May 20, 2013
Oh my gosh I'm just sitting here crying I'm so happy I got to read your emails.
Oh my gosh I'm just sitting here crying I'm so happy I got to read your emails.
I'm wondering if you got my letter in the mail yet from last
week. It's usually not allowed but the mission president let us write home our
first night on paper. I bet you'll be getting it tonight.
Haha, I love hearing about all the mundane things of average
everyday life... I'm happy you're enjoying your ipad as I'm experiencing
withdrawls from my iphone.
I'm happy you guys are praying for me, and tell Aubrey thank
you for her prayers and to write me.
The day I arrived, they gave me specific dates. I will be
leaving the MTC on June 24, 2013 and returning home from France on November 10,
2014. It's kinda crazy. I've only been here for a few days, and they
already have my return date in a year and a half. Like, sheesh! Let me live the
mission a little before ya tell me that! haha
I'm so happy you had a great sabbath day. I did too! It was
THAT day that I have been waiting for at the MTC. I've been praying and waiting
to see Marlee all week, and I finally saw her right before Relief Society. When
I saw her, I yelled her name and we ran towards each other like some cheesy
movie. We hugged and literally both of us starting to cry. I have never been
more happy to see someone in my life. That was an answer to my prayers. I knew
that the Lord was aware of me. Relief Society was killer. It was a guest
speaker. Before that we were able to watch Music and the Spoken Word. We had
meetings and sacrament meeting was pretty awesome. Our Branch president doesn't
ask people in advance to give talks; EVERY missionary prepares a talk on the
same topic IN FRENCH and then he calls on them during the actual service.
Pretty cool, huh? I didn't get called on, but I probably will pretty soon. I'm the
most advanced in French in my class so far. Anyway, we had a KILLER devotional
tonight by Sister Mary Ellen Edmonds. Go look her up. She's hysterical and
absolutely inspiring. Seriously. Look her up and listen to some of her stuff.
We also went on a "temple walk" today. Lots of missionaries can just
go on a walk to the Provo temple and we all chill out. Our district took lots
of pictures. They are seriously so amazing. I love those Elders and Sisters so
much. We have too much fun together. I also took some pictures with Marlee. I'm
gonna try to send you some pictures attached in another email... so wait for
those.
In order to save time on P-days, the MTC asks that we have
family and friends write us through DearElder.com. You just go to the website
and choose Provo MTC and then put in my information which is:
Sister Victoria Chanel Beeny
MTC Mailbox #183
FRA-LYON 0624
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, utah 84604
When you use DearElder I will get the letter printed out the
same day, which is awesome. So PLEASE USE THAT. Plus, it'll save me time on the
computer. I only have an hour to respond through email, so it's nice to have
read your letters before I sit down.
My companion is SO STINKIN AWESOME. Her name is Soeur
Roberts. She's from San Diego and just finished her freshman year at BYU. She
knows a little French, but relies on me a lot. Which is fine, because she keeps
me focused and on check. She helps me remember the rules and she is just such a
strength to me. My love and gratitude for her has grown every day, as
well as my love for our district. We have already had our first
investigator (not sure if she's real or just an actor, but people get paid to
come into the MTC and be an investigator in their language.) Our investigators
name is Meurielle. She's from Paris and is here on an exchange program. She is
living with an LDS family here in Provo. She is a christian, but is looking for
her HOME, or the PLACE FOR HER. She's amazing. We love her so much and she has
the spirit with her. She helps us with our French, because we're obviously not
very advanced. She's patient, and we can tell that she is interested in the
church. She's started reading the Book of Mormon. We have taught her twice
already. Sister Roberts and I have felt so inspired while preparing and teaching
her. The Spirit is our guide and the only person that can truly let her know of
the truthfulness of our words. It's awesome. We are teaching her again tomorrow
and so when we went to the temple this morning we prayed about what we're going
to teach her next. We both felt prompted to invite her to be baptized, so we're
going to teach about the Priesthood, baptism, the gift of the holy ghost, and
temples as well as eternal families. We're super excited.
They honestly haven't taught us much French yet... we've
gone over super basic stuff. So I feel like the only person that's not
progressing in the language. I mean, I am just because I've been speaking a
lot, but everyone else is excelling quicker than I am because they didn't even
know all the basics. So the language is coming along great. They have taught us
how to pray and testify in French, and I've become very strong in that area.
It's incredible to speak to God in another language. It's more meaningful
because I think about every word and how I'm going to phrase things. It's
amazing. Also, teaching has helped me improve a lot. They want you to teach the
gospel in such simple terms that a child would understand; well thank heavens
we only have the vocabulary of a child, so they will get a very simplified
version of the gospel, which is incredible to me.
So there are lots of cute elders here. DUH. The ones in my
district are cute too. I love them all. They had a special meeting with us
sisters the first week to discuss a new issue that has arised recently:
flirting. They told us to not get TOO friendly with the elders... haha, it was
funny, but true. However, I feel like they should be giving the elders this
same talk! They are honestly the ones that start the flirting, and it's hard
not to respond without flirting back or without totally dissing them and making
them feel bad. There's a thin line.
So we're supposed to wake up at 6:30 and go to bed at 10:30,
right? WRONG. Our district has breakfast at 6:30, so we have to wake up at
about 5:30... and we usually don't fall asleep till 11, so we've been
exhausted. The French speakers are the only ones that have this faulty
schedule. They think we're the strongest, so they put us on the schedule.
DUMB.So we're always really tired, but it's still been incredible. Time is
flying by. I leave for France in 5 weeks, 35 days. WOOOWW.
The trip to San Francisco? We leave early Thursday morning
and will get back that afternoon. It's gonna be SWEET! They recommended we not
call our parents at the airport, so I'm going to do as they say... I'll take
pictures though and send them next week :)
So anyway, that's all I really have to say... except I love
you so much and I miss you... I've been kinda homesick, but I'm pushing
through. As long as I work, the Lord will bless me and bless you guys. (Also,
we can't say "you guys" here, we have to say Elders and Sisters...
that's been hard for me, haha. But we can say "awesome".) Please,
please write me through DearElder. Have Aubrey, Win and Trevor write me too....
and have Trevor tell my dad to write me. I don't have Gary's email, but he has
mine, so I don't know what to do.
Love you so much. Know I'm growing and I know for sure that
this is what the Lord has had planned for me all my life.
Je sais que Jesus Christ est mon sauveur. Il vit. Mon pere celeste
m'aime et il m'ecoute quand je prit.
Write me. love you.
I'll send another email right after this with pictures.
Avec amour, Soeur Beeny
