Another fantastic week has gone by here at the MTC! Much has happened so I'll just go by day:

Tuesday: Last week after writing emails, Soeur S and I spend the remainder of our p-day writing some letters and cards home, as well as taking the opportunity to practice the piano. The pianos here feel like a much better quality than the ones in the dorms at college, so that's nice. Still not quite the same as my piano back home though ;) That night we had a lovely devotional from Elder Brent Nielsen of the Seventy and his wife. I was in the choir, and we sang "He Sent His Son," which you don't normally think of as a Christmas song but it really is! My favorite thought from the night was that normal people can make better missionaries than angels, because it forces people to rely on faith and gain their own testimony and conversion. On that vein, the shepherds were some of the very first missionaries after Christ's birth!

Wednesday and Thursday: The days blur together here so much that I honestly can't remember exactly what we did on Wednesday or Thursday morning other than it mostly involving a lot of studying and class time. I had a slight cold, but nothing major and I'm feeling better now. Thursday afternoon, however, class ended early because of Christmas Eve, and our afternoon/evening consisted of choir practice (it's pretty cool singing the First Noel with 700 other people), hanging out with my district (ie I was studying while we listened to Christmas music and they played card games, haha), and a Christmas Eve Nativity. I mean, Christmas Eve just isn't the same unless people dress up in bathrobes and pretend to be shepherds, is it?

Friday, or in other words JOYEUX NOEL!: Probably one of the best days so far here at the MTC. I woke up to everyone you pass saying Merry Christmas in a dozen different languages, and finally opening the stocking that my family had sent me earlier in the week. They know me well: shortbread, skittles, goldfish, and more chap stick! (Why is Utah so dry???)  After a final choir practice we had a special Christmas devotional with... Elder Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve! It was so sweet to have an Apostle come and take time out of his Christmas to be with us. He gave us all so much amazing advice! It was interesting; they passed out a bunch of cell phones (gasp!) and we all had the chance to text in questions and he would answer them from his "magic iPad" as he called it. Other MTCs around the world also had the chance to email in questions. In other words, he had no talk planned! All of it was straight from his heart! I don't have much time now to write what he said, but a lot of it involved the same ideas I shared in my last email from his talk "Character of Christ." One thought I don't think I shared though: as a missionary, investigators rarely remember what you say so much as the Spirit you bring. That brings a lot of hope to us foreign missionaries who have no idea what we are saying anyway ;) Alright, moving on! After a special Christmas meal, we returned to the gym for a two-man reenactment of the Christmas Carol, which was a lot of fun! The actors were so good. Oh, and on my way there, I ran into my big brother Jacob! He works at the MTC, so it's been weird knowing that he's here but not seeing him, so it was fun to get to see him and give him a quick hug! After that was one of the best parts of Christmas, too: calling home! Missionaries only get to call home twice a year, on Christmas and Mother's Day, so it was really a special treat, especially since we originally thought that missionaries in the MTC wouldn't get that chance. 

Okay, one last thing about Christmas: In the evening, we had a concert from (drum roll please)... David Archuleta! It was really, really awesome, and it goes without saying that us missionaries were pretty excited. I actually missed when he walked in though, because I was distracted by saying "Isn't that Lexi Walker?" about the girl that walked out in front of him. And I was right! For those who don't know, Lexi Walker is a 14? year old girl that pretty well known in the Church for her amazing voice. And, not to brag or anything, but my grandma was her Primary teacher ;). She joined David on a few of the songs, and I think she's even better in person. Anyway, the highlights were a) O Holy Night, because how can you give a Christmas concert without singing that song? It is so, so powerful, especially when sung by someone with a voice like David Archuleta's. b) Come, Come Ye Saints, which was one of the only non-Christmas songs he sang, but one of my favorites because I had never thought of it from a missionary perspective! and c) Il Est Ne, my very very favorite French carol! It made me so happy to hear it sung with the perfect amount of power and enthusiasm!

Saturday: Okay, while Christmas was awesome I need to move on! Saturday we were back in classes, so nothing all that exciting, though I did run into Jacob one more time in the cafeteria. 

Sunday: was lovely as usual. We had church with the other French missionaries, and my favorite thought from that was "We worship the Great I Am, not the Great He Was." It was bitterly cold, but Soeur S, Soeur M, Soeur L, and I took a rare opportunity to leave the MTC and walk around the temple grounds for a bit. It was Soeur L and Soeur M's last Sunday, so we wanted to get a few last pictures together! Choir practice was followed by a devotional, which was followed by the regular Sunday night films. We chose "Missions Are Forever," by Elder Holland, which was fantastic, and I'll try to share some insights from that next week if I have time.

Monday: We woke up super early to take Soeur M to catch her ride to the airport at 3:30am, then again to take Soeur L at 7:00. It was bittersweet, and while it's unfortunate that their MTC stay ended up longer than planned, I was so grateful to have even that short time with them. Even though we knew each other for less than two weeks, we are around each other all day long, so it feels like much longer. I'll miss them so much but I know they will be amazing in Montreal and Tahiti respectively! And maybe Soeur L and I will see each other again when we join her in Tahiti in just a few weeks. The rest of the day was fairly regular, except for a rare trip outside the MTC to visit the eye doctor, because Soeur S's eye has been bothering her. He gave her some medicine and the problem should go away in a few weeks but any prayers welcome!

Alright, one last thing before I sign off: I want to share with you one of my very favorite poems. It's about Christmas:

Green leaves all fallen, withered and dry;
Brief sunset fading, dim winter sky.

Lengthening shadows, Dark closing in…

Then, through the stillness, carols begin!

Oh fallen world, to you is the song—

Death holds you fast and night tarries long.

Jesus is born, your curse to destroy!

Sweet to your ears, a carol of Joy!

Pale moon ascending, solemn and slow;

Cold barren hillside, shrouded in snow;

Deep, empty valley veiled by the night;

Hear angel music—hopeful and bright!

Oh fearful world, to you is the song—

Peace with your God, and pardon for wrong!

Tidings for sinners, burdened and bound—

A carol of joy! A Saviour is found!

Earth wrapped in sorrow, lift up your eyes!

Thrill to the chorus filling the skies!

Look up sad hearted—witness God’s love!

Join in the carol swelling above!

Oh friendless world, to you is the song!

All Heaven’s joy to you may belong!

You who are lonely, laden, forlorn—

Now unto you, A Saviour is born!

                                                 -Eileen Berry

If all goes according to plan, my mother will forward my emails to y'all each week as well as post them on the blog. Anyway... here goes!  [editor's note: we will be removing all names from emails and posts to preserve privacy]

Week one at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT!

Last Wednesday was a bit of a whirlwind but it was also very fun. After getting my luggage all sorted and picking up my MASSIVE pile of books (they were not kidding when they said to plan space for an extra 8-12 lbs of books. Since I will be learning two languages I have twice as many as everyone else too!), my lovely host dropped me off at my first class. My district has two awesome teachers, Frere (Brother) T and Soeur (Sister) C. Soeur C served in Tahiti and Frere T is from Tahiti! It's so helpful that they know about Tahiti because they can give us the inside scoop, like a super cool Secret Tahitian Handshake that Frere T taught us. They know what we need to do to get in with the locals ;). Oh, I should mention, my whole district (class) is going to Tahiti! And the current consensus is that we will be here at the MTC for nine weeks....? Six weeks of French and three weeks of Tahitian. I'll let you know if they change their mind again :/

So, here is how a standard day at the MTC goes: Wake up at 6:30, shower, go to breakfast. Go to class. Go to lunch. Go to class. Go to dinner. Go to class. Then we have time to exercise, get ready for bed, and lights out by 10:30. In case you were wondering, that's about 10-11 hours of class every day. Class time is divided up between studying the language, studying the gospel and how to teach, and practicing teaching, with quite a bit of goofing off in between. Our "investigator" (who I'm pretty sure is just another teacher pretending to be an investigator) (investigator = person we are teaching about the gospel) is Jean-Gabriel, and we have had two awesome lessons with him so far, mostly focusing on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and understanding God's love for us, His children.

Anyway, sorry this is a bit scattered, but back to my district! First we have my lovely companion, Soeur S. She is wonderful and always happy and such a great example for me ;) Okay, then there is Soeur L, who is sort of like our half-companion. She is from Montreal and is fluent in French, so she was supposed to leave for Tahiti a week ago, but they asked her to stay back so that she can learn some Tahitian as well. I say half-companion because in class she stays with Soeur S and me, but out of class her companion is Soeur M, who was supposed to leave for Montreal a week ago but also had to stay back because she got pneumonia, poor thing (Soeur M goes to the class with the other missionaries going to Montreal). But, despite delays Soeur L and Soeur M will leave next week, just after Christmas! Okay, next we have the tri-panionship of Elder L, Elder D, and Elder I. Elder L is district leader, which makes sense because he probably is the most mature of the Elders in our district. Elder D is super funny and sarcastic, and we like to tease him because his glasses make him look like a 19 year old Mr Fredrickson from Up! Elder I is also very fun to be around, but we haven't come up with his cartoon character yet... The last two in our district are Elder P and Elder H. Elder H is from North Carolina, and his accent makes me miss Georgia just a little bit! When he wears Elder D's glasses, he looks like Flynn from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I think they are magic glasses or something. Elder P is from just outside Seattle, and is possibly even funnier than Elder D. Interestingly, Elder P is almost completely colorblind, which we find very entertaining when he can't tell the difference between our orange French books and green Tahitian books. Some other missionaries you should know are the Zone Leaders, Elders A and W, and the Sister Training Leaders, Soeur B and Soeur B. They are like the mentors over our district and all the other French-speaking districts. Elder A is very theatrical, and Elder W is from Southern England. Even though he's never seen it, he can do a perfect impression of Wallace from Wallace and Grommit, which is very, very hilarious. And yes, Soeur B and Soeur B are their real names. [editor's note: B and B are very similar names ;-)] They are super sweet and so helpful.

Okay, I think that's all for introductions, but now I'm starting to run out of time! Well I'd like to end with two spiritual thoughts: 

First, on Sunday night we had the chance to see "Character of Christ," which is a devotional that Elder Bednar gave at the MTC on Christmas several years ago. Many of the Elders and Sisters had told us "You don't have to see it... but you HAVE to see it. It will change your life." And they were totally right. I wish I could just tell you all to go watch it, but I don't think it's available outside the MTC! The main idea though was that the Character of Jesus Christ is to TURN OUT when you and I would want to turn in and only think about ourselves. After Christ had fasted in the wilderness for forty days and overcome Satan's temptations, He didn't say "HEY, LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT WHAT I DID." Instead, He sent angels to minister to John, who was in prison. After He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane, was disappointed by His friends who couldn't watch with Him one hour, and betrayed by one of His apostles, He took the time to stop and heal a guard's ear! The point is, if we want to become truly converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ, we need to follow His example and turn outward in compassion and love. 

The second thought I'd like to share is my testimony in French! Pardon the lack of accents, I don't know how to insert them on this computer.

Je sais que Dieu et son fils Jesus-Christ nous aiment. Je suis reconnaissant de l'expiation de Jesus-Christ et je sais qu'en faisant confiance a lui et son sacrifice expiatoire, nous pouvouns ressentir l'espoir et le bonheur. Je sais que le Livre de Mormon et la parole de Dieu et que Thomas S. Monson est un prophete de Dieu. Au nom du Jesus-Christ, Amen.

One last thought before I end - I titled this email "Ie Faaea" because it's has sort of become our district's motto. It means "Never quit!" 

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! Joyeux Noel! Ia oaoa i te Noela! Je vous aime! Ua here vau ia oe!

Soeur Ladd

Hello!
Bonjour!
Ia Orana!
Yeah, I can totally speak three languages. I'll be out of the MTC in no time. (Not) 
The Missionary Portal on lds.org has really enjoyed intimidating me with its big scary countdown until my report date. Well, it wasn't so bad when it said 120 days, or even 72. But then, it got to 28, and then 14, and now... SIX.
Okay, for those struggling to follow along at home: You probably know me as Erin, but for the next 18 months I'll be going by Sœur Ladd, which is just French for Sister Ladd. I'll be a sister missionary in the Tahiti Papeete Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Papa what now?
The Tahiti Papeete Mission includes all of the islands of French Polynesia, which comes out to 118 islands and atolls, 67 of which are inhabited. And, ok, I'm not actually sure how to pronounce Papeete, but I'll let you know how the locals pronounce it when I get there in a few weeks. For the past few months I've been saying 'pa-pa-ay-tay', but I could very well be wrong.
I say a few weeks because I don't actually get to Tahiti until (maybe?) the end of January (I think). First I need to spend a few weeks in the MTC, or Missionary Training Center, in Provo, Utah so that they can teach me how to be an epic teacher. And how to speak French, which, judging from school report cards saying that I've studied it for five years, you'd think I'd be pretty good at speaking. Let's just say that making conversation isn't my strong suit.
Eventually I'll also need to learn some Tahitian, but from what I've heard, I'll just have to learn that in the field. They used to teach all missionaries in my mission both French and Tahitian in the MTC, which adds up to a whopping 11-12 weeks at the training center (for a comparison, most missionaries spend 2-6 weeks there, 9 tops, depending on their language). That's a really long time when missionaries are anxious to get out into the field and get to work, but now they've shortened it to French OR Tahitian for about 6 weeks. (Disclaimer: this is mostly based on rumor, nobody official has actually told me all of this themselves). I'll be studying French.
Anyway, as I was saying at the beginning, I have SIX days until I arrive at the MTC! And only three days until I officially become a full-time missionary. On Sunday I will be set apart by my stake president, and on Monday my mom and I will fly to Salt Lake City. After a few days with friends and family, I report to the MTC on Wednesday!
I'd better get packing.
~Sœur Ladd
P.S. I know some of you aren't members of my church, so I will try my very best to explain our odd vocabulary!