Week 2: MTC - Just the Three of Us

On day one entering the MTC (Missionary Training Center) I was so excited. We were led into our classrooms on day one and our teachers spoke Ilonggo (Hiligaynon is more like the race of people and Ilonggo is what they speak and what I will be speaking). The teachers have continued to only speak Ilonggo and sometimes insert english words into each sentence when we give them a clueless look long enough. I was introduced to my companions. I have two of them. Sister Leasi is from Samoa and she speaks little English and is so incredible because she is learning Ilonggo is english. She is learning the language slower but I know the Lord is blessing her to understand more daily. My other companion is a cute pixie hair cut girl who is from North Ogden Utah. She isvery kind and I am almost a year older than her and she has always wanted to serve a mission. The 3 of us get along so well even though we spend 24/7 together (as a missionary you have to be within sight and sound of your companion at all times). The two sisters have been such a great support and we laugh more and more each day as we learn more Ilonggo and learn about our cultural differences. 

My normal day is filled with waking up at 6:30AM, going to breakfast, then studying the language or doing personal study while we study the scriptures (the bible and Book of Mormon) and pray to Heavenly Father (Amay sa Langit). We spend other ours doing companion study and getting together to talk about what we studied in personal study so we can help the investigator (person we are teaching about Christ's gospel) understand more. We then go to lunch check the mail then go to our first 3 hour class and then we go do more language study or we teach Adrain, our investigator, about the priesthood or the Book of Mormon or how to pray (whatever we decide). We then usually get exercise time where I try to keep my body fit for when I return to Army ROTC in Winter 2019. I do at least 1.5 mile run then 100 pushups and situps. Then we shower and do more study or go to class to learn more Ilonggo. The Lord truly has blessed me as I pray and continue to place more of my trust in Him. The gift of tongues which it speaks of in the scriptures is a true thing as long as we trust in God. I feel the Holy Ghost in my life as I lean on Jesus Christ's Atonement. Scriptures that have been so incredibly helpful as I doubt myself and doubt this decision are Alma 26:27 and Mosiah 4:27. I encourage each of you to read those scriptures. The Lord has a plan for each of us and we must have Faith in Him as we recognize that His plan is better for you than your own plan. 

I had the opportunity to shake the hand of and hear Elder Renlund an apostle of Christ in the quorum of the 12 apostles on Tuesday. 

I would LOVE IT if you all sent me letters. I can get letters any day but I can only respond to emails on my Preparation (Pday) on Thursdays. There is also a website that will send me letters from you free of charge and I get them the day you swend them. It is a website and it makes it so you can basically email me and I can read it any dy of the week. I will respond by writing letters, plese give me your addresses :) my address is

Sister Lydia Masters

JUL 05 PHI-ILO

2005 N 900 E

Provo UT 84602

Ilonggo is such a fun language. It is very rhythmic (don't know how to spell that) and it just sounds so cool. Spanish that I took for 3 years in high school has helped me immensely however some emphasis' and accents are said in different places. The language is also mixed with Arabic, Asian words, and Spanish from all the different colonizers in the Philippines. 

Each week I get to go to the temple and it is such an incredible experience. 

At church, our branch is SO TINY. We have 3 Elders who pass the sacrament, 6 presidency members, and 7 sisters and THAT'S IT. I am having to learn how to play the bottom hand on the piano and I can play the simplified hymns on the piano for church. Only 3 of us play and that is the height of our skills. I wont be surprised if I have to do that in the Philippines. 

There are only 3 of us who are learning Ilonggo so only 3 of us in the class. It is me and my two companions. We get lots of attention from our 4 teachers and I love our teachers. The teachers here at the MTC are so filled with trust in God and tell us that with God Kaya ninyo (you all can do it). I love their testimonies and that I can learn Ilonggo so fast. I learned how to pray in Ilonggo after one day. I can now pray in Ilonggo, Ask you to be baptized, ask you to read a scripture out loud, ask you why you think something is important and even more. I learn 25 words each day and shoot to learn 5 phrases in Ilonggo each day (kada adlaw). I love learning Ilonggo and class is my favorite time of the day. We get together with some of our teacher  tocheck how we are doing and my favorite teacher Brother Dorman told me that he is so impressed with my progess. He says that normally people speak like me only by their 3rd week not the 1st and that he is so grateful for my constant happiness and excitement. I am so grateful for the progress that only through the Lord I have made. 

I love to sing in Llonggo. It is so amazing to feel the spirit as I sing in a different language. Singing is my favorite and I am so grateful for the opportunities I have had to sing daily. While I sing in devotionals in English, Sister Arnold and I switch out English words for Llonggo words and I do the same while I write in my journal each day and as I read English. I know slowly but surely I will be able to speak and think in Llonggo especially when I get to the Philippines and get to love the people. 

One night after I was reading the scriptures, I prayed to the Lord and said thank you for giving the ancient prophets in America (which we read about in the Book of Mormon) experiences and the prompting to write the things they have written for us today. I know the Book of Mormon speaks truth and that it is the word of God. I know that through faith and prayer, we can receive answers from the Book of Mormon and Bible and that they were written for us today.

Here's a joke the teachers told us this week haha In Ilonggo water is "tubig": Why couldn't the water get into Heaven?? Because it was tubig (sounds like too big)

I am learning more every day that we must align our will with the Lord's and we will go far as we rely on Him. I am learning to love the choice I made to serve as a missionary and give up my life as "Lydia" for a year and a half. This is not easy, but it will be worth it. 

Each week we get to watch movies about the gospel on Sundays haha. It is so exciting because we get to sit and watch a spiritual video and since we never use technology it's like our own missionary movie theater haha

I even got to see one of my best friends from Army ROTC in the MTC because he works here and it was so good to see him. Tsukamoto gave me the greatest advice and explained why I miss everyone so much. I love you all and I am not able to love you as I am used to, but through email I know I can love you all and later love investigators and my companions more and more. Thanks Tsukamoto for your incredible advice every time I talk to you, it is so uplifting. 

Yesterday I was blessed to host new missionaries as they arrived at the MTC. I took them to their rooms, helped them get their language books and took them to their classrooms. It was so awesome to be able to reassure them and let them know that they can do this. I love the gospel and the scriptures. 

I am so grateful to be alive. God loves you and I love you.

Love, Sister Masters

P.S. Write me letters :)