Familia y amigos! Hola!
Don't be deceived by my obvious mastery of Spanish here, I'm really not that good. But I'm learning! Every day I feel like I learn so much! In every aspect of my life here. I started out with basically NO knowledge of Spanish, so everything that I learn is good and I can REALLY see my progress.
My week has been... Interesting. First week craziness mixed with all the things we have to get used to doing every day has been a LOT. And overwhelming at times. But because of that, I've gotten a lot done and learned a lot.
Just so you all know, my P-day is usually on Thursday. We didn't get one last Thursday because it was the second day we were here and we won't really get one tomorrow because it's THANKSGIVING! So we got a little time today to email and do laundry and get stuff done. Also, I am on the west campus of the MTC, where, I think, all the Spanish missionaries are.
So a quick summary of this last week (WOAH! I've been here a whole week!), we all got here and went immediately to learning what it's like being missionaries. We went and (as a group) kinda got to know a few (I think pretend) investigators. It was really cool. It reminded us why we're here and to have the spirit with us always.
I feel like a lot of what we've learned has been WHY we're here. It's not for ourselves. It's not to learn Spanish (well, kinda). But it's for the LORD. It's so that we can learn to represent Christ and bring people to Christ. Everything we do is FOR HIM. It has been amazing. We watched a recorded devotional Sunday night by Elder Bednar called "The Character of Christ". IT WAS AMAZING. Seriously. I suggest looking it up. It basically defines missionary work and how we should all be in our lives. You probably know I LOVE the topic of conversion and that's what a lot of it is. Basically what he said was that when we are truly converted, we turn outwards in times of need or trial. When we are hurting, looking to help others is truly the example Christ set for us. It's about what we do and who we are rather than what we know.
Anyways, I love being here! Mostly, I feel super grateful for ALL the AMAZING ways I've been blessed. My amazing family and friends :) and even here! My companion is seriously amazing. She is an example to me. Her name is Hermana Corbridge. She's from Utah. She is super prepared, organized, picking up on Spanish really well, and muy close to the spirit. It's nice when we have to work together to teach, because she talks a lot but I'm trying to contribute more. I'm so proud of myself because I have learned to pray and bear my simple testimony in Spanish.
Yes, we have taught lessons. Not only one, we've taught 5 already. We had an investigator named Antonio come and meet with us. It was really scary the first time, but it's getting better and better each time. The first time, we planned out exactly what we wanted to say and translated it all and tried to memorize it. That plan didn't work. What we've been doing since that first lesson is make a rough outline of what we would like to teach, study words we don't know, and then pray and trust that the Spirit will guide us to say what Antonio needs to hear. It has been SOOO much better and we can feel the Spirit stronger when we're not struggling to remember what we memorized.
I know I'm forgetting things I want to tell you, so I'll write things down and be more organized next week. Look forward to it! :)
I know this gospel is true. It is amazing. I feel so much love. I KNOW God loves us and because He does, He gave us His son, Jesus Christ to atone for our sins so we can return to Him.
I love you all and hope you're doing SO SO well!
Hermana Shirley
No comments:
Post a Comment