Last Post from the MTC

The long awaited travel itinerary!

August 20, 2015

Hello friends and family!

Big news of this week was that I got my flight plans to Prague! I will be leaving Monday, the 24th, at 2:30 in the morning. I fly to Chicago and then have a 7 hour layover there. I'm not really looking forward to the 7 hour layover! We leave Chicago and fly through the night over the Atlantic to London, England. We have a 2 hour layover in London and then fly to the Czech Republic! I'm super excited to finally be going there after a whole summer in the MTC! 

When we got our flight plans though, I realized how close it was until we actually left. This last week has been full of lots and lots of language study. I've been memorizing as much vocabulary as possible as well as memorizing all the case charts for nouns, possessive pronouns, and personal pronouns. Czech has 7 different cases so its been pretty tough to get those down. I'm sure the last few days here will be packed with studying too, and even though I might not be ready to actually speak the language, I know that I just want to be there and learn as I preach the gospel. 

Every Sunday here, we have an assigned topic that is talked about in sacrament meeting, priesthood, and in our district meeting.This past week, it was on the Atonement. There are a few really good chapters on the Atonement including: 2 Nephi 2, Alma 7, and Alma 34. There is also a quote in Preach My Gospel that says "All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Christ." I know that our Savior suffered for each one of us individually and that through him, we can change and become better people. 

On Sunday for devotional, we had to opportunity to listen to the Nashville Tribute band. in, the choir we actually got to sing with them on 2 of their songs too. The Nashville Tribute band is a band that sings about the Restoration of the gospel, and they also have a few other CD's about the gospel. I knew all of their songs because we used to listen to them all of the time at home. I also got to shake Jason Deere's hand, the lead singer of the band.

Tuesday night devotional was by Elder Echo Hawk of the Seventy. He talked about how much of a difference one missionary can make by just opening their mouth and sharing the gospel. He also said that our choices as missionaries will have eternal consequences for all that we come in contact with. I know that the same is true for any member of the church. We can make a huge difference by just opening our mouths.

One of our teachers is getting married this weekend so we said good-bye to her and we also said good-bye to another one of our teachers. They've have helped us so much on learning the language and in learning how to teach that it was hard to say bye. As the time winds down here, I get more and more excited as well as nervous and scared. I should also mention that I have actually really enjoyed the MTC food, but I'm sad to say that I'm up 12 pounds now!

Well, after being here 8 and a half weeks, and seeing thousands of missionaries come through and leave, and seeing lots of friends from school come and go, it is finally my turn! I'm excited to go meet the Czech people and share the message of the gospel with them! Next time you hear from me, I will be on the other side of the world! Have a great week everyone!

-Starší Shirley