Her first letter home

Dearest Family,

I'm ALIVE!  All is well here in the MTC.  The first day was exciting!  And guess what???  Remember how I told you my friend from Oakcrest was going in the same day as me?  Well, the Lord knows exactly what we need because,...SHE'S MY MTC COMPANION!  Sister Goates (formerly known as Poppy) and I were so excited!  What are the odds of that happening???  I love it!  Our district is full of sisters and Elders heading to Washington, D.C. South and Minneapolis, but me and one other Elder are the only ones heading to good old Minnesota.  Our Elders are studs.  Each of them have amazing testimonies and have such a strong knowledgeof the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We all get along really well and I feel like were a family already.  It's pretty amazing.  My teachers are great and I've already learned so much in such a short amount of time.  We teach our first investigator tomorrow and I have to keep reminding myself that as long as I do my part in studying and as long as the spirit is there, the lesson will go according to the Lord's plan.  I'm so pumped!  I love how I really don't know much but what I do know is the church is true.  I have a testimony of this work and I'm so thrilled to have 18 months to teach about the Savior to those who are searching for the truth.

It's amazing the feeling of peace that I have felt the whole time while here.  Even though it's only been 1.5 days, all I've felt is peace and pure joy!  I'm seriously always happy!  I haven't cried.  I haven't felt anxious, I haven't been super nervous.  I've only felt peace and joy.  I keep thinking something is wrong with me because shouldn't I feel that way?  Nope!  I know its because of all the prayers of my dear friends and family back home.  Heavenly Father is answering those prayers and I feel so so blessed to feel this way here.  I've felt buoyed (?) up this whole time.  I love everything about the MTC!  At first when I got here and we went through all the classes and everything I felt like something was wrong with me because I never had this over-powering sense of the spirit.  I kept asking and praying to Heavenly Father to know what I was doing wrong, but I realized and had this feeling come over me of peace once again and I realized I was feeling the spirit.  The spirit makes me so completely happy.  I feel almost light inside.  I also remembered part of President Gottfredson's setting apart blessing when he talked about having a joyful walk.  I definitely have already been blessed with that.  GAH!  It's just so amazing!

We have 2 missionaries in our district who are converts to the church.  One is a sister missionary named Sister Evans and she is from Detroit.  She's awesome!  She's way spunky and is super strong.  Her companion is Sister Jeppson.  She's from Vegas and is just about the most humble person I've ever met.    She's amazingly kind & sensitive to the spirit.  Anyway, this letter is mainly to tell you I'm okay and I will be okay!  I'll write on my P-day (Monday).  I love you!  And tell everyone hi for me!  

Love,
Sister Owens

(This is real! It's happening)