Week 1 MTC

Dear Family!

You have no idea how excited I am to write you. It has definitely been a crazy five days. I'll tell you a little bit about my district. There are 4 elders, all going to the Paris mission. One is 20 and the rest are 19. Then there are six sisters, three going to Lyon and three going to Paris. They are all really great but all different so it's a fun dynamic.I really love my district. My companion is Soeur Beeny. She is from Atlanta Georgia. She took 7 years of French so she knows a lot more than I do, but I will get there. On Wednesday we got our tags and went into our class right away and learned how to introduce ourselves in French. Which I already knew so that was easy. Then we went to this opening missionary meeting, then to another meeting than to a bunch of other meetings. It was a day full of meetings. I was exhausted though. Thursday was tough. Since we are French speakers, we have breakfast earlier, so we wake up at 5:30 instead of 6:30 and so that means 7 hours instead of 8 to sleep but it's not bad at all. We had a lot of study time but still more orientation stuff. We learned how to pray in French, and my prayers are becoming a lot more sincere and thought out. It's cool to see the change. My companion and I pray only in French which is helpful. I think Thursday was only hard because I had a lot of things thrown at me. It was so busy and I was very overwhelmed. I met my branch president and he seems cool I guess. Thursday Soeur B and I planned a lesson in French for our first "investigator" Murielle. We don't know if she is really a member or not, but it was all in French. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and how it is centered on Christ. I gave her some scriptures to read like 2 Nephi 25:26. She really responded well to that one. I bore my testimony and I felt like she knew what I was trying to say even in my broken up French. We continue to learn more French and Gospel ideas everyday. My teacher is Frere M. He is from Paris too, but moved to the US when he was five. I learn a lot from him. Saturday we did service in the Morning, which just means we have to help clean the residence hall for an hour and 15 minutes. It was nice because I got to vacuum with my companion but we weren't together so I had a little bit of alone time to kinda think without having someone there 24/7. Then we got personal physical exercise time and that was fun. But the best part of that day was teaching Murielle again that night. She is awesome. We taught her about the restoration and the apostasy and that was cool, but I really felt the spirit when I bore my testimony. It was amazing because for once I wasn't talking slow or stumbling over conjugation. It just came out. I testified to her that I knew Jesus Christ is my Savior and that He is her Savior too. He loves her and He wants her to return to Him again and she can live with Him again. It was such a simple and brief testimony, but I felt the spirit so strongly. It was incredible. She is very sweet and I was so grateful for that experience. Sunday was the best by far. We got to sleep in one hour, but that's not why it was the best. Sacrament was only in French except for the Branch Presidency speakers. The topic was on faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Every week we have to prepare a talk in French and they choose you during sacrament. But thankfully I didn't have to this week! Anyway, so after sacrament we had an hour of personal study and then the sister's went to watch music and the spoken word until relief society. Music is powerful. Relief society was good. The speaker spoke on the importance of our role as women in the church. We got to go on a temple walk too and it was awesome because literally there were like 500 missionaries there. We took pictures and chilled for a bit. After that was choir and we are singing Jesus Once of Humble Birth. It was beautiful. Once again, music is powerful. My favorite part of the day was the Sunday devotional. Sister Mary Ellen Edmunds spoke and it was hilarious but powerful. A few things that she said really hit me. She said I'm the only one who can serve my mission. No one else can. I have the power to make it how i want it to be. We as missionaries are visual aids for investigators. Be happy and optimistic. Ultimate hope and daily grumpiness are irreconcilable. Treasure the Book of Mormon. You control how people make you feel. I loved her talk. I felt so uplifted and inspired to be better. I have learned a lot this week about Inviting others to come unto Christ. Wherever I am and whatever I'm doing, when I am on the streets trying to share His message and people walk by without even looking at me, Christ will still be Christ. He will still be the Savior of the World and nothing will change that. And I will still be a Daughter of God. I am starting to really love the MTC even though I was discouraged at first and felt alone. I can't wait to tell you what else I learn in the weeks to come! I love you all so much!

 Love Sister Roberts

P.S. I go to San Francisco on Thursday to get my Visa!