Sibling Letter: Have Fun in the MTC

Hey Flora!!!

I hope you are having tons of fun in the MTC. I miss waking you up when I get home from school haha. How's learning the language? I'm sure you're doing great. SC is boring as usual. Nothings rilly happening. Thanks for setting a good example. I love you and miss you.

XOXO

Desi

Sibling Letter: Love the Missionaries in MTC

Dear Sister Bruno,

So, I am going to write you, but I do not want you to correct or judge me for my spelling and grammar, so by now you are probably adjusting to your schedule. Dani told me that your companion refuses to speak English and that she dated this Landon kid in our ward, that made me laugh, so I guess she is intense hahahaha, how annoying...just joking I am sure that you love her. I am sure that God gave you her for a reason. Don't forget to love the Elders and help them and be their friend because they will be your leaders on the mission, your future district leaders, zone leaders and assistants. It is strange when I look back man, my district grew so much just in the MTC and you get a whole extra month of no bake cheesecake. I am going to buy some and have it tomorrow to celebrate. I am looking forward to getting email and p-day. I hope your teachers are awesome, but well they all are so...Things are good here. Matt tells me he loves accounting, but no word on the Felicia front. My life is still boring and uneventful. I started volunteering for this thing called Project Read, I am going to teachy a illiterate adult how to read. I am excited. Today we will go to a baptism of a cute Korean girl, I will send you a picture once I get your email address and tell you all about it.

Ti Voglio Bene
=G=

Friend Letter: The Kind of Person You Want to Be On Mission

Welcome!!!

Hello my dear. I hope you had a rokin' first day at the MTC and I bet your head is spinning! Anyway, I wanted to check up on you and see if you had made that list about the kind of person you want to be on your mission. Did you do it? I hope it was a good bonding time between you, the Lord and your future self. And I drew a little diagram

Missionary Friend Letter: Serving A Mission Best Decision I Have Ever Made

Jan 21, 2009

Dear Flora (aka Sister Bruno),

Thanks so much for your letter. That was so nice of you to think of me. Today, you're going on a mission. How exciting, is that?!

Flora, I really can't tell you how excited I am to hear you're serving a mission. Serving a full-time mission was the best decision I have ever made. I have learned so much already and have so much I still want to learn. I really can't imagine my life without serving a mission without meeting the people I've met, coming to know and love my Savior even more, and how I've learned to become more like my Savior. What a blessing it is to represent our Savior Jesus Christ!

I want to share with you a quote from Bruce R. McConkie that helped me a lot. It's called "My Missionary Commission'." I am called of God. My authority is above that of the Kings of the earth. By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my Master, and He has chosen me to represent Him. To stand in all places, to say and dow what He Himself would say and do, if He personally were administering to the very people to whom He has sent me. My voice is His voice, and my acts are His acts. My words are His words, and my doctrine is His doctrine. My commission is to do what He wants done. To say what he wants said. To be a living modern witness, in word and in deed--of he divinity of His great and marvelous latter-day work. How GREAT is my CALLING."

Isn't that awesome?! It really hit me how amazing it is to have the privilege of representing my Lord, Jesus Christ! Every day I try to live more worthy of that calling. Work hard, Flora, and give Heavenly Father your very best. "Do not be discouraged on account of the greatness of the work; only be humble and faithful." --Joseph Smith Jr.

May God bless you, Flora. Love everyone like Christ would/does and you are going to have lots of success on the mission. I'm so happy for you!

Love

Sister Rachel Ellis

Don't worry I don't bite!

Elder Meiners
Riverside, California

Parent Letter: First Day MTC

Missionary Name: Sister Flora Bruno
Mission: Provo MTC
Date Submitted: January 21


Dear Flora,

I hope you are doing well and your first day in the MTC was fabulous. Did you get there on time? Did Annika cry when you left her? Hehe.

Well right now I am on Facebook and I saw that Matthew Moses was on, so I messaged him and said, "do you miss Flora?" and he said, "I am on Dear Elder.com right now writing to her!" So I thought I would do the same. I'm sure you will get lots of letters, cuz he will probably write you every day. Hope you can keep your mind on the work! j/k.

Let's see, the news from me: I spent the whole day online as usual, picked Desi up at 12 (and was a little late, she yelled at me) and we went running at the Y. Came home, got online, picked up Michael at 4 (was a little late, he yelled at me) and took him to track. The kids went to Mutual this evening. We even fed them all dinner before they left. They are just getting home now. So that was my exciting day!!

Tomorrow my plans are to finish your skirt and jumper and send them. If not tomorrow, then definitely by the weekend. Because Saturday I plan to really clean the house now that you are gone. I will stow all your things away and put the junk in the garage places. Should be interesting. Dad just found out you got new scriptures. He is downstairs yelling. lol.

Oh, I forgot to tell you that I watched the inauguration of Barack Obama yesterday. That was very inspiring. You didn't watch it, did you? I loved the music, the poetry reading, the singing, and especially his speech. An historic moment.

So that is all that is happening here. I will write you again later and tell you all the scintillating news from the Bruno household.

Love,

Mom

Friend Letter: Sunday Best Day in MTC

So I started writing this letter and guess who started talking to me on facebook?! YOUR MOM! haha...but seriously.

So you went into the MTC today. I hope you are loving it. The first few days were really long for me. Sunday is the best day. After that it goes by SOOO Fast. Enjoy every minute! There is joy to found in the journey.

I got another letter from Rachel today. I'm probably reading too much into it but it was kind of a weird letter. haha

Rachel: "Please know that this isn't a message to say I expect you to keep on writing. I am just grateful for what you shared with me. I really don't deserve you as my friend, Matt. You deserve so much more than I could give. I hope you find someone who will treat you much better than I treated you."

It was a nice thought I guess. I probably am reading too much into it. I'll probably write her back later on.

I didn't see Felicia today. I decided it might be good to have a day off. We texted a bit and I'll probably call for a few minutes later tonight. Thanks for talking to me so late before your BIG DAY.

Speaking of your BIG DAY...how was it? I'm sure you adjusted fine. And I'm STILL sure that you are companions with that girl you said you weren't going to be companions with! The Lord works in mysterious ways, ehh?

I'm going to try and be a good writer. I'm off to a great start if I say so myself :)

Anyway, I know this letter is short. But just remember that it would be shorter if I wrote it. PLUS, I talked to you less than 24 hours ago.

So there isn't too much to update you on. Especially, since I haven't seen Felicia.

If you are wondering what I've decided...I'm just going to follow your advice, "Trust in him." Then trust he'll tell you when it's wrong. Until then go forward in faith. Don't fall from fear."

That text pretty much changed my way of thinking about this situation along with several other things. You're awesome. Good luck! I look forward to hearing from you.

Matt

First Letter from MTC: Orientation Day Thoughts

1-21-09

Dear Family,

Today was my first day at the MTC and I am exhausted! My companion Sister Ackerson is very nice. She is from Portland (Beaverton) Oregon. We will be companions for the next 12 Weeks & I am glad! We share a room with all the girls speaking Mandarin at the MTC. There is a companionship of 3 that entered the same day as us: Sister MacIsaac, Sister Allen & sister Jorgenson. There is also a solo sister who will be with us for 6 more weeks. She spoke today with me a little in Chinese. I understand everything she says, but so far I'm slow in formulating responses. My companion just recently graduated from BYU in Middle Eastern Studies. So yeah we have a lot in common thus far.

Mostly the happenings of today was orientation-related. We got lots of advice about loving our companions, becoming closer to Christ, studying the language, etc. We ate dinner and Sister A & I sat next to some Spanish-speaking Elders & some Elders in our district. It was really fun. We laughed a lot.

After dinner we meet our district, well, half of it. All the incoming Chinese Elders & Sisters met with the branch president. We got to introduce everyone find out rules

...So please send me a copy of my call letter. I am supposed to have it. If you want to send those dresses & my green Chinese textbook called Chinese Zink I'd like that too. I shouldn't have brought some of the stuff I did & should have brought the kind of stuff I left. Sad day. The dictionary they gave us is identical to mine. The Spanish Elders received a bad one I hear, but I guess us Chinese learners lucked out? I made friends with a lot of the Elders in our district. I really like everyone I've talked to so far.

In my mission president interview he said I seemed to know a lot about China & the culture. I hadn't mentioned anything before, so it's probably that I kind of bowed to him. HaHa? I'm not sure. I said I knew some things but still had a lot to learn. So yeah. Today was fun. I met a lot of people and learned a lot . . . but I'm excited about language class. My P-Day is Mondays so, I'll probably write again then!

Until next time,

Sister Flora Aimee Bruno