Things I have Learned So Far at the MTC

• You know you love your companion when  you dive at the closing door between you like it's the difference between life and death.
• It's impossible to yawn and smile at the same time.
• The tree next to the Samuel Smith statue smells like red cream soda.
• Never give Elders balloons. Ever.
• There's a special corner of outer darkness reserved for parents who don't write their missionaries.
• Singing Bohemian Rhapsody together is always a surreal experience, especially before teaching a lesson in Portuguese. Also, no one ever remembers all of the words.
• Portuguese is better than French. (The evidence is in the conjugation. I love it!)
• Your teachers fall asleep during your lessons.
• Sharing your conversion story in Relief Society will get you a lot of free hugs.
• You come in with no brothers and leave with 7.
• Dying watch battery = having to do a door approach when you're late to class
• Cannibalism trumps chivalry. An Elder would honestly rather chew his own arm off than let a sister get in front of him in the breakfast line.
• Chuck Norris jokes and song lyrics are funnier when applied to other missionaries (Ex: "Chuck Norris wears Elder Brown pajamas," or "Elder Brown is the reason for the tear drops on my guitar.")
• Hair dryers at 6:15 in the morning are the root of all evil. Conversations in the bathroom at 5:45, doubly so.
• You haven't lived until you have been serenaded by Tongans or Samoans.
• There are a million ways to break the rules, but only one way to obey them.
• You know you're a missionary when you know which song in the media library is "the Mormon High School Musical song," and you think the Mormon.org videos are better than YouTube.

Most importantly of all, however, I've learned that prayers are powerful. I can feel the prayers that members all over the world say for the missionaries, and I've felt those prayers sustaining me as I train myself for the days I have ahead of me. Those prayers mean everything to me, and to everyone who ever reads this who has prayed for the missionaries, thank you from the bottom of my heart. It means more to me than you will ever know.

I love the Lord and I love His restored Church. I love the gospel and how it blesses families. I know that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true. I'm sorry I only have one lifetime to give for this work, but glad I get to spend the one I have serving the Lord and His children.

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I am, as ever, your humble servant and never-deviating friend,

Sister Doyle