November 21, 2006 (MTC)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I can’t really think of what to say, mostly because I’m in the middle of 7 days of only speaking Mongolian, and its kinda hard to think in English now. I guess that’s a good sign. Actually, in the spirit of the holiday, I just want to write a huge list of things I’m grateful for.

First and foremost, I am so grateful to be a missionary! This is so much fun! And, I never thought I’d say this, but I’m so grateful to be at the MTC right now. You’d think that staying in the Empty Sea [MTC] over the holidays would be even more depressing, but it is exactly the opposite. The church knows what a sacrifice it is to be here right now, and to make it up to us they’re pulling out all the stops on Thanksgiving. The day hasn’t even arrived and already this week we’ve had Bonnie D. Parkin speak (and greet all the sisters individually afterwards – she hugged me and held my hand and said how awesome I was – The General RS President!!!). On Sunday we had an extra spectacular devotional. We always sing several prelude hymns at devotionals and this time we sang “Joseph Smith’s First Prayer”, “The Spirit of God” (w/guest conductor so-and-so Phelps, descendant of W.W. Phelps with a fancy new arrangement for the organ) and all seven verses of “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief.”

“Ah”, I said, “The speaker must be talking about the Book of Mormon.”
Lo and behold, it wasn’t on the Book of Mormon, and it wasn’t even really a talk. Instead of the usual podium setup there was just an open stage, and instead of “speaker” we had Ted Gibbons, church historian and expert on all things Joseph Smith-related. For one whole hour he took on the persona of Willard Richards and told the story of the last few weeks leading up to Joseph Smith’s martyrdom. This man knows his stuff. Every other word he said he gave reference to people’s personal journals and letters. He told these amazing stories about people I’d never heard of before but who were close friends of the prophet that fleshed out the story. He gave an incredible, detailed, and moving account of the attack on Carthage, and I saw it happening before my eyes as I never had before. He had 2,600 missionaries in rapt attention, hardly daring to breathe or make a sound except for the occasional sniffle. We sang “Praise to the Man” for the closing hymn. I made it to about the third word before I couldn’t sing anymore, and I could only hear about half of the missionaries singing.

I’m thankful for Joseph Smith.

I’m thankful for all my teachers and their dedication to this time consuming and emotionally draining work. I can’t believe that all 3 of them have time to be going to school as well for all the hours they put in here.

I’m thankful for BYU Creamery chocolate milk. I can count on one hand the amount of times I had chocolate milk before coming to the MTC, and now I can count on one hand the number of days I haven’t had it.

I’m grateful for my companion. Never before have I spent 24 hours a day with another person, and I’m sure it’s harder for her to be with me than it is for me to be with her. She’s very patient with me and she’s just hilarious.

I’m grateful for the Indonesian missionaries. There’s only three of them but they’re the only missionaries in our branch who are here almost as long as we are. We’ve been together for eight weeks now and they’re leaving next week. Sister Larson is a solo sister (she’s the only sister learning Indonesian; the other two are elders) and she’s one of my roommates. Sister Balli and I escort her around a lot and I love it when elders hold open doors for us so we can file through and say, “Ђaяpлaлaa!” “Ђaяpлaлaa!” “Termikasi!” Ha! They never know what to say, but some of them manage to eek out a “De nada” after recovering from the awesomeness of our languages.

I’m grateful for being able to sing in the MTC Choir. It’s the closest thing I can find to having a hobby as a missionary. The first time I went it just blew my mind: it wasn’t class, and it wasn’t eating. It was an unprecedented third activity (fourth if you count Fast Sunday, when the main activity is not-eating). We always sing really amazing pieces, and the choir directors really know what they’re doing..

I am grateful for family, especially those who took me in for my first three Thanksgivings away from home (that’s you, Sheffields and Scott Muirs).

I am grateful for the Book of Mormon. I’m grateful to believe in a God who loves His children enough that he gave us another testament of Jesus Christ to end hundreds of years of confusion. I’m grateful for all the people in those hundreds of years and at the time of the Restoration who were searching with open hearts and who waited so patiently for the truth to be restored.
I am grateful for the three years I was able to spend studying at BYU before becoming a missionary. Every day I see more and more lessons I learned from living on my own, from searching out my own testimony, and from being in a student ward that have prepared me for my mission.

I’m grateful for the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. Neither of these books have been translated into Mongolian yet, and I really feel the loss of their words when I’m trying to back up lessons I teach with scripture. Some of the most humbling and faith building experiences my teacher had on her mission were in teaching the word of wisdom to Mongolians who just believed and obeyed without being able to read it for themselves in their own language. They had enough faith to take her word for it and break with years and years of cultural tradition.

I’m grateful for English, mostly just because I’m having to try to express myself without it right now and it is maщ nx difficult.

I am grateful for letters! They just lift me up and can make any day one hundred times better.
On a similar note, I would like to publicly thank Ms. Estherita Harris for the sweet rolls she sent, which we all devoured, and at the same time I’d like to publicly call for an end or at least a lessening to all of the food being sent to me or any other missionary here at the MTC. We love you, we appreciate the gesture, but we’re drowning in food here. We get more than plenty of food in the cafeteria. Even the elders (19-year-old boys, mind you) can’t handle all the food that’s being shoved their way. We sit down to lunch and dinner, not any hungrier than when we left the previous meal, stare at the full trays of food in front of us, and shed silent tears at the prospect of having to eat again.

Letters. Letters are more precious than gold.

I hope all of you had an amazing Thanksgiving. Know that if you are reading this I have probably thought of you and missed you even if I can’t find the time to write you. Remember that the one thing God can’t abide is an ungrateful heart. Say thank you, or Баярлалаа, if you’re feeling Mongolian. Write a thank you card, make a Thanksgiving tree, do something. The substance of thankfulness is words, but the substance of gratitude is action.

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