Last Day at the MTC

Tuesday was my last day at the MTC. When I applied eight months ago, I was so excited to be a teacher there. My teachers had a huge effect on me when I was in the MTC, so I was excited to help other misionaries have the same experiences I did.

Well. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. My experience teaching the international missionaries was exactly nothing like my personal experience in the MTC. The variety of languages and cultures created more of a challenge than I was expecting. Over time, though, I learned to love those differences. I learned that I am not my teacher, my students are not me, and it was unreasonable to expect it to be the same. Once I accepted that, I began to notice different things that made my experience as a teacher fabulous.

I will miss meeting all kinds of new, different kinds of people every day. I will miss spending so much of my time focused on the Gospel. But most of all, I will miss missionaries such as these:

This is my last district, which I only got to teach for about two weeks. Sister Estrada from Peru, Sister Korea from Korea, Elder Carrasco from Chile, Elder Mendoza from Spain, Elder Tinoco from Mexico, and Elder Kolpakov from Russia. These missionaries are amazing and I was so sad to only have a couple of weeks with them. These missionaries, and all the others I was able to meet and teach, taught me so much through their testimonies, faith, and desire and willingness to be absolutely diligent and obedient. Their love and passion for the Gospel and others inspired me every day.

I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to have my dream job. It was definitely the hardest job I've ever had, but it was also the most amazingly rewarding job I've ever had.