Week 2 sa MTC!

Pamilya!!

 I miss you all so much, but I'm still having such wonderful experiences at the MTC!  Thanks for all the goodies and holy crap!!  you loaded me up with cookies hahaha I gave the first box away to my zone and they loved you for it :)  and we've got the rest of the cookies in our room that we snack on every once in a while! ha you are going to make me fat! ;) haaa jokelang ;) And LANDON!  thank you sooo much for your sweet, sweet drawing!  it literally made my entire week :)  i love it!!! I sent you a letter back so you should be getting that in the next few days :)  

Okay, Mom!! I forgot to tell you! Remember that blog that I found and pretty much stalked from that girl who recently returned from her mission in the Philippines?? Sister Shelby Curtis. Well...guess what?? Her brother is in my zone!!! hahaha Elder Curtis! haha and I totally remember when I e-mailed her and she replied and said that her brother was going into the MTC too, but totally didn't even pay attention to it and then met him and it was a funny story! 

Oh and you might like to know that on Sunday they were serving roast,potatoes and gravy, and carrots, and rolls!  Just like our sunday dinners, but it made me miss home because the mtc food doesn't even measure up to your meals!  I love our branch president's wife!! She is like my little mtc mom! every time she sees us sisters, she gives us a big warm hard motherly hug.  I think she realizes that we need that :)  I love her!

So, me and my kasama joke that we are a married couple! haha but seriously, it is so funny! We were doing our laundry and decided to wash our loads together so we were sorting them out like, "Oh, here's your underwear...oh this is mine...oh here's yours..." haha and I said, "Kasamas that wash together, stay together."  haha it's been our little slogan ;)

Okay, you know I'm Frozen deprived when we start singing the songs with my district girls haha except I changed it a little bit: "The gospel's an open doooooorrr!!!  Can I say something crazy? Will you be baptized??? Can I say something even crazier??!  YES!"  ohhh gosh. haha

okay sorry this e-mail will be pretty scattered. :)

I've got a funny story about Tagalog too that you might enjoy :) haha so we went to go teach our progressing investigator, Ton-ton, and we were going to teach him about the restoration.  Well I had learned from my vocab the word "likod" which means back.  Well, I didn't realize it meant like your physical back or like the back of a flashcard. haaa anyway, during the lesson, I said, "Likod sa 1820...." (trying to say, "back in 1820")  haha Ton-ton was looking at me a little malito (confused).  It wasn't until later in class that I realized what I had said and my teacher got a big kick out of it hahaha we were all laughing :)  But hey!  I memorized the baptismal invitation from PMG in Tagalog and we committed Ton-ton to be baptized!! yeahhhh

Okay, so about sending packages to the Philippines, Mom.  I don't think you need to go get Jesus stickers.  The Elders just told me that you can print off pictures of Christ off the internet and tape em to the packages and it will work just the same.  So just print off Catholic-looking pictures of Christ and Mother Mary pictures and such, and the package won't get stolen.

So, I've got a quote I want to share with you all from our wonderful prophet.  It's something that has helped me as I've been frustrated because I just want to know Tagalog fluently so bad!

"Our problem is that we often expect instantaneous solutions to challenges, forgetting that the heavenly virtue of patience is required."

I've been learning a lot about patience this past week.  I've learned that the Lord gives us things "line upon line, precept upon precept".  I've been learning to have more patience with myself and my progress in teaching, learning, and speaking Tagalog.  It's not going to come all at once no matter how much I want it to ;) haha.  But I am seeing His divine hand in this work. I am blown away when I look at how much of the language I know right now compared to just 1 and 1/2 weeks ago when I hardly knew anything.  I am being truly blessed! 

And I know that I can't do this on my own.  I've begun to realize just how much I rely on the Lord.  for EVERYTHING. But especially when teaching investigators. I rely on the Lord to touch the hearts of those I teach.  I am the mortal, tangible, physical hands that serve, but He does the work.  I am fully reliant on Him.  But what a beautiful thing that is.  Because he is always there.  He's got me. :) and he always will.

Ah, I didn't bring my scriptures with me, but I wanted to share with you all, D&C 138:56.  Just look it up.  Read it and substitute the word "you" in every time it says, "they".  This scripture has really strengthened my testimony this past week, knowing that I am in the right place.  I have been called of God.  I am so grateful that he trusts me to carry his message to the other side of the world.  I know that there are people he is preparing right now for me to meet.  To touch their lives with the gospel and help bring them back to their Savior and Father in Heaven.  I know I knew them in Heaven.  I promised these individuals that I would find them and I would teach them, and I would bring them back.  I can't wait to get out there.  It is MAHIRAP!!! (hard!!), pero mahal ako nito :)

Mahal ako ng MTC! Maramdaman ako ng Espiritu Santo dito!  SO MUCH! Mabuting mabuti ang mga guro!  Alam ko na I'm supposed to be dito. 

I love you all so very, very much!  Salamat po kayo para sa all your support and love!  

See you soon :)

Sister Oyler

P.S. Harrison!  Study PMG!  right now!  I'm telling you, that you will be so grateful.  I wish I knew the lessons like the back of my hand already so I could progress even further faster.  Study the lessons!  Know them forwards and backwards.  Read them, dissect them, read all the scriptures, and find more scriptures.  Formulate questions about them.  Gain personal experiences and witnesses about them.  I promise that you will be such a great tool in the Lord's hands if you start NOW and make Preach My Gospel a priority.  I know you are really busy.  But even if you just spent one hour every sunday. You can prepare so much.  Do it!! From missionary to pre-missionary :)  Love you, bud!! Miss you!  Eat lots of Del Taco for me haha I miss that with you.