Called to Teach and Testify: Week 1

I am absolutely loving the MTC! Wow. I love being a missionary. Wednesday after I got dropped off the host took me to several different rooms to get my nametags, books and materials. It was kind of a blur and all of a sudden she dropped me off in my classroom. There were a few missionaries already there. While we waited for the rest of our district to arrive we got to know each other a little bit. Our teachers are Brother Adjei from Ghana who served his mission in Las Vegas and Brother Robison who is from Provo and served his mission in Scotland/Ireland. I love my teachers so much! Brother Adjei has the most awesome accent and I love listening to him. Both of them are so passionate about the gospel and missionary work. I am learning so much from them. I met my companion. Her name is Sister Hart. She is from Cottowood Heights. She graduated Brighton in 2012 and has been teaching English in China for the past 9 months! I love her so much. She has such a pure heart and she works hard. She and I get along really well. The rest of our district is also so very awesome! I love them so much and we have gotten so close! We spend almost every waking hour with each other! Wednesday night we had a teaching experience where there were about 50 missionaries in a room with one investigator. It was terrible. I learned so much about missionary work just from that experience. It was ridiculous how some missionaries would start testifying of something and it wouldn't even be relevant to what the investigator was saying. They would ramble on about something that didn't even matter to the investigator. Sometimes they would even change the subject. The few times that we actually helped the investigators to feel the spirit was when someone would share a scripture or at the end when one of the investigators asked us to pray for his daughters. I was pretty frustrated the whole time. I know that it is so incredibly important to make sure that you LISTEN to your investigators. You have to make sure that you know their needs and address their needs. If they say they have a particular concern or something, you can't ignore it! Oh wow, it was a wonderful but frustrating experience.

Thursday was long, we had a lot of workshops and lessons about our purpose as missionaries. It isn't to baptize or even get them to pray or read the scriptures. Our purpose is to INVITE others to come unto Christ by HELPING them receive the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.... I am trying to Come unto Christ everyday in order to be able to help my investigators to come unto Christ. My companion and I got our first investigator. His name is Bobby. Basically it is just Brother Robison but he takes on the role of Bobby. It has been a lot of fun teaching Bobby and we are learning so much. It feels like right after we teach Bobby a lesson we learn something that we could have/should have done with Bobby. It can get a little frustrating but mostly I am just too hard on my self. How long have I been here?? SEVEN DAYS! Hah! Thursday night we met with our branch presidency and I love them so much! They are so compassionate and expect so much of us and that is so wonderful! Their wives are incredible as well. Overall, Thursday was actually a hard day where I learned a lot. It was really hard because I felt like I was being chastised because I need to be more humble. I came into this thinking it would just be totally wonderful and that I wouldn't have a hard time because I'm 21 and graduated from college and I have a strong testimony and I know how to teach. But I learned today that it doesn't matter what I know. I have to rely and trust in God more. It was and still is a hard lesson that I am learning.

Almost every night I lay down and my mind starts racing! Luckily I am getting better at sleeping here at the MTC! :) It is so nice to have 8 hours dedicated to sleep. Rarely do we get that in life. Friday night we had our fist gym time and it was wonderful. It felt amazing to run around and play volleyball and sweat a little bit!

Sunday was wonderous. Besides the fact that I really only had 20 minutes of study it was fantastic. The branch president met with Sister Hart and I and called us to be the Sister Training Leaders for our Zone. I am so grateful and humbled by this calling. I had been praying to feel sincere love for the missionaries in my district and zone so I am so happy that Heavenly Father is giving me the chance to serve my zone. Then we had relief society where Carol F. Mckonkie spoke. She is the new first counselor of the general young womens presidency. She is wonderful and she spoke to us about really trusting in the Lord to help us be missionaries. He is constantly helping me. I can't be a missionary. But with the Lord, I can be his missionary. After lunch we had Sacrament meeting. They told us all to prepare talks and they said they would choose two people to give it. I wasn't asked to speak but I was really grateful I had the opportunity to prepare a talk on enduring to the end which was the theme of the sacrament meeting. I had an interview with President McMullin and it was wonderful. I set some goals that I am going to work on for the rest of my stay at the MTC. And throughout my mission. Sunday night we got to choose a church movie to watch and my district went to "The Character of Christ" which was absolutely fantastic! I loved it so much. It was all about how the Savior never looked inward like us mortals tend to do. He always looked outward. I want to be like the Savior. I don't want to worry about myself all the time. Especially on my mission. I now have less than 18 months to dedicate to the Lord and I want to use every second I can to help my brothers and sisters come unto Christ. I am so grateful to be a missionary.

Monday we got a new investigator. Her nick name is K-min. She is from South Korea and her husband is going to BYU. They aren't members and her cousins referred the missionaries to her. Basically she is a volunteer and they don't tell us if she really is a member or non-member. She is the sweetest person and I love talking to her. We only had three lessons with her this week and it was a little up and down. It was tough but Sister Hart and I learned so much from teaching her. The more I learn from Preach My Gospel the more my testimony grows of that divine scripture. I am so grateful for it and the opportunity I have to learn from it. It is truly an inspired book. Maybe you should read it.

Tuesday was pretty normal, We taught K-min and Bobby. I don't think either of the lessons went very well. Sister Hart had a rough day but we learned more about relying on the Lord and listening to the Spirit. Tuesday night was the devotional and our whole district sang in the Choir! We sang Lead Kindly Light which is an amazing song! It was so powerful and wonderful. Elder Neil L. Anderson came to speak to us and he did an amazing job! He titled his talk "First Love, Then Sacrifice". He talked about how we sacrifice for the things we love and we love the things we sacrifice for. As I serve my mission it is going to be hard. I have and I will have to sacrifice many things. But that is ok. I am here to learn to love God and serve him! I must remember that Home will be there in 18 months. My friends will be there in 18 months. I need to put "I" away and focus on the work. Notice some themes that have been present these past 8 days?? I am so grateful to be a missionary and have the chance to wear this plaque with Christs name on it. I get to proclaim the wonderous beauty of the atonement and plan of salvation all the time!

Yesterday I had a really rough morning. I don't know exactly why but I was really emotional and feeling very frustrated. We were struggling to know how to teach Bobby and I got really down on myself and thought about how I should know better and be able to teach better than I was. Luckily Brother Robison's lesson helped and he talked to us about our lesson with Bobby and that also helped a lot. We learned about teaching people and not lessons and I was frustrated with myself because we were learning concepts and principles that I already knew and I was upset with myself for not remembering/applying them. It all turned out great and my companion was so loving when I was being emotional and tears were running down my face. I learned so much yesterday and I am so glad that I had that experience. Last night The zone leaders and us sister training leaders met with the new district that came into our zone. I can't even believe that 7 days ago I was in their shoes! I feel like it has been so long but it has also flown by. I think that I am learning a lot and I am having so much fun. I really do love the MTC!

Today is P-day. Our laundry is done and I'm getting a haircut soon! This afternoon we are going to the temple and I am SO SO SO excited! I miss going to the temple. It will probably be my last time for the next 18 months!

Thank you so much for those of you who sent me emails! I loved it! I would also love letters too!

Sincerely,

Sister Lauren Kasteler