First week of MTC!!

Hey everyone!!

It's p-day (preparation day) so you get to hear from me. Lucky you, haha! It's only been a couple days since my mission started, but it feels like so much has happened at the same time!

I got set apart on Saturday and gave my farewell talk on Sunday. Thank you to everyone who came and listened, and to those of you who didn't, basically all you missed was a lot of tears. I am speaking again this Sunday if you really want to see me cry lol

I started the home MTC (Missionary Training Center) on Monday and got to meet my district, teachers, and companion. Everyone seems so awesome and it's already so fun to talk and be with them, even though we just met two days ago via zoom. My companion is super sweet and I can't wait to get to know her better as time goes on. One thing about the two of us is that we're both super introverted and indecisive. It's probably going to be a bit rough at first but will definitely encourage a lot of growth, so honestly I'm (kinda) grateful cause it'll be really good for me. 

The classes, workshops, and devotionals have all been so amazing so far and I love hearing all the insights that my district has. They are all such spiritual giants and I'm so excited to have them by my side to help me as I continue to learn more and prepare to teach the gospel. 

Since today is p-day and I didn't have class this morning, I was able to go to the mass at my old high school with my mom. OLP is honestly one of my favorite places with some of the most amazing people I know and I'm so glad I got to visit again before I leave! In the afternoon, my dad and I went to the Padres game and watched them play in game two of the NLCS where they beat the Phillies with an awesome goose rally inning. It was so hype!

A little spiritual thought before I wrap up and attach some pictures. In the devotional we watched last night, a question was asked: How long will you hold back? What's kinda cool about this question is that it can be applied no matter where you are in life or what goals you want to accomplish. For me, it was a call to completely step into my mission. Since I'm still at home, it can be easy to slip back into the routine of my normal life, but my mission is here now and I want to be all in! So think about that question, where it might fit into your life right now, and how you can fully commit yourself to whatever it is you want to do.

Love you all!!
Sister Downing 

First missionary selfie!!


Me with my stake president and his wife right after being set apart

Started writing my farewell talk less than 12 hours before I had to give it

Kitty cuddles before class

First day of the MTC with SISTER MCINTYRE!!! Fun fact: We were FHE sisters last year at BYU, were called to the same mission to start on the same day (which happened to be exactly one year after our first text), and are now in the same MTC district!

Entered the HMTC!!

Reading Fox in Socks with Israel between classes. That book is a tongue twister!!

Got out of the house to pick up the HT kiddos

Bean bag flops cause zoom is exhausting lol

Dear Neighbor Mass at OLP

St. Theresa of Calcutta, an inspiring example of missionary work

Padres game with my padre

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Book of Mormon: A True Story!!

Image
It's Thursday so here I am again 🤪 This past week was pretty crazy but I was able to find some pretty cool miracles!  We received a couple referrals which was exciting and we've had some fun lessons with some of our friends. My favorite one was about the Book of Mormon where I was able to testify at the end. I was tearing up, the two people we were teaching were tearing up, and the Spirit was SO strong!! Even though I was bearing my testimony, the Spirit was definitely doing most of the work because I felt it being testified to ME! It was an amazing experience and I'm so grateful that I get to be a vessel for the Lord full-time One of the girls in the ward is prepping for her mission to Canada right now and has a goal to read the Book of Mormon before she starts. We were talking about it and she told me that sometimes it's hard to stay on track with the reading schedule she has right now. We realized that we were almost at the same spot in the Book of Mormon and decide...
Read more

Frohe Weihnachten!! 🎄❄️✨️

Image
Merry almost Christmas everyone!! I hope y'all had a fantabulous week and were able to recognize the hand of God in it cause He is always present! Even when life is hard, God is so good and tender mercies are all around Another last minute email so I'm just gonna give some highlights and a few of my little miracles from this week I got to see Sister Dibb on zoom! I went to an online workshop about finding techniques for missionaries. The gal teaching it asked us to stay online after it ended for a little surprise and it was Sister Dibb!! I had just been telling my comp about certain people I missed and then I got to see one of them. Such a blessing! Sister Maughan and I made and delivered 235 cookies. We blasted Christmas music and made snickerdoodles, chocolate chip cookies, and sugar cookies. It was so fun!! And then we traveled around our area delivering them to people who had previously been interested in meeting with missionaries And then I had my first zone conference! I ...
Read more

My mom abandoned me at a train station

Image
Hey hey party people! Wanna hear something absolutely wild? I finished my first transfer and am officially no longer a newbie 🤯 This last week of the transfer was pretty awesome! We made some new friends, taught quite a few fire lessons, had friends at church, and just had a blast together. And then my comp decided to leave me. I mean she didn't really have much of a choice but it was still pretty rude of her haha!  Tuesday was kinda chaotic and also quite sad lol. I had to say bye to Sister Maughan at the train station and I've been a bit of a mess since. She is an amazing missionary (she's an STL now so you know she's gotta be), the most perfect person I could've been with for my first transfer, and easily one of my best friends now. But Sister Maughan if you're reading this right now, I'm actually totally fine and definitely have not cried at all since you left 😂 I spent majority of the day after that waiting for my new companion with other sisters who ...
Read more