1. We are officially not the rookies anymore at the MTC. We welcomed new missionaries this Wednesday!
It was great and seriously so crazy to see how far we have come since
we first arrived. All the newbies ask US for advice?! Like we are
qualified all of the sudden?! So great.
2. Every Tuesday in the MTC a general authority comes to speak! This past Tuesday
Elder L.Whitney Clayton from the Presidency of the Seventy came to
speak to us. It was really amazing. I don't have time to get into what
his message was. But just know that it was great and it is so wonderful
to hear from general authorities. Love it. I can't wait to see who comes
tomorrow!!!
3.
One of the days this week the MTC president sat with my district at
lunch!! It was so cool and he gave us special advice for going out on
our missions. BLESSINGS.
4. This point is
specifically for Devin. There is a guy here at the MTC that looks
EXACTLY like Nicholas Cage. I asked him if he gets that a lot and he
said yes and I almost DIED laughing!!! It was the best and he wasn't
even offended. He just laughed with me.
5. I
have officially gone through two watches so far at the MTC... The one I
brought with me ran out of batteries. So I bought one at the bookstore
and it works but I broke the thing that holds it on my wrist. *Sigh*
Mom, I also thought you would find it funny (or upsetting) that I ripped
that polka dot shirt that we got on the way to the MTC... again. On the
first day even. So.. apparently we shouldn't have bought that shirt.
6.
Yesterday for the devotional a sister sang "I heard him come" for the
opening song. It was soooo good. And definitely made me miss home and
hearing mom sing that to me.
7. So I make this
face at mom all of the time and purse my lips together when she wants
me to do something. Maybe some of you have seen this face. Anyways.. I
told my district about it and they about peed their pants laughing.
Somehow I'm one of the funny ones here at the MTC so it's great. So we
started doing this thing when we get asked to do something, we purse our
lips and look like deer in the headlights and shake our head and
everyone laughs.
8. My companion (Sister
Aguilar) and I taught our district yesterday. We were so excited that we
got to teach. We spoke about Enduring to the End. I thought I loved
teaching relief society but I love teaching in the MTC and to
investigators even more!! However, it is significantly harder to teach
with another person. But it was still magical.
9.
I sang in sacrament meeting for the first time yesterday!! Ah! It was
so fun and scary. I had to play the piano and sing with the other
sisters in my zone. It was great. Somehow I am the most musically
talented person in my entire zone?! It is so confusing to me. But I
played the piano for all three songs ALSO in sacrament meeting because I
am literally the only person who knows how to play. I couldn't believe
it. But I got to organize the musical number and it went really well and
definitely brought the spirit.
10. Dad might love this. Yesterday for Sunday
Devotional Chad Lewis came to speak to us with his wife. Chad played
for BYU and then went on to play in the NFL for the Eagles. (Dad's two
fav teams) It was really cool to hear his testimony of never giving up
and encouraging others to never give up. He talked a lot about using his
testimony while he was in the lime light and how even when his team won
the superbowl, it wasn't as good of a feeling as the way he felt when
he was serving a mission. So cool. Missions are really the most
wonderful things. Every so often I start to feel like I want to go home
or just so insanely tired, but that feeling only lasts a few short
moments and then I'm back to being excited about the work again.
Heavenly Father really loves us. I know that. Because he has helped me
time and time again. The Gospel is just so cool. Anyways.. Chad Lewis
also invited Taysom Hill to bear his testimony. (I didn't know who this
is.. but apparently he plays for BYU and just got a season ending injury
that Chad also got once upon a time.) It was really cool to hear his
strong testimony of putting our lives to the will of the Father. I love
that. Faith in the Lord includes faith in His timing. I know that is
true.
 |
| Sister Nowell with Kaylee |
 |
| Sister Nowell and her companion with Sydney |
12. Now for a little story.
At
the edge of the woods, near a small farm, a baby eagle fell out of the
nest. The farmer found the eagle, and thinking it was one of his own,
brought him to the chicken coop with his other chickens. As time passed,
the baby eagle grew up learning to do what chickens do. He clucked and
strutted around the coop pecking at the corn and even tried his voice at
the morning wake-up call. A neighbor came to visit his the chicken
farmer. He was so surprised to see the eagle strutting around the
chicken coop, pecking at the ground and acting like a chicken. The
farmer explained to him that he had brought the bird to the coop as a
chicken and only later discovered that it was an eagle. He further told
his friend that since the bird had been raised a chicken, that the bird
actually believed himself to be a chicken. The neighbor knew there was
more to this noble bird than his behavior showed as a chicken. He was
born an eagle and had the heart of an eagle, and nothing could change
that. The neighbor reached down and lifted the eagle onto the fence
surrounding the chicken coop and said, "Eagle, you are an eagle. Stretch
your wings and FLY." The eagle only looked blankly at the man and
clucked. He jumped off the fence and continued doing what chickens do.
The farmer was satisfied. "I told you, he thinks he is a chicken." he
said. The neighbor couldn't sleep that night and returned the next day
to convince the farmer that the eagle was born for something greater.
The man took the eagle from the dirty coop and carried him to the top of
the farmhouse and set the bird down on the roof. The neighbor spoke to
him again, "Eagle, you are an eagle. You therefore belong to the sky and
not to the earth. Stretch your wings and fly." The large bird blinked
at the man, clucked, and then jumped down into the chicken coop. After
another restless night, the friend returned the next morning to the
chicken farm and took the eagle and the farmer away from the chicken
coop to the foot of a high mountain. They could not see the farm nor the
chicken coop from this great height. The man lifted the eagle on his
outstretched arm and pointed high into the sky where the bright sun was
beckoning above. He spoke, "Eagle, you are an eagle! You therefore
belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch your wings and fly."
This time the eagle stared skyward into the bright sun and stretched his
massive wings. His wings moved, slowly at first, then surely and
powerfully. With the mighty screech of an eagle, he flew away.
Brothers and sisters.. or family and friends...
YOU
are an eagle. There are people around you who are trying to make you
think that you are a chicken. But you aren't and never will be. You are
an eagle and you are meant to soar and be amazing. Fly! Let the Lord
always be the wind beneath your wings that carries you to the highest of
heights. He KNOWS you.. so intimately and personally that he can help
you become who you are supposed to become. There are people around you
who are also eagles, who think they are chickens. As you be the eagle
that you are, you inspire them to discover and become the eagle that
they are. My wonderful friends and family, BE the eagle that Heavenly
Father knows you are. He loves us so perfectly and wants us to reach our
full potential.
Right now in this stage of my
life, I am the neighbor. My job is to go out into the world and find
the people that think they are chickens, and show them that they are
eagles. Every morning when I put on my name tag, I am so thankful that I
represent Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior of the world. This is my
calling, and it is great. On Wednesday
I head out to Oregon and I can't wait to meet the people there and to
tell them how much Heavenly Father loves them, and to share the message
of the restored Gospel and the light that it can bring into their lives.
I love the Book of Mormon and I love exercising the Atonement in my
life. It has brought me so much joy already. I encourage my friends and
family to KNOW that they are eagles, and when they know that.. help
others to know it as well. Be the neighbor that shows the eagle that he
is not a chicken, but that he has more potential than he could ever
imagine.
Thank you for all the support this
week! I have loved getting Dear Elders and letters. PLEASE keep sending
them. It makes me so happy and helps me to keep going when things get
hard.
Come what may and LOVE it!
-Sister Nowell
 |
| The infamous MTC world map |
 |
| Sister Nowell and her companion Sister Aguilar |
 |
| With her district |
No comments:
Post a Comment