Tips for field Sisters

I have just compiled a bunch of tips & tricks for Provo MTC and the field that I found on other missionary blogs serving all over. I have mentioned the blogs at the end of this post there are a few extra hints and Tips that I have not mentioned cause the list became WAY too long, but feel free to check out their blogs and read their stories first hand. And if you have suggestions of what should be on this post please comment below and I will update ASAP =)

Practical:

• There is a Shop in Draper, Utah: “The Sweetest Thingz” (416 East 12300 South) this is where you can find the extender slips with lace to add length to any dress or skirt.
• Tell your family and friends about www.dearelder.com so they write to you in the MTC & in the field.
• H&M ballet flats are apparently comfortable (Don’t get them in SA so cannot vouch) They also sell some with a hard back TIP: if you take scissors and snip into the shoe like a half an inch right in the back stitching where the heel is it helps give it more pull and relieves chance of blisters.
• Pack Scarfs!! They make you feel not so worthless when you have to repeat outfits over and over and over again.
• Learn how to sew by hand - Everything rips chips and tears
• Make sure you really like your picture you submit with your mission papers because it is on everything!
• Sisters - if you are preparing to go on a mission practice right now getting ready in 30 minutes. And that includes a shower.
• Don't forget your watch! Most of the classrooms don't have clocks.
• Don’t bring your own PMG – they will provide. {I personally will bring my own cause I have mine all marked already}
• Buy a mini hymn book.
• After you are here your first day you can take your "dork dot" off. I put mine on the back of my badge and wrote the date that I arrived at the MTC.
• Prepare yourself for stairs!! Lots and lots of stairs!!
• If you have to wear a cami with your dress or skirt it needs to be the same color as the dress or skirt!
• Be on time – Start NOW.
• Smile! Get to know people. When you first wake up, just smile. It will make you feel better!
• A photo a day. I take a photo a day on my mission. Fun way to know what happened
• Exercise in the 2M gym under the bookstore. It's a little more private and alot nicer! With treadmills etc! They also play the Joseph Smith movie on repeat! You can run and get in a workout or lay lifeless on a yoga mat like me and enjoy the show with some popcorn!
• In the MTC, get involved in anything you can (choir, etc.) It will break up your day and be more fun than you think it will. (My friend Sister Eppel says the Chior is a MUST)
• USB Memory stick - for pics to store from other missionaries/yourself.
• Your own sheets. The ones in apartments are disgusting. And the ones at the MTC should be outlawed and burned
• A small photo book of home for your purse. EVERYONE and their dog asks to see that
• Bring a copy of your patriarchal blessing you can laminate and shrink it in the MTC for like .40 cents. Nice to carry in your scriptures
• SLEEPING PILLS!! Ibuprofen PM/Melatonin
• MTC sell black and white tight cap sleeve shade shirts!! Buy both!! It'll save your life. There are so many cute tops I didn't buy that I wish I would have because they cut down low, but these shade shirts make everything work!
• Secret SOCKS!!
• Shoe “Deodorizer” – I can see this being helpful..
• Bring a reading light that can clip onto a book or the bed.
• Bring Extra removable reading hooks to organise jewellery.
• NOTEBOOKS ->> 1 x Devotional/fireside; 1 x Classroom study; 1 x Language study; 1 x Journal journal
• PENS!! Colours!! Go Crazy.
• Bring a back pack, they give you a lot of books.
• Also bring like a purse that can fit writing material, and a couple of small books to wear on p-days. You don’t want to lug everything but a few things.
• The food is ok but it is greasy and fatty!! you will get tired of it!...fast. But they have a wrap bar that is fresh...Get to know that real well it will make your body not scream at you as much.
• When you first get here the first couple of days are the hardest. They are trying to weed out the ones that don’t really want to be here. SO, make it to Sunday and you are GOLDEN!
• Find the Tree that smells like Cream Soda!!!! WHAT???
• Don't bring open toed shoes = DUH, but I guess some don’t read the packet. Even if your mission does allow it this is Boot Camp MTC.
• Make sure your clothes aren't too tight.. DUH..
• Don't bring high-low skirts  - FOLLOW These guidelines or you'll end up sending it home.
• Make sure you have extra garments.
• Bring shower shoes, and prepare for lines in the shower...they're LONG and annoying. But if you plan it right you won't have to wait.
• Prepare to be exhausted every night when you go to bed.
• “I brought a shoulder bag but I am having my mom send me a backpack.”
• Make sure you have a scripture case.
• Don't let the Elders flirt with you (not that they're bad, they're just boys).
• At the curb, just hug them and go. You can do it.
• Bring hangers no matter what anyone says. Hangers might have been provided when they went to the MTC, but that is no more.
• Let all your family know that you can't email them until P-day and you only have 30 minutes. (They did just tell us that they are about to change it to 60 minutes but I don't know when that is happening.)
• Sack breakfast and sack lunches are AWESOME!
• Leave everything in your classrooms, they are your classrooms!! This is a room you will come to know well during your MTC stay!
• Buy a retractable clip lanyard for your I.D. badge (Bring string for your key so you can tie to your clip.)
• You get 40% off at the MTC bookstore.
• Leave about $2 on your card for laundry.
• Have your camera on you at all times.
• Buy a clip at the bookstore for your tag.
• The bookstore will engrave your scriptures, hymn book, and Journals for FREE!!!
• The MTC does free alterations for sisters!!
• Make friends with your district! Sit with them everywhere: lunch, workshops, etc ... You will grow so close with them and they will become your brothers and sisters!!!
• They say not to bring headphones, but you need them for the gym, so if not, you can buy them here like I did.
• You can rent music to play over by the president's office for musical numbers or just to play. Heaven.
• Wait to buy things at the bookstore in the MTC-it's 40% off store-wide for missionaries 24/7!
• Bring good and smelly body wash.
• Stickers!!
• They have awesome scripture marking pens here!
• Use the computers in the laundry room to e-mail home because they are the only ones that seem to let me send pictures
• Make sure your camera cord is a USB
• Pack everything for Day 1 in one suitcase
• Buy an MTC water bottle-when else are you ever going to buy one???
• Sisters get $8 each Wednesday on their cards to spend. Elders get $6
• Earnestly chocolate ice cream...try. it.
• Turn heat temperature in room down when you first get in- it takes forever to cool down.
• Sing hymns in the showers- all the sisters join in!
• If you wanna get fancy get a stamp for your return address of your mission home for your letters you send.
• Put sticky notes in the back of your planner/Scriptures. Every time you make out an appointment, give an investigator a reading assignment/commitment, write it down for them! Some people forget the second you walk out the door. {Sister Eppel Says they also use it to leave messages on people’s doors when they not home}
• A Candle. Apartments stink like prehistoric elders
• Rolling luggage. You'll be alone for transfers. Luggage you can push is so helpful!
• A calender with pics from home to write down birthdays since a mission is a time warp-my mom made mine at Costco online and each month has a different picture of family and friends with birthdays written in for me.
• Decorations for walls. Cute quotes etc. Makes it feel like home
• A small recipe book of your FAV recipes of your moms etc. You get cravings out here and will need to know how to make them! I also have been putting in recipes that I learn here!!
• Print out from pinterest 30 minute workouts. Morning sport can be pretty pointless if not
• An alarm clock that doesn't make you want to kill yourself. Or your companion
• An address book for home and mission people
• Your young women medallion...it's a good conversation starter
• Hold onto every letter! Send them home. You'll want to keep them! ESP the creepy ones
• Your own towels and hand towels. Once again...the ones in your apartment were most likely used by elders 20 years ago
• A small mirror for your bag. You go all day with just nooooo clue of what's happening

Spiritual:

• Pray Often!!!
• Study your Preach My Gospel like crazy! "We study the P.M.G. so that we become P.M.G." - Sister Pitts
• Write in your journal everyday!!
• Write everything down!
• Be obedient to every rule! Even if you don't agree with them. They are there for a reason! So be obedient!
• Be an exceptional missionary not an average missionary.
• Try to make the "practicing" of teaching a lesson as real as possible. Some of my most spiritual experiences so far has been while doing these "practice teachings".
• Sing hymns all the time! They bring the spirit at any moment.
• Take study time seriously!
• Read the Book of Mormon for at least 30 minutes each day. This may sound like a lot of time now, but 11 full hours every-day to read scriptures so in comparison it's not that much
• Don’t look too far ahead. Just look at today. YOU CAN DO TODAY!!
• Start a list of your favourite scriptures and read over them often.
• Memorize, My purpose from PMG,
• Memorize, Joseph’s 1st vision in PMG
• Memorize D&C Ch 4 - If you do this before you get here things will be light and breezy.
• Love your companion, even if they drive you crazy. Emphasize the positive, eliminate the negative.
• Prepare to pray like a million times a day. We do it at least 11 times together, but I think it has just become a running thing in my head.
• It's okay to get homesick, but just remember why you decided to come on a mission.
• Remember the miracles.
• Read Chapter 3 in Preach My Gospel over and over.
• Highlight your scriptures according to the PMG lesson colors
• Serve your companion
• Write in the back of your Book of Mormon the date of every time you began and finished it on your mission. Add a sentence or two about how your testimony was strengthened.
• Write down one miracle that happens every single day

I will update as I Find more things and see things that are redundant or if I think I should add:

Blogs for reference:

http://bellainberlin.blogspot.com &

http://morgsinwashington.blogspot.com &

http://theadventuresofsisterblake.blogspot.com &

http://hermanasilva.blogspot.com