Pictures at MTC - week 5

Week 5 - in MTC

Hello to you all!!!!

So this week has been pretty weird for me and my entire district. 

      First: So remember last tuesday when i told yall i was moving out of our old Res 3m to our new Res 17M that day?? Well....that  luxury didn't last very long. So THURSDAY....after we had a mission president come teach us there was an emergency sisters meeting right after. Everyone was freaking out bc they thought a general authority wanted to talk to just the sisters but not the elders. WRONG.....turns out there were BATS...YES BATS found in our residence building. They were apparently found on the fourth floor where we were staying and a few other floors. SOOOO President Bertasso told us "we are gonna change your lives just slightly today sisters. Im sorry but you have to move out of 17M today right after this meeting." NOOOOOOO OMG we just got settled in and the showers were so great and we had a perfect view of Y Mountain. So right after the meeting I kid you not it was like a mas exodus getting in, repacking, and moving out of out building..into another res which is now 5M. And 5M used to be an Elders residence hall so the walls of the rooms have writing on them and it smells funky hahah. and We have 6 sisters per room with only 4 closets to share between all of us. 

        Second: So like i said last week the mtc had mission president training. And we got to have a mission president and his wife come into our class for two days and teach us about prayer and finding inspiration through the Book of Mormon. We had President and Sister Rasmussen who are going to be the......new mission presidents of the PERU PIURA MISSION!!!!!! They were so nice, and the last day we had with them we sang a Tahitian song for them and for the Mission pres and his wife of the NY New York South mission. It's called "A Rohi" which basically means to "take courage and stand strong."

        Third: And bc of the mission president seminar we weren't allowed to even step foot in 1M which is the main building on campus and hold the cafeteria...so we had to eat all of our meals out of 19/18 M which is basically the gym. It wasn't bad bc we got to eat breakfast outside before it got super hot. And the last few meals they treated us to....wait for it.....TACO BELL, SUBWAY, COSTA VIDA (which is not as good at Chipotle or Cafe Rio but I'm not complaining haha), and CHIC FIL A!!!!!!             ...yes mom i hate fruits and veggies with all those meals too...don't worry :)

         Fourth: So i've posted a lot about my roommate Rose, and she left the MTC this morning for her field mission. She is supposed to serve in Recife, Brazil BUT her visa still hasn't come so she got temporally reassigned to LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA until her visa gets here.

         Fifth: Ok so now it's time to get down to the "weird events of McKenzie Morrill." So these past few weeks my foot has been bothering me..mostly my right toe. Found out i had an ingrown toenail and I've been walking on it for like 2 weeks...yea ya know no biggy. So i had to go OFF CAMPUS....to have SURGERY on my toe and then come back hahaha. The doctor told me i basically had surgery on my toe bc he had to give me 3 DAGGUM SHOTS to numb my toe. I kid you not those shots were almost as painful as my acl recovery. So now i have to doctor up my toe 2 times a day for another week and then just once a day for 3 weeks. .....of all things that happen to me in the MTC...hahaha.

          Sixth: so what was really cool  while we were waiting for the doctor to see me was this older man sitting next to me and my companion. He lives in Provo and when he found out we were going to Tahiti he told us to write down our mailing address so he could send us something. We got his package that same day and what is was was a story about his great grandfather Heber James Sheffield who was one of the first missionaries in Tahiti and how he survived a massive storm that hit the south Pacific in the early early 1900s. It was a published paper at BYU Hawaii and it's called "The 1903 Missionary Experience of Elder Heber James Sheffield on the Island of Hikueru." My companion and I read it during our companion study one evening, and it was one of the most interesting stories I've ever read and it gave me chills to know that the power of God no matter where you are can be so strong.

           Seventh: so cool story....as we were moving out of 17M i met sister missionaries who are going to ALABAMA!!!!!! WOOOHHOOOOOOOOO!!!!! and weirdly enough one of the sisters was in my YSA ward at BYU...small world!

           Eighth: This pas week Sister Olson and I were teaching one of our investigators name Ginette. and we have been taking our time trying to help her gain a better understanding and testimony of Joseph Smith, but when we asked her to commit to prayer or reading a chapter in the scriptures she would always say NO. we always explained to her that if she keeps the commitments we ask her to keep she will be blessed and will gain a testimony of what she is learning. BUT she still said no....so frustrating. and she has been like this with every one else in our district too. So one day during companion study Sister Olson and I were reading General Conference talks one of our teachers suggested to us. It's called "You Matter to Him" by President Uchtdorf when he spoke in the 2011 General Conference. Uchtdorf went on to explain in his talk even though Man is nothing to God but to God Man is every thing we are important enough to him that he is willing to make a plan for all of us and place people in our lives that will change us for the better. That talk could not have been more on point with the problem we have been having with Ginette. We need to explain to her that she is important to Heavenly Father, and that her daughter Monica is too. It's important for everyone to know that they all have worth in the eyes of God, and that even though he may not answer your prayers right away He will when he knows the time is right. We must all have faith and strength to obey His commandments so that we may be blessed by Him later on in our lives in the life to come. E mea faufaa i te Atua e e hinaaro tatou ia ite atoa (We are important to God and we must always know that).

            Nine: Ok...one more "weird event of McKenzie Morrill." So just a little background: my entire stay here at the MTC i have slept on one of the bottom bunks of our RES and i kid you not almost 1 or 2 times every day i've hit the back of my head on one of the bars of the bunk bed. and we have these handicap ish bar things in all the showers and when i bend down to pick something up i always tend to bonk my head on those bars too. Soooooo sunday night i starting getting a headache and i was like "ehh i'll sleep it off...it's probably just bc of me wearing my contacts too long." So i slept, but my headache never went away. So yesterday morning as i was getting ready i got really hot and feverish super fast and i almost blacked out (MOM I AM OK JUST FYI) and my legs and hands got really tingley and I felt nauseous and my headache never went away....I was super scared cause this never happened to me before. So eventually I was able to get to the health clinic and the doctor (as emotionless as he was) he told me that hitting my head in the same place over a long period of time is probably not the best thing ever...hahahahaha NO KIDDING. WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME? so the doctor..as weird as he was...folded up his glasses with a stern look on his face (the kind of face doctors give you when they have bad news) and say "ok...we can do this two ways...you...can either sleep here at the clinic or in your res...but you need to sleep." He made me take muscle relaxers to help the muscles in the back of my head. and basically told me that i had "a minor concussion, trauma, and muscle spasms from hitting my head so much"....... hahahahaha. I was sad i had to miss class but i wasn't complaining about having to sleep. of all the things that could've happened to me....I end up getting a minor concussion bc of hitting my head on stupid bunk bed bars and handicap bars in the shower. 

             So other than that this week has been pretty chill...if you wanna call it that. We are starting to ease into French so we are able to speak Frahitian in our lessons with our investigators now!

              I love what I'm doing and I can feel my testimony grow every day. Ua here au ia outou!!!

               Until next week :)

               Here Roa (much love),

Tuahine/Soeur/Sister McKenzie Morrill