Happy Month Mark to Me :)

Hi everyone!! This week was sooooo good! Happy month mark to me (in two days):) Time is absolutely flying by. Personally, I'm cool with it. I looooooove the MTC, but get me to Sweden!!:)

This week, we had Elder Russell M. Nelson and his wife come and speak to us. I was the only girl usher and it was the best job ever. Elder Nelson even looked at me when I came to sit down (front row holla) and I'm pretty sure he thought to himself, "Wow, what an amazing sister usher! Seriously the best!" That was fun. I have seen 4 apostles in the 4 weeks that I have been here and it has been so cool. I have been so blessed to hear from the ultimate missionaries!

The language has gotten a lot better this week. I can understand 90%-ish of what my teachers say and that blows my mind!! We had TRC last week, which is where we teach something like a home teaching lesson to members (usually--we have had a nonmember before). The members that come are usually native Swedes, or just got off their missions to Sweden. I understood the majority of what everyone said to me and it was the BEST! I have been working so hard and it is really starting to pay off :)

I met a real Swede this week too! He is from the southernmost part of Sweden, and was telling me about the accents in Swedish. He told me that if I go to where he is from, I won't understand a single thing. It was comforting. Haha! But really, he spoke Swedish to me with the southern accent and I died. Not only was it the coolest, but all I understood was "What's your name?". Such a good sign..haha. But he is so cool and made me so excited to get there!

Oh! I got called as Sister Training Leader for my zone this week! Just call me Soeur McCall Mod:) I am going to have the calling for my last two weeks and I am really excited. Since my zone is so small, I literally have to take care of myself and my companions. It kind of rocks :) My biggest responsibility will be helping the new Danes when they get here next week. Super exciting!

New Danes means that our old Danes are leaving on Monday :( I am really sad to see Sister Ripa go. We have become BFFs in the past 5 weeks we have spent together! All of them will be amazing missionaries and I am so pumped that I get to go out right after them!

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! Thank you for supporting me and loving me! This church is so true. I feel like my faith has been put to the test here and what has come from that is an even stronger testimony! I know this church is true because I feel God's hand in my life constantly. He never would put me in a place to fail, but He wants me to grow and progress as much as I can and I am so grateful for it! God answers prayers and He is so good:) Have a great week!!

All my love,

Syster Mod

We always get notes on our board when we get to class and I thought this one was sooo funny. It was from the Turks :) My fish is the one with the long hair. Haha!

Erin's companionship and her new best friend Sister Wilson (from Australia who is going to Germany).

Halfway done!!

Sup everyone!! Just to let you know, I am halfway done with the MTC. Like I have been here 3 weeks. It's whatever. Not that anyone is counting. :) We are supposed to leave on June 9th! Getting so close!!

So this week included shaking an apostle's hand (no big deal), eating Swedish meatballs in the cafeteria (they weren't super gross...that is a big deal for the MTC), having a Norwegian companion for 3 hours, and a mustache party. It was kind of eventful considering I usually do the exact same thing every day.

Usually for Sunday devotional, we have an MTC operations employee or a Seventy or someone speak. This week, they told us we were going to watch a video instead, and I was kind of bummed because I like firesides. We watched a talk from David A. Bednar and at the end I thought, "This is great and all, but what if he was here? So cool!" Then he walked into the room. This is evidence that I have special missionary powers. Elder Bednar did a Q&A session with the entire MTC and it was aaaaaaamazing. He is like my favorite apostle. After he was done talking to us, me and a few elders from my zone got to go meet him and shake his hand. He was so nice! I hope there are as many apostles in Sweden as there are here because I am going to have nothing to say in my emails if there aren't...hahaha. Coolest Sunday ever!

The rest of the week has been really good too. Yesterday, I was paired with the new Norwegian teacher for a block of class time. She doesn't have any students right now, so she has been hanging out with the Swedes and the Danes. She pretended to be my companion and taught me how to actually study with a companion. #solosisterprobs but it was really cool! I am already looking forward to teaching with a companion if that is really what it is like! The only problem with that was she tried to speak Norwegian the whole time...I am learning Swedish. Correction--I am trying to learn Swedish. Haha! I could understand a little of what she said but I kind of just stared at her the majority of the time...It was a rough time for both of us because she could not understand me either. We taught a lesson to a "less active" together and it was good, but I felt so bad because I could not keep up with the two fluent speakers who could understand each other...I guess it gave me a taste of what Sweden will be like! Haha!

I have been feeling really frustrated with learning the language lately, but I know I am improving so I'm okay! Full immersion into a language is pretty overwhelming, but I can't believe that I have only been studying Swedish for 3 weeks and I can already express myself. Chalk that one up to the gift of tongues :)

S/O to my mother for the cutest Mexican food package! That is where all of the mustaches in the pictures came from. It was a good time. Except word to the wise: don't send refrigerated food through packages, such as Los Hermanos salsa, because the MTC will take away your refrigerated food and not be sorry about it. I am not bitter. Not one bit.

So yeah! I can't wait to get out of the MTC and do something different, but I know this is helping me so much. I love my zone and I love my district and I love my teachers and I am having so much fun here! I can feel everyone's prayers for me and I am so grateful for them! Thank you all for being such wonderful examples to me, and for not forgetting about me just yet:) I love you all!!!

Love,

Syster Mod

Lots of LP friends at the MTC! Felicia Thompson, Mazie Reneer, and Lisa Evans

Søster Ripa, Syster Mod, & Zuster Bradley at Temple Walk

The Zone. Only 9 missionaries.

S is for Sverige

Week 2 and I'm Still Kickin!

Heyoooooo I'm still here! Thank you everyone for all of the letters and packages! I so love hearing from all of you! Special s/o to my mom for being the cutest and sending me the best MTC survival kit! It was well needed:)

So this week was awesome! I feel like I have so much seniority as today is my 2 week mark. Like what?! Where did the past two weeks go?

Last Wednesday, for P-day, we got to go to the Sacred Gifts exhibit at BYU. It was sooo awesome and I saw a ton of people from school. We got to eat at the Creamery too, which was basically manna from heaven because like I have said 3 trillion times before, the food here is a solid 3/10. So the Creamery was awesome:) It was nice to get out of the gates here! Some people call the MTC "spirit prison" because all we do is learn, and we are locked in here, and all of the cinder block walls look like jail. It's whatever. I enjoy it.

My Swedish has really improved this week. I can understand the majority of what my teachers are saying, which is amazing considering how long I have been here. I have started teaching my second investigator, who is just one of my teachers. And I loooooove my teachers! They are so awesome and funny and they don't make fun of me when I accidentally say "Christ killed for us" instead of "Christ died for us". These things happen. I also accidentally walked into the boys bathroom this week so if you are wondering if the MTC has changed me, you are correct. It has turned my brain into mush.

Yesterday we got to hear from Elder L. Tom Perry, which rocked! Apostles are the best. You can just feel the atmosphere of a room change when they bear their testimony and I love it! I hope I get to see more apostles while I'm here. And just so you all know, I was definitely on row 10. Like s/o to me for getting the best seats ever at devotional every single time.

My zone is down to 7 people this week because the Dutchies left on Monday. We probably have the smallest zone in the MTC. Fast Sunday was awkotaco because all of us bore our testimonies and we still had like 20 minutes left. But I love it! We have made so many friends here that we are kind of part of everyone's zones. The missionaries going to Poland (affectionately known as the Polskis) and Bulgaria (affectionately known as the Bulgs) and Turkey (Turks. Obviously.) all love us. We have a ton of fun with everyone here! I have met people from Canada all the way to Congo. The MTC is probably the most diverse place in Provo. Haha! It is so much fun.

Erin and her first zone--only 9 missionaries; the Swedes, Danes & Dutchies.

Okay well I love you all so so so much and miss you more than you can even imagine! It's so much easier for me to write letters, and I have a lot more time to do that, so send me a Dear Elder or letter with your address or something and I'll write you something cute:) Jag älskar ni!!

Love, Syster Mod :)

PS--Also another big s/o to Brooke Shelton for the cutest cupcakes ever!! Send me your address because I have had a thank you sitting on my desk ready to go to you forever! I love you!

The "I'm a missionary so I'd better point at this map that everyone else points at" picture.

Erin found her friend from high school, Brad Clark. He had been in the MTC learning Russian for 3 weeks and then they changed his call to Peru. Now he has to learn Spanish. Wow!

MTC Fun

Here are some of the fun things that Erin has been able to do during her MTC stay.

Erin was able to go to the Sacred Gifts exhibit and the BYU campus with her whole zone. They toured the BYU campus and got to go eat at the Creamery because one of the elders had come from out of the country. She loved it! It was fun to be back! This picture was taken at the top of the JFSB. 

Søster Ripa, Syster Mod & Zuster Riley with their Zone--the Swedes, Danes & Dutchies

Zuster Riley and Syster Mod enjoying the view at BYU.

Temple trip with Søster Ripa and Zuster Riley. Cutest trio ever!!

Syster Mod with an RM from Maryland that they met that day, Søster Ripa and Zuster Riley.

Classy yet sassy.

Peeps wars with the sisters. (You put toothpicks in the Peeps and when they blow up, see who stabs who). You learn all kinds of things in the MTC.....

Studying with Äldste Sweat and Äldste Pearson.

Because everyone needs a brushing teeth selfie??

Her name is on the door! Home SWEDE Home!

No MTC Experience is complete without taking a (million) selfie(s)!

It's a small world! Erin and Sister Emily Miller (Marci's friend's daughter). They lived two doors down from each other in the MTC until Emily left for Germany.

I'M ALIVE!!

Hej everyone! Seriously thank you for all of the sweet emails and letters! I feel so loved:)

Well I'm here!! The MTC is a blast! Minus the food. That part kind of makes me want to die. #nasty but anyways:)

I'm a solo sister, which means I am the only sister in the entire MTC who is learning Swedish. My district is just two other elders who are going to Sweden with me, Elder Sweat from Palo Alto, CA, and Elder Pearson from St. George. I spend the majority of my time with them and they are super fun! Being a solo means I don't really have a companion, but my technical companion is Sister Ripa from Oregon City (Holla at Hermana Mod!). I room with her and she is sooooo awesome! She's also a solo and she is going to Denmark Copenhagen. We room with another solo, Sister Riley, and I looooovee her. She is going to Belgium/Netherlands speaking Dutch! We are all in the same zone (Swedes, Danes, and Dutchies:)) and it is such a party.

First night in "res" (residence) with the solo sisters.

Sister Johnson (West Indies/Dutch-speaking), Zuster Riley (Belgium/Netherlands), Syster Mod & Søster Ripa (Denmark).

So Swedish is really really really hard. But it's also really fun and I sound awesome so whatever:) We had to teach an investigator (aka a church volunteer) the second day we were here completely in Swedish and when I found that out I had a little moment of "EXCUSE ME ARE YOU KIDDING I DO NOT EVEN KNOW HOW TO PRAY IN SWEDISH YET", but it turns out that the gift of tongues is the realest and the Spirit works even when no one knows what the heck you are saying:) Thank heavens! I have to teach by myself (#soloprobs) and as scary as it is, it's been really awesome for me and I think it is improving my language skills a lot. Plus I think my investigator feels bad that I'm a solo because he is always helping me with my Swedish when I can't remember a word or something:) He doesn't help the elders nearly as much (so they say) so I feel special:) We teach a lesson every day except Sunday and p-day and slowly but surely I am starting to say things that make sense in Swedish. Holla.

This week has been crazy but so good! Every night I go to bed so happy because it was such a fun day. My favorite day was probably Sunday. We just got to chill and watch Mormon Messages and walk to the temple and the weather was beautiful! Since it was fast Sunday, we went to a Mission Conference with the entire MTC and heard President Nally, the president of the MTC, and his counselors speak. It was so awesome. The MTC is turning me into a spiritual giant I'm pretty sure;) Or maybe it's the nametag...:) Yesterday Elder Holland came and spoke at our devotional! We were on like row six and I swear to you he looked at me like 5 times. General Conference ain't got nothin on the MTC.

Erin (bottom left, pink striped shirt) was even in Elder Holland's first tweet!

https://twitter.com/J_R_Holland/status/463891095802228737/photo/1

Anyway I love you all so much!! Thank you for being so wonderful to me! I seriously feel so loved here. The elders in my district say that our mailbox is just my mailbox because the majority of the mail is for me and I LOVE IT!:) Thank you thank you thank you for all of your prayers and sweet words and for watching out for my family. My mom told me about all the sympathy treats she got when I left and I was very impressed by how well you all know my family (chocolate & diet coke holla):) 

Jag vet att Jesu Kristi Evangelium är sann, och jag är so lyckliga här. Jag älskar ni!!!

So much love!!!!

Syster Mod :)

The only missionaries in the MTC going to Sweden. Äldste Pearson (from St. George, UT), Syster Mod, and Äldste Sweat (from Palo Alto, CA).

I'm Wearing a Name Badge!

HIIIIIII!!!!!!! I am alive, here, and wearing a name badge and I am so excited! I miss you all so much! My branch president told me I had 5 minutes to email you so I don't have much time but I am having so much fun! I'm a solo but my roommates are so cool and my district (2 elders...I know right) is really cool too. I sent a letter this morning with a ton of details so I hope you get that soon! My P-day is on Wednesday so expect another email then. I love you guys! Miss you so much!Â

Syster Mod :)

PS-- I GET TO CALL ON MOTHERS DAY!!!!! YAY MTC!!!!!!

k love you bye :)