Crêpes, Croissants, and Converts: First email from the MTC! Woohoo!

Hey everyone!!!!

Oh my goodness! I have so much to tell all of you so lets start right from the beginning! I met up with two other Elders in the Calgary airport on their way to the MTC and I was sitting beside Elder Karl from south Calgary on our flight to Salt Lake! It was nice to have the chance to chat and relax a bit! The other Elder was from Spring Bank, Elder Levi Jackson! I see both around the MTC sometimes so it's nice to see a friendly face from home!

I'm in a tripanionship! 2 companions! Wow! Sister Wilsher is from England and is such a sweetheart! Sister Allen is from Utah and also very nice! Sister Allen and Wilsher were immediate friends but I'm slowly getting there as well! My district has us and 4 other Elders in it! Elder Kendirck is from Toronto! So we're best friends! Canadians unite! Elder Turner is the cutest little ginger ever! He's from Nebraska. Elder Moore is from Cali, he's super smart! Lastly, Elder Smith! He's so great, such a tender soul! He's from vermont and he pretty much looks like Christoff from Frozen! We're were a quite bunch at first but now you can't get us to stop talking! Our zone has one other district in it with 4 Elders. Elder Huckabee and Ramos are from Texas. Elder Blackwelder is from Cali and Elder Noorda is from Nevada. So we're from all over! Our zone is the only zone is our branch, we're one of the smallest at the MTC! It's nice though!

Our branch presidency is so so so great! They're all so loving and it's such a treat to see them on Sundays and Tuesdays! Funny story, the branch presidency and their wives came to the MTC on Thursday night to introduce themselves to us. Sister Merril was introducing her and President Merril to us and she tells us that she's a belly dancer! Haha kinda weird, you should have seen the Elders faces! They look scared! THEN President Merril pipes up and says "You should see her outfits" Hahahaha oh goodness! #toomuchinformation

The way Sundays work at the MTC is that our branch has a sacrament meeting and after they pass the sacrament they announce who will be the speakers! We don't know before then so EVERYONE has to prepare a talk. Most people get to write there's in English on the first week but President said he wanted mine in French.. and guess who got called to speak, you guessed it. ME! So first sunday here I gave a talk... IN FRENCH! Luckily most people still have no clue what I'm saying haha.

Our days here are LONG! We leave our residence at 7 and don't get back until 9:30! We spend 12 hours in our classroom each day so we got a little stir crazy. Frere Davis lets us out for little breaks and walks which is nice! Frere Davis is our teacher, he's so great! He served in Paris and is so enthusiastic!

So... I cry A LOT! I've never done something that is so hard before! I never understood what was hard about missions but I do now! You're constantly reevaluating yourself and trying to be better. It gets hard. Frere Davis says I'm impatient. I want to be a good missionary NOW! But we're at the MTC to learn how to do that. It'shard! But I'll get there. Around the MTC there are people with gold nametags and those are real live investigators! Well some are! Some are members who volunteer but we don't know which ones are which so we pretend that they're all real! It's so cool to see them walking around and have the chance to talk to them a little! In french, investigators are "les amis de l'eglise" which translates to friends of the church! So we call them nos amis! I love that! They're our friends and we love them!

We started teaching our first amis on Thursday. That's right, second day here! (These people are cray, I'm convinced the MTC is doing some weird kung fu on us. They break us down and then build us back up!) Notre amis is Solonge. She's really great! It's hard teaching in french but I'm slowly getting there!

I should get going now! I love you all so much and appreciate the support! We get mail every night and your letters do really mean so much! They're the best thing to read after a hard day!

Je vous aime!
Soeur Kearney

Sister K. wanted me to add this spiritual thought as well that really 'got to her' this week!

Spiritual Thought:

"In the economies of heaven, they will never use floodlights when a flashlight is needed."

Brother Dowling (member of the branch presidency) gave a talk in sacrament and I love it! He's a convert and he said throughout his life he struggled because he never felt like he every had these huge amazing spiritual experiences. Heavenly Father is only ever going to give us enough guidance to get us to do what he needs us to do. Not every singly missionary is going to have the distinct impression that I NEED to knock on that door if Heavenly Father knows that they're an obedient missionary and are going to knock on it anyways! So! Don't expect floodlights if a flashlight is all you need! Be proud that Heavenly Father trusts you enough to make the right decisions.

One more spiritual thought! "Focus on the edges and the middle will take care of itself." As missionaries we're always striving to be better but sometimes missionaries get caught up on only focusing on themselves. Our devotional on Sunday was about this. He said to turn out, focus on others, serve and love like Christ did and before we know it we'll be the missionary (or person) that Heavenly Father needs us to be.