My MTC Time is Quickly Growing Short

On Fri, Jul 12, 2013 at 3:21 PM, Lauren Yoshimoto <lauren.yoshimoto@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Oi Minha Familia!!!
 

Como Vao???????

Woooooh, Well I have some time, but my hands are already cramping from typing so much so fast today! ahhhh!! haha, and I have a lot to say today sooooo.... ready, Go!

First of all I got a box from Aunty Terri and Uncle Wallace! WOW!!!!  THANK THEM FOR ME, PLEASE!   I will try to write a letter and send it to them today!! omg! I keep telling the sisters in my district that My family's goal in life is to make me and all my friends fat and I think I was right!  They sent me two giant boxes of food!  Granola crunch things and baby donuts hahaha.  We added it to the district food storage we got building up from all our families hahahaha. It's an awesome sight.  I will take a pic and send it next week! hahaha. THANK YOU SO MUCH AUNTY AND UNCLE!  The note was very sweet and I'm so glad to hear from you!!!!   It's always nice getting letters of support and love from loved ones!!

 2nd of all I hope alll is going well with Cami and Jeremy and Keilyn!!!!  School and work going well???   I see Raphael Magre and Mckay Corbett here a lot!   haha.  So cool!  They're called Frere Corbett and Frere Magre.  Yeah it's nice to see them every once and a while! :)   I can speak Portuguese to them and THEY CANT UNDERSTAND IT!   I'm like "cmon man...."  It's like French and Spanish mixed and they should know both ish right?!??1 haha. but yeah. anywaayy

I'm  SOOO excited for Joey Morgan! That's so cool!!  I can just tell he will do amazing things in his life and when/if he goes on a mission, he will do so much good for the people just because of how spiritually mature he is/will be and just how much personal experience he has.  His testimony will be such a blessing to him and those around him.  and I can't wait for that!   How exciting!!

On that note!!  I CAN'T WAIT TO HEAR WHERE EVERYONE IS GOING ON THEIR MISSIONS!!! I'm gonna try to be a host next week for the new missionaries so I can help the newbie missionaries find their way araound and stuff and I might see Dallas and Marcus!  How exciting!!! ahh! It'll be soooo fun!!  So keep me updated!!

I can't believe I've only got a little over a week left here at the MTC.   I feel like I've been dying to get out already, yet now that it's so close to happening, I'm freaking out a little, because I feel like I'm no where near ready..... yet I CANT WAIT to teach real people and help real people, yet it's so scary because I havent been here that long -- I dont know anything!!  How can I be trusted with such an important message.???  ... And that's the real miracle.  The fact that we know basically NOTHING and yet we don't  need to, because it's not US teaching.  It's the Spirit teaching THROUGH us.  Knowing that gives me so much comfort. It doesn't matter about my abilities and talents, just my ability to have and keep in tune with the Spirit all the time.  and pheww.  Thank goodness for that :)

So next week Thurs or Fri or Saturday ish, we will be getting our reassignments--we will get a whole other mission call that has been prayed about by prophets, again, as to where I am needed in the USA.  IT'S SO EXCITING!!!   I willl be getting another call and I get to open it again with my district and I can't wait!!!! ahhh!! It's gonna be so cool!!!   So i willl definitely let you all know next week what the big news is!!   I can't believe how close it is to me leaving~!!!

Today one elder from my district got his visa!! HOW RANDOM! ahhh!! SO CRAZY.  So he'll finish off his MTC time here, and then go to Brazil straight after--no reassignment!  Ahhh! So cool. I looooove my district!  Every one of them.  I can't believe how insanely close we've gotten in such a short time.  I'm gonna miss the elders and sisters going to Curitiba. At least, more than half of them will be with me in Teresina!  Yay!  And a couple others will be going to BYU after so I'll probably see them there.  I can't wait!  The bonds we make here are just so strong so quickly because of how much time we spend together, for one thing, and because we see each other in the most spiritual situations. we share such spiritual moments with each other and it's just amazing. I LOVE THIS WORK! haha.  It's just so exciting to think about.

SO QUICK before I forget:   Sister missionaries at SJ!! I'M SO SORRY I TOTALLY FORGOT about that!!!  So the pants I wore are from Amazon... Basicly, I just look up harem sweats on Amazon and search around there.  This one only came in one size, one color. but there are tons of other options. Also, I got most of my mission clothes from Etsy.com and Asos Marketplace.  Both are online stores. and then some at Forever21!  of course(;     I haven't seen any of the people they wanted me to look up here at the MTC.  I believe they're already gone.  ): Sorry!!   I haven't forgotten about you sisters! I miss you and hope the work is going well in SJ!  Much Success!!

I got the packages!!!  The duffel is aweeeesome and the other package with the tonnnnns of food!! OH MY! haha.  We. are. rolling. out of the MTC. haha. It's okay though.  We eat the food and made this joke where "We're doing it for the elders".   We're taking away all temptation hehehehehe.  By getting fat.  So we eat it and say I'M DOING THIS FOR YOU!!! hahahaha  Anywayyyyy. yeah.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for the pics!!!! IM SO HAPPY! YAY!  I loooove them!! haha. awwwwww Rustyyyy  is sooo cuteeee Everyone here is lauhging at me because I got so happy when I saw his pawprints on the pic :))))))  They think I'm obsessed with my dog...... Maybe I am hehe.  Mom. The flowers are sooooo pretty!!! ahhh!!  I'm so glad theyre coming up!  I like the lattice ... so fancy! hehe  The menehune. but yeah thank you soooo much!!! And the toothbrush case! and the socks and stuff.  Thank you thank you thank you!!  Badly needed :)

I never got to talk to the ASL elders here, but one of the other sisters in the Portuguese district was studying to be an interpreter before the mission and We got to sign a bit.  She's really good and learning Utah signing so it was kinda hard but it was super fun, because we talked about how we translate songs and prayers in our heads and stuff.  Yeah it was really nice getting to sign again. I miss it a lotttt and stilll sign while trying to remmeber the Portuguese word for something haha. It's funny because I taught everyone how to sign "awkward" in ASL and "weird" and stuff like that.  hehe. Tell them all I said Hi and I miss singing with them!!!

Thanks for the other stories, too.  I loved the Temple story.  It reminded me of the scripture in Mosiah 27:13 where it says that basically nothing can destroy the church, except for the trangressions of the saints.  So basically, as long as we are faithful and strong in the gospel, nothing can stop the work and nothing can bring down the Church and the Gospel.  Its a good motivater and a good bit of hope. As long as we're doing what's right, God will protect us.

Dad, I'm so happy that you're bishop at this time, just cause it makes me appreciate so much more how much work you put into your calling and you really are an example to me of how I need to magnify my calling.   It's so amazing seeing how God can strengthen us beyond what we ever thought possible.  I pray for you every night!!!!

Anywayyy,  life here is awesome and the practice  investigators are going very well.  It was rough at first but once we really started to work together, we learned how to really bring the spirit into a lesson.  It really does make all the difference.  I'm so grateful for my companion and how much I can learn from this experience with her. It took me a  while but once I realized that it really is MY choice to love or not, whether or not I get frustrated and upset, or if I forgive and love. This made all the difference.   "Fake it 'til you make it really works," because it is really just an exercise in faith.  haha.  Now that I choose to show charity, it is often reciprocated and we are really getting along now.  I just had to let go of my pride ... which still spikes up every once in a while, but I am so grateful for this experience God gave me, because He knew exactly what I needed.  I never even knew how prideful I was until I came here.  He definitely humbles us when we need it and although it's definitely not what I wanted, it's what I needed.  For that I am grateful. I am sure I will learn this over and over again until it is a part of me.

ps.  I RAN OUT OF TIME BUT I FORGOT!  I auditioned on the cello, accompanying a sister in the district on the song "Savior, Redeemer of My Soul."   It was super scary, because I had to transpose everything into the BASS CLEF from a violin part.   It was super high and complicated and I was shaking so badly, but we got it and might play sooooon!!!   I'll update you next week.

Loooove you!

ate logo!!!!!

<33333

NOTE FROM LAUREN'S FATHER:  

Lauren made reference to a story about the Los Angeles Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I will try to briefly summarize the story.  Following the passage of California's Proposition 8 in 2008, angry mobs of protesters surrounded the temple while threatening to burn this majestic building to the ground.  While temple security closed and locked the outer gates, LAPD and the FBI responded to try to quell the uprising.  The patrons of the temple were effectively trapped on the grounds, but they felt a peaceful assurance as they made a conscious decision that if they would not be able to leave, they would spend their time doing temple work.  Those inside were otherwise unaffected by the scary events unfolding outside the gates.  That day a very significant amount of work completed by the few patrons inside equaling the work accomplished by many hundreds of people just the day before.  The patrons and the temple were spared and the patrons enjoyed the peaceful serenity of a sacred building dedicated to Jesus Christ to do His work.  The temple is  "the House of the Lord."

“The Standard of Truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame. But the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, until the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the Great Jehovah will say, ‘The work is done.'”