MTC Week 4 - Half District Meeting In Person!

Hey everyone!

This week was good but things are pretty much the same so not much to report!  Probably the most exciting thing was our SYL (speak your language) challenge on Tuesday.  We were not allowed to speak English for the entire day! Luckily I have lots of Spanish speakers in my house so they could understand what I was saying and help me out by speaking Spanish back to me.  I think I probably spoke less than I would on a regular day but overall I thought it went really well!  It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and I realized I know more Spanish than I thought!  It was kinda weird to go back to speaking English after that.  

Also, this week I got my travel itinerary for Denver!  I'm leaving on Wednesday, July 15th in the afternoon and it's super nice because my flight is only an hour and a half.  I had a workshop this week and everyone was saying where they were going on their missions and their reassignments and there were like 3 other sisters in that workshop who had been reassigned to Denver South too!  It will definitely be fun to meet all of them in person soon!  The MTC has been fun but I'm excited to get out into the field :)

I've had some great P-days! Last week I played Pickleball with some cousins and this week I was able to meet up with all the people in my district who live in Utah! It was so fun to meet them in real life!  Elder Gardner and his Grandma brought us all cute double-sided masks! One side has temples and the other side has cute missionaries!  We are modeling them in the picture below.

Thanks for all your love and support!

Love, Hermana Young

Pictures:

1. Pickleball with family

2. Half of my district in person at the park

3. Our district tried to make hearts but we ended up looking like crabs, haha

MTC Week 3 - I Got My Reassignment!

Hey everyone!

I have some exciting news! As you all know, I was expecting to get a temporary reassignment to a stateside mission until it is safe to go to Ecuador.  Well on Thursday, I got a call from my stake president and he told me that my new assignment was ready!!  I've been called to serve a hop, skip, and a jump away in the Colorado Denver South Mission! I don't know my exact departure date yet but I was told it will be the week of July 15 which is the week I finish the MTC.  I will be getting my itinerary 2 weeks before I leave.  I wasn't told if I will be speaking Spanish or English but I guess it will be useful to know Spanish either way and then I can use it if necessary.  I still really really want to go to Ecuador but I'm also excited for this new adventure and I know that there is a reason God needs me to be in Colorado.  I'm crossing my fingers that I can spend the winter in the warmth of Ecuador and not the snowy cold of Denver but we'll see what happens.  

Everyone in my district got their reassignments too! Just in case you're interested in where people are getting called, here is a list of where they're all going (and their original calls):

Hermana Young - Colorado Denver South (Ecuador Guayaquil West)

Hermana Molina - Missouri St. Louis (Ecuador Guayaquil West)

Hermana Christensen - Oregon Eugene (Spain Madrid)

Hermana Whiteley - California Santa Rosa (Spain Madrid)

Elder Hinton - Washington Kennewick (Spain Barcelona)

Elder Gardner - Utah Salt Lake City West (Spain Barcelona)

Elder Elkins - Utah Salt Lake City West (Ecuador Guayaquil South)

Elder Child - Nevada Las Vegas (Ecuador Guayaquil South)

Anyway, this week we started doing everything in Spanish and it has been so much fun! We've all learned so much and we are definitely improving.  I've loved singing hymns in Spanish at the beginning of each class even though I can only hear myself because we are all muted.  We tried to sing Feliz Cumpleaños to our teacher, Hermano Wright on his birthday this week without all of us being muted but it was kind of a disaster because on zoom sometimes there is a bit of a delay so everyone was at a different part of the song hahaha.  It was still really fun though. During the English portion, the Hermanas in my district were trying to prank the Elders by each of us acting like a specific one of them but only some of them noticed lol.  We also all tried to take a drink from our water bottles at the same time to see if our teacher would notice but he just got confused haha. We haven't tried anything else since we started Spanish full-time though.

Hermana Molina and I were able to do 2 TRCs (practice teaching appointments with actors) in English before we switched to Spanish and then this week we had our first Spanish TRC! It actually wasn't bad! We got to know our investigator a little bit, taught her about God and how to pray, and then we taught her the Restoration and I was able to quote the First Vision in Spanish by memory! It was so cool and we are going to teach her another lesson next week about The Book of Mormon.  

Last Sunday, I was able to go to real church again! My singles ward opened up so I wore a mask and was able to go! I saw some of my friends who are doing online MTC training right now too!  It was so good to get out of my house and see everyone!!  I basically just sit and stare at my computer all day so it is always nice when I can go on a walk or go somewhere with my family when I'm not in class.  

Pictures:

1. Reassigned to Colorado Denver South!

2. Hermana Nelson, Hermana Young, and Sister Gregory at the YSA ward (photo cred: Eliza Nelson who will start her MTC this week!)

MTC Week 2 - I LOVE My District!

Hey everyone!

This week was so good and I have been loving my online MTC experience!! I absolutely LOVE my district! They are so incredible and I'm so glad I get to learn from them every day! We've still been doing mostly everything in english but this coming week we will be transitioning into spanish which I'm super pumped for.  We have had an hour a day of spanish with a tutor to help us prepare for that transition.  Everyone in my district already knows some spanish from taking it in high school and stuff like that so we're not beginners but it has been nice to review some things.  We've learned how to pray and bear our testimonies in spanish as well as some other conversation and grammar things.  Also I memorized Joseph Smith's account of the First Vision and the Missionary Purpose in spanish! Woohoo!  We've been having some incredible classes practicing teaching the lessons in english and really making sure we know the lessons and the material.  The spirit is amazing even when we are teaching each other over zoom! Our teachers have been telling us that when we move to spanish we need to remember that we are completely capable teachers and that we know the lessons well.  We have a solid foundation in our gospel and teaching knowledge and now we just need to transfer that into a different language. We'll see how that goes haha.  

My testimony of the First Vision and the Restoration of the gospel have really been strengthened this week.  It is so amazing to teach others and testify of these truths.  I also love using Joseph Smith's words because it brings the spirit so strongly every time! I have also enjoyed studying more about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the blessings we have because of it.  I love studying and talking about the gospel all day :)

I love my companion, Hermana Molina so much and we have some great discussions in our companion study time.  She lives in Orem so for P-day today we decided to meet up and eat lunch together in a park!  It was so fun to be with her in person and be able to just talk and have a good time.  Like I said, I love my district! It's so cool that we are all so close because we've never even met each other in person and we've only been doing this for about a week and a half so far.  I'm excited to keep getting to know them better and to grow even closer to them. 

Love you all! Thanks for all your support!

Love,

Hermana Megan Young

Pictures:

1. District meeting

2. Class with one of our teachers, Hermano Wright

3 and 4. Met up with Hermana Molina for lunch

Online MTC Week One!

Hello everyone!

I made it to the first P-day of my mission! During my 6 weeks at the MTC, my P-days will be Saturdays.  I wasn't really sure what to expect from the online MTC experience but so far I have loved it!! My companion is Hermana Molina from Orem, Utah.  It's so cool because we have actually met each other in person before! We were both shopping for mission stuff at Sister Missionary Mall a few months ago and found out that we were both called to the same mission leaving on the same day! We got each others' numbers and texted a little bit about the mission and now we are companions! I also love my district and my teachers! There are 8 of us in the district, 4 elders and 4 hermanas. I am learning SO MUCH. These first two weeks of the MTC, our main classes are in English so we can make sure we learn the basics of how to be a missionary and teach the lessons before we try to do it all in Spanish.  Along with our main classes, we also have a Spanish tutor that teaches our district for an hour every day.  This will help prepare us for the last 4 weeks of our main classes which will shift all to Spanish. 

My schedule is actually busier than I was expecting! I wake up at 6:30 and exercise with my parents, then I get all ready and eat breakfast. Then I do personal study and then companionship study and language study with Hermana Molina.  We have our Spanish class in the morning, a 3 hour class in the afternoon, and a 3 hour class at night that ends at 9:15pm. During the breaks, we have various workshops which are just like big lessons with a bunch of missionaries at the MTC, and soon we will have to start teaching lessons to people as well! I am getting really comfortable using zoom haha because I'm on it for about 9 hours a day.  

I'm so grateful that we have this technology and that I am still able to have a great MTC experience even though I am at home. I know that God is in charge of this work and that we have been prepared for this type of MTC training.  I am learning that I need to lose myself in the work and focus on others.  I know that my efforts will be magnified, especially as I learn Spanish.  I have loved focusing so much on studying the gospel and how to be a good missionary!  I have felt Heavenly Father's love for me and I am so excited to continue my training and be able to eventually teach people in Spanish!!

I love you all and I am grateful for your support!

Love, Hermana Young

Here is a picture of me at the home MTC :)