Friday, February 27, 2015

Fri, Feb 27, 2015 My New Motto: "TODAY WAS A GREAT WEEK!"



Hey ya'll!


Roommates at the MTC Wilson, Atendido, Otte, Hoth 

It's been an amazing week at the MTC! I have already learned so much and have had so many opportunities to come closer to Lord! Ha...my Spanish is...um coming along I guess! Hermana Wilson and I were practicing how to begin talking to people and getting to know them before we start teaching them. We were practicing with some of the Elders in our zone, and we could understand all of what they were saying. So that's good. Also, I think I can understand like 70% of what our teachers are saying...and the Elders that we were talking to last night said they could only understand like 40% of what the teachers were saying their first week. So maybe Hermana Wilson and I were meant to speak Spanish!;) I've been able to teach like 6 lessons all in Spanish now...so that's pretty cool. The Lord definitely has his hand in the work here. There is absolutely no way I could learn Spanish without Him. When I was really stressed and down on myself with learning Spanish, I felt the Spirit immediately leave. If I want the Lord's help, I need to be hopeful and faithful!! I hope to have faith like the story in Matthew 8! Read it...it's amazing.

My teachers here are Hermana Estrada and Hermano Crofts and Hermano Ralphs (who used to be Enrique our investigator but we found out yesterday that he is now our teacher). That punk lied to us!;) Haha...it's okay though!! Yeah...I don't remember where all of them served their missions, but they are great teachers. I  can tell how much they love each of us!

So Hermana Wilson and I have gotten to know each other a lot better this week! She really is such an amazing person and has a great conversion story! She was baptized when she was 9 and has had so many neat experiences that have brought her closer to the Lord. I'm so lucky to have her as my companion. Our teachers and our district probably think we are ridiculous though..we can never stop laughing!! But don't get me wrong...we work awfully hard too! We have memorized our purpose, how to ask someone to be baptized, and now I'm working on the 1st vision!! We've started studying Spanish during gym time when we're running or working out so that's helped a lot!!

FUNNY STORY. Every time I think about it, I crack up laughing! Oh man so the other Hermanas in our room/district are Hermana Atendido and Hermana Otte. After they knocked on the door for our investigator, Enrique, Enrique asked how they were doing. Como esta usted?? Hermana Otte said bien (which means good), and then Hermana Atendido was so excited to see Enrique and she wanted to tell him how excited she was so she yelled "Estupido" instead of "Estupendo". Hahahahahahahaha, I'm dying right now just writing about it. There are many ways to introduce yourself to an investigator, but I would not suggest saying, "I'm stupid" right off the bat. HAHAHAHAHA. :D

During one of our lessons with Enrique, Hermana Wilson and I asked Enrique if he would pray to know what we taught him is true. He said no because he doesn't know how to pray. So we tried to show him. Let me just say...we do not have the vocabulary to teach someone how to pray. Just picture Hermana Wilson and me on our knees folding our arms saying "practicar" over and over again. He just stared at us....and wouldn't say anything. So after like 5 minutes of kneeling we slide back into our chairs and just die laughing. Wow...so embarrassing. He was probably dying inside. 

This week, I've definitely noticed how many weaknesses I really  do have. Ugh...it's frustrating. But my companion and I talked to a teacher after TRC, where we taught another investigator, and he told us about Ether 12:27. I'm sure most, if not all, have heard this before, but he gave a new insight to it! We often overlook the very first sentence of that scripture. It says something like "come unto me and I will show you your weaknesses". This is why I am so aware of all of my weaknesses all of the sudden! I am coming unto the Lord by serving Him, He is showing me my weaknesses so He can change them to strengths. Wow...that is amazing!!!

I'm so sad that the older district in our zone is leaving on Monday and Tuesday next week! They have been so fun to get to know! And I'm not ready to be the old district yet! We have a new district in our zone this week. They got here on Wednesday. They have 4 elders and 4 hermanas. I had institute class with one of the hermanas down at Snow, so that's pretty cool to see a familiar face!! My district is already pretty close, I love getting to know all of them better! They are like my family!! Elder Barry is mine and Hermana Wilson's favorite elder in our district. He is so sincere. He is a convert of a year and a half and you can just tell how much he loves the Lord. I'll send a pic of all of us doing Elder Barry's signature expression sometime soon....it's hilarious!

Well, I hope all of you are keeping it real! It's been so fun to get letters from ya'll!! I hope that all of you can come to know just how much God loves each and every one of you! I have felt the love He has for each of the investigators I have taught, it truly is so amazing! I know that this life is hard...and sheesh...my mission is flippin' hard. But the Lord did not send me here on earth to fail...He did not send me on this mission to fail. That was never part of His plan! Hermana Wilson and I figured out what makes the gospel so amazing! Everyone is so different, and different things make different people happy. Isn't it incredible how the gospel is the ONE thing that can make anyone and everyone happy. I know that this gospel is true and that the Lord truly guides His work! I love all of you and hope you're doing great!!

Love, 
Hermana Hoth   
#missionswag  #astupido  #letsgettowork