All's well that ends well...we're pretty sure.

Welcome to Sister Lybbert's mission blog. Sister Lybbert arrived safely at the MTC (Missionary Training Center) on Tuesday afternoon, thank goodness. She had been delayed reporting due to a snag with her visa. We have no idea what it was, but it didn't arrive in time for her original departure date. We (her parents & siblings) took her to the airport Tuesday morning to catch her 5:30 flight to Calgary only to find out that it had been cancelled! She had to take a taxi to Calgary to catch her international flight. She was nervous, we were nervous because she had never flown before and we weren't positive she would actually get there on time, but, she made it and is now in the MTC. Rae even called the mission travel department at about 9:00 a.m. to see if she had made it. They said that she had checked in. When we were discussing what would happen if she missed her flight, or didn't make her connections, we weren't sure she knew how to use a pay phone! I kept checking my emails to see if there was anything but there wasn't. Rae finally checked when he got home from work (10:00 that night) and Sister Lybbert had apparently met a member in Seattle as she waited. He had taken her picture and emailed Rae as proof that she was alive, happy and made it to Seattle. He also sent a picture from the Salt Lake airport.

Still smiling even after
finding her flight was cancelled!

Unexpected taxi ride...her first one, to
Calgary...only a 2 1/2 hour drive!

 













Here is her first email:

Dear Mom and Dad,
How are things at home? I miss you guys a ton! I don't really have any pictures of our family so could you please send me some by mail 'cause I will be around the MTC for about 3 weeks (2 weeks MTC training and 1 visitor center training).
Everything has been really fun lately. I am enjoying my experience at  the MTC so far, and I have met many wonderful Sisters and Elders. The first day I arrived with other girls from all over the world. That was probably my favorite part so far, rooming with those girls for the first night. Everyone was so different and had come from many unique backgrounds. There was a sister from England that was very nice and three from the islands (I don't remember which ones, sorry). Those girls are so out going and loving. Even when I see them around campus they wave and smile, one of them even will yell, "I love you, Sister!" and run over to give me a hug. She is so sweet. I also roomed with a few other girls. Sister L from {Asia}, Sister L from {Asia}, and Sister H from {Asia} (going to Thailand). Sister L and Sister M (grew up in Thailand but moved to Indiana in her teens) are both going to Temple Square with me! I have met about five other Sisters that are going to my mission! We get along so well, in fact, about three of the girls that are going to Temple Square had a visa delay and they didn't know why, but when we met one another I decided that it really was supposed to be this way because we all get along so well!
Sister H is so kind and I love her. If we had grown up around each other we probably would have been best friends. She does not speak English very well so she is going to other classes and apart from the first night and half of the first day, I have not seen her a lot. Her story is amazing though, and I will tell it to you.
She became a member of the church just last year, but her family are all Buddhists and are very against Christians. She found the church through her tutors who had told her about English lessons being taught by the missionaries. She said when she first went she was nervous and it felt strange because they were foreign to her, but soon she became friends and began taking interest in the gospel as well. When she was praying to know if God is there and if the church is true she said she had to pray four times to get her answer. On her third time praying she was very angry and distressed because she had not received one yet. Then she tired again. On the fourth try, she said she felt something very warm and comforting in her chest and she knew that the church was true. Sister H was baptized on _____2014. When her family found out, they beat her and wanted to disown her, but they never ended up kicking her out of the family. Sister H felt that the church was like a second home and she really wanted to serve a mission. The other missionaries in the area helped her gather the papers together and sent the ones she needed to send. However, right before her mission, her father decided he did not want her to go and so he took her passport and the other papers she needed and was threatening to rip them apart. She called up the missionaries to tell them that she could not go, but then they told her to pray, and she did. The next morning, to her surprise, her father gave her back the papers and her passport and said that she could go on her mission. She bore her testimony to me that she knows that God is there and she was so happy that Heavenly Father softened her dad's heart so she could come to the MTC. She told me that she wanted others to feel happy from the gospel because it made her happy. Sister H is such an inspiration to me! I really hope that everything will go well with her family and that she will still have a good relationship with them.
My own faith has been strengthened from this sister. Heavenly Father has a plan for each one of us, and if we are faithful we will be blessed, perhaps it will not always be in big ways, gut in small ways as well.
Yesterday we met our companions. My companion is Sister L from South California. Sister L is also going as a visitor center missionary, although her call is to Washington DC. She is very nice and she is perfect when it comes to studying Missionary work, because she's  usually on the same thought train (when we are talking about the gospel) so it is easier to help one another to explain the doctrines when it comes to practicing teaching lessons. She is also very cheerful and that is nice.
The rest of my district are also all from the U.S.A. I think we all get along fairly well. Everyone is very encouraging and helpful, and they all became close friends really fast. However, I find that I get very quiet around all of them, I just don't have the same personality, I guess, so it makes it sort of hard to feel comfortable all of the time, but I am growing to love them and open up to them, because really I have only spent about two days with them, it's just taking me a little bit longer to become close friends with everyone. I think that we are all friends though.
I love you all so much and pray for you guys every night!
Love,
Sister Lybbert
P.S. sorry for grammar mistakes. I don't have much time though, love you! <3