Kamusta!

 I hope everyone is having a great week! I know I have! This is my last P-day and my last Friday and my last time emailing in the MTC! As much as I love the MTC....that makes me really happy! I want to be in the Philippines and I want to get started helping the work progress and I want to get the hard part (the beginning) started! I have learned and grown so much this past 6 weeks. But all I need to share is that I know God is our Heavenly Father and that He is aware of us and our individual needs and He hears and answers our prayers! I know that Christ is our Savior! I have felt His love for me each and every day in the MTC, but I've also felt His love for my family, my friends, and people I'm about to teach and haven't even met yet! Yesterday we got to do In Field Training! It took 9 hours and was a little repetitive, but I still learned a couple of new things so that makes it worth it! Then after that we had our last TRC Skype lesson (where we get to skype a person who is either in the Philippines or who is from the Philippines and speaks Cebuano and teach them a simple lesson!). There was one extra person, so the coordinator asked Sister Ross and I if we would teach two lessons instead of just one! We said "Oo, siyempre!" Of course!! It was such a blessing to us to get to meet with two Filipino people and to get more practice in! Plus, our second lesson went much better than our first! I'm really going to miss sa akong kaubon si Sister Ross! We make a good team! Since we're going to the same mission, Cebu East, we'll probably get to see each other frequently though, so that's awesome!

 At In Field Training that used a lot of similar phrases I've heard as an athlete. Such as "set goals that make you stretch, but are realistic and attainable!" and "use your strengths and strengthen your weaknesses!" and "Be yourself, but remember who you represent!" and of course always "the secret to success is just to work hard!" I love being involved in things that challenge me and expect the best from me. Life is not about resting and coasting and feeling comfortable....It is about progressing, learning, and refining ourselves. It is about learning of Christ and striving everyday to become like Him! (Moroni 10:32) With our last 5 days here in the MTC, we'll just solidify what we already know and try to keep learning more and more before we go! We've seen so many missionaries come and go and finally it's about to be our turn! I've been having trouble sleeping at night due to the anticipation, and between studying the gospel and studying the language, it's difficult to get my mind to quiet down enough to sleep at night. This morning I woke up at 6:30 still kind of in a daze and kind of slept-walked into the bathroom. Someone was showering and playing hymns. Right when I walked in the hymn "Come, come ye Saints" was playing and the light blinded me since I was still waking up. For a second I was like Where am I? Did I just die and go to heaven? haha but then my eyes adjusted and I woke up fully and I remembered I'm in the MTC bathroom haha. But in a lot of ways the MTC is like a "heaven". Not because the actual place is special but because every person that enters in does so with the desire to serve others and serve God. Everything we learn we learn with the intent to use it to bless the lives of others! Everything the teachers teach is taught with the intent of blessing the lives of others. Anywhere on earth can feel like the MTC! The Spirit of the MTC is brought by the people's choices to follow Christ! Well I hope everyone has a great week! Read Alma 36:3 and Alma 38:4-5!

 Love,
Sister Bertoldo ​ ​ ​