4 weeks down!

First off, shout out to all the people that have written me letters and sent packages the past few weeks! I absolutely love getting stuff in the mail! It's funny how much a simple letter can brighten a day!

It has been a good week! I honestly can't remember most of it though. Time is so weird here in the MTC, the days seem to never end but the weeks go by in a minute. I cannot believe I've already been here for a month!

So Saturday was the General Relief Society broadcast and all the sisters were gone, so I was kind of alone without a companion most of the day. It was so weird to not have someone with me all the time. On Saturday's we do a thing called TRC. Volunteers that speak Vietnamese come in and you teach them a brief lesson, it's a little bit like home teaching. It's fun though because they don't try to act like they don't know anything about the church. Most of the time they're members, and they'll help you out if you don't know how to say something. Anyway, so while Sister Litchfield was at the broadcast I taught with my teacher, Sister Pinter, for the first lesson. The volunteers were three RM's who served in California and Australia Vietnamese speaking. The lesson was so bad! I was so nervous speaking Vietnamese in front of my teacher. So for the second lesson, I asked if I could teach alone, and Sister Pinter agreed that it was a good idea. The second lesson was with two Vietnamese ladies. One of the women joined the church in Saigon about four years ago, and now she's going to BYU. She knows all of the cousins in Vietnam too!! She's super sweet and helps out a lot. The other woman in the lesson is from Hanoi and she's visiting her son who lives in America and is going to be serving his mission in Atlanta. The lesson was awesome! I taught about receiving revelation through prayer, and they seemed to understand most all of it! BOO-YA! The Saturday prior, one of the TRC volunteers was talking to me after the lesson and she served in the Vietnamese branch in Atlanta. She said she's heard all about our family because people talk about us often. And we have a new teacher who came home from his mission in Cambodia/Vietnam four months ago. He also knows all of the cousins in Saigon and he met mom while she was there for Anh Hoang's baptism.

So yeah, moral of the story, everyone in the Mormon-Vietnamese community knows one another.

On Monday while Sister Litchfield and I were in the cafeteria an Elder came up to us and asked if we were going to be serving in Cambodia, we said yes and he told us him and his wife were going to be serving there too. He looks at Sister Litchfield's name tag and says that his wifes maiden name is Litchfield. He asks Sister Litchfield where she's from, she says Florida and he says that they must not be related because his wife is from Canada...well, Sister Litchfield's dad is from Canada. So we go and talk to this Sister and come to find out that this Sister and Sister Litchfield are related or something. While I'm standing there listening to the conversation another senior couple begins talking to me and they told me they that they knew I was going to Cambodia because they've seen the blog before and recognized the dress I was wearing from the blog! (So if you're reading this, I'm sorry I cannot remember your names) It was a pretty crazy dinner we had that night.

Moral of that story: Everyone in the Mormon community is connected somehow.

As for the district, we're all sick. It's a bummer, but it's not too bad. It's all Elder Tran's fault though, so I hate him for that.

The Hmong Elders gave me a Hmong name. I think it's Zag or something like that - it means dragon. Hmong is a super sick language, and words that end with a 'G' make a sound that sounds like your lung is collapsing.

Hey family, why didn't you tell me that one of my best friends was staying AT OUR HOUSE! Elder Hodges got here on Wednesday and he's like, "Oh your dad bought me this tie, and I slept in your brothers room, and blah blah blah I just spent a bunch of time with your family." It's awesome that you all took care of him, but I would have appreciated someone telling me about it. Haha.

And for the very best thing I learned this week: "Read the Book of Mormon as a book -  front to back." I had never thought of it like that. So many of us have read chapters here and there, but how many have actually read cover to cover. We have to read the entire thing to get the whole story and to really understand! Please, everyone read the entire Book of Mormon! Every single day while reading from it I learn something new, and I have no idea how I ever lived without that knowledge, and I've even read it before! Elder Bednar challenges everyone to choose one basic doctrine and to read the entire Book of Mormon focusing on that one doctrine alone. Then once, that is done to choose another doctrine and read it again. You can never read the Book of Mormon too many times! So I've accepted the challenge and I'm beginning again and focusing on Faith. Gosh, I just love the gospel. I love being a missionary! General Conference is this weekend, I cannot wait to hear the wonderful things that will be taught! This weekend it's been exactly a year since President Monson announced that I could serve a mission at 19 years old instead of 21! Being a missionary is such a blessing, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve and to hasten the work!

I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful fall! Stay righteous, and "Don't go a day without thanking our Heavenly Father"!

-Sister Egelund

Sister Litchfield and Elder Litchfield! I don't know if I mentioned this before but my companion's brother is here in the MTC too. He leaves for Argentina on October 7.

Elder Hodges! Having friends in the MTC is the bomb.com!

Selfie Sunday with Elder Tran!

Selfie Sunday again with Elder Batey from my zone. I think this was him practicing his greeting for when he's in Thailand. Haha!