This week was definitely a week of change! First of all the Thais left on Monday so our zone has shrunk a third. On Sunday they all sang "God Be With You 'Till We Meet Again" in Thai as a musical number. I was doing so well until Elder Duffy from my district started crying, which made Elder Osborne who was singing start to cry, which made most everybody else start crying. And then Elder Sugihara went to wipe a tear from his eye and accidentally knocked the hymnbook out of his own hand with a whack so we ended in tearful smiles. I loved it.
Then Monday our zone moved our classrooms to a completely different building. You would think the change would lessen the absence of the Thais, but there are still empty rooms in the hallway which will be filled by the new Thais coming in today! Sister Walker and I were made the new Sister Training Leaders for the zone so we will greet the five new sisters and one elder into our zone tonight which I'm so excited for!
Yesterday Elder Dallin H. Oaks spoke at the devotional which was broadcast to all the MTCs around the world. It was really good, and I got the chills when all the missionaries rose as he entered while we were singing "Come come ye saints". He spoke about some doctrinal difference between religions and why all churches couldn't be true which was really insightful. As good as it was, I would have to say the highlight of the day for me was when all the sisters of our zone got together with the only two Sister teachers. They teach the Vietnamese class, but they thought it would be good for all the sisters to get together to answer any questions about serving as a sister missionary. Somehow, they said exactly what I needed to hear I and left on a spiritual high for the rest of the day!
Another big moment of the week was when Elder Madsen (one of the Thais now in the mission field) and I got the envelopes in the mail assigning us to perform our musical number at the Sunday night devotional. We played an arrangement of "Our Savior's Love" for cello and piano at our Sacrament meeting musical number, and tried-out to perform for the campus but since it had been several weeks since we'd last heard from them, and he was leaving the following Monday we had decided they just didn't need us to perform. So when we got the letter we practiced a couple times and performed in front of about 600 people. It's fortunate for me that as the accompanist I don't have to face the hundreds of people before me, but I do have the projector screen within view, so I could tell when the camera switched its angle to me. I kept my nerves down pretty well though, as I'm learning it's not about how many people you're performing for, but how well they feel the Spirit and are uplifted because of your performance.
I can't believe I only have three weeks left here, and they will be different from any other week with the new missionaries and new calling. But I've learned so much since I've been here and I'm excited for what's coming. :)
Sister Saralee Dunster
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