WEEK ONE (Kind Of, It's Only Day 4...)

Hello family and friends!!!

It's my first preparation day! I am really loving the Home MTC so far. My district is super great, and I really like my teachers. There's 14 of us in our district, and we have missionaries going to Atlanta GA, Omaha NE, Columbia SC, San Antonio TX, Jacksonville FL, and Las Vegas NV! We're all becoming good friends, and everyone is really supportive and encouraging. My companion is Sister Long and she's from Wyoming! She's so sweet and we're getting along really well. She and I have our first teaching appointment tonight, so that's exciting and a little stressful, but we're as prepared as we can be. I can't wait to meet my district in person soon! Time is flying by so quickly, I'm already halfway done with Home MTC and will be in Provo next week!!

There's so much to learn and it's been quite the adjustment getting onto the missionary schedule and having to suddenly learn all the guidelines and expectations. It feels like I'm trying to drink from a firehose and I'm just trying to process everything as quickly as possible. One thing I've already noticed is that my understanding of principles and scriptures is increasing so quickly. I'm suddenly able to recall places in scripture that we're studying, like specific chapters or verses and I've literally never possessed that ability before. Everything seems to be so much more simple and easy to understand, and it's a really unique experience. I'm so grateful to be doing this! I know that there's nothing else I could be doing right now that would be as fulfilling or motivating.

There have been a lot of topics that I've studied this week, but one of my favorites is Elder Uchtdorf's October 2017 General Conference talk, "A Yearning for Home". It's always been one of my favorites and I reread it this week. It's just such a powerful message, and the way that it's written always impacts me. So I definitely recommend that you read or listen to it! Something else I've studied this week is 2 Nephi 31. In my experience, sometimes the gospel feels complex and like I don't really know what the foundation of it is. The scriptures can be tough to understand and just go over my head a lot of the time. But everything is outlined so clearly in 2 Nephi 31. Those 21 verses are the doctrinal foundation of this Church. It is the pure and simple "doctrine of Christ", as Nephi calls it. If you've found yourself confused, you're just not really sure, or you want a good reminder of the basis of the doctrine, I encourage you to read it. It's a 10/10. But even if you don't want to go read it, you can find a pretty good summary in the missionary purpose, which is to "...receive the restored gospel through Faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end."

That's not just a checklist or a one time thing. I was told this week to imagine it as a spiral staircase, moving up and up. We're taking those steps over and over again throughout our entire lives, and that process brings us closer to God! How cool is that?? I think it's pretty freaking amazing. And I'm so excited and honored to have the chance to dedicate the next year and a half of my life to understanding that process better.

If you got to the end of this, I congratulate and thank you. I don't have any pictures to send, but hopefully next week!!

Much love to you all, wherever you are.

Cheers!

- Sister Malmstrom