Getting a Sense of the MTC

I've been learning how to listen while I'm here at the MTC.

To myself and my own needs, to snoring, to amazing teachers, to construction zones, to silence, to hymns, to companions and their needs, to girl talk, to mission lingo, to hometowns and destinations, to people saying "hey, guys... oops, I mean ELDERS!" To the chatter of the cafeteria, to the shatter when at least one person drops and breaks a glass a day. To the elder in the desk next to me, rapping quietly to himself about Priests, Deacons, and Teachers. To four different alarm clocks going off at different times in our residence.

To rows of churning washing machines and rows of splashing showers. To our district having silent arguments as we learn how to interact and love each other. To dorky church jokes. To the heavy click of the locks on every door. To the clack of keyboards on P-days. To the sound of my own voice trying to explain the gospel simply. To the Role Playing teachers pretending to be investigators and asking the questions that make you squirm. To the voice of the Spirit whispering so quietly.

I've been learning how to see while I'm here at the MTC.

To see how my companion wakes up in the morning, bushy haired and bleary eyed, and still beautiful. The graham cracker brown color of the bricks on every identical building. The way the temple lights up in the dark hours of the morning as you shiver up the parking lot. The sea of black suits every devotional. The shiny black and white square on every chest. The bottom of the mattress in the bunk above you as you try to fall asleep. The laughter of two sister missionaries as they hug and rejoin. The scrawl of all the notes you're trying to take. The colorful meal on your pasty yellow tray. The way our district's faces light up when we see our teachers again.

I've been learning to feel here at the MTC.

To feel the scratchy MTC blankets. To feel the smooth pages of the scriptures and desperately need more time to read. To feel love for people you've just met. To feel excited and scared at the same time. To feel an impression and act on it. To feel weird when I see someone with a phone. To feel warm in my heart during a spiritual discussion. To feel excited over the strangest things: emails, even the ones asking you to take a food survey of the cafeteria; cool Devotional speakers that carry tissue boxes under their armpits to represent carrying sins with you; the cute little laundry soap boxes in the bookstore; when your teacher/investigator finally says a prayer in front of you; when you get cool insight in the temple; companionship prayer and our group hug afterwards; when you have time at the end of the day to read a few more verses of scripture.

The MTC teaches me so much. It's hard and regimented and taxing; like an army barrack for a spiritual army of peace. It's beautiful and warm and friendly; a green house for souls. I'm super excited to leave for Texas this Wednesday, but these have been an amazing two weeks; they've just flown by!

I pray for all of you all of the time. I'm finally learning what it means to have a prayer in your heart always. And I'm so excited to serve the Lord! I wish you all of the blessings the Lord can give you!

Much, Much Love,

Sister Rowley

(P.S. I'm emailing this to my blog, so I'm not going on any forbidden sites, don't worry! This Sister is working ridiculously hard to try to be 100% obedient. Yeah, it's even harder than it sounds. :)

Week Zero: Speak Life

I can't believe it's finally come, and in 7 days I'm heading in to the MTC. Wish me love.

Prepared? Of course I don't feel prepared! And at the same time, I do. It's really bizarre. But whom God calls He qualifies, right?

I have to warn you. If you want to hear play-by-play about the progress of investigators I get to teach, or ugly details about the weather in San Antonio, or what we busied ourselves with on P-day, this won't be the blog for you. I spent 3 1/2 years blogging EVERY DAY about all of the nitty-gritty details of my life in college for my family, and I need a change in blogging scene. It was a great experience, but it was hard to write, and probably hard to read. That's what journals are for, not blogs.

So I've thought long and hard about what I want to send home each week. I don't want my mission to be about me. College was about me. Now I want this stage in my life to be about Christ.

Of course it'll be personal, and of course you'll still get a view of what I'm doing. But I'll save some kick-butt stories to share at home when I'm Melissa again, not Sister Rowley. And I want to honor my future friends investigating the gospel with a little privacy in their growth towards Christ, so I'll save their personal stories for a space not so public as the internet. But we do want to testify of Christ and let people know that other people are investigating this gospel! So here are three things I'll share each week:

1-- The attribute of Christ I'm working on that week with what I've learned so far about that quality.

2-- One or two of my favorite missionary experiences of the week. (That's why you visit missionary blogs, right?)

3-- A challenge for my family/readers. A returned Sister missionary told me she wished she'd been challenging her family all along so that this mission experience could be their mission experience too. #sharewisdom

We'll see what happens to the blog as it evolves. So if you want to follow along, I'd be so happy to have you here! As a missionary my job will be to reach out and seek those who don't yet know Christ. Every day will be rewarding and hard and exhausting, so I've been told. And sometimes it will be nice to hear from people already on the path with Christ, showing support and mutual faith.

"For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; that is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me." -- Romans 1:11-12

I miss you already! So I'll share my growing faith with you here on this blog as I try to follow my Savior all the way to Texas. And you can share your faith with me if you so feel the desire. Mutual faith! <3

Anyway, I've got some studying to do.

And we've both got some faith to develop.

Cheerfully yours,

Sister Rowley

P.S. If the journey gets hard and you don't have time to follow yet another blog, but would still like something to take away and uplift your life, I've spent a ridiculous amount of hours compiling a collection of 555 inspirational, motivational quotes for myself -- a few more than one-per-mission-day in little fortune cookie form to get myself started in the morning. (yeah, I know you can buy quote books for like $10, but sometimes I'm kinda cheap and also probably too much of an over-achiever... also, maybe I only learned of these books after I compiled... ahahaha :) These are obviously not a replacement for scriptures when it comes to true motivation, but sometimes you need motivation to seek motivation. Haha, so if you would like a copy of this, shoot me an email saying "Hey, soul Sister, send me those quotes or something," and I'll forward it straight to you for your printing and enjoying use.

melissa . rowley (at) my lds mail . net

(There are no spaces, and the parenthesis at is an @ sign, but I want to elude automatic computer spammers... is that how spamming works? No? Ok, so whatever, I'm crazy, but we already knew this... :) As long as you are not a spammer, feel free to contact me through this same email any time during my mission's duration. I'll be checking it weekly and I've heard missionaries love mail. *not hinting* *not hinting* haha, again, so much love. - Sister Rowley)