MTC 5/8/2013

Dear Family and Friends,

FLIGHT PLANS came this week!!! So we leave the MTC on Monday the 13th at around 9am (which is SO nice because we don't have to wake up at 3am like other missionaries). Then we fly to Chicago, then from there we fly to LONDON!!!!! (yes, I am incredibly excited to be in london for a 2 hour layover, even if we can't leave the airport). From London we then fly to St. Petersburg and arrive there around 5 in the afternoon on Tuesday the 14th. Such nice flight plans, we are so very lucky, but I have to admit, not completely excited to be on a plane for that long. This is our (the older Russians) last week in the MTC! so of course we are all being dramatic by saying things such as, "Oh, this is our last dinner on a Monday night at the MTC". Sad, yes, but we are all SO ready to be in the field! I loved the MTC, but 9 weeks here is plenty:). It's crazy to think that if we were here only a couple months ago we could be in the 12 week program and be in the MTC for another MONTH! so we count our blessings!

   We have had so many talks, devotionals, and discussions these last couple weeks that really hit home for me. Almost every single topic was "Enduring to the End of your Mission" and how we need to work harder than we ever have before, "work until you feet hit American soil" haha funny but it's so true. Speakers have talked about going and working through your mission doing ALL that we can to have "no regrets". I love that and think it is so important, to listen to every prompting, talk to every person, and be the best missionary I can be, and more, to have no regrets on my mission.  Since being here at the MTC I have learned so much about this gospel. I am so shocked about how much I didn't know before! I'm almost done with my second time through the Book of Mormon since I've been here and I love it, all of it. Every chapter i'm highlighing and writing notes in things I missed before and am so amazed that I missed them! Goes to show that one can never get enough, it just gets better and better:) As one Sister in my district would say, (she's Australian, 25 years old, and probably the most amazing spiritual missionary i've met at the MTC, plus her accent pretty much is amazing...*hehe*) she says, "IT'S ALL BRILLIANT" as she highlights the entire page. But really, it is all incredible!

We had a speaker come and talk to us, his name is Chad Lewis (uncles you probably know about him) he played for BYU football team and then for the Eagles? i think. anyways some NFL team and he's incredible. He came and gave one of the best, motivational talks i've heard so far about missions. I wish you could look it up, but MTC talks are now "only for the MTC" they aren't released to the public. He was talking about the MTC and how we need to "lock our hearts" and focus on what matters most and why we are here and he said, "The only sparks that should Fly are gospel sparks"! haha pretty hilarious. He goes on to say that, "are missions start here and they NEVER end" he made us all promise that we would be missionaries forever! I loved that and really made me think. Everyone always says that no one is normal once they get off their missions. Which is VERY true, but I think it's in a good way. Many of speaker have said, "if you come back from your mission and you aren't "weird" and nothing has changed, then your mission wasn't successful". Pretty blunt, but so true. I just love that and I plan to be different, because I know that if I am then I changed for the better, and did the Lord's work right. I really loved this quote by Elder Bednar it says, "BECOME a missionary, don't just go on a mission" also "the gospel isn't just what we do, it's what we will become", both of these really made me think about my own mission and how I want it to turn out.

Our teachers are all leaving us this week! because there are so many new russians coming in today the districts and groups overlap. But this last week all three of them were telling us mission stories and letting us ask questions and giving us advice. it was awesome and helpful.

well i love you all SO MUCH! my next email will be from RUSSIA! I'm so excited! I love being a missionary, it is seriously the best thing I could ever be doing and probably the best thing I will ever do.:) 

LOVE YOU!  

love, Sister Yeates

MTC 5/01/2013

Dear Family and Friends,

Oh WOW where did all the time go!? This week has just been FANTASTIC! The MTC is a lot different than I expected, especially being here for 9 weeks while other missionaries come and leave right away. luckies! But I have really loved every bit of the MTC experience. It really has helped me in so many ways and I am more than excited to get out into Russia! We are down to 1 1/2 weeks left till we leave. Yes, it is VERY exciting, but all of the "Russians" as we call ourselves, of course can't help but be nervous. Everyone is getting stressed as the countdown gets into the single digits, but we are all more than ready to get out and serve! This week we finally got our all Russian name tags! it was very, very exciting, but of course we can't wear them around the MTC so we secretly wear them around in our dorms:) I will send a picture of what mine looks like since I cannot type in Russian. We also get our flight plans tomorrow!!!! we aren't supposed to be excited about it, as the district presidents say, but i just can't help it.

Wednesdays are always so exciting, new missionaries come in and are all excited. They have no idea what they are in for. It's just so amazing, and definitely tests ALL of your weaknesses. haha!:) We love P-DAY, we get so excited. Monday is P-Day Adam, Tuesday is P-Day eve and Wednesday is p-day....get it?....church joke:).

We have started SYL (speaking your language) almost every day, it is difficult especially when we are only really taught gospel related words, but its wonderful practice for Russia!

I am so grateful for all of you:) thank you for everything you do and for the incredible examples you have been to me. i find myself looking back and remembering important and helpful things you have all taught me and I love and thank you all for being there for me!

This Tuesday I sang in the MTC choir. It was so incredible. Choir is such an amazing experience and everyone who goes on a mission simply must be in it. It's so great! the Choir Conductor is amazing and gives as mini devotional talks which is so cool! This gospel really is so incredible.

Sunday we had relief society, which is my favorite, and there were 1258 sisters in one room....WOW! every devotional and fireside we have the speakers ALWAYS comment on the amount of color in the room. and how gorgeous the crowd is now. The elders aren't too happy about that but its okay:) My companion and i taught our Sunday school lesson and we talked about Enduring to the End. here are some scriptures i loved from that. (James 5:11, D&C 63:47, 3 nephi 15:9) Also the Mormon messages video on lds.org called "mountains to climb" is really wonderful. it talks about having faith in Christ no matter the hardships, that he will always be there to bear you up. I found a quote by Elder Perry and it says, "The gospel takes a deeper root in those that share it frequently" how true is that! A perfect mission quote, and for just everyday. I know my own testimony has grown so much from just being here at the MTC and i am so grateful for that.

There really is not greater joy than this gospel. I don't know where i would be without it. I love it so much!

I love you all! i love hearing from you and I miss you all so much! hope you are doing well!

love, Sister Yeates

MTC 4/24/2013

Hello loved ones!, (sounds like a sister missionary...;) hehe )

I love and miss you all so much! Nothing really new is happening at the MTC. The weather has been incredible! so crisp in the mornings and then warm throughout the day. My companion and I go outside every chance we get, and day dream at those incredible mountains beind the MTC. (Mount Timp, and the mountain with the "Y" on it) so nice. They finally opened the field! this was a joyous thing because now for gym the missionaries can go across the road to the huge field and play soccer and run and frisbee and volleyball and just be outside for an hour! woohoo!

Russian is going well, we are starting to pick it up better and be able to understand and communicate more (well only in gospel and church talk). At the MTC all we are really taught are gospel things, all of our workbooks are sentences like, "Joseph Smith went to a grove of trees to pray", or "The missionary walked down the street", very exciting I know.

My district is amazing! all of us get along so well. Although some of the Elders have given us all pokemon names and moves......one of mine being "pedal dance".....they are all great missionaries! if you don't get that it's fine haha. When we think of Russia we like to refer to Doctrine and Covenants 121:31 "Many are called but few are chosen" or as we would say, "many are cold, but few are frozen" pretty amusing:) one of my teachers just got off his mission last year and he is our favorite! anyways his group of friends is the same as my companions..which is so weird cause she's like i want to hang out with my friends! and they didn't know eachother before so it was a recent thing. So he tells us of all the BBQ s he goes to and such, rude!  Anyways the crazy part it that he met my cousin! (Dana woodbury?) something like that. I guess she is in his ward and heard he was a Russian teacher and she asked if he knew "Gigi" and he said uhhh "sister yeates?" and she's like YA we are cousins! Anyways i guess he asked her for embarrassing stories or something he could laugh at me about. and she doesn't really know me so she had none but she went on my Facebook and got pictures of when i was little and sent them to him!!!! hhahahha it was probably the funniest most awkward hilarious moment of my life. really. It was just great:) that was my highlight of the week! okay not really but pretty close.

We had a member of the quorum of the 70 come and talk to us on Tuesday night.and then on Sunday night it was the BYU mens Chorus! wow they really were incredible and they are all either return missionaries or have their mission calls in:) They also just came out with a new album and it's all hymn arrangements and they made it so all missionaries can download it for free! i'm pretty excited for that:) so in a year and a half...that can happen! haha

On Sunday all the sisters got to listen to music and the spoken word, like every Sunday, which is like heaven on earth:) and i found my new favorite song! it's called "Consider the lilies of the field". i love that, oh and i also listen to (about 50 times a day) the song by the BYU choir that sang this last conference "Did you Think to Pray" pretty incredible, and so moving.

It's crazy how much can change in only a short 6 weeks. We only have 3 p-days (that's how we count our weeks here) left! so crazy! I am half way through my second time through the Book of Mormon. I can't believe how different it is each time i read something. I watched a talk given by elder bednar a couple of years ago and he was talking about how we should get a new copy of the BofM and go through it with a question in mind, and then highlight everything that has to do with that question and answering it. then when you finish the book of Mormon with that question you write all about what you found and your newly strengthened testimony of that question. What a crazy and amazing idea! he was saying how we should have 40 by the time we are his age haha. I thought that was such an incredible idea, and would definitely keep the motivation to finish. Also after you did a few when someone had that same question or something you could whip that BofM out and say here read all the highlighted verses!

 here are some scriptures that i just love love love! Alma 26, Moroni 10, 1nephi 3:7, 2nephi 10:23, mosiah chapter 4,5 (chapter 5 verse 7 i love, it talks about how we need to BECOME his sons and daughters), Alma 5: 12-19, Alma 30:8 (Alma is just incredible) Alma 32, D&C 6:22-23 (listening), D&C 18:-17-19, Mosiah 26:31, the book of Enos. These are all incredible scriptures. I have started going through and actually likening the scriptures unto me, relating them to my and my life. It's amazing the difference it has on how well i understand and take it in. I'm SO grateful for this gospel! i love it with all of my heart and know it is the true gospel of Jesus Christ. I can't even describe the peace and joy it brings into the lives of everyone who accept it into their hearts:)I am so thankful for all that i have and the many blessings in my life:)

i love you all! you are all some of those blessings in my life! I love hearing from you and hope you are all doing well!

love, Sister Yeates

MTC 4/17/2013

Dear Family and Friends,

I love and miss you all so much! This week was just wonderful. It really was. Russian is going well. 3 more weeks till we get to leave the MTC! I'm so so so pumped! I'm ready to go put what I've learned to work! although our teachers have been telling us about the Russian culture and it sounds like we are going to stand out incredibly. Mostly because we smile and walk with our heads up (apparently people in Russia walk looking at the floor)...hmm. Ah well:) They cook interesting things, like boiling pig legs until the water turns to a jello consistency.....yum! and they put vodka in everything possible! it's going to be quite an experience:)

This week I learned and passed off Joseph Smith's first vision in Russian! i wish i had some way to send it home...Russian is getting easier to understand and figure out. With the 6 cases for language and the 3 different genders for each case, finding the correct way to say everything is pretty frustrating. OH! fun fact. I met a Sister here and she is learning Russian and is serving in Everett Washington! how crazy is that? She's the first sister missionary going there Russian speaking! So we chatted and i told her all about Washington:) Super random but really cool.

This last Saturday Sister Chartrand and I coordinated outfits and we matched for the wedding:) i wore the peacock pin all day! It was great. i suggested to Caitlin to get a cardboard cutout of me for the wedding....but i don't think that worked out ;) It's okay, i was there in Spirit:) I'm sure it was amazing! miss you all!

So many exciting things happened this week. Last P-Day I wasn't being smart and ended up sunburning my neck! really badly actually. It is still raw and peeling which isn't fun. My roommates were going to make a sign and put it on our door saying...."Leper". HAHHA ya that didn't fly but points for trying! :) haha.

Sunday-Wednesday are our favorite days here at the MTC. Sunday is relief society and night devotional, Monday is service in the mornings, Tuesday is devotional at night and the Wednesday is P-Day...sweet sweet p day. So starting with Sunday the sisters went to Music and the Spoken Word where we relaxed listening to the beautiful and incredible MOTAB, then we have relief society...which was probably the funniest thing I've ever been to in church. I felt like a sinner for laughing so much....only in the MTC..:) Anyways a speaker by the name of Mary Edmund s came and spoke to us. She had served 3-4 missions in her life time and was one of the first sister missionaries in the Philippines. So cool. Anyways she was talking about  missionary work and it's importance. She talked about the importance of journals and exclaimed, "how embarrassing would it be if you went home with a journal that wasn't full"....probably not the first thing that would have come to my mind but its a good point haha. Then she went on to talk about the hardships of missions, she said "you will never regret a mission if you put your whole heart into it." i completely agree and have come to know that for myself just from being here for 5 weeks. she read D&C 68:6 talking about being of good cheer for the Lord is with us!

The part where we all started dying laughing is when she started talking about elder missionaries. She said, "Sisters! do not touch the Elders! They have a hard enough time as it is, respect them and do not touch them!...but keep in mind the elders that you do want to touch..."...WHAT! hahahhaha we couldn't believe our ears! who says THAT! well actually it is probably what we are all thinking but it is was so hilarious and so true. she let us laugh looking behind her to the presidents wives and older sister missionaries who were also in tears from laughing. It was a great couple minutes. She definitely did not beat around the bush! it was great. She went on to say how blessed we are and how we need to "count on the Heavenly help we are promised" (the entire talk she was sarcastic, bold, and completely amazing). I loved that talk:)

Sunday night we had a Devo given my Greg Droubay (look him up) he does all of the church media,hes the director. so he does all of the i am a Mormon and such. VERY COOL! he talked about all of the different media campaigns for Mormons he puts on all over. There is a huge one in London right now! and he related it to the scripture D&C 88:73 "Behold i will hasten my work in its time", he said how we need to be examples and "help people discover a faith that is already there.." (from the pre-mortal life, because we all knew about the gospel. we all made the choice to come down to earth).

To make this week even better we had ELDER RICHARD G SCOTT come to our devotional! VOW (russian wow). It was incredible. I felt so lucky to be in his presence, what an incredible man! he talked about prayer and how it is SO important. He said how much our Heavenly Father wanted a relationship with us and he is ALWAYS there for us. He talked about answers to prayers and how they are now always how we expect. he said "pray, even if you don't have a desire to pray"The most important this about prayer is gratitude! i really needed to be reminded of this because in our lives we are SO blessed! we need to remember to thank our Heavenly Father for our wonderful lives:) he went on to talk about how our mission calls are inspired of God. And how He will NOT abandon us. "Heavenly Father did not put us on the earth to fail, he wants us to succeed". i loved that and have a testimony that we are all here for a reason and all have purposes to bring the gospel into the lives of others one way or another. Elder Scott kept saying how excited he was to see so many sisters! (that was nice) he promised us (sisters) that our choice will be one of the most incredible choice we have ever made. it will change our lives for eternity. we will learn and grow so much. at the end we will be so strengthened and "we will have the capacity to love and serve for the rest of our lives" so amazing. Then at the end of his talk he evoked a prophetic blessing upon the missionaries there...it was so incredible. What an experience.

Anyways im out of time! i love you all and love hearing from you! (Russian email time got bumped up to an hour! booya!)

i hope you are all doing well and pray for you always! love you!

Love, Sister Gigi Yeates

Conference at the MTC

Hey everyone,

I love you all and thank you so much for all of the letters! Seriously they make my day. This week at the MTC was probably the most exciting one so far! Just because of Conference! WHICH WAS SO AMAZING! We watched every session, and couldnt get enough so we watched the young women's broadcast too.....haha well we didn't have a choice but it was amazing. (this keyboard i am on is messed up so i cant put in apostrophes, or question marks, annoying sorry). I loved conference and Sister Chartrand and I have been looking forward to it for weeks, and when it came we were more than happy, until we realized we would be sitting in chairs for 16 hours straight for two days....haha well that's what it felt like. But every single talk was so incredible. I had so many answers and worries answered and sorted out. Elder Uchtdorf was my favorite. I loved how he talked about light and darkness and how we need to find the light and STAY in the light. So amazing, and a good thing to remember everyday, even the little things like not worrying and have a positive attitude can make the difference.

So we watched conference all saturday with no gym time or free time so it was all sitting all day which was tiring. Then Sunday was the same way, and it would be longer because we have an additional devotional on Sunday nights which are always amazing but for that day it seemed way too much sitting to be a good thing. But to our surprise and delight we found out that we wouldnt be having just a regular devotional but that VOCAL POINT would be performing and giving us a singing devotional! Probably the best day of our new lives here at the MTC. like on a scale from 1 to 10 they were like a 536. Not only were they all RMs but they were SO AMAZING! We (sister Chartrand and I) sat back and just loved every second of it (while the elders in our district mostly rolled their eyes). For multiple reasons!!! hehe. They did arrangements of hymns and each shared a spiritual thought and their testimony and then picked their favorite hymn that they sang and then we all joined in on. As RMs they were saying to keep going and to trust in the Lord no matter what. It was nice hearing it from RMs that were just barely off their missions and knew what it was like in the MTC.

The weather has been psycho! first it was pouring rain, then it snowed yesterday and now its freezing and drizzling. But lucky for me I am very used to and love the rain. So Im not as freezing as the Australians and Californians and Hawaiins here. haha they like die everytime they step outside, and wear 592103934839 coats.

Ammon got here last week and I ran into him in the cafeteria which was CRAZY because I didnt know when he was even coming in! so that was really cool. I havent seen him since so i think he may have gotten his visa and is gone now. But it was really nice to see a friend.

The food here at the MTC is good, definitely is really old. haha They do all of these fancy things, but they are all with meat, so i usually have salad and pog. After a while those aren't very fun but I'm getting the hang of it and my district is finally understanding that i don't eat meat. which to most of them is SO WEIRD and they dont know how i survive. haha well im still alive sooooo...haha. The Elders all thought they were hilarious by all buying matching suspenders from the MTC store and wearing them around all day....okay it actually was hilarious. love those guys..elders! 

We had an amazing devotional last night. Something I have been wondering about for a long time. Gerald N. Lund (who wrote the WORK AND THE GLORIES) not a big deal. Anyways he was talking about how we know whether the revelation we recieve is just us or is it from the Lord. It was so interesting. I will explain more in my letter home because i am almost out of time. But he was talking about how missionaries will get ´¨revelation´¨ that they are done with their missions, or a guy will get ´¨revelation´¨ to marry a girl and she doesn't feel the same way but marries him anyways because he must be right because he received revelation. Anyways it is really interesting and i will go into detail and send it home.

Sister Chartrand and I got to do initories again today, It was truly incredible. I get and hear new things and feelings every time i go, i love it.

I love you all so much and hope you are all doing well! i think about you all the time and LOVE hearing from you via dear elders! my favorite. Keep me updated and if you want to know anything else about my exciting life here at the MTC let me know! i love you all!

love, Sister Gigi Yeates

p.s. Sister Chartrand says hi!

MTC Russians

Gigi's letters from the MTC

Dear Family and Friends,

 

I love and miss you all so much! This week was just wonderful. It really was. Russian is going well. 3 more weeks till we get to leave the MTC! I'm so so so pumped! I'm ready to go put what i've learned to work! although our teachers have been telling us about the russian culture and it sounds like we are going to stand out incredibly. Mostly because we smile and walk with our heads up (apparently people in russia walk looking at the floor)...hmm. Ah well:) They cook interesting things, like boiling pig legs untill the water turns to a jello consistancy.....yum! and they put vodika in everything possible! it's going to be quite an experience:)

 

This week I learned and passed off Joseph Smith's first vision in Russian! i wish i had some way to send it home...Russian is getting easier to understand and figure out. With the 6 cases for language and the 3 different genders for each case, finding the correct way to say everything is pretty frustrating. OH! fun fact. I met a Sister here and she is learning russian and is serving in Everett Washington! how crazy is that? She's the first sister missiionary going there russian speaking! So we chatted and i told her all about washington:) Super random but really cool.

This last saturday Sister Chartrand and I coordinated outfits and we matched for the wedding:) i wore the peacock pin all day! It was great. i suggested to Caitlin to get a cardboard cutout of me for the wedding....but i dont think that worked out ;) It's okay, i was there in Spirit:) i'm sure it was amazing! miss you all!

 

So many exciting things happened this week. Last P-Day I wasn't being smart and ended up sunburning my neck! really badly actually. It is still raw and peeling which isn't fun. My roommates were going to make a sign and put it on our door saying...."Leper". HAHHA ya that didn't fly but points for trying! :) haha.

 

Sunday-wednesday are our favorite days here at the MTC. Sunday is relief society and night devotional, monday is service in the mornings, tuesday is devotional at night and the wednesday is P-Day...sweet sweet pday. So starting with Sunday the sisters went to Music and the Spoken Word where we relaxed listening to the beautiful and incredible MOTAB, then we have relief society...which was probably the funniest thing i've ever been to in church. I felt like a sinner for laughing so much....only in the MTC..:) Anyways a speaker by the name of Mary Edmunds came and spoke to us. She had served 3-4 missions in her life time and was one of the first sister missionaries in the Phillipines. So cool. Anyways she was talking about  missionary work and it's importance. She talked about the importance of journals and exclaimed, "how embarassing would it be if you went home with a journal that waan't full"....probably not the first thing that would have come to my mind but its a good point haha. Then she went on to talk about the hardships of missions, she said "you will never regret a mission if you put your whole heart into it." i completely agree and have come to know that for myself just from being here for 5 weeks. she read D&C 68:6 talking about being of good cheer for the Lord is with us!

The part where we all started dying laughing is when she started talking about elder missionaries. She said, "Sisters! do not touch the Elders! They have a hard enough time as it is, respect them and do not touch them!...but keep in mind the elders that you do want to touch..."...WHAT! hahahhaha we couldn't believe our ears! who says THAT! well actually it is probably what we are all thinking but it is was so hilarious and so true. she let us laugh looking behind her to the presidents wives and older sister missionaries who were also in tears from laughing. It was a great couple minutes. She definitely did not beat around the bush! it was great. She went on to say how blessed we are and how we need to "count on the Heavenly help we are promised" (the entire talk she was sarcastic, bold, and completely amazing). I loved that talk:)

Sunday night we had a Devo given my Greg Droubay (look him up) he does all of the church media,hes the director. so he does allof the i am a mormon and such. VERY COOL! he talked about all of the different media campains for mormons he puts on all over. There is a huge one in London right now! and he related it to the scripture D&C 88:73 "Behold i will hasten my work in its time", he said how we need to be examples and "help people discover a faith that is already there.." (from the pre-mortal life, because we all knew about the gospel. we all made the choice to come down to earth).

To make this week even better we had ELDER RICHARD G SCOTT come to our devotional! VOW (russian wow). It was incredible. I felt so lucky to be in his presence, what an incredible man! he talked about prayer and how it is SO important. He said how much our Heavenly Father wanted a relationship with us and he is ALWAYS ther for us. He talked about answers to prayers and how they are now always how we expect. he said "pray, even if you dont have a desire to pray"The most important this about prayer is gratitude! i really needed to be reminded of this because in our lives we are SO blessed! we need to remember to thank our Heavenly Father for our wonderful lives:) he went on to talk about how our mission calls are inspired of God. And how He will NOT abandon us. "Heavenly Father did not put us on the earth to fail, he wants us to succeede". i loved that and have a testimony that we are all here for a reason and all have purposes to bring the gospel into the lives of others one way or another. Elder Scott kept saying how excited he was to see so many sisters! (that was nice) he promised us (sisters) that our choice will be one of the most incredible choice we have ever made. it will change our lives for eternity. we will learn and grow so much. at the end we will be so strengthened and "we will have the capacity to love and serve for the rest of our lives" so amazing. Then at the end of his talk he envoked a prophetic blessing upon the missionaries there...it was so incredible. What an experience.

Anyways im out of time! i love you all and love hearing from you! (russian email time got bumped up to an hour! booya!)

i hope you are all doing well and pray for you always! love you!

Love, Sister Gigi Yeates