3/1/10 Letter from MTC

Dearest Family,
Oh my goodness, I can't believe the time to leave the MTC has already come. Wow! Zhende ma! It has gone by so fast, I have learned so much about the language, but also so much about myself and about the gospel. And, most importantly, I feel that I've grown so much closer to my Savior and have developed a deeper relationship with my Heavenly Father. Somedays I feel that I can understand the language, but, haha, then there are other days that I really know why you need to use the spirit, because I'm not sure if people will be able to understand my words :)
We got our flight plans, and yes, I'll be leaving next Tuesday and have a layover in LA from 12:19-3:50, and I'm not sure exactly how it will all work out, but I guess we do get to call you, I just don't know how yet...but I guess we'll find out and I'll email you next week and let you know more details. Also, we leave at 3:50pm from LA and arrive the next day...at 10:30pm :) Haha, so I guess I'll be in the air for a day and half :)
I just love being here at the MTC, and, ok, the food IS getting a little old at this point, but I Love it. The atmosphere, the people, the work, it's all fantastic. One thing that I've really started developing a love for is bearing testimony. I always have enjoyed bearing testimony but never did it as often as I should have. But here I just love doing it and I relish the moments in lessons where I get the opportunity. Or CONTACTING! Oh my goodness, I love contacting. I don't know why, the idea of it scares me to death, but whenever we practice I don't know what happens. Yes, I do understand that people in the real world won't be as attentive to listening and won't be so willing to meet with you, so maybe my opinion of it will change--but i hope not :) Whenever I get scared I think of Romans 1:16, because honestly, this gospel is true, what do I have to be afraid of when I share it? This Friday our district decided to make it our "missionary day" so the whole day was spent as if we were in the mission field. We filled the day with personal study, companion study, language study, and then taught lessons, contacted, or tracted. It was really fun, I loved it! And, it was so good to really learn how important it is to plan time and especially plan time to travel to different places :) haha, we kindof forgot about that and ended up running quite a few times.
Yesterday we were able to hear from Sister Ann Dibb in Relief Society, what I really loved about her talk was that she brought two young women and asked us what advice we would give to girls like that about living virtuously in a world like this. And, you know what, this is what I thought about. I would tell them that being a teenager is already so overwhelming and awkward that you really need to have something that is constant and something you can depend on. A testimony is what you need. If you don't have one right now, that's ok. But don't dwell in that situtation, you need to find out for yourself. Your testimony can be such a strength and will give you what you need to stay strong in a world such as this. Once you KNOW certain things, you know that you will BE ABLE to conquer certain things and handle all situations. And, then today I read Trials and Testimony in the Ensign. Oh yes, fabulous talk! Please read that, it is so great.
Ok, I love you all but have to go, continue to pray always Love Sister Ko