12/26/2013 - MTC Letter & Pics

Hey Dad,

    Wow Christmas was such an amazing experience, and i have learned so much. We had to get up at 6 am and run over and get our continental breakfast, which wasn't much just bagels and oatmeal.  Later i found out that main campus had sausage, eggs and biscuits and gravy for breakfast. I got a little jealous. We then emailed home for about 20 minutes which was the email i sent yesterday. And then we were bused over to main campus and we had homerooms in the main building where the cafeteria was. We had the Christmas talent show from all the Elders and Sisters that tried out. I didn't get a chance, but that is alright. We had one sister from our district play the violin and it was really good. We had some zones sing carols and duets on the piano, cello, guitar, and a ukelali. It was great, the best ones that i loved was this elder that did a bottle dance, he had the bottle on his head and he did a dance and he was singing the whole time like "da da da bada da da" kinda like from the Fiddler on the roof, it was great, and the best one was a magician and he was amazing, think of the magician at mom's  fair and this kid was like him or even better it was amazing. He was pulling stuff out of everywhere and it was great. He was the only one who got a standing ovation from the 1,800 elders and sisters in that conference room.

    After the talent show we had Lunch and i was in heaven, the food was so much better on main campus and it was amazing i loved it so much!! we had turkey, cranberry sauce, potatoes, a huge salad bar, it was delicious, i didn't get a chance to eat the soup but i know it would have been delicious.  We then had choir practice and it is such a beautiful song, 'Where shepherds lately knelt' i think that is what it was called but it was beautiful and we sang it for Elder David A Bednar, who came and talked to us missionaries.  They had the camera zoom up on me during the singing, it was great, the apostle saw me, through the T.V. screen. He did an amazing talk and something that has never been done in the MTC, he passed out 200 cell phones to us all and we were asked to text his ipad with questions that we had and he would look at them and then answer them.  It was phenomenal, plus it was broadcasted to all the other 12 MTC's in the world and they all cellphones as well, and texting him at the same time. He answered a couple from London and one from south america. It was amazing his main theme through all of the questions that were being asked was the Atonement and how Christ suffered for us, and how we need to turn outward and lose ourselves in the work of the lord.  I love that one part he said that we were called to be a full time missionary, and the place where we are going is where we need to be but if we get reassigned then that is where we need to be, nothing happens by coincidence, the only thing that we are truly called to is  to be a full-time missionary, that is the calling.

    My favorite part about the whole day was when after Elder Bednar talked with us we went back to our homerooms and we all sat in a circle and our district leader, Elder Hill, stood up and said that we could bear our testimony or a thought that we had about the talk and what we felt. Everyone bore their testimony except two people i think, my companion and an elder. Anyway, we were sharing and i was looking at my notes and i saw what i had written down and Sister Bednar had spoken before Elder Bednar and she had said that 'we were given the name tag" and i was looking at that and i thought about my time in Disney and how that name tag gave me a title and what people expected out of me and who i represented and then i thought about the name tag that i had on my shirt. And i didn't want to get up and share because i usually don't share my testimony but i remember what president Jones had blessed me with to be bold and not to shy away and I stood up and I told everyone about my experience at Disney and how the name tags that I was given was sprinkled with pixie dust and we had to have lessons on how to be happy and then i touched my name tag and said "this one is different, it doesn't have the fancy stuff that goes with a Disney name tag, they probably just slid it through a laminator with our names on it. this name tag that we wear is special, it has the name Jesus Christ on it, and everyone knows who we are, this is who we represent, this is who we are and this is who we want to become like. The only name that matters is Jesus Christ, not your own name, or the church but Jesus Christ. I told them that I know Heavenly Father loves us and that His son Jesus Christ lives." It felt so good to testify of Jesus and I could feel the heat rise from me and a feeling of warmth and happiness.

    Christmas was the best day ever for me. We had a jazz player from BYU come, Ray Smith, he was incredible, also Sister Nally (the MTC president's wife) did a duet with him on the organ without any music. This woman is incredible, she just sits down and plays any kind of song, on the piano or the organ and she uses her feet as well, i'm so shocked. Everyone was kinda falling asleep to the music it was sweet and tender and just fun to listen to.  We then had Dinner, which was a sack dinner, sandwich, chips, bottled water, the best. We then watched the Christmas show that Uncle Vince helped direct last year, with the Candy Bomber and they dropped all the candy form the conference center ceiling. For the Elders and Sister's they had a bag of popcorn for each  one of us and they brought in garbage bag after garbage bag filled with rather large bags of popcorn and they passed them out to the Elder's and Sister's it was great everyone was having a wonderful time and the music was fantastic. I loved Christmas day here it was amazing. I can't wait for Christmas in Mexico!!!!

      I love being at the MTC and the wonderful spirit that it brings, the language is still so hard to learn for me but i can understand some words, My companion and I still struggle a little but we are definitely better than we were last week and it is a working progress.  I am memorizing the lesson's in Spanish and I have the First Vision down, i just have to get the rest of the lesson down. I love teaching it is probably one of my favorite things to do even though i have no idea what they are saying, i still wont understand anything anyone is saying when i go down to mexico, because the Spanish they teach here is different then the Spanish down in Mexico. Anyway, I am anxious and ready to start teaching and to have wonderful experiences, i am so happy to be here and thrilled to be able to wear Jesus's name on me. I am loving every moment here at the MTC whether hard or easy, good or bad, this is where i am meant to be. Thank you for your letters and the presents again, I have already taken about 200 pictures and I can't wait to share them with you when I get home. I love each and everyone of you and the spirit that you have. I know that this church is true, I know that Heavenly Father loves me and I know that Jesus Christ Lives. I love you all.

Love,

Hermana Newmeyer

Sunset at the MTC in Provo

Christmas Presents for the Sisters

Parting of the Hair - Elders Smith, Hill, Cardenas, & Kennedy

Christmas Morning Sleepover

MTC Main Campus Cafeteria, Christmas Lunch

Christmas Lunch

Elders Smith & Hill sleep during the Jazz Concert

Christmas Sack Dinner - Elders Smith, Hill, Cardenas, & Kennedy

Sister Friends

Sister Friends

12/25/2013 - MTC Christmas Letter

Hey Dad,

   Christmas morning and I only have 20 min to write to you. So much to say and in so little time. I loved all of the presents that you have sent and they are wonderful. We opened them this morning and had a sleep over in the front room.  I am sick with the flu or something in my lungs, I am coughing a lot but it gets better in the day.  I sent written letters on Monday so they should be there about Friday.  I am sorry to say that they might not be up lifting at the moment when I wrote them, which was at the beginning of last week. Everything is definitely much better and I look forward to sharing some experiences with you.

    One in particular, it was last Sunday, and one of the Hermana's in our room was sick and she wasn't getting any better. So after Sunday movie night, (talks from prophets) she asked our District leader if he would give her a blessing and Elder Hill is 18 and is the super tall one and as soon as she asked him, his whole countenance changed, he usually goofed off or said some weird remark, and he got really quiet and reverenced and asked one of our zone leaders to help, Elder Kennedy and we all went into a back room of the church building and they both got together and one of them pulled a small white slip of paper out of his pocket that had the blessings written down. And they carefully examined it and then Elder Kennedy pulled out the small vial with the consecrated oil in it and he poured out so carefully one drop on her head, and then they both said the blessing. It was one of the sweetest blessing I have ever heard for the healing of the sick. The spirit was so strong and the simpleness and direct revelation they were receiving from heavenly father for Hermana Morgan was so pure that words can't really describe what it was like. Afterwards they said that it was their first time doing a blessing like that and you could see these young boys turn into Elders in that moment and it was amazing.

     I am so grateful for the Elders and the Priesthood power that they hold. I am so grateful for the blessings of the Priesthood and I know that I am here for a reason and I only hope that I will do the best I can for Heavenly Father so that His plan may come to pass.  I love all of you and I hope that you have a beautiful and wonderful and the happiest Christmas Ever. I have 'P' day tomorrow so I will send another letter for you but it will be longer.  I know that Jesus Christ lives and that he was sent here to earth for us that we may return to live with our Father in Heaven. I love you all, if you could send pictures of you through mail so that I can have a hard copy. thanks, I love you all.

Love,

Hermana Newmeyer

12/20/2013 - MTC Letter & Pics

Hey Dad,

   It has been amazing, i love it so much here. There has been some serious obstacles and challenges that i have been faced with just within the week that i have been here. But i love them, because i know i can learn so much more from them as i focus on the lord and give my very best.  It's so good to hear from the family and how everyone is doing  i know that you will be blessed because i am out here on a mission.  

   When i first pulled up i had about 3 sister missionaries run up to me and say hi, they were like fighting over who was going to take me, and then there were about 5 elders that ran up as well to grab my bags they were super quick and it was amazing. I went through and got my packet and recieved my name badge with my name on it as Hermana Newmeyer, La iglesia de jesuscristo de los santos de ultimos dios. I was so happy and overwhelmed i thought that this is the place.  After i recieved my books, which were alot by the way, about 20 or so and then the sister that was helping me she took me to the back of the MTC and had me wait for a bus.  So because the MTC is  not big enough they are sending all the spanish speaking missionaries to a place called West Campus.  We are only two blocks away from the Main Campus (where everyone gets dropped off)  and its really nice, i was a little bummed that I wasn't on main campus where you and mom studied before your missions. However we have apartments instead a hallway filled with rooms and we have our own personal bathroom for 4 Sisters, but we have to walk everywhere, our apartments are one side of the street and our classroom instruction is on the other side in another complex with apartments.  

   My District is amazing we have a bunch of really great awesome missionaries and we all have gotten along really well. The classes are great!! I love them so much, they are frustrating and hard at the same time and i usually cry every class period, which is not a good thing. Oh well, the Spirit in some of our classes is amazing and i know that when we all feel the spirit a certain bond is created and we know even more than before that what we are doing is what we need to do.  We have investigators come and we teach them in Spanish (the little that we know) about the gospel. Our Third day here we were teaching and it was insane, I didn't know any spanish and we just wrote down what we knew and went with it. Talk about a humbling experience. A week has gone by and i can't believe that it has it feels like we have been here forever and at the same time like we just arrived. I want to do the best that i can and be able to connect with the investigators and tell them how much i love them.  

    Anyway, everything we do we have to walk outside to, our gym area is a huge blow up tent with concrete and we play volleyball, and basketball, that's all they have over here, and it's okay but sometimes i want to run and its really really cold outside. I didn't realize how cold it gets when you were a skirt, the wind comes and goes right up the skirt, talk about being cold all the time. But i love it.  The food is okay, we have it in a trailer right next to the gym and our classrooms, we are only allowed one plate from the main course and that is whatever they are serving, we can't go pick certain foods like on main campus has, but they have soup, salad, oatmeal, cereal, and rolls. Its all good, oh funny story, we were sitting in our district eating dinner, there is about 10 elders and the 4 sisters in our apartment combined and we are all sitting and i had a bowl of soup and i started eating it and then i had this sensation come over me, i got really hot really quick and i started to sweat, the elders next to me were like "hermana, your ears are turning red!!" and then my face went red and i had to take my jacket off and my scarf it was so hot, my temperature skyrocketed. The whole week i never took my jacket off, and the other elders were shocked that i was taking my jacket off. It was so funny i wish i had a picture, but my ears and face were red, like apple red.  It was crazy but we all got a good laugh out of it.

   Also i was walking with my companion and i didn't see a step and i totally fell on my face in front of everyone, i got my tights all dirty and my hand scratched but it was a great fall, at least some people laughed.  Oh we have to be bused over to Main campus for tuesday night devotional and they broadcast the relief society meetings to a chapel that we have to walk to  from our apartments.  The devotional's are amazing!!! I love them we had this past tuesday devo, Brother Rasband and he talked to us about the gifts of the spirit and how we can share them with others for this christmas season.  I was in the choir and we sang a beautiful song and the choir teacher is hilarious! he was talking about not looking up at the screens to see ourselves and he was pulling faces at it and it was great, he was like "oh look there i am" and then just stare at it very intently and fix his hair. 

   The language is extremely hard for me, I cannot for the life of me put any sentence together and it gets really frustrating when your whole district is like "oh yeah i get"  and then i'm sitting there like what just happened, what did he say,  and its discouraging, but i do know that with hard work i can do anything and only and through Heavenly Father. So everyone in my district is amazing really quick here they are:

Zone leaders 
- Elder Smith; pleasant grove utah, likes hunting and is a really good story teller and listener, 5'9" 19
- Elder Kenndy; boise Idaho, likes beatboxing and always puts a smile on anyone, he's kinda crazy,5'8" 19

District Leader
- Elder Hill: Alaska, thinks he's cool and has crazy stories about alaska and is 6'5" 19

- Elder Cardenas; Okalahoma; one of the hardest working elder that i have seen here, he is incredible, such a sweet guy 5'7"19
-Sister Morgan: washington; sweet and is so nice, she knows the language extremely well and is helping all of us 5"7 18
- Sister Parke: SLC Utah, So nice and a great person to talk with about anything, and she is just cute 5'7" 18
- Sister Wall: Michigan, hard working, very very independent, knows everything and anything, corrects a lot of my spanish, 5'9" just turned 18

That is about it for my district, everyone is great, i love them all. My teacher's are amazing they are so patient and willing to help anyone of us  with anything and will wait and help us to understand.  I love them too, they are great, they speak slow and help out as much as they can.  I love being here and I love hearing about everyone at home. I am doing fantastic and i know that I will change while i am on this mission i know that and i am willing to accept it.  I love you all and simply put, I know that I am suppose to be here, I know that this gospel is true, I know it and I cannot deny it. Even in hard times the spirit still testifies to me that this is where i am suppose to be.  Keep writing letters i can recieve letters through DearElder. Thank you so much for everything, I wish i had more to say but we only have an hour on P day, which is thursday, so I love you and wish you the best. Thank you for your Pearls of Wisdom i look at them everyday and they mean so much to me right now. I love you. No regrets.


With Love,
    
      Hermana Newmeyer,

Official Name Tag

MTC World Map - Mexico Culiacan

Christmas in the MTC

MTC Classroom

MTC Study Desk

Elder's Hill & Smith

Elder's Kennedy & Smith

Sister's Wall, Parke, & Morgan

Lounging in the MTC

The Toilet Car

12/11/2013 - MTC Update

12/11/13

Rebecca entered the MTC in Provo Utah today.  We are so excited for her and the wonderful experiences that she will have.  We are anxiously waiting for our first email/letter from her.  We will post all of her emails and pictures here on her blog.