Week 2 at the MTC!!

Kumusta!!  We're finally not the newbies, yaaayy!!!

This week hasn't been too crazy, just basically studying.  This is currently how I feel about Tagalog:

Saturday, after we got to email home, we got to go through the temple with two girls in our zone to get their endowments.  They'd never even been to a temple before, so it was so exciting to be able to experience that with them, they were so happy!

Sister Latham and I were talking about our missionary scriptures this week and realized we'd picked the same one!  Just with different references :) mine is 2 Nephi 22:2, and hers is Isaiah 12:2

"Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; He also has become my salvation.."

We thought it was pretty awesome that we'd picked the same verse :)

We joined the MTC choir on Sunday, and it is awesome!  I'd never really participated in anything that involved me singing before (except when the young women would sing in church) so when the ushe asked me what I sang I just gave her a blank look and said "I couldn't tell ya!"  So, she stuck me with the 1st sopranos.  I didn't really know what that meant at that time, but I do now.  AND I AM NOT A 1st SOPRANO.  Thankfully everybody around me was singing so loud they couldn't hear me, or they probably would have been cringing.  Actually, everybody around me was singing so loud I couldn't hear me.  We sang at the devotional on Tuesday, and since I was in 1st alto instead it went much better for me haha.  It was a beautiful devotional, and I was able to get a lot of inspiration from it.

I've been enjoying the MTC, but the last couple of days I've definitely been homesick.  Last night I was having a really rough time, and after lights out and we were all settling down for bed, I'd just started to cry when one of the other sisters in our room started talking about how in the Philippines they start celebrating Christmas in September and how excited she was for that.  It went from that to planning to celebrate Christmas instead of Valentine's Day, to talking about our romantic lives (or lack thereof) to singing songs from the Grinch.  IT WAS SO FUNNY.  We all just ended up laughing to the point of rolling, and it was exactly what I needed.  It was awesome.

Our Tagalog teacher, Sister Riddle, told us this week that she's going to be leaving us in a couple of weeks cause she found a career job.  Which is great for her, but we are all feeling a little deserted because we absolutely love her.  She's so much fun, and she answers all our questions about what it's like to serve in the Philippines.

Weekly scripture:  John 15:16.  "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you."

Weekly thought: Life is like riding a bike.  To keep your balance, always look forward and just keep moving.

XOXO

Sister Payton Pectol