Annie and her district were scheduled to leave the MTC for Taiwan on December 1st but due to visa delays they are still in the MTC and probably will be for the next week or 2. Last week we received her email and within minutes it was out of date. She received a reassignment email right after she sent us her weekly
email. It's a long story but I decided not to post until we had a bit clearer picture of where she would be. The reassignment letter was cancelled and now they are staying in the MTC a few weeks longer. The travel office is waiting to receive the visas from the Taiwan consulate and they could come at any time. It was a confusing week for Annie and for us. We are so proud of her for her faith and patience. Life rarely goes the way we expect it to and Annie is very well aware of this, especially right now. If you would like to send her a package or a DearElder letter please note the change of departure date from Dec 1 to Dec 15. I've changed it on the blog as well. So here is her latest email and pictures. ENJOY!
 |
| So we thought it might be our last temple walk as a district so we took this picture. PSYCH!! It's not. But we're still awesome. so whatever! |
Yes, today was our scheduled departure date, and yes, we're still at the MTC! No, we don't know when we're leaving. We got our departure date changed to December 15 for Dear Elder, letter, and package purposes, but we don't actually know when we're leaving. Just whenever our visas go through! We did get reassignments last week, but they got officially cancelled because they think our visas will be coming soon. My reassignment was to Pocatello Idaho! Crazy! Patience is hard, but the Lord has a plan and a reason for all of us to be here a little longer.
Alright. Got the sad news out of the way. This week was super eventful because of Thanksgiving! This Thanksgiving I've been thankful for so many things Heavenly Father has blessed me with. This email I'm going to write about 3 things I was grateful for this week.
1. I'm thankful for our great MTC Presidency that organized 3 AWESOME devotionals this week! Tuesday night we heard from Elder Oaks!!!! The spirit was so strong from the moment he walked in the room and we all stood up for him. The reverence and calm stayed the entire night.One of my favorite quotes from his talk was, " You are acting in similitude to the Savior, because as a missionary you are doing something for them they cannot do for themselves." We are inviting them come unto Christ, and have faith in His Atonement unto repentance. We help them receive baptism and the gift of the holy ghost. They can't do this without our selflessness and charity for them. Our teacher also taught us this week that we are learning Chinese, so that we will learn to have Charity towards the people of Taiwan. We're working hard to learn this language in order to help them come unto Christ. We're willing to "sacrifice" and "suffer" for them to know God & Christ. We know the happiness and purpose it has brought us, so we're willing to do this to help them have that, too. We are willing to follow Christ's example from 1 Nephi 19:9 and "suffer" because of our love & kindness towards them. When they see how much we had to learn & do to bring them the message of the restored gospel, they'll see how much it means to us. The rest of his talk was amazing and I wish I could tell you more! But as I said there were 3 awesome devotionals this week so I gotta get going.
Because of Thanksgiving we got to have a devotional Thursday morning. AND we got to sing in the MTC choir for it! We participated in an MTC first, by singing "Come Thou Fount". WOW I LOVE THAT SONG. It is so powerful and has so much truth in it. I don't have time to tell you all my favorite lyrics and why. But wow. That song spoke to my heart this week. They usually tell us right before the devotional who is speaking, but for this one they didn't say anything until he walked through the door! So we're singing the prelude music and in walks.... DAVID A. BEDNAR! That was AMAZING. Again like Tuesday, the spirit flooded in when one of the Apostles of the Lord walked in. This devotional was broadcast to all 14 MTC's all over the world! His devotional was a little bit different than what we're used to in the MTC. He announced that he was going to just answer our questions the whole time! The even cooler part was that he passed out a couple hundred cell phones and had us text our questions to his iPad. Then he'd choose some of them to answer. The other MTC's also had a way to send in questions through email! A WORLDWIDE Q&A SESSION WITH ELDER BEDNAR. WOW. I'll just really quick share my favorite quote from him because I don't have enough time. :( 'Nobody who has consistent, heartfelt, and meaningful prayer and study of the Book of Mormon will wander off the path." He said those two things were the key. I've had the opportunity to do that here, much easier than in real life. ;) I've felt the effects that those can have on us. I know it's soo much harder to do in real life, but I know that it works. the rest of this answers were great too, but I loved that one the most. These devotionals. Wow. Highlights of my week.
Yesterday was awesome too. Sheri Dew came and spoke at Relief Society. She's so strong and has so much wisdom. She talked about spiritual "wrestles". Like in Enos 1:2, "And I will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God, before I received a remission of my sins." She said most spiritual enlightenment & inspiration comes after a spiritual "wrestle", like in Ether 12:6, "And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." I've had lots of spiritual "wrestles" here and I anticipate many more when I go out in the field, and for the rest of my life really! I know that really doesn't make sense because you need to hear the whole talk to get it. But I hope you at least understood a little! It was great. What a week it has been. Finally, last night, we had our Sunday night devotional. It was Vocal Point from BYU! We finally got to hear music again! They sang the most perfect songs, that I needed to hear last night. And they shared great tips and stories from their missions. Then I got to say the closing prayer in front of all 2,000 missionaries and the MTC Presidency! So scary!! But it was great to hear President Hacking say, "Sister Annie Oviatt from Round Rock, Texas going to the Taiwan Taipei Mission." It was great to hear my first name again and my hometown!! (adopted hometown) :) So yeah. That was my amazing week of devotionals!
 |
| My Mom's the BEST! #TEXASFOREVER |
2. I'm thankful for the packages my family sent me this week!! My Mom literally ran all over Texas to get me the stuff in that package! I got new shoes, Texas stuff, Christmas presents, and BUCEE'S BEAVER NUGGETS! Bucee's is like at least an hour away from Round Rock. so it's a pretty big sacrifice for her to get me those!! We GREATLY appreciated them! So I showed them to my TX friend Sister Good. She freaked out!!! She grabbed them from me, hugged them, and started crying!! We miss our TX! She made me start tearing up too! We had to take a picture with our Bucee's shirts, Beaver Nuggets, and the flag because of how much TX pride we had at that moment. :) So THANK YOU for those! We shared with everyone and now they're addicted ;) Somehow we haven't eaten them all. We're still savoring them! <3 I also got a couple packages with more food from my Grandma Liz that were great! We hate this MTC food now so all the food we've gotten, Beaver Nuggets, Granola bars, chocolate, has been from HEAVEN. None of it has gone to waste! My whole district is grateful for my packages(;
Note from Mom: Beaver Nuggets are a Texas thing and if you'd like to understand why they freaked out over them you'll have to come to Texas. ;) But really they are a snack from a BIG gas station here in Texas called Bucee's. Maybe I should have sent more. :) I was more excited about the other stuff in the package but those were the hit!
3. I'm grateful for Jesus Christ and His Atonement, love, mercy, and His Gospel. I am so grateful that I can share His Gospel & wear His name everyday. He truly lifts me up everyday. It is only through His power that I can do anything. I am so grateful to have been raised in this church and to know of the fulness of Christ's Gospel. I am excited to help others taste of the exceeding joy of this Gospel. I don't know when that will be, but God has a plan for all of us. We are exactly where we're supposed to be right when we're supposed to be here. Lean on the Lord and everything will work out... eventually. ;) The Lord is my light, then why should I fear?! I know this Gospel is true. Christ LIVES. He atoned for us. He LOVES us. Joseph Smith restored this Gospel. He saw God the Father and the Son. Thomas S. Monson is a true and living prophet on the earth today. The Lord directs his church through him. The Book of Mormon is true and will help us and guide us in our lives.
Thanks for all of the prayers and support everyone! Talk to you next week probably!
-Sister Oviatt
