2018-08-08 Learning and Growing at the MTC

08/02/18 Thursday

In our morning class Hermana Hallal gave a lesson about el don de lenguas. The Spanish language is tough.  It gets discouraging at times and sometimes in the activities we end up complaining out of frustration and we would say "its too hard! or “I can’t do it!" But our teacher will quickly remind us that it is hard but we all can learn and do it if we persevere.  It was very spiritual.  Our teacher reminded us that we need to know that things will be tough out in the field but if we should take it head on and allow the Atonement of Jesus Christ to work on us and support us then things will be fine.  I love the notebook I have. It has Moses 6:32 and it says, " Open thy mouth and I will give thee utterance".   I know that I am a servant of the Lord.  Just like Moses, me and all the other missionaries are not perfect pero we need to open our mouth and do our part so the Lord can fill us with his spirit and let us know what we need to say. We may not speak the language correctly but it is about speaking in the language of the spirit that is what will convert the people who will listen to the gospel.

We had Teaching Resource Center (TRC) today and that is when you and your companion sit in the room and they bring in anyone that wants to speak to the missionaries. It can be members, investigators or even people that just want to experience having a lesson with the missionaries.  You have to teach the lessons in Spanish.  At first it was scary but after our first one, we calmed down. They both were members and they are both from Mexico. The first lady was cool and I can tell she is an active member. We had a good lesson and she left. The second guy is actually a student at BYUI and we taught him but he did not speak any English until after the lesson ended. It was a good experience and I love teaching the people whether it was a real investigator or a member.

08/03/18 Friday

Today was just normal day of classes and teaching.

08/04/18 Saturday

So today we were learning the difference between por y para and at first it made sense but then it got complicated. 

The day was just okay.  We started our fast at dinner so the comedor was closed for dinner and breakfast on Sunday.

08/05/18 Sunday

This week was our first fast Sunday here, our only fast Sunday so far.  A lot of people from the Latino and the Gringo group leaving went up to bear their testimonies in Spanish.  I went up to bear my testimony!  It was pretty cool bearing my testimony in Spanish.  It’s more spiritual in my opinion.  I am learning to love the Spanish language and it is so amazing. We spent our whole day pretty much in Harold B. Lee auditorium with nice comfy, cushion seats.  We had 3 devotionals that day.  On one of the devotional, we watched a video of Elder Bednar when he spoke to the missionaries at the MTC in 2012.  It was on the attributes of Christ and the character of Christ.  He talked about how no matter what Christ was going through that instead of turning in towards himself to be selfish and fulfill his own self desires he always turned outwards to bless those around him.  So like the time when Jesus went out into the mountain to pray and Satan kept trying to tempt him.  But afterwards the angels came to minister him.  And he also talked about when right after Jesus bled from his pores and suffered in the garden of Gethsemane, He came out and that guard that had his ear cut off instead of just letting it be, he healed him.  This goes to show that Christ’s love is infinite and we should do all that we can to be exactly like Christ because no matter what people do to us we should have that love for everyone.  Hermana Hallal kinda like sort of talk about something similar in class but she said if you have a good attitude towards everything, you are going to be the best missionary out there.  Having a Christ like love for everyone that you meet.  It’s really powerful. 

Sunday is centered on Christ and it is so amazing. It made me think of a video we watched earlier this week. It is called " President, Why is this so Hard?" by Elder Jeffery R. Holland.  It’s a missionary video.  It’s amazing to know that just us being here for these 2 years that we’re going to be able to experience a little taste of what Jesus had to go through from working miracles on the people all the way until the point where people spit on you and hate you but it’s all part of the growth.  It’s a blessing to know that our Savior is right there by our side to strengthen us and help us whenever we are feeling down or discouraged.  Watch the video, it really shows the unconditional love the Lord has for us and really understand why we need to be here on the mission. The video is from a talk called "Missionary work & the atonement" if any of you want to read the whole thing. I really wish I could print talks or other material so I can read some talks.

08/06/18 Monday

Today was not that great of a day, we figured out that we might possibly be losing one of our teachers and will be getting a replacement so this whole day, the whole class was super down and the spirit was not there this morning. We prayed 2 or 3 times together as a class because things were not working out. We as a district and with the teachers are super close, maybe the closest out of all the MTC in all honesty so it is hard to lose one of our teachers!  They are so great! We have the two best teachers in the CCM.  But life moves on. We do not know what will happen but hopefully we get to keep them. The day ended well, we learned some Spanish stuff but the hermanas were making a list of scriptures for us when we need to be lifted up and if you guys want the list, I can send you the list but they are all great for lifting us up when we need to feel the love from our Savior or when we are not having a good day here on the mission. I highlighted all of them but I have a better and more important list kinda. It is all good.

08/07/18 Tuesday

We had devotional today, our temple president and his wife spoke. They talked about being a covenant keeping people.  There was an object lesson where people choose 2 bags and they asked which one we chose and then after we chose, he had president Bennett and his wife come up to choose one and then based on what they said was based on what we chose. So if you decided to listen to President Bennett, you chose correctly and there was candy in the bag. If you chose wrong, there was nothing in the bag.

The Latinos are gone…sadly, our two favorite districts in our zone are gone.  That sucks but hopefully will keep in contact with the Latinos because they were cool.

Update, our prayers were answered today.  We are keeping both of our teachers so that is great!

The food is improving or we’re used to it already.  Were so hungry that we eat anything. It’s gotten to a point that we are eating fruit loops every single meal. But it’s not bad, it’s pretty good honestly. 

Mexico isn’t what you expect.  You expect it to be humid and hot but for some reason it’s dry. I mean it’s still hot but it’s not as bad as you would think.  About 75 degrees.  But there are mornings when you wake up and you can see your breath but for some reason every single day after lunch, it rains, like buckets!  It’s so weird.  

After the devotional, it was raining in buckets and our suits got all wet.  We ended up having to help a couple of new Latinos in our new district that we received today.  We received 2 new districts today.  One group of gringos and one Latino group.  We went to go track down their luggage that these Latinos couldn’t find and it was raining but luckily I found one of the cheap one used ponchos.  We helped them find their bags and took it back to their house.  But through all the rain and everything, we never complain.  Service is amazing especially on the mission.  You just learn to love everybody.