Typical Day at the MTC

Before we get started, this weeks shout out goes to Elder Caina because he is awesome and I get to see him all the time here.  It is so sad that he is leaving for Louisiana this week! 

So much random and cool stuff happened this week so here is an info download:

This week's fun fact has been brought to us by the fabulous Sister Watkins, who taught us this week that ewoks (yes, those lovely furry creatures from Star Wars) speak Tagalog!  So, to the family who thinks I am not fluent in any languages, I hope you now know that I can speak four (English, Spanish, Tagalog, and Ewokian).  This week's funny story is provided by Sister Dillman.  On Thursday, Sister Dillman woke up and shared some very comforting news with me.  Sister Dillman and I were the only people in her zombie apocalypse dream (translation: we were the only people who survived the zombie apocalypse).  This made me more hopeful for the future.  Sorry to all of you out there who willl not survive.  This week's interesting moment occured on Tuesday.  Who was the devotional speaker?  Elder Robert C. Gay.  Yeah, I know him.  He is awesome.  He talked about Connecticut.  I was like, "Oh yeah, I lived there."  Also, Sister Foster and I did a missionary lesson via Skype this week with a Tagalog speaker currently living in Malaysia!  It was so cool!  And we all understood each other really well!  In not so fun news, the stomach plague is going around the MTC.  Only four out of the nine missionaries in my district made it to class last night.  I will not succumb to the disease...and last but not least, TRAVEL PLANS, BABY!!!  I am on my way to the Philippines on July 1st!  Salt Lake City to San Fran to Tokyo to Manila to Laoag!  Asia, I am coming for you!

It has been requested that I describe the typical day at the MTC...

At 6:00 Sister Foster's alarm goes off.  She immediately greets us all with "magandang umaga" after which I turn on the light.  We get ready and head to our classroom at 7:00 where we sing a hymn and pray with the discrict.  We then go to breakfast and then have three hours of class.  During class we have time to teach our investigators (if we have an appointment) (Our investigators are our teachers who act like teachees from their own missions.  It is super realistic and we only teach in Tagalog), we also have companionship study, grammar instruction, and we learn about teaching the gospel better.  Morning class is so long.  We then have an hour of personal study where we study about what we are teaching our investigators.  Next we have lunch and then personal language study for an hour.  We also have an hour of TALL which is a language learning program on the computer...we speak to it and it speaks to us.  We have an hour of gym, too, and then usually dinner.  After dinner, we have three more hours of class and then companionship planning for a half hour before we head home.  There are a few permutations to this schedule but this is basically it.  Each might we go to bed at 10:30. 

Between the 6 hours of classroom instruction and the three hours of study time, days at the MTC can be pretty exhausting.  I never knew what it felt like to be spiritually exhaused, too.  I know that the days will be even more tiring when I get to the Philippines, but I can easy say that I have never learned so much in such a short period of time.  One of our teachers, Brother Langer, has promised us that through our diligence in studying and always speaking Tagalog, we can be fluent when we leave next Monday.  I want to be fluent and I know that through my hard work and the assistance of God, I can be fluent upon my arrival to the Philippines. 

Totoo po ang Akalt ni Mormon at totoo ang Biblia.  Sa pamamagitan ng pananampalataya ni Jesucrito, puede po natin na bumalik sa Diyos.  Tunay po ang kaloob ng mga wika at sobrang mahalaga ang Espiritu Santo.  Mapagmahal po ang Diyos.  Buhay po si Jesucristo.  Ito po ang patotoo ko.

Mahal ko kayo!  Mahal ko lahat!

Kumusta!

Kumusta!

The shout out this week goes to the one and only Ben John's because I have seen his sister almost a million times this week!  I have also spoken to Nathan Hogan, Ethan Christiansen, Jon Layne, and Caleb Karpowitz!  It is so amazing to have the opportunity to serve beside so many of my amazing friends and brothers and sisters in Christ.  Also, it is exciting that I will only be at the MTC for two more weeks!  Later this week we should all receive our flight plans to the Philippines, baby!

And an additional shout out goes to all the padres out there!  Happy Father's Day!

The funny story of the week goes to all of the sisters in my district.  Last week we made the rookie mistake of locking ourselves out of our room.  This took talent, especially considering that there are a total of six girls who forgot six keys at the same time.  Well, if that was not bad enough, we happened to do this to ourselves again this week.  Yes, we had to trek to the main building and put up with the shame of asking for a spare key for another time. 

And it seems as though history is still being made as more and more missionaries are being called to serve!  This past Tuesday has marked the first MTC devotional to be held at the BYU Marriot Center.  Last week the MTC West Campus was opened and now we are holding devotionals at the Marriot because the thousands of missionaries cannot fit anywhere else!   And no big deal, but I am pleased to announce my singing debut which is to be held next Sunday.  A special worldwide Missionary Work/ Leadership Training Broadcast will take place on the 23rd, featuring a choir with about 1,300 missionaries and an equivalent number of church members.  Oh yeah, President Monson will be there.

I hope that all is well on the home front! I am loving the mail and support that I am receiving in abundance each day.  Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a hard work, but I can already see the blessings in my life from my choice to serve.

Alam ko po na totoo Ang Aklat ni Mormon.  Alam ko po na propeta po si Jospeh Smith.  Naniniwala ko po na mapagmahal po and Diyos.  Mahalaga po ang Diyos at mahal po ako ang Simbahan ni Jesucristo.

Mahal ko kayo,

Sister Copeland

Kumusta sa MTC!

Leah's district.

Her companion, Sister Foster.

Elder (Ben) Ostler

Leah's companion again.

The sisters in Leah's district.

Pictures, people!  My kasama is Sister Foster and there are pictures of us and our district.  The one in the classroom was taken after we had Sister Lovely commit to being baptized.  And you can see that I saw Elder Ostler this week! 

Before I forget, Eden Wen, Kathryn Watkins lives in your complex!  She is so awesome and she is an amazing teacher!  We are like soul sisters because she speaks Spanish too.  Also, I have seen Elder Giles like a thousand more times this week, but I think he has left the MTC now.  Also, Elder Kunz is in my zone. In other friend news, I have seen Megan Warner, Emily Lloyd, a Nieleman and Fischetti from Yorktown, NY Stake, as well as a girl who knows me from Yorktown Girls Camp.  I felt bad because I totally had no idea who she was and she knew me by my first name...maybe that is because I spent so many hours at Girls Camp standing on the tables singing those oh so hilarious songs.

Also, I am a star kickball player.  The MTC is excellent at finding your strengths and weaknesses.  My strength of the week?  Winning the game for my entire district with two home runs.  Boo ya.

Funny story of the week:  My kasama and I were having a two-on-one discussion with our teacher, Brother Langer, yesterday.  He discovered the death draft of cold air that hits my desk and only my desk.  He made the Elders switch seats with my kasama and I.  Boo ya numero dos.  Elder Kaufusi did not want to switch because his desk is next to the only shelf in our classroom, but we explained to him that the blessings he will receive from switching seats will outweigh the value of the convenient shelf. 

My kasama and I are learning so much here.  We are really focusing on improving our teaching by focusing on the needs of the investigators.  By teaching the investigators to their needs, we can give them commitments to understand how to use God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost to enact the Doctrine of Christ into their lives.  I am starting to get excited about getting to the Philippines!  Our leaders at the MTC always remind us of how the people we are meant to teach are being prepared for the gospel right now.  I pray that my studying and preparation are adequate and that I can receive the divine help necessary to become a better missionary.  I am working my hardest so that I can be prepared to teach these people. 

Shout out to everyone who has sent me mail this week! I am getting so much support from everyone!

Also, the Knibbe family and Judd Knibbe are in my prayers.

Mahal kita sa luhat! 

THE TONGANS LOVE ME!

So I have decided that like at school, I can become quite popular here at the MTC.  All the Tongans here (they are everywhere and many of them are learning Tagalog and going to the Philippines) not only share my sense of humor, but they find me to be quite similar to them.  Most of this has stemmed from the fact that I am a star at interpreting foreign languages.  Since learning Spanish and now Tagalog, I have learned a lot about reading people and their expressions.  So, basically what happens is that I listen to their Tongan conversations and then respond in English with something general but applicable to the conversation.  I have actually been asked if I speak Tongan.  I don't speak Tongan, FYI.

 

Also, this week I have seen Jared Giles like 5,000 more times, as well as Allen and Adam Sierra from Provo YSA 46th Ward!  Can someone tell me where Ben Raymond is?  I have seen everyone but him and this is bothering me greatly.

 

Funny story of the week:  Each class period we sing a hymn in Tagalog.  Well, there seems to be a shortage of mga himno on our floor and they often disappear from our classroom.  Brother Langer was a little bit annoyed that we had to keep hunting them down so he told us to keep them in our bags so the other districts would not take them.  The next day Brother Rojas came in asking to borrow mga himno but we told him we did not have any.  Following the intructions of Brother Langer, we told him that we did not know where then had went.  Even though we said that, Brother Rojas still looked around the entire room.  He eventually left...  Later in the day, we were singing at the start of our class with Brother Langer.  We all had our mga himnos out and who decides to walk in?  Yep, Brother Rojas.  Sister McPhie and I were trying to hide our laughing behind our himno.  Brother Rojas basically walked away, we finished the song, looked at eachother, and had a very long laugh.

 

Speaking of Brother Langer (the best teacher ever)- We had personal interviews with him this week outside of class.  It was a kind of get-to-know-you thing.  Look at this star Tagalog student right here!  He told me that I was definitely ahead in learning the language and that he sees that it is easy for me to understand the grammar.  I was happy to hear that, but he also told me that this means that I have a bigger responsibility to help the rest of the district in learning the language.  I know that the Gift of Tongues is a true power from God because I know that the rate that I am learning and my ability to understand Tagalog are beyond my personal capabilities.

 

Speaking of languages, my kasamas told me that they didn't believe that I spoke Spanish.  I luckily had the opportunity to speak to some Peruvian elders called to serve in the States.  I proved all of kasamas wrong and one of the Elders told me how suprised he was that someone who looks like a gringa could pull out such good Spanish.  Too bad I am not being called to serve in a Spanish speaking mission!

 

In other news, thanks to all for the awesome letters and email that I am recieving.  It is hard work here at the MTC, but I feel the ways in which the Lord is blessing my life each day.  A great point that someone brought up this week is how serving a mission in the Philippines is like serving a mission in Brazil.  The mga tao of the Philippines already love God and Jesus Christ.  It is easy to see how the gospel has spread all throughout Latin America, but its growth has been somewhat slower in Asia.  The Philippines wants to hear the gospel.  They are the most receptive nation in Asia to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ!

 

Mahal kita ng lahat!

 

Sister Copeland

 

P.S. Shout out to Lydia Nielsen.  I say "nagashnaga" all the time because it sounds just like Tagalog.  When I mess up or don't know wha tto saw, I say "nagashnaga" and it fixes all of my problems.  Also, sorry about any typos, Illia Wen.