Week 2 - Photos

 The Provo Temple grounds.

 The Provo Temple.

 At the Provo Temple with her companion, Sister Jensen.

  The best District ever.

 The most ridiculous District ever.

 District Sisters with their teacher, Hermano Croft.

 Enjoying the SNOW in Provo with her companion, Sister Jensen.

 In the SNOW in Provo! (what a nice new warm snow jacket!)

 District Christmas photo!!

In their MBM (Massachusetts Boston Mission) shirts!

...complete with her UCLA sweat pants, lol.

Week 2 - Email

Feliz Navidad!! 
It was a very big week, so it's a big email. Most of my emails are copied straight out of my journal; I hope not all emails will be like this!

Saturday 12/19

   This was my hardest day in the MTC so far. After telling you how great everything was, Saturday was a struggle. I was exhausted and feeling negative at the end of the day. Despite getting tired of the non-stop schedule, I pushed to "make it to Sunday", which is what everyone here (and Elder Bunnell, my cousin) told me to do.
 
Sunday 12/20

   They were right. I needed Sunday so badly and right after my worst day so far, I had my best day so far. I was actually able to relax a little bit and have peace about being on a mission despite the craziness. This was the most spiritual day I have experienced, between sacrament meeting almost complete en espanol, choir practice, a devotional, and listening to the talk "Characters of Christ" by Elder Bednar that he gave at the MTC on Christmas a year or two ago. I realized what examples around me. One of my roommates (also una Hermana in my district) is the only member of the church in her family (baptized a year ago on the Sunday before we reported to the MTC), hasn't seen her dad since she was young, and her mother remarried into a same-sex marriage with her step-mom. She is so strong and proactive even in her unique circumstances and she shows such love for her mother, her family and home ward, and everyone here at the MTC. The gospel of Jesus Christ just makes so much sense to her and she inspires me.
 
Monday 12/21

   Today Hermana Jensen and I got a new investigator to teach named Hely, but class ran late so we didn't get to talk to her very long. The lesson didn't go very well with so little time and poor Spanish, lol. But, later we got to teach our other investigator, Antonio and it went much better. He was about 40 minutes late for the lesson, so Hermana and I decided to practice Su Proposito (Your Purpose in Spanish) memorized for a while. When we figured that he wasn't going to come, we stood up to go back to the classroom. Standing up, we started a pray for the actor of Antonio, hoping he was alright. In the middle of the prayer, I looked over Hermana's shoulder, and outside the door I saw Antonio rush into the building. I stopped her mid-prayer: "SHH, he's here! I hope he didn't hear us!" We laughed so hard, and we were glad he made it. We had a great late lesson on the restoration, Jose Smith, y el Libro de Mormon. The spirit was really strong, and my companion was able to say things in Spanish things in Spanish that in the past she had to ask for help with. We both cried after because it was so cool and we had to rely on the spirit to much.

 

Tuesday 12/22

   We had a great evening devotional. The speakers were Brent H. Neilson of the Seventy and his wife, Marcy Neilson. They talked about all that Christ promises he can do for us, and asked what WE will do to become the people and missionaries Heavenly Father wants us to be. After, in the district devotional review, we had our first opportunity to share our testimonies a little bit with each other. It was so neat, and it helped me to love my district more. I feel so blessed to have such great missionaries to be around and learn from at the MTC. I know it won't be like this my whole mission, so I'm trying to enjoy it while I can.

 

Wednesday 12/23

   We had our last lesson with "Antonio" (Brother Workman) and we easily got him to commit to baptism. After the lesson, we heard him speak English for the first time and his advice and feedback was to have more productive companion study by practicing our lessons with each other.

 

Today 12/24

   We had service this morning, a good second lesson with Hely! Tomorrow morning we will have a member of the Quorum of the Twelve speaking, and everyone is very excited. They aren't allowed to tell us who it is, but the hints are that he is not in the Presidency and that he has been here to speak before. My prediction is Elder Oaks, and Hermana Jensen's prediction is Elder Holland. We will see!

My unit number was changed to 63, but I still got my DearElders and letters and package this week. Thank you so much!!!

New mailing Address:

Sister Emily Gay Rubio

JAN26  MA-BOS
2005 N 900 E Unit 63
Provo UT 84602

Feliz Navidad,

---

Sister Rubio

Week 1 - First Photos!

 Hermana Rubio with her first room-mates.

 Hermana Rubio with her first companion, Hermana Jensen.

 Her nametag and scriptures that will be getting a lot of use!

 Her room key and MTC identification.

 Hermana Rubio with her very first "District."

 Hermana Rubio and the Sisters in her District pointing to
where they'll be serving in 6 more weeks.

Hermana Rubio and her companion, Sister Jensen, will both be 

serving their missions in Boston, Massachusetts!

Hermana Rubio with her companion, Sister Jensen, 

getting their very first "computer time" and sending that first e-mail.

Week 1 - First Email!

Hola!

My P-Days (dia de prep.) in the MTC (Missionary Training Center) are every Friday at 9:40am - 2:30pm, and I get an hour and a half to email during that time. Next week I'll be able to email on Thursday next week, though, because Friday is Christmas Day and the schedule will be different! I will be in the MTC for 6 weeks, until January 26, and so far I am loving it!

(Day 1)

The first day started out really hard because I only had 9 hours of sleep in the last three days and I was so exhausted. Immediately after getting to the MTC, I met with a host and got my nametag, went to my residence, and met my companion. I LOVE my companion, Hermana Jensen. We brought really similar clothing, say the same things, and she has 3 younger siblings the same ages as Jose, Isabelle, and Wendy. We're like the same person, and we will both be serving in the Massachusetts Boston Mission (which is an abnormal coincidence). It is possible she could be my companion again! Everyone has been sharing photos of their family, and since my family and I did new family photos so short before I left, I didn't bring any to share. It's hard, I do miss my family, and I do wish I brought pictures of them. On the bright side, while my roommates were getting emotional and homesick talking about their families on the first and second day, I will be able to look at pictures and things later when it will be easier and I won't feel as homesick. Day 1 was hard, exciting, and overwhelming. In such a short time I learned so much about what it means to be a missionary and what missionaries do.

My name tag!

Thursday

I've noticed that the main theme for this week has been loving the people we teach. Many of the classes and activities feel less about how to teach and more about how to love people. I learned that really those things are the same. My district (district C) has 10 missionaries, all spanish speaking, 5 Elderes y 5 Hermanas. The 5 Hermanas are my companion, my roommates, and me. The 5 Elderes are so great, and a lot of fun. As a district we go to class, meals, and room together (Elderes y Hermana in separate buildings, of course), and  they're becoming some of my close friends. I'm so grateful that I was given an amazing companion and district that are so easy to love and talk to. We met our Branch (branch 41, districts B and C) and our Branch President, Counselors, and Presidency wives in the evening. It was so neat, all of our lessons have been so beautiful. "Hermana Rubio" also seems to be a memorable name, because I kept getting called on and asked to do things, lol. We learned how to pray in Spanish this day, so almost every oracion from this point on should be in Spanish or Spanglish.

Today (Friday 12/18)

P-DAY! YAY! Today I get to write emails and letters and wear jeans, but it is definitely not a day off. After lunch I will prepare a talk forSunday. Every week there is a topic and on Sunday right after sacrament they will ask for two random speakers in the district, so we all need to prepare a talk in Spanish! At 2:00 pm we all need to be ready because we will walk over to the temple for a session at 2:30 pm. This morning my companion and I prepared a lesson in Spanish to teach our first role-play lesson later tonight after the session.

Probably the most amazing thing that I have learned in the last couple days is that the gift of tongues (el don de lenguas) is real. It hasn't been easy, but I've been able to remember Spanish words after hearing them the first time and I've been able to speak it more comfortably than I ever did learning it in high school. I worry that when I get back I still won't be fluent because I am staying in the States, but I definitely could not have learned as much as I have in the past few days in any other setting. 

Gracias and I love you all!

Hermana Rubio

If you want to send me anything you can send it to my mailing address. You can also send a letter through DearElder.com, where they will print it in the MTC and put it in my mailbox for free.

Mailing Address:

Sister Emily Gay Rubio
JAN26  MA-BOS
2005 N 900 E Unit  79
Provo UT 84602