters are able to go watch Music and the Spoken Word, and then we have relief society right after. There is a big auditorium at the MTC that we have all of our devotionals and everything.. they have a big podium and two big screens.. so we were in there watching, and all the sudden something swooped in front of one of the screens.. and then it happened again a few seconds later... AND IT WAS A BAT. A BAT got into the MTC and was flying around and all the sisters were trying to be reverent but it was FREAKY. AH. So nasty. And then it started swooping around close to the audience... it was so scary. GROSS. It ended up crawling into a little crack.. I don't know what happened to the little thing, but yeah. It was an adventure for sure. 

-I was able to go to MTC choir and its the BEST THING EVER. Holy. Brother Eggott is the conductor. I honestly love that man. He's influenced me in so many ways. I'm SO grateful for singing and it reminded me of last April - general conference. That was the coolest experience. Love brother Eggott. Every Sunday and Tuesday in the MTC we have a devotional at night, and on Tuesday ELDER QUENTIN L COOK came! IT WAS SO COOL. And me and the sisters in my district sang in the choir. We sang Praise to the Man in the most beautiful arrangement. It was the best. The spirit was so so strong. He talked about missionary's, and faith and some amazing things that honestly felt were exactly directed at me. Ah.. it was great. He bore his testimony at the end.. and the spirit was THICK in that room. One quote that I wrote down from him that I LOVED.. "...from experiences too sacred to share, I know the Lord's voice". It was such a special experience. Grandpa.. he reminded me a lot of you. He would be talking about something, and then want to change subject, he would say "well..." just like you. It was great.

-INVESTIGATORS: This week we have kicked it up a notch on lessons. On Monday Hermana Jackman and I taught 5 lessons.. and yes.. all in Spanish. I'm getting better at teaching.. but it is still SO HARD. Goodness. Every day we teach at least 2 lessons, but some days, like Monday's we teach a lot. 

-My branch president: I think I talked about him last week a little bit. Honestly that seems like 6 years ago, so I don't remember what I told you, but he is seriously the coolest ever. He has told us stories this week about his life. He was a mission president in Madrid, and he has the coolest stories. One of his missionaries was President Monson's grandson... so that's unreal. Some other facts about him.. He is close and personal friends with President Monson, he talks to him monthly at least. He has given President Uchtdorf a blessing of health, his mission president was Stephen Covey..and the list goes on. But he seriously is super sweet. His laugh is hysterical. He's great.

-Last thing, I walked out of class this week at night, and I turned the corner and my friend SETH MCGINN was standing right there. I literally BURST into tears. It was so good to see him, and I honestly was SO happy. Such a tender mercy. He works at the MTC and I was so glad to see him. It was strange not to hug him, but goodness, he is such a good friend. Grateful for that little moment a few nights ago.

SOME THINGS I LEARNED THIS WEEK:

-I learned that even after telling people over and over again how to pronounce my name.. people still can't seem to get it. But that's okay. And they can't spell it either.. haha but it's okay because I'm glad I'm an Ehlert. 

-I talked about the MTC gym a little earlier... I'm so grateful for the chance to workout for a little bit everyday, but if gyms in the real world aren't awkward and bad enough, the MTC gym is like awkwardness on steroids. All the girls are in "modest gym clothes" and there is like a really awkward interaction with the Elder and Sisters.. and yeah. It's just bad. But great at the same time.. haha. I just end up laughing when I look around because it's so weird. 

-So I guess the Smithsonian has a magazine? And Brother Eggott was actually talking about it, but I guess this week they published an article about the most influential people in the United States since ever, and Joseph Smith was NUMBER ONE, and then Brigham Young was NUMBER THREE. That's awesome to me. A 14 year old boy in the year 1820 would have never been able to start a church and be that big of an impact unless that church was true. I'm so grateful for the prophet Joseph Smith. 

-I learned a lot about Joseph Smith this week, and the Book of Mormon. My knowledge and testimony grows so much every day, and I can't believe there is still room to grow.

-Even though the MTC is super hard still, it's getting better, not because the things that we are doing are any different than last week, but the Lord is changing my capacity and strength to handle this hard thing better. Does that make sense? At the MTC there is rules and a schedule, but a lot of time it's up to the missionary if they are going to actually stay on schedule because no one is following you around making sure that you are doing those things. I was wondering why it was like that this week, and praying about it, and I thought the MTC is kind of like a child learning to walk. The Lord is letting me grow muscles and learn to put one foot in front of the other, but if he is there the whole time for me, and when I fall he quickly is helping me up. If he were to just carry me around everywhere I would never grow the muscles necessary to walk or eventually run. I think the analogy works for life in general too. Maybe it's simple but it really helped me out this week, to know that the Lord is letting me grow my muscles by myself. 

-When I came into the MTC I was frustrated and discouraged with myself because I wasn't good at Spanish, and I really was a terrible teacher. I have known these truths and doctrines my entire life, but I have never really had to sit and explain them to someone and put the feelings in my heart into words. So I'm learning to do that. I'm becoming better at expressing myself and teaching, and I have seen myself grow so much over the past week. HOWEVER, I would never have been able to be a good teacher, or even learn how to be a good teacher if it weren't for Christ, and my faith in him. I learned this week that Christ works depending on our faith. I quote I heard this week from President Hinkley.. "Tell the missionaries that if they have more faith, they will have more success". 

-My biggest goal this week was to have faith like I have never had before. My teacher Hermana Tuft told me this week that faith is the most misunderstood principle among members of our church.. and I honestly think that is so true. I didn't truly understand what faith was until this week. She taught me this week I can study faith my entire life, and never learn everything about it. I hope to be able to do that. I learned when I get discouraged that means that I am not having enough faith, I'm doubting the Lord and his ability to help me, and that I am focusing too much on myself. I hope this is making sense to you all.

The church is so true you guys. Wow.. I am amazed everyday that I am a missionary for this great work. It's hard.. SO HARD.. but getting better because my increase of faith in the Lord. He is my strength. I owe everything to Him. I have drawn closer to Him this week. He is real, and He knows me. He knows you. I can't wait until the day when I see Him again. I have felt his love and spirit this week in so much abundance it overwhelms me. Christ is our Brother. 

WOW.. this email is SUPER LONG. Sorry. I hope you have the best week EVER. 

I love you ALL. You're in my prayers. 

Love from the MTC,

xoxoxoxo

Hermana Ehlert

ps.. A song that has been going through my head ALL WEEK.. is "Lead, Kindly Light".. ".. the night is dark and I am far from home".. is sometimes how I feel, but He will lead me on. The refiners fire is real. He hasn't taken His eyes off us one time.

*no makeup and wet hair before bed* But can we just appreciate Hermana Allpines great style? I love that Hermana. 

 Me and my Companion and SETH! It made my life!