Ice cream = "u toetoe paari monamona" = milk cold hard sugar. My favorite Davids! Christmas fun! Pics + vids!

Hey everyone!

       So this week was pretty eventful because of Christmas. We've been working much harder on our French this week but since most of the class is serving in Tahiti, I've also picked up on some Tahitian words. Everything they say is so long and mostly comprised of vowels. The word for ice cream is u toetoe paari monamona. Direct translation: milk cold hard sugar. Thank goodness I'm just learning French, because I don't think I could survive Tahitian class. Sometimes, when our brains are too fried from learning, we all get on rolly chairs and have relay races. My team always wins...no big deal. 

       For Christmas, we mostly watched movies, ate food, and my two favorite Davids came - David A. Bednar and David Archuleta. Also!!! I finally got to talk to my family which was super exciting even though I only had thirty minutes. My companions met my family and said they're pretty much an extension of me...which is true. I love those little guys.❤️ Kyle, (aka Glub), even sent me a macaroni necklace in the Christmas package and I wore it all day HA!

      For the devotionals, David Archuleta sang and my comp almost had an aneurysm she was so excited. He's so cute and awkward and I loved how he made the whole program really center on Christ. Afterwards, he shook everybody's hand one by one. All four hundred of us. I love him. Then Bednar (a living legend) talked to us about personal revelation and he said some things I really needed to hear:  

       I always hear the question "how do we know if our feelings are our own thoughts or the Holy Ghost?" Bednar said, "stop worrying about it." If we are good and going, we can't go the wrong way. God doesn't let His children frustrate His plan for them, so if we have a good thought, just do it. I know God is aware of our circumstances and I know even though we make mistakes, we can never truly fail. God is constantly involved in the details of our lives. If we are making an effort to be more Christlike, God will always be there to help us and to support us. I challenge you all to be a little more mindful of the good thoughts that you feel this week, and act on them- because they come from the Spirit.

A video of Morgan from her 1st week in the MTC. Her 1st week was completely focused on Visitor's Center Training, since she is assigned to the Paris Temple Visitor's Center. She'd only been there a few days & they headed to the Salt Lake City Temple Visitor's Center to practice...

Snow? What is this. We don't have these things in Gilbert.

Me and Soeur Brown taking an extra long break from class.

We sang in the Christmas program which they broadcast to all the other MTC's. The choir director, brother Eeget, is awesome because he just tells stories the whole time.

SAVANNAH!!! I thought I'd never see her around here, but the MTC is smaller than I thought .

Our Christmas jammies.

Our New Zealand Elders HAHA, thought you’d enjoy this.

Elder Randell trying to talk like an American LOL

 The promised picture of my district. Perfectly captures Elder Randell.

Okay don't worry I'm not illegal...I didn't take this. But I did leave my airdrop on ~just in case~ somebody else took an illegal picture of Elder Bednar.

My companion is super good at watercolor and this is one of the things she gave me for Christmas.

I hope everybody had a good Christmas!! A bientot!

- Soeur McOmber

Will work for Nemo stickers! 🐠

Salut! Comment Allez Vous?

     This week was soooo fun because two things, I got my district and I started learning French!! I'm in a trio with Soeur Brown and Soeur Jacobs and I love them both. But here's the kicker; almost everybody in my district is already fluent, they just came to learn some gospel words. I'm learning pretty quick though and Soeur Brown gives me nemo stickers if I'm doing especially well. My favorite French word is "dac", it's short for d'accord (okay). I love it because we respond to pretty much everything by saying duck. I also like the word for kneel (s'agenouiller, try to say that one HA). 

       I don't have pics of the district- I promise I'll take some this week. But there's two elders from our district from New Zealand and we assign them to do everything because we just like to hear them talk HA. Instead of saying "I think" they say "I reckon" and every form of candy they refer to as "lollies." They're my favorite.

       One thing that's really been on my mind this week has been humility. In 3 Nephi 11:38 it says "And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God." This week, I've been forced to be like a little child because I simply don't know anything about French. Learning a language is one of the most humbling things I've ever had to do. I get corrected over and over because my accent isn't perfect and I don't always get the words right, but I can either choose to be annoyed about it or choose to be teachable- like a child. I've also realized that when I am humble and open to correction, I learn a lot quicker. I know it's not just through my own hard work but it's  also through the help of a God who loves me and wants to see me grow. 

Most of our missionaries are Tahitian so they have to learn two languages. I thought the bible was cool because the pages are red.

We are sheep...

Soeur Brown put some phrases on the door to help us parle votre langue (speak our language). And yes I'm wearing a robe. Laugh if you want it's the best decision I ever made.

 Une chatte du MTC. She looks afraid but I promise she loves it.

Thank you for all of your love and emails. Joyeux Noel! 

Soeur McOmber

Learning to turn outward...this mission is not about ME! ❤️

Bonjour ma famille et mes amis!

       This week was so crazy I feel like I've been here for years. If I had a life before the MTC I don't remember it anymore because they keep us so busy here. 

       So this week was the end of my Visitor's Center Training and everybody except me left for the mission field. I have no idea why they put me in Visitor's Center first because that's the one class where you teach REAL people (not trc's) I had zero foundation to work with in those lesson plans, but I know everything happens for a reason. They sent us to Temple Square this week to do online teaching and talk to some strangers and WOW I am so hyped to be in a Visitor's Center. I was with a new companion from England and we just answered phone calls about the church and so many people were just ready to be baptized and wanted to know how. One call was from an amputee and she said she was so ready for baptism she would "crawl to the font on her hands and knees." We were like "wow we're not going to make you do that but LOVE the enthusiasm." HA I also called a guy from Cleveland Ohio and who requested a Bible and we just talked about basketball and religion for a while. I felt he was ready for the missionaries and asked if he wanted to meet with them and he said YES?! I'm so new here and I have no idea what I'm doing and already we're making progress here. This is so exciting.

    Also, I saw Elder Strebe here this week!!! Anybody that knows me knows this is one of my best friends. Can I tell you it is so sad not being able to hug the elders. We are both officially part of the white bag club! HA (don't ask, they need some interesting things for a Belgium Visa) But it's been cool to see people I know around here. There's not too many of us going to Paris. 

       Okay so my biggest pet peeve is super long missionary emails, but anybody who's a missionary understands how much happens in the space of a single week. I'll just leave ya'll with a spiritual thought, and if there's one thing you gain from this email have it be this. We listened to a talk this week by Elder Bednar about the character of Christ. After Christ suffered the greatest pain mankind has known, He emerged from Gethsemane to find His disciples asleep. Moments later, He was betrayed by one of His closest friends. Yet, when Peter cut off the ear of one of Judas's followers, Christ reached out and healed it. Christ, during the hardest time of His life, was still looking outward. We are here at the MTC on Christmas because we are slowly learning that this work is not about us. It's not about how we are feeling and it's not about our wants. The character of Christ is to look around and realize there's so many ways to love the people around us. Finding yourself does not come from turning inward. It comes from looking outward. So this Christmas season, I challenge everybody to think a little less about yourself, and focus a little more on loving and serving those around you. 

Je vous aime 

Soeur McOmber 

Us happily about to take the WRONG train to Temple Square. We got lost and had to find our way back we cannot be trusted

Temple Square. I totally took this picture. Ignore the flowers in December. I photoshopped them in 

Bryan and Madi (My sister-in-law) sent us Christmas decorations!!!!!! My whole room was so excited about this little tree. 

Sister Sanerive taking pictures with our nativity HA

My comp Sister Jeon left :( I love her so so so much and she's gonna do amazing things in Los Angeles. We're making a "Korean heart" with our hands.

Gifts from Sister Jeon. I am rich. Not sure what that liquid is but it looks pretty cool

It snowed so we ran out to take a picture and the moment we got outside it stopped snowing HA.

Morgan's 1st Letter from the Missionary Training Center!

Hello everyone!

        So I guess my new name is Sister McOmber now which I'm still getting used to.  Its day three at the MTC and I honestly expected to have some sort of mental break down by this point but I love it here!! I'm in a Visitor's Center class with a district of all sisters and almost everybody is from out of the country. We have sisters from Peru, Korea, Samoa (They told me you say it SAAAAAAAAMOA haha) and they're all going to Visitor's Centers in the US (except me). But everybody is so happy all the time and shouting at each other in different languages. You wouldn't think everybody would be so happy with 9 hour classes and only breaks to eat but there's just such a spirit here because everybody is so excited to share the gospel.

A video of Morgan from her 1st week in the MTC. Her 1st week was completely focused on Visitor's Center Training, since she is assigned to the Paris Temple Visitor's Center. She'd only been there a few days & they headed to the Salt Lake City Temple Visitor's Center to practice...

       Also!!!! The food here is not vegan!!!! I am going to gain so much weight I am so sorry mom!! [Note from Danette, a.k.a. mom...we don't eat vegan & we have meat at almost every meal?] I was with my companion on my first day and she was showing me all the food and I got so excited when I saw the ice cream bar I just started crying. She was just like "...sister?" and I just had to gather myself for a second there. God loves His children.

       I just have to say too, I absolutely love the sisters in my district I'm sad I'll only be with them for a week. I got here at the same time as this cute little white girl and yesterday she was eating a salad and she was talking to us and suddenly we realized her teeth on both sides were gone?! We just sat there like "sister... did you swallow your teeth??" and she got so wide eyed and started crying and holding her mouth and we FREAKED OUT we thought they legit fell out. So we ran her to the doctor so fast and we were praying like crazy and she just turns to us laughing all hysterically as she pops her retainer in HA. My Korean comp was so mad she slapped her on the neck "NO SISTER."  I was dying.

      One of my favorite things I've learned this week is about how God can make us capable of loving anybody. Simply because somebody is a child of God is reason enough to love them. I've met a lot of sisters this week that are very different than me but I seriously adore them. Granted, they are easy to love but I also know how God loves them and it makes me love them so much more. I love how everybody here is all united in the same purpose and is so full of love for each other.

 
Love you all and miss everybody from home ❤️

Soeur McOmber