Consecration Week

Rakas ystäviä! (I think that means "friends" but there are so many ways to pluralize words so I'm not positive)

I have 12 days left in the MTC, and Consecration Week is here! That means that for the next week, we are supposed to speak nothing but Finnish to prep us for the field, and let me tell you, it ain't no picnic. Thank goodness we are all in the same boat, or it would be torture. The worst part is that we are in a zone with the Hungarians and new Albanians, so we need to translate a lot. We've been teaching some pretty good lessons, and have finally had a chance to practice teaching about the Word of Wisdom. Today we'll be teaching the Law of Chastity for the first time, so thank heavens for practice.

My mom pointed out that I am not being exceptionally detailed about life at the MTC, and she kindly provided me with a list of things to talk about, so I'm pretty much just going to answer her questions today.

Cafeteria food: There is one cafeteria, and it is huge. Meal times are staggered depending on what zone you are in, so the lines usually aren't too long. We have usually about 5 options every meal, and it's normal stuff like pasta, chicken, salad, wraps, burgers, etc.  They are really good about giving us variety, and considering how many people they feed, it's decent quality stuff and it tastes pretty good. The only problem with it is that it messes up your digestive system big time. I won't go into detail about that, but I definitely can't wait for a real home-cooked meal that doesn't make me feel bloated. We pretty much just sit together as a zone for meals. I usually try to sit with the other Finns so we can practice Finnish when we eat, and that's going to be especially important this week since we can't speak English unless absolutely necessary.

We wake up every day at 6:30. On Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, we have class starting at 7:45, where we learn grammar, Preach My Gospel, and teach lessons. Throughout the day, we have personal and language study, a bunch of additional study to prepare for lessons and work on whatever we want, gym, lunch, dinner, more class, and so on. On Tuesday nights, we have devotionals and a service project, where we take down chairs and the podium in the gym that we use for devotionals. Wednesday is our P-day. We go to the temple, e-mail, do laundry, and write letters, and in the evening we have class again. Friday, class starts later and we have study time in the morning.

My district in front of the temple.

Sunday is the best day of the week. We have study time, Music and the Spoken Word, Relief Society, Sacrament meeting, the Sunday walk to the temple, District meetings, a Devotional and service. Since Sisar Owen, Feil Nover, and I are Sister Training Leaders, we have Branch presidency in the morning and a leadership training meeting after Relief Society. We also have a training meeting on Tuesdays before service. At night, we are done with the day at 9:30 (usually). We are supposed to have personal devotional time at 10:15, where we do anything that brings us closer to the Lord. We are supposed to be in bed with lights out at 10:30, which honestly almost never happens just because there is so much to do before the day is over. But I am definitely way better than I was when I first got here. Probably because Feil Nover came and we had to be examples :)

Sisar Owen, Feil Nover (Sister Feil), and Me

When we hosted new missionaries last week and the week before, we met the new missionaries at the curb when they pulled up and made sure their

goodbyes didn't take too long. We helped them with their luggage and escorted them around to check in, took them to their room, then to get their study materials at the bookstore, then to the classroom. It was so much fun to see their excitement and remember what it was like for me to come. The MTC is like a whole different world! Some people jokingly call it Spirit Prison: you feel the spirit all the time, but you can't leave!

Well, I'm pretty much out of email time. This week wasn't too exciting, so I'm glad Mom gave me some things to talk about. Next week I will try to remember to talk about how they teach us the language.

I love you all and am so grateful for you prayers. Heaven knows I need as much help as I can get. The Lord is so good and so ready to bless us if we just ask Him. That's what I'll need to remember as I go into Consecration Week!

Rakaudella, 

Sisar Hillebrant

Together with some of the other sisters in our branch.

It is not all hard work.