HEADED TO TENNESSEE (tmrw)

HOWDY!! Time has flown by and my time here at the MTC is coming to an end. Which is actually so crazy because it feels like I just got here. Me and Sister Maxwell are so grateful (maybe) that we have been given the earliest check out time for the MTC, we get to be on a bus by 3:45 in the morning! I am sure the Lord has something He wants me to learn from being up that early. 

This week was very fun. I absolutely love my district. We all got to go to the temple this week and it was the best! This district has become so close over the last three weeks and I am so sad to leave them! We had to say bye to Elders Soliai and Knight last night because they headed off to Hawaii this morning. And we say bye to the rest of the district tonight, which will be pretty sad. But they are all going to be such great missionaries and I am excited to see all the good that they will do in their missions. One of the blessings I have had while being at the MTC has been being able to see all of my homies from back home. It is so fun to have a little part of home here. 

One thing that I learned more about this week is that the Lord will deliver us when we have faith in Him! I read the stripling warriors story in Alma yesterday and that principle was stressed quite a bit in the story. I had lots of doubts on getting to Tennessee, I was just feeling inadequate and just did not think I would be able to go out and teach, but Abide With Me started playing on the speakers during my study and it really touched me. I looked more into it and ran across John 15:4-5 which says 

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." 

What I got from that is that I need the Lord with me during my mission, and even throughout my whole life. If we are with Him, learning of Him, praying to Him, etc then we will be okay because we are in His hands!!

Anyways, our district played lots of volleyball, foosball, and ping pong this week when we did not have any devotionals or helping others. Me and Elder Balderson beat Sister Maxwell and Elder Bringhurst in foosball. We had a group of elders sit behind us in the devotional last night and each of them took 5 melatonin to see how long they could last without falling asleep. They were all lowkey high and it was very hard to concentrate because we were laughing the whole devo. They all ended up falling asleep. When we are here at the MTC, we have "helping others appointments" where we teach people and we do not know if they are actual nonmembers or if they are actors. Well, one of the guys that we taught like three times we all saw him at our temple appointment on Tuesday. Me and Sister Maxwell couldn't keep it together during our lesson the next day because all we could think about is how we saw him at the temple the day before and now we're teaching him about what the gospel of Christ is. HAHA too funny.

Sister Maxwell has been the biggest blessing of the MTC. We became instant best friends and I absolutely love her. Everyone had asked us if we knew each other before the MTC because of how close we already were. Now we are in the last couple of days of being together. HOW SAD IS THAT? I am going to miss her so much but I am praying we see each other often while we are in Tennessee. 

I got a text from Elder Greenhalgh saying that he will be seeing me on Wednesday, so I switch from one Greenhalgh twin to the other. How fun! I am so excited, nervous, happy, terrified, and all around so grateful that I get to head out to Tennessee tomorrow. I know it is where the Lord wants me to go and I am so grateful that He is sending me there to grow and teach the gospel! I will talk to you all next week from Tennessee!! 

Love you all lots!

<3 Sister Erekson