Hi everyone!
It's officially been three weeks.....which also means my brother Parker is finally here!!! I haven't seen him yet, but I'm sure I'll run into him sometime in the next few days. Things are good here - I don't know, there isn't much to say. Every week is pretty much the same, but Conference made this week a little different. It was quite extraordinary to be at the MTC when President Monson made the historic declaration that 18 year-old men and 19 year-old women can now serve missions. Right after he sat down, the entire auditorium was bustling for a few minutes during the choir number. The news doesn't affect me much at all; after all, I'm already here and Parker just got here today and most of my guy friends have already gone and most of my girl friends are already married. But it had been a hard week - I felt I had learned so much and progressed so much in the first two weeks, and so last week I felt like I wasn't going anywhere or getting any better. As President Monson spoke those words, words that I know came directly from our Father in Heaven, I was reminded at how much joy I feel in the privilege and opportunity I have to share the gospel. I was again reminded why I am here - I feel like that reminder comes at least once a day. I need it to; it would be hard to do everything I do without it.
But I am so grateful that the Lord gives us living prophets. As we've been learning how to teach the first lesson, which is all about the restoration of the gospel, we often tell investigators that one of the ways that we know God loves us is through prophets. I never really looked at it that way until this conference. I loved many of the talks focused on the fact that if we are truly converted, if we really love the Lord, we will change for him - we will do the things he wants us to do, we will become the people he wants us to become. I know that's the only way I will be able to be a successful missionary.
For Conference, we had to sit in the auditorium for EVERY SESSION. Classes were cancelled, so it was a nice break, but it was still a long weekend. I loved President Uchtdorf's talk; he is particularly good at talking about temporal things in spiritual ways, and it reminded me that I don't want any regrets: on my mission, in my education, in my entire life. I especially loved the Saturday afternoon session of conference: it's always my favorite session - all of the talks were great. While the elders all watched the priesthood session, all the sisters watched the Relief Society session. I loved how much it focused on the Atonement and how it's not just for our sins and our mistakes. It was probably the most powerful General Relief Society Meeting I have ever seen.
The Sunday sessions were great too, especially Holland's talks. He always gives me a different perspective on things. And then, after having conference all day, we had one of our regular Sunday night firesides where Chad Lewis came and spoke to us. Apparently he played football for BYU and played in the NFL for 9 years - I can't remember what team. He had some really ineresting stories that he was able to relate back to the gospel, and it was really interesting. It was mostly geared towards the elders - obviously - but it was a good message. Then we had our normal Sunday night routine, where we attend a rebroadcast of a certain MTC devotional that we pick. My district all saw a talk by Elder Bednar entitled "The Character of Christ" which was very similar to the message he shared at our special stake meeting a few weeks ago before I came here. So I'd heard from Elder Bednar three times in the past month.
AND THEN.....Elder Bednar came and spoke at our Tuesday night devotional last night. So....he's obviously got something to say that I need to hear. I hope I finally picked up on it last night. But anyways, that was really cool. He talked about how to study the things we learned from Conference. It felt good to be in the presence of an apostle of God, and I felt the same thing I felt when I went to a session of conference last spring, and when I went to that special stake meeting.
I welcomed the new district last week so that was fun - there are three hermanas and they leave in three weeks for the MTC in Guatemala. I got to skip a few hours of class for orientation so that was a nice break. Also, my companion and I have been counting - here at the MTC, we have sung "Called to Serve" five times as a collective whole, and we only meet together twice a week. It's obviously the song of choice.
Anyways, P-day is almost over and we have a lesson tonight and then another one in the morning. And between that, we have a little goodbye party for Hermana Dalia in our district who leaves tomorrow for the Dominican Republic MTC. But I hope everyone enjoyed General Conference and learned something - I know I did.
Love, Hermana Hunsaker
