More Glorious and Bright: You are the message...

It was a fairly humdrum week at the MTC: a sentence I'm sure has never been said before. It was as smooth as it could have been. I don't know if the weeks have settled into an easier rhythm, or if it is me. My companion and I often talk about how much we've changed in 6 weeks. She's gotten more comfortable and confident and I've learned how to deal with stress better.

For instance, last Sunday. I had arranged for the departing group of missionaries to sing a musical number, since it's tradition for them to do so. I had put a lot of effort into finding a Korean translation of the EFY medley for them as that was what they REALLY wanted to do. Since it was kind of their party, I had asked one sweet elder, who loves music more than anything, to arrange times for their class to practice. Their last week was really busy, and I didn't know their schedule so that seemed like the best option. I helped him find a girl among the native Koreans who could play the piano, and checked in with him every day to see how practice was going. His response was always 'great'.

I don't know much Korean, but I don't think 'great' means 'so we haven't actually practiced once and no one knows the piece and singing in Korean is not easy and despite what you may think we haven't actually been trying at all'. I could be wrong. Saturday night I asked him how it was going and he still said 'great'.

Come Sunday and suddenly it wasn't so great. They did not know the piece, and as it turns out the Korean sister thought that I was playing, when I thought SHE was playing. Now please imagine me in all my five foot two blonde might marshalling together the truculent forces of stressed out missionaries who had not practiced this song a day in their lives, trying to get them to learn it an hour before sacrament meeting. This is a situation that should have stressed me out! And for some reason it didn't. (Maybe because it wasn't my mess. I derived a good deal of peace from that.) Six weeks ago it might have hospitalized me! But this time I was the example of serenity. Everyone in that class was really tall so I alternated accompanying and standing on the piano bench.

It was nothing short of a miracle that I found a master violinist an hour before we performed. He was in the new group and is simply fantastic. He didn't know the piece but he put together an awesome accompaniment.

Rule of thumb: if someone is bailing you out, don't sass them. One sister criticized my readiness to perform the piece. It was through sheer force of will that I restrained myself from criticizing her complete lack of sense of irony. She also wholeheartedly denied that they needed to practice at all (she changed her mind after she came to the practice). Then this same sister asked me to accompany her in the sacrament meeting. Please, please, bring your accompanists love and candy, because I promise they need it!

I also tried to bring them in about five times and somehow they never did until I literally sang along with the piece and sang to them "that's when you come in".

This calling has taught me a lot about Christlike attributes, especially gratitude, patience, and charity. Often I may lack one and the people I work with lack the others.

An aside; the violinist was hilarious! I said something about how it might not be pretty but we'd make it to the end. He said "you know Sister Bell (as we were practicing Armies of Helaman after everyone had left), a lot of people love the story this song is about. They think that everyone just made it through without a scratch on them. The truth is that almost all of them were gravely injured and a lot of them almost died. But still, they made it through alive."

We said goodbye to the departing district. We had gotten really close with them and we were all pretty sad to see them go. I think it's beginning to sink in that we're leaving in 3 weeks. We won't be in America for a year and a half! It's terrifying, but we are SO excited. No more brick walls, no more textbooks -- we'll be out in the real world! Teaching real people the gospel that all of us love so much.

My companion is amazing. She managed to worm out of one of the leaders that we were having an Apostle speak at our devotional! We were so excited. We told our whole class (we saw the leader later that day and he told us not to tell anyone, so we didn't tell anyone else and figured it was a commandment that only applied to later dispensations) and then all of us bet who it would be - things like Cadbury eggs and hugs and a good day. Mormons...

Elder Eads ended up winning as he bet that it was Elder Cook. It was an awesome devotional! He told us how they choose where missionaries serve, which was really cool to hear about. It makes me wonder who decided where I was going, and for what specific reasons I'm going to Korea. It was so neat to hear. One thing he said that really stuck with me: You are the message. By our words and actions we are the Savior's messengers.

Random advice to future sisters and elders: if you ever host new missionaries arriving at the MTC, do NOT tell their families they're going to a better place.

I wanted to share my favorite scripture with you all! D&C 50:24.

24 That which is of God is light; and he that receivethlight, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.

It perfectly encapsulates my feelings about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Every day it fills my life with greater and greater light. Every day I feel His love to a greater degree than I thought possible. What a comfort it is to know that we will never stop growing and progressing! That when our feet are turned to His path, we do not walk alone.

Saronghamneeda saramdur!

Bell Chameneem

lots of photos this week!