I LOVE THE MTC!!!

So I will try to answer everyone's questions here (so mom, please feel free to forward this to anyone and everyone...y'all will be getting another letter.)

I only have 20 minutes left...yikes...I'll type fast!

So, I love the MTC!!!!  I kind of have to as I'm going to be here for 12 weeks.  My companion and I are getting along great.  She is fantastic.  She understands the language so much better than I do.  I honestly am not getting it as well as I had hoped.  But I know that through the Lord's help I will be able to communicate with the people if I continue working hard.

As far as the food goes, I love the salad bar...I eat it everyday!  It's pretty much the only thing besides cold cereal that doesn't make me feel sick after I'm done eating.  I've only got to go to one choir practice so far and I sadly wasn't able to sing in the seminar.  I love getting to go to the temple (got to go again today...last time before it's closed nearly the whole month of July.  But I heard that my zone might get assigned to help clean it next week!!!)  I really do love the MTC.  The first few days were difficult, but the Spirit is so strong here and you get so see people everywhere with the same purpose and a strong testimony of the gospel...and it's literally EVERYWHERE!!!!  It was funny, today while we were in line at the temple cafeteria I was able to talk to Myrick Chamenim and Richardson Chamenim (wow that looks different in English!), about how cool it is to see missionaries all the time everywhere!  It still feels bizarre that I'm actually here right now!!!!!!

So, I unfortunately don't get to sing for a few more weeks.  Things were overbooked in our branch.  But I will be auditioning for a solo in front of everyone either this Thursday or next.

Um....Oh, I wish I could remember everything, but unfortunately I can't right now.  Let's see...oh, I just wanted to share with you some of the things I've been learning in the scriptures.  I'm doing a few things, first of all, mom, I'm getting a list of lesson scriptures and their summaries together for you to make into flashcards (if you wouldn't mind)...it's funny...I'm not that good with the language, but I'm known in my district as the class scriptorian....hahahahaha, I think it's great.  Secondly I'm re-reading the Book of Mormon (oh MAN how my testimony has grown in the power of that book!!!!) and I'm looking for references to the atonement, the promise that if you keep the commandments you will prosper in the land, and on the side references to artifacts like the sword of Laban and stuff like that.  It's been great, I'm not too far along yet...I get so distracted with cross referencing and all those exciting things.  Can I just tell you, the gospel is sooooo much fun!!!!!!

We had a great fireside on Sunday...and on Friday.  Elder Bednar spoke on Friday about how to be a PMG missionary.  And on Sunday...oh, I can't remember his name, but he spoke a little about the sacrifices we make to be on missions and the hardships we will go through as missionaries.  I'll go in more depth in my letter.

It's been so great being able to focus so heavily on the gospel.  And it's been wonderful to be able to share those feelings everyday with people who share my beliefs.  I wish I could type faster (I've gotten too used to my netbook keyboard) because I just can't tell you enough how amazing this experience is.  I love you all and I REALLY love hearing form you...it keeps me from getting discouraged and reminds me that I can do this!

Love you all!

~Sister Amanda McClellan :)

Week 1

Hello everyone!  The MTC has been amazing so far and I love it here! I'm going to be here till August 29th...that's 12 weeks!!!  Such a long time, but I know I'm going to need it!  Korean is soooo incredibly hard!  I really love it though.  I'm already praying, bearing testimony, doing contacts, singing, and even occasionally thinking in Korean.  It is really a beautiful language and I can't wait till I can know it better and can better express my thoughts and feelings in the language!  I have gotten a little discouraged at times already.  I feel inadequate at times, but the feeling is usually fleeting...so that's good.  My companion's name is Sister Paul.  She's moved around a lot and her family is currently in Indonesia....cool, huh?  She and I are a near perfect match.  We compliment each other so well.  Last night we gave our first lesson and it was so much fun! Our contacts are fun to do to.  I love being here in the MTC because everyone you contact and teach wants to hear more and wants to get baptized!  hahahahaha, it might be giving us a false sense of security, but we don't mind!  Sorry there aren't any paragraphs, the "enter" key on my keyboard doesn't work :( oh well.  I enjoy the schedule here, I usually feel very well rested, and it's so cool, at 6:00 am the Sisters get to have the gym for exercise classes.  I usually use the time to work on vocab and scriptures while on the elliptical.  And this week the gym is closed due to training for new mission presidents, so we go out to the field...Sister Paul like volleyball...yeah, I play volleyball...yikes!!!  But she's going to teach me how to be better...yeah...yikes again!  I got to go to the temple this morning.  It was so great.  My whole district and a couple other Sisters from our zone was in the same endowment session and we all went to the cafeteria for real breakfast (meaning not MTC cafeteria food) afterwards.  I absolutely LOVE my district and zone. I'll be sending pictures soon.  We got to go take pictures at the temple on Sunday.  I'm singing in Sacrament meeting this Sunday.  The topic is knowledge...I'm not quite sure what I'll sing yet, but I'll think of something.  I'm going to join the MTC choir.  The practices are Tuesdays and Sundays.  I'm so excited.  Oh, we got to sing Called to Serve on Sunday at the Sunday night devotional...life long dream of singing that song at the MTC: accomplished!!!  It really has been a blast here!  I can't really believe I'm actually here!  The Spirit is
so strong everywhere and everyone is so happy and so full of such great energy all the time.  it's absolutely fantastic to be able to see that everyone around you is here for the same reasons and wants the same thing: to bring all souls to Christ!  I wish I could share more, but I really didn't realize how short 30 minutes is (the
computer has a countdown clock in the corner and it kicks you off right at 30 minutes...Davis, sorry for giving you such a hard time.) There's just one more thing I want to say before I get kicked off. PLEASE PLEASE "dear elder" (go to dearelder.com it's self explanatory. I'm at the Provo MTC and going to the Seoul Korea mission...it's
easy!) me and/or send me letters.  My address is on facebook and on my blog (thegreatlifeofmissamanda.blogspot.com) and letters are really great in boosting confidence and getting over frustrations.  Tell me anything!  I would love to be able to leave the MTC with at least a small handful of letters from friends and family...plus I can spend more time reading those and I'll see them more than just during my 30 minutes on P-Days.  I love you all and hope you are all doing well. Love, Sister McClellan  P.S. Mom, Dad, Evan, and Danny, I'm writing you another letter today...one with more detail and that's more personal.  I love you all so much!!!!  Stay awesome!!!!!!!  P.P.S. Sorry about any typos...no spell/grammar check >.<

So...I'm leaving on a mission!

Tonight I get set apart as a missionary!!!!  It's actually happening!  (finally)

I had a big ole concert last night...all sacred music.  It was fun.  I did alright, not my best, but not too bad.  And it's over!  That's a pretty cool thing!  Afterwards we had a bunch of people over for ice cream sundaes which were delicious.  We then pulled out my mom's birthday cake and had her blow out the candles.  (it was yellow butterscotch chip cake with homemade chocolate frosting...I burnt the butterscotch a little, so it sounds better than it tastes...unfortunately).

Today I'm going to be finishing up my packing, tying up loose ends, getting the last few things I need for the mish, and getting set apart.  Then tomorrow at 1:20 I board a plane for Utah, and I then MTC it up starting Wednesday!  I'm so incredibly excited!

I'm going to have my parents keep up my blog and my facebook for me while I'm gone...so hopefully it gets done!  I'll put all my mission info on here today so it'll be here and on facebook.

I honestly can't wait to go!  It's going to be fantastic, I just know it!

~Manda