Sister Sargent

After two weeks in the MTC Shauna still is on top of the world. Here are highlights from her second week!!

Time is passing fast for her. In six weeks she'll be headed to Paraguay. She feels like she has learned "a ton".

Tuesday, Sept. 15 was a rollercoaster of emotions. She and Sister Denker taught at the TRC that afternoon in Spanish and English. She says" It truly is amazing how you really do become an instrument of the Lord as He allows the Spirit to help you out and know what to say and how to say it."

That evening, after a choir practice for a devotional later that evening, Sister Braithwate, from her district announced that she was going home, due to health reasons. Her parents were due to arrive at the MTC in just minutes. Shauna said that her heart just sank when she heard. The entire district was in tears as they said their goodbyes. Shauna said that even though their district had only served two weeks together they really had developed a love for each other. It was an extremely hard time.

Now she has another companion, Sister Green from Sandy, Utah and they, along with Sister Denker will be a threesome. Sister Green graduated from BYUI in April 08' and has been teaching English in Taiwan for the past year. Shauna says, "she is a way cool Sister."

That evening was the devotional. Apparently, they never announce who is speaking at the devotionals because they don't want anyone skipping classes or meals to line up at the door. About 15 minutes before the devo began, they announced that Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and his wife would be speaking. Her entire district sang in the choir so they were part of the program. They were sitting only 30 feet away from him. She said, "His talk was amazing!! The Spirit was so strong and I think he hit on what every missionary needed to hear. He truly is an Apostle of the Lord!"

Thursday, her P-day, she was able to go to the temple again with her district.

Her classes are good. She loves being in a learning environment. She is happy that she took advantage of "Rosetta Stone" (a program designed to teach Spanish), before her mission...it gave her a solid platform to jump from. She now wishes she would have done even more. They will begin "SYL" (speak your language) days this week. They will speak only Spanish on those days.

She was asked to pray one evening in front of her entire Zone. A missionary who had been at the MTC for about 7 weeks complimented her on how well her Spanish sounded. She says "I think the Lord has definitely helped me with learning it and not growling as much :) haha!!"

She never knew there was so much to learn and she's only been there for two weeks.

After firesides on Sunday evenings the MTC plays different films throughout the campus. This week one of them was "The Testaments". Everyone was so excited and looking forward to it. "You would have thought is was the opening night of Jarry Potter or something." It was a nice break for her and she says she had forgotten that Skye (Shauna's look alike brother-in-law) starred in it!!

New missionaries arrived again on Wednesday. They were supposed to get 2 new roommates, but they were no-shows. A new district of Elders that joined their Zone had several Elders
that are going to serve in the McAllen, Texas mission where her brother, Kenny, served several years earlier.

Another week passes and she is doing just what she should be doing...learning, sharing, and loving the Gospel!