MISSION WEEK 1!!!🥳🤩🥰

HELLO! Welcome to the first of my weekly emails! This last Sunday I was set apart as a missionary and I started home MTC on Monday! It has been so awesome so far! I am so excited for what is still to come!

HIGHLIGHTS:

• MY COMPANION! I am convinced I have the best companion already and I haven't even met her in person! Her name is Sister Roper and I feel so lucky to have her as my companion! I already have learned so much from her and we are so similar in so many ways! I can't wait to meet her next Wednesday and get to really get to know her!
• MY TEACHERS! I have the BEST teachers ever! They love their job and they are so excited to teach us every day! Sister Skousen is so funny and so relatable. I love her so much! And Brother Stamminger is so smart and has the best insights, I have learned a lot from him!
• MY DISTRICT! My district is already becoming some of my very best friends! There are only 4 sisters and I feel like we all already click so well! Two of the sisters went to UVU last year and one of them even lived at my apartment complex and I had never seen her! It's such a small world! The elders in my district are absolutely hilarious and I just know we are all going to have such a party together when we all get to Provo!
• THE TEMPLE! This last Thursday morning before my classes started I got to go to baptisms at the Layton temple with my parents and younger siblings! This was amazing! I love being in the temple, especially with the people I love most! It is so cool to have a temple so close to my home!
• SETTING APART! Getting set apart was such an amazing experience for me! I was able to have my whole family there and I felt so much love and support from them! My blessing was amazing and exactly what I needed to hear! So many parts of my patriarchal blessing were repeated in my setting apart blessing which just shows how AMAZING revelation is! 
• HELPING OTHERS! This morning Sister Roper and I had our first helping others appointment! For those who don't know what this is, it is where we teach a short lesson to someone to practice our teaching skills! And we feel like it went pretty well! We were definitely SUPER nervous but as soon as it started going we were okay! We were able to put together some really good ideas for a lesson and feel so good about how it went!

LOWLIGHTS:

• THE LONGEST DAYS! 8 hours of classes on zoom is SO LONG. I don't have very long breaks and I am just constantly sitting and staring at my screen. I am definitely learning a lot but I am not loving sitting and listening for 8 hours. Most of these hours are very interactive and we get short 10 minute breaks between hours so these classes go by really fast! The workshop classes are the hardest classes for me! We are basically getting lectured for an hour straight and it is so hard for me to stay focused! I am very much looking forward to being in in-person classes and getting to move around in each class!

This week honestly was so awesome! Besides the long hours I don't have any other lowlights from my whole week! I feel so grateful for my district and teachers and feel like I have been really blessed! I will report to Provo MTC on Wednesday and I am SO EXCITED! 

Spiritual Thought

This week as I have gone out of my house to run errands with my mom or get a drink or go to lunch, I have really paid attention to how many people notice my small little black tag. And let me tell you, SO many people notice! Everywhere I went I got asked about it and what it meant or where I am serving, all sorts of questions. In one of my classes, we talked about how we should be taking our setting apart literally. We are set apart from the rest of the world to serve the Lord at this time. Seeing how many people notice a small tag made me realize how true this is! My small tag sets me apart from everyone and outwardly connects me to who Christ is. This means I need to constantly be acting as Christ would. I think this is something everyone can do, whether you are a missionary or not. Living your life how Christ would live naturally brings people to you and you are able to show them the light of Christ! I invite everyone to try harder this week to live as an example of the believers in your everyday lives! 

I am so thankful for all of you and your support! LOVE YOU ALL!!

-Sister Stringham