One PDAY left in the MTC

Latest letter from Sister Huguely.  She received her itinerary to fly to the Philippines and she leaves the MTC on July 23rd.  Hard to believe it is already time for her to travel so far away.  The best part is that she gets to call us from the airport.

Hi my loves,

I love getting all your emails! It is kind of fun being the Sister whose family and friends love her the most! Haha just kidding....sort of....I am sorry if I am not able to respond to all of them. I only have 60 minutes of emailing here and so I may not be able to get to everyone! But I can write so if you want to get letters from me just email me your home address and I'll write to you! 

This week has actually been my hardest so far. I was out with the stomach flu Wednesday and Thursday. Missing two days here is like missing two weeks of school and so I feel very behind. But I am working hard to make the days up and Sister Livermore is being very helpful and teaching me what I missed. I am so grateful to her! I am also freaking out because I feel like I know absolutely zero Tagalog and I am leaving for Manila in 12 days so that is terrifying! Yesterday I just felt like I am going to get to the Manila MTC and everyone is going to be speaking Tagalog and I am not going to know anything they are saying. 

So kasama ko (my companion) and I have decided to do an English Fast today. We are trying to speak no English and only communicate in Tagalog. It was supposed to make us feel better about our Tagalog and show that we can somewhat speak it; however we haven't been very good at it and so far it has only made me realize how little I know. It is okay though because at least I am trying. I just have to remember that there is no way I am going to learn this language without the Lord's help and I just keep praying ferociously for the Gift of Tongues. I really need to remember to trust in Him and that through my hard work coupled with the Spirit I will be able to speak it. Uncle Brian wrote me a letter this week and in it he said that the FBI, CIA, and State Department have all come to see how so many missionaries learn languages so quickly, but they can never copy what the MTC does because they don't have the Spirit. That is so perfectly said! When I read that I just felt so comforted! I need to remember that I am not going to be able to learn this language quickly enough by myself, but through the Spirit all things are possible. 

We had an amazing Fourth of July celebration last week. The speaker spoke about how America was foreordained to be a free nation so that the Restoration could go forth. I am so grateful for that! He also talked about how Wilford Woodruff had the work done for many famous people who asked him to do it for them. One of them was Jane Austen so as you can imagine I was pretty happy about that. We then were able to watch a pretty awesome fireworks display and it was absolutely beautiful. I feel so blessed to be able to live in this great nation and to have been in the MTC for one of the Fourth of July's on my mission. 

Nothing too much else to report. I am doing well and am excited and scared to leave for Manila.

Mahal Kita,

Sister Huguely 

Sister Huguely and the other sisters in her district at the 4th of July celebration.

A note from Sister Huguely's teacher who left to teach new incoming missionaries.  We tried to translate with google translator but we didn't have much luck.