My MTC companions

I had 3 companions in the MTC. My first 2 were Sister Prusse and Sister Hynynen. 

Sister Prusse entered the MTC 6 weeks before me, I was supposed to enter the same day as her but my Visa was delayed, so I left her as a solo sister with 5 Elders - she said she got to the MTC and was told that 'her companion wasn't coming anymore'... and she replied with 'what do you mean she's not coming? Who's my companion?'.

Little did I know that there was a long wait for me to come into the MTC - they had heard that an Australian was coming and they were all very excited, and then they heard that she wasn't coming anymore - so they all guessed that I had gotten engaged and changed my mind (this would be the reason why one of the first questions I was asked was: Have you ever been engaged Sister Carmichael? - of course my reply was 'yeah, twice, but then I decided to come on a mission' the elder looked really shocked and almost fell off his chair, so I thought I had better fix up my sarcasm with 'no, not really, I am just kidding'. Anyway, back to the companions.

I was in the MTC with Sister Prusse for 6 weeks - Sister Prusse was heading to Finland also. 

My second companion was Sister Hynynen (hoonoonen) she was from the states but had Finnish background, so could speak a little finnish - she was serving in Estonia - we were companions for 9 weeks.

Sister Erin Prusse, me, Sister Vilja Hynynen

Then, I had my MTC Elders. These were the two I spent my 'class time' with. I was only with the Sisters for breakfast, P.E, and sometimes lunch and dinner when we were all together anyway, and after 930pm when we would all head back to our dorm rooms - for the rest of the time, I was with these two blokes. They came into the MTC the same day as me, and left for Finland the same day. We studied together, fought and pretty much got on each others nerves - BUT we also had a hell of a lot of fun together!

Elder Michael Yacktman, me, Elder Landon Deru

(I'm not sure what was up with the pose - but I guess back in the day we thought we were cool)

Finally, when Sister Prusse left for Finland, we had another intake of missionaries heading to Finland - in the group - much to my relief was a Sister - Sister Bethany Beckwith. We were companions for 6 weeks, 3 of those were with Sister Hynynen. When sister beckwith came, sister hynynen and I thought we would make her welcome and make her a sign for our bedroom door - someone on our floor knew Sister Beckwith (well, they were in the same ward anyway). At this stage we weren't completel sure on her name, so we asked her friend 'is the new sisters name bethwick? 'yeah, she replied... 

So.. we made a sign that said Tervetuloa Sisar Bethwick (Welcome Sister Bethwick).. now if you look closely at the name - we got it WRONG!! her name isn't beTHwiCK it's beCKwiTH - DOH! So, we had her name wrong, and we felt like IDIOOOTS - but she thought it was funny, so thats ok! - oh, and we KNEW her first name was Bethany - so when we found out her last name was bethwick, we wondered who the hell would call there kid Bethany Bethwick!!! (apparently they DID NOT)

Sister Vilja Hynynen, me, Sister Bethany Beckwith