July 30, 2013

Family!

I'm alive and in the Philippines! We got to Manila last night, spent the night, and then took the hour long flight to Bacolod this morning. It was a looong day yesterday but not as bad as I though it would be. We have training for the rest of the day today, then we'll stay in a hotel tonight, meet our trainers in the morning, and head out to the field!

Sorry I couldn't call again yesterday while flying! Our flight out of SLC was delayed, then we literally had to run to our SanFran flight, where they held the plane for us and had an agent escort us over because we were so late. There were so many missionaries. 50 just on our flight from San Fran to Tokyo. Then we all met up from Tokyo to Manila, where there was probably close to 100.

Anyways, I love the Philippines already!

Love you all!

Sister Fitzgerald

July 25, 2013

Pamilya! 

 

The time has come! My last p-day here in the United States! I hope you got my letter that I sent, but if not, I'll recap everything here.

 

On Friday we got our travel plans! Seriously, it was the most exciting thing, and made everything so real. I only have four days left here at the MTC. It's both sad and exciting. I feel like I have so much I still need to learn, but at the same time, I feel ready to head to the Philippines. There's only so much you can learn before you know what it's really like. But here's my flight plans:

 

On Monday, we leave SLC to San Francisco at 11:22AM. Then from SanFran to Tokyo, then from Tokyo to Manila. Where I think we'll spend the night there and then fly to Bacolod the next morning, because we arrive really late in Manila, at like 10 or something. What's sad is that there's two different flights, and Sis Young is on the opposite one :( But most of my district is on mine, so it's all good.

 

This week has gone by so fast, but it's been so good. A Cebuano teacher had to teach our class one afternoon. It was definitely an experience. He only knew like three words in Ilonggo, and the rest was either cebuano/spanish/english/tagalog mix. haha,  It was pretty funny, especially when we had to teach him a lesson.On Tuesday I went off campus with a sister in our district because she had to go to a hand specialist but her companion was sick in bed. So Sister Young stayed at the dorm, and I went with Sister H. Pretty sure I passed the average amount of times missionaries leave the MTC within the first two weeks I was here. I think that's been my seventh or eighth time, but all is well! The doctor was afraid she wouldn't be able to leave for the Philippines with us because she might need physical therapy for her hand, but she's coming! What's terrible, is that this past week, our district has been plagued with illness/accidents/etc. Someone is either sick, throwing up, or hurt somewhere on their body. But, we are all leaving on Monday regardless! Nothing is going to stop us.Yesterday, we got to host again! Seriously the best part about every week. It's so exciting seeing elder after elder and sisters enter the MTC. Missionary work is truly moving forward and it's exciting to think of all those who are currently serving or are preparing to serve.

 

Tomorrow we have in-field orientation all day, so we only have one day left of class with our teachers on Saturday. I feel so blessed to have had my teachers. Both of them are so strong in the gospel. They have so much faith and a confidence in us and bring the Spirit to our class so strongly everyday. We've had substitutes every once in a while the past couple of weeks, and every teacher is really great, but I know that our teachers were assigned to our class for a reason. Pretty sure only they would be able to keep us focused and reverent, considering our district is so large.

 

Thanks so much for the letters and packages! Everyone loved the goodies! I brought them to class Monday night and we had a party as we cleaned our classroom for cleaning checks the next morning. And thank you Riley for getting all that stuff! It's perfect.

 

You'll have to tell me where Courtney gets called to!! I know she's been waiting a long time to head back out so she must be really excited. Speaking of people from home, I've seen so many people here at the MTC. I see Elyssa Miller practically every day, I saw Elder Lundquist on Tuesday, and I saw Kirsten Nelson last week but I think she left for the field already. Pretty sure that's everyone from Gig Harbor. I know that someone from Wollochet Ward is speaking Tagalog, so I've probably seen him because he's in my building,... but i don't know what he looks like haha.

 

Please know that I love being a missionary. I love being at the MTC. I love feeling the Spirit so strongly every day and being uplifted constantly. I'm so grateful for deciding to go on a mission, even though it still slightly terrifies me.

 

Kabalo ako nga matuod ang Simbahan ni JesuCristo. Nagapsalamat ako para sa ebanghelyo kag para sa kasulhay kag paggiya nga maghatag sia sa akon. Mabal-an ko nga paagi sa pangamuyo kag pagbasa, magbaton kita sang Balaan nga Espitu, paghidaet, kag kusog para sa sini nga kabuhi. Nagapsalamat ako para sa Libro ni Mormon kag ang paggiya nakabaton ako halin sa iya. Kabalo ako nga kon kita sunod sa ehemplo ni JesuCristo, makabalik kita sa Dios.

 

Palangga ko kamo! Nanamian ko sa mangin sang misyonero. Magkita ako sa inyo sa 17 mga bula pero makahambal ako sa inyo sa lunes!!!

 

xoxo,

Sister Fitzgerald

 

Talk to you on Monday!!

 

 

July 18, 2013

Family,

It's been one crazy and hectic week. It's kind of a long story but everything is fine other than Sister Young and I have been away from our district a lot this week.  We miss them.and basically we want to take advantage of our time together the next week and a half. because even though we're going to the same mission, we'll be spread out everywhere. I feel pretty blessed to be put with such a great district and companion and I'm still happy regardless of what's been going on this week.

For the exciting news of the week, we got to host yesterday! So fun!!  One of the girls I hosted was heading to Spokane so I told her to keep a look out for Sister Croft. Seeing families drop off their missionaries was both so sweet, and so sad. It made me miss you guys, but it also was so gratifying.  Grandma sent me Krispy Kremes yesterday as well which was so nice! 

Four districts in our zone headed out last Monday, and seeing them leave made all of us want to leave for the Philippines so badly. But we're down to a week and a half! We'll get our travel plans tomorrow!

Regarding our investigator, JB, she is getting baptized! Granted, it's only role play, but it's still exciting!!.

Well, time is up already. I love you all! Even though this week has been more difficult than usual, I still love being a missionary. Thank you so much for all of the letters. I'll write a letter this week when I get my travel plans. I love the gospel. I love the scriptures. I love missionary work.

xoxo,

Sister Fitzgerald

July 11, 2013

Family,

It's been the best week yet! Granted it's only the third week, but I've truly felt Heavenly Father's love and comfort this past week. I'm half way through my stay at the MTC. I'm both excited yet terrified to leave. There's days where I feel like the language is coming along, and then yesterday we listened to a conference talk in Ilonggo.... pretty sure I could only pick out five words, one of which was Priesthood and that doesn't count because it's the same in both languages. But it's coming along! My vocabulary is pretty limited but I'm to the point where I can usually get what I want to say across in a lesson. It's funny because we know the words to be able to give a lesson from PMG, but then we try to say a sentence that we would actually use every day, and we have no idea. But, our teachers have so much confidence in us that you can't help but not have faith that we can do it. I'm sure our accents our terrible, and that we're probably mispronouncing half of our words, but we're definitely trying
.

Thank you oh so much  for the letters and packages, and for the dc. Best day ever.

So, here's a quick overview of our week:

Last Thursday was seriously the best p-day ever. Since the temple was closed, we took a nap in the afternoon, we actually had time to shower and get ready, we had dinner and ice cream, then we had a 4th of July devotional, where we watched 17 Miracles! (I think it was because they didn't want us outside listening to the concert at Stadium of Fire) And then afterwards, they gave us more ice cream (Magnum bars... #namit) (which means delicious), and then they let us stay out and watch the fireworks until 11. It was the most relaxing day and exactly what we needed. What was super exciting about it was that before dinner, as a district we wanted to take photos by the big map. Sister Young and I were taking a photo, and then Sister Heslop (Clarissa) pops up behind the photographer. I might have teared up a little bit. It was so good seeing her, and so random that she happened to be there. Since then I've seen her a couple times which has been so nice. It's kind of weird seeing someone that you knew before the mission, it makes you a little homesick, but I'm doing fine.

This past week I feel like we've had ten thousand devotionals but it's not a bad thing. It's just sometimes hard to stay attentive and focused when we're so tired all the time. On Sunday we had mission conference and the MTC presidency talked, and then later that night we had another devotional, our usual Sunday night devotional. Afterwards, they have different things playing in different buildings. Sister Young and I went to Elder Bednar's "Character of Christ." It was the best talk I've ever listened to. It's from a Christmas devotional a couple years ago at the MTC. I don't know if you guys would be able to find it or not. if you can, watch it. if not, I can send you some of the things I wrote down.

At the MTC, Sister Young and I made the goal to read the entire Book of Mormon. I'm already in 3 Nephi! the past three weeks. I have seriously grown to love the Book of Mormon and having personal study time every day. Some days, we have personal study after lunch, and I can seriously feel a difference, even though it's only later in the day. This past week we tried to focus our lessons with our investigators on the importance of the Book of Mormon and prayer. We each receive person revelation through them, and they seriously help us in all aspects of our lives, no matter what we're going through. I've definitely can personally witness to that the past couple of weeks. I have consistently found so much comfort and guidance through scripture study and through prayer. I don't think I have ever prayed as much as I do now but I love it. Today, I started reading Jesus the Christ. I've never felt the spirit so strongly reading any other non-scripture book. I'm so excited to continuing reading it. I only read the preface and introduction page. Did you know he wrote most of it in the temple?! Talk about divinely inspired revelation.

I love my district so much and I'm so glad that most of us will be heading to Bacolod together. There's three districts leaving this Monday speaking Cebuano, and to think that's gonna be us in two weeks is terrifying, but also really exciting. We're more than half way done with our time in the MTC. I feel like I still have so much to learn but I guess we have to leave sometime. I love being a missionary. I love feeling the spirit every day. I love spending my time studying and learning the gospel and Ilonggo.

I love and miss you all. Thank you so much for all the support and letters. I got six the other day! hah
I'll try to write a letter during the week to tell you more about the mission. If you have any questions or want to know something, just let me know.

palangga ta ka!
xoxox,

Sister Fitz

MTC Companion, Sister Young

MTC District

July 4, 2013

Another week has come and gone! Thanks so much for the letters and packages. They really do make my day. I was especially surprised when I received a dear elder from Riley and Mattie. I even wrote that one down in my journal because I figured that might be my only one from them :)

It seems like so much has happened each week it' s hard to remember what I have and haven't told you... but I'll try.

So our district is really big. Fourteen of us and all of us except three are going to Bacolod. Plus there's another district of 12 that entered the same day that's going to Bacolod as well. So basically, a lot of us will be heading to the Philippines. Only two missions speak Hiligaynon, Bacolod and Illoillo and only about 8% ofPhilippinos speak it. Basically we were told we'll probably pick up Cebuano and maybe Tagalog while we're there. Recap of the week:

FRIDAY: We got a new teacher! Brother Speicer teaches us in the mornings, but then Sister Tamang teaches us in the afternoons. She was the investigator we taught our first week here, when she pretended to be "Cherry Mae". She just got home from her mission in Bacolod in May! It's weird because I probably saw pictures of her on Facebook. She's tall, and beautiful, and makes me want to become a teacher here. That afternoon, Sister Young and I went to go study outside but just as we sat down on the grass, she got bit by something. She thought it was just an ant or something so we didn't think much of it. By nighttime, it still hurt and was really swollen but we thought it would probably be better by morning.

SATURDAY: It had gotten bigger. So we went to the health clinic, but it's closed on weekends. Long story short, we left campus and went to Instacare in Provo. Although it was a little depressing driving through Provo but not really being in Provo, it was really fun to be off campus for a while. You don't really realize how much of a bubble we live in here at the MTC until you leave it. You realize it's not normail to see everyone in skirts and suits, and see everyone studying, reading the scripures, or eating. Have I told that basically what our days consists of? We wake up, study, eat, study, eat, study, eat, gym, study, and then sleep. That's literally how it goes, but I can' imagine it any other way. We didn't even realize it was Saturday until someone reminded us that we had church tomorrow morning.

SUNDAY: Sherri Dew spoke in Relief Society. Best day ever. It was amazing and so uplifiting. She's such a powerful speaker and I feel like she really connected with what we're experiencing here at the MTC. Later we had sacrament meeting with our branch. Our branch president always calls on two missionaries to speak for five minutes, with no notice. We finish the sacrament, and then he announces the rest of the program. Scariest thing ever. It feels like the reaping from the Hunger Games. That night we had another devotional by Robert Swenson who is involved with the church's missionary department i think, I didn't bring my notebook so I don't exactly remember, but he talked about things he learned while on his mission which was both really funny, but also really spiritual. Afterwards, they showed Legacy. I think I teared up at least four different times while watching it. Lately I've been so emotional. I think it's a mix of exhaustion/stress/overwhelmingness/happiness/etc. that I experience every day. Most of the time it's happy tears though :) One line that stood out to me was, "Give God the chance to fulfill His promise." I found that really comforting cause I think while being here, it's hard to see how I will ever actually learn this language and become an effective missionary. But we're promised time and time again that we will be successful, and that we can be an instrument in the Lord's hand, and that we can and will learn the language and be able to fulfill our purpose by helping others come unto Christ. It's always comforting to be reminded of thal.

MONDAY: We started teaching our new investigators. Brother Speicer is "JB" and Sister Tamang is now "Girlie" They pretend to be investigators that they actually taught while on their missions, and we each have about 20 minutes to teach a lesson. It's stressful but also nice to really learn how to follow and rely on the Spirit, and the importance of paying attention to their needs rather than just teaching lessons. We teach every day, so it always keeps us busy trying to learn the language so we actually know something to say. On Monday, the health clinic doctor wanted to check Sisters young's leg and we found out it was infected :( But, he put her on some pills so now it's almost all healed. It got to be as big as my hand, which was probably really annoying to her since it was on the back of her thigh, and we sit all day. What's fun is that in the waiting room, they have this big puzzle. So basically I relaxed and felt like I was back home working on a puzzle for twenty minutes during lunch while she was with the doctor.

TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY: Tuesday night we had a devotional where the speaker read part of his mission journal. Basically, his journal would be like "today was horrible and I can't speak the language, and there's no hope for me." And then the next day would be like, "I really feel like I"m progressing in the language, and everything is so good, and I'm loving life." Basically that was what Tuesday and Wednesday was. It's so easy to get so discouraged and frustrated, especially when you teach an investigator and it doens't go well, or you trying forming one sentence in Illongo and it jus epically fails. Everything was just a little depressing. But then you have days like yesterday, where I think it was the best day since be at the MTC. The thing is I can't even pinpoint why Tuesday was so horrible, and why Wednesday was so good. But I know those ups and downs will only become more intense later on in the mission.

THURSDAY: We have P-Day! Since the temple is closed all of July, we're not able to go. But that means basically our whole afternoon is free. Which means we are able to take a nap which is seriously probably the most exciting thing ever. What makes today even better is that usually we have class from 6-9 on p-days, but everything after dinner is cancelled for the 4th of July. Which means we have no class today! Instead we have a special devotional and then we get to watch the fireworks from Stadium of Fire!

Clarissa came in yesterday and I have yet to see her. I even peaked into some of the classrooms that I know are English speaking, and ate lunch outside hoping to see her. I'm sure I will eventually. I love you all so much!

Palangga ta ka! I'm out of time!

xoxo,

Sister Fitzgerald

June 27, 2013

Tatay & Nanay,

I love the MTC and am so grateful I decided to go on a mission! So much has happened since last Wednesday it's hard to think of things to tell you. My district consists of six sister companionships and one set of Elders. Completely the opposite situation than what it would have been a year ago. The sisters in my district are all amazing, and the elders thrive being the only males in the room other than our teacher. My companion is Sister Young from Arizona and she's a sweetheart. We get along really well and she has such a strong spirit. There's six of us to a room which is kind of cramped, but it's still pretty fun. Pretty much it's like I'm living back in the dorms all over again.

The language is coming along, I can bear my testimony, pray, and make simple conversation in Illongo which is crazy considering last week at this time I didn't know a single word. This past week we taught our first "investigator," Cherry Mae, who is actually just a teacher here at the MTC. But yesterday during our lesson, she accepted our invitation to be baptized! I think it was partly because we failed at trying to answer one of her questions with our broken illongish, and she felt bad as we sat there trying to think of words that we knew so we could answer her.

This past week was kind of different than usual since all the mission presidents were here. We weren't allowed into the main building that included the cafeteria, so all our meals were served in the gym. And we were hoping to have an apostle speak at our Tuesday devotional, but the MTC decided to have separate devotionals. Instead, Janice Kapp Perry gave the devotional and it was amazing. She's the composer of all the best primary and church songs like A Child's Prayer, I love to see the Temple, As Sisters in Zion, etc. Recently she wrote new words to As Sisters in Zion and they are absolutely beautiful. Go look them up. I can't sing it without tearing up. Did you guys love the Sunday broadcast?! Ends up you both were right, and that they want members to be more involved with missionary work. I think it's exciting to think of what the results could be. What's strange is that I think back to a week ago when I was afraid to mention anything about the gospel to anyone, to now when I'm more than excited to go and share it with everyone. What they said about acting in faith and love I think is so profound. Because that's really what missionary work is, having the love for others to want them to have the knowledge that we do, and having the faith that they will accept the gospel.

I've never felt the spirit so strongly than here at the MTC. You can't help but feel the love and comfort from Heavenly Father as we all struggle to learn and grow. It's easy to become discouraged, especially when you can't say what you want in Illongo and you keep forgetting words that you've studied repeatedly. But I know that if I rely on the Lord and study diligently, that he will bless me because of my efforts.

I've seen so many sisters that I know from BYU! Several from freshman year, and from the Elms this past year. The MTC is just filled with sisters, and I think it's so exciting that so many of us accepted the call to serve the Lord. Robyn sent me a package this week full of goodies and my district absolutely loved it! I'm running out of time but please know that I'm suriving and doing well. I'm so grateful that I had the courage to serve a mission. I have learned so much already. Today we're going to the temple which might be our only chance since it will be closed all of July. One of the girls in our district hasn't been yet so we get to go through the session with her! Thanks so much for all of the letters! It's always exciting to receive them! I love you all!

xoxo,

Sister Fitzgerald

On Her Way!!

  

Picture With the Family Before Entering the MTC

Last Night at Home Right Before Getting

 Set Apart as a  Missionary