Her email:
Ahhh Mom! Your emails made me cry! In a good way. Also it gave me a preview
of the dearelder that you just sent that I haven't gotten yet. About the new
Doctor? Haha I don't remember him AT ALL but that's alright.
Anyways, it's been crazy busy here! I was way way homesick the first day,
but I prayed and prayed that I would feel better and be able to focus, and so
far I've been totally okay! I still miss you, don't think that means I don't
miss you, but it just means I can actually focus on what I need to be doing
instead of being distracted by thoughts of home and crying like, always
haha.
Okay soooo I'm trying to think of all that's happened (a LOT! We have 16
hour days everyday and every second is filled by something.)
I got here just fine, but you got my letter about that. That's cool that
the lady who checked me in knows Polly! Anyways I was an "early arrival" so I
got to hang out with everyone else who had arrived early and then we got to eat
lunch! All the other missionaries arriving at normal times don't get that. And
then I went and met my host missionary and we dropped my stuff off in my room
and then she took me to get books and then to my classroom aaaand then I was a
missionary! Well I had been a missionary since getting set apart the night
before but you know what I mean. Haha. I was one of the first few people there
and the first sister there, so I got to get to know my teacher and some of the
elders in my district. So my district is who I spend all my time with. There are
four sisters and six elders. And us four sisters share a room! So we have
myself, my companion Sister Duprey, and then Sister Turner and Sister Gregerson.
Our elders are Elder Austin, Elder Rosequist, Elder Welk, Elder Matson, Elder
Campbell and Elder Oldham. Elder Oldham is actually the cousin of Emily's boy ;)
He walked in the first day with the right last name and he looks a bit like
Nick, so I had to ask if he had cousins in Minnesota. Small world!
And then that first night we had to go and teach some "investigators" in
these huge groups of like 40ish people. They would ask questions and we would
have to answer them and try to build their faith. I say "investigators" because
the MTC uses actors who may be members or who may be nonmembers, but we have no
way of knowing which is which!
So basically we have a ton of class everyday, 6 hours! In 3 hour blocks.
For the first couple of days my companion was sick, so it was hard for us to get
some things done but we took her to the doctor and she's doing much better :) OH
so she is 22 and from North Carolina. Sister Turner is 21 and from Alberta
Canada. Sister Gregerson is 19 and from Irvine California. And the elders in
our district are babies. Okay not all of them, but so many of them are
super young and fresh out of high school! Okay wait, maybe only Elders Oldham,
Austin, and Rosequist. But STILL! I just can't believe it haha. So Elders
Matson, Welk, and Campbell are 19 and have done some school, but Elder Campbell
only turned 19 on our 3rd day here at the MTC hahaha. And our zone (another
district also all going to Denver South), is all elders and they're young too!
Or at least it feels that way. I can't believe that there are elders who JUST
GRADUATED who are already out here in the field. They are babies and I love them
all. No but really, I always talk about how much I love the elders and how much
it frustrates me that I can't hug them. They're all sweethearts. I probably
sound like a freak but I just love everyone here at the MTC! My heart is just
overflowing with it.
So yeah, class all day, roleplaying teaching, teaching "investigators"
which are our teachers that are playing investigators they had on their missions
or people they just know, and we also teach in the TRC. That's the actors. And
we just learn so much! It's kind of scary to think that in less than a week I'll
be out in the field teaching real people! But I believe that I can do it. But
it's still way scary.
Oh so about going to Denver. So we're flying out on Monday morning aaaaand
we have to be ready for the bus to pick us up at 430 in the morning. Ewwww. And
we're not allowed to go to bed early on Sunday night. So our flight leaves at
830ish. I might buy a calling card but I'm just not sure yet. I would be calling
you way early, and I just don't know if I'll have time at the SLC airport. I'm
pretty much positive I won't have time at the Denver airport. So I may just buy
one and try to call, but I also am not quite sure of the rules about calling
haha.
You should be proud of me! During gym time I've been running/walking a mile
every time. I walk the first lap and run the last 9. I have no idea how fast I
run it though haha. I should time myself next time. I also usually play
volleyball with the sisters in my zone (another district in our zone right now
is going to Provo UT, but they're leaving today! So we'll get another district
here shortly, but I don't know where they are going.)
I see my friend Sister (Becca) Redd everywhere. Okay mostly just at
mealtimes but at EVERY meal time because we have the same one. And I've seen
some other friends from school. However I haven't seen Elder McKell yet,
although I actually have no idea if he is here or in Brazil or what.
Hahaha. So that letter from my mission president apparently says that we can only
email immediate family? I suppose that's okay since you're the only one who's
emailed me so far, hahaha. And that we're not allowed ipods, only CD players? So
I'll clarify that I suppose, since the mission president's wife said otherwise
and part of the letter said something about the past president? So I kind of
wonder about that hahaha. I will let you know if you need to send me a CD player
and some CDs, I didn't bring any.
On Sunday we got to walk around the temple and it was so beautiful outside
:) And we had a mission conference which is the whole MTC, and that was super
good! Plus sacrament meeting, the Sunday night devotional, and "movies". Our
devotional was Jenny Oaks Baker! She played the violin for us at least 4 times.
It was so beautiful! And her talk was on spiritual gifts and was way good. And
her 4 kids played a song too! It was SO CUTE. Then the "movie" that I watched
was an MTC devotional by Elder Bednar called "The Character of Christ". It was
probably the best thing I have ever listened to. It made me want to be a way
better person. If you can find it somewhere online then you should definitely
read it!!
I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!
And then Sarah sent another email:
Oops. Okay so.
I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!!!!!!! And I do miss you bunches. But I know I'm
where I'm supposed to be and that I'm doing the right thing. It's just really
hard when I think about it too much haha. Like right now. But I am learning and
growing so much everyday. I feel so much closer to my Savior and to my Father in
Heaven than I ever have before. I can't wait to get out to Colorado and tell
people about my Savior and how much I love this gospel! I know that I have
people to teach and people who only I can teach (like my patriarchal blessing
says, have you read that yet?) I am so excited to be a missionary. Thank you for
praying for me. I pray for you guys every night too. I hope you know how much I
love you. Remember how I said my heart was overflowing with love for everyone
here at the MTC? It's overflowing with love for everyone I know back home too.
Thank you for supporting me. I miss you and I love love love love love love you.
Tell dad and Spencer to send me some emails too!! Or some letters. Tell everyone
to send me letters or dearelder me. I got your package by the way, thanks for
the hot tamales :) :) My call packet is by the head of my bed? On those boxes
or whatever? Yeah anyways. Thanks for the quotes, I really liked them!! LOVE
YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll send an email with some pictures right
now. If you're reading this within the next 15 minutes email me back right away?
That's all the time I have left. LOVE YOU SO MUCH! I'm doing the right thing. I
know that. When I was struggling I read D&C 68:6, and I realized that, as
much as I sometimes think I want to go home, what the true, deep desire of my
heart is to tell people about Christ and His love for them.
I'll be seeing you so soon!!!! It will fly by.
LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU
And then, pictures ...
 |
| Name tags on the MTC room door |
 |
| Sister Noakes (left) and Sister Duprey, companions |
 |
| Sister Turner and Sister Gregerson, the other two roommates |
 |
| Sister Noakes and Sister Duprey in front of the Provo Temple |
 |
| The whole zone of Colorado South Missionaries |
 |
| Sister Noakes and her roommates (Sisters Duprey, Turner, and Gregerson) and two sisters going to Provo. The sister in the wheelchair was ill but refused to go home! |
 |
| Sister Noakes |
So
these are some pictures of me and my companion, Sister Turner/Sister Gregerson,
the four of us, our whole zone of Denver South missionaries, and our district +
2 sisters in our zone going to Provo. The girl in the wheelchair is moving in
with us and staying another week because she had some serious and unexpected
health problems, but she refuses to go home, which is AMAZING! Sorry I can't
tell you about specific pictures, because I can't see them hahahaha.
*********
So that's her first email! We've actually received THREE letters from her (I didn't know Sarah knew how to write that many letters!), and it's been wonderful to read them. Emotional, but wonderful. I plan to type up the letters and post them later.
I looked up the talk she mentioned by Elder Bednar, and it is really wonderful. It was originally given at a BYU-Idaho Religion Symposium in January of 2003, while Elder Bednar was still in the Quorum of the Seventy. The talk can be found here: http://www.scottwoodward.org/Talks/html/Bednar,%20David%20A/BednarDA_CharacterOfChrist.html.
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