Halfway Mark at the MTC!

Dearest Family,

We had another privilege of hearing from another Apostle of the Lord, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland! He loves his mission so much. He has thought about his mission every single day for 5 decades now. His mission has impacted every significant decision he's ever made. Every good thing that has happened to him came from those 24 months. I want to love my mission the way he loves his!

If Elder Holland's words had to be the last words that I would ever hear, I would be so incredibly happy. I felt as though he was talking directly to me and that no one else was at that devotional. Everything that he said was what the Lord needed me to hear. Never will I ever question being on my mission. I know for a fact that I am here because the Lord wants and needs me to be here to learn and grow in ways that I would not have if I hadn't chosen to serve.

There were specific things that Elder Holland said and I knew that it was the Lord talking to me through Elder Holland. One of the things I loved and will lean on for the rest of my mission and life is the fact that my mission is supposed to be hard. Why is it so hard? It's because it's God's truth. It was always hard for the Son of the Living God as he taught gospel truths and was rejected for every single good thing he did. Every second of it was so hard for Him. He endured it for 33 years, knowing that He had to go through with the Atonement because of His love for the Father and for us. Sometimes I'm so prideful and think that this should be so easy because I'm so easy going and how I usually have a positive attitude towards things. But that's exactly why the Lord humbles me! He wants me to grow. I know that I would not grow in these specific ways without being here.

I never really talked about my MTC experience, aside from the Spiritual aspect of everything. But here is pretty much how 5 out of 7 days goes: -Arise at 6:30 am -Breakfast at 7 am -Gym at 7:35 am. -Be in class at 8:55 am. -Personal Study, Companionship Study, and Language study until 11:30 am. -Lunch at 11:30 am. -Back in the classroom at 12:40 pm -Class until 4:30 pm -Dinner at 4:30 pm until 5:15 pm -Back in the Classroom until 9 pm -Daily planning until 9:30 pm -Be in bed at 10:30 pm

Once a week we have service so that changes our schedule a little. As you can see, I'm in class a lot! Learning Chinese, how to teach the lessons in Chinese, and how to be an effective missionary. I'm in the classroom more than I'm in the residence hall. I like the food here. Others complain about it but I'm grateful for anything that I have.

It's hard being at the MTC for so long and watching other missionaries who are only here for 2 weeks come and go. But it's also amazing to see that I've already been here for almost a month! We make a month in 4 days! This week, my district gets to start hosting new missionaries on Wednesday. We get to be at the drop-off and welcome them to the MTC. We're pretty much their first interaction when they get here so I'm so excited to share my excitement about the MTC with them! :)

Love you all! Endure to the end! Love, Sister Sagisi

This is Sister Mongie! She was in the other zone but she was in the classroom just next to us.  She's so great!  She left for Melbourne, Australia Mandarin speaking last week.

The new Elders in our district at the Creamery.  They're not so "new" anymore.  Haha.  Elder Kujanpaa, Elder Salazar, and Elder Rock.

My companion and I at the good 'ol Creamery after going to the Museum of Arts Sacred Gifts exhibit at BYU.  :)  Felt so good to be back on campus.

Elder Fu just spent his life's earnings at the Creamery.

This is an origami ball that Elder Gibbs made.  Pretty amazing.

 Elder Fu shared some of his "English sweets" with us.  I'm sorry but I love these a lot more than American candies.

So after a long day, we deserve some nice, hot cinnamon rolls.  Sister Weiss' mom sent her some.  You can tell how rough of a day it was.  Please don't mind our faces.  Haha.
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