Hola!

Lo siento, they totally changed our P-day last week and they didn't even tell us so we could warn our family that we wouldn't be emailing them on Wednesday!

 

Oh my crap (By the way, that is not an approved words in the MTC by some of the branch presidents wives. Yes, I had to learn that the hard way...haha) I only have a week and a half left! How in the world did time go so fast??! So today is our P-day now and I only have ONE MORE P-DAY! We got our travel plans today and I leave May 9th and like 8:00 something in the morning! I'm kind of nervous now because it's actually going to happen! Geez!

 

So here's something I never thought I'd miss: commercials! On Sunday we had a speaker in our devotional and he's a TV progammer or something for the church and he's involved in the LDS commercials. For part of his talk he showed us a bunch of the commercials they've produced over the years and I thought, "Oh my heck, I never thought I'd be so happy to see commercials!" Hahaha, it's funny the simple things you miss being in the MTC :)

 

For Easter the MTC doesn't do anything particularly fun, so we as companionships in our room decided to do something! We got a easter egg kit and we dyed our own eggs! I'm sending pictures of them and you're going to laugh because they are so SWEET! Haha I love them, but we had to throw them away unfortunately... haha it was fun though. We all sat on the floor while dying our cute little eggs!

 

Here's another thing you would never thing you'd miss: a measuring tape. The other day we really, really wanted to measure our classroom because the Elders kept saying it had to be the same size as our room that we slept in. We didn't have a tape measurer and we had no idea where to get one, so we created our own measuring tool, "Robert's" Our classroom size is like 4 1/2 by 2 and a head Robert's. I laid on the floor and we measured our room! Hahaha it was so funny. Some other Elders came in and were like, "What the crap are you guys doing??" Haha, it was great! It's dumb little things like that that make the MTC fun :)

 

On Wednesday we taught TRC in Spanish, but this time is was lesson 2! We  were super nervous because usually we have TRC on Saturdays, but our schedules are TOTALLY different so we really only had one day, (more like 2 hours) to study the Spanish words and grammar that we would need for teaching lesson 2. Anyways, we were nervous but it actually went really well. When I just focus on paying attention to the investigator and my companion the Spanish comes fairly easy, but if I sit there and think about what I'm going to say next them first off, I have no idea what the other two people said and secondly the Spanish just doesn't come out right. It's amazing how much focusing on what the investigator is saying can affect your lessons, even in English. When I'm teaching someone and I'm always thinking about the things I want to say next, I'm not listening to the Spirit so the things I say aren't inspired and they're not as effective. But if I listen 100% to the investigator, to my companion and to the Spirit then that's when we have the best lessons! The Spirit literally just puts thoughts and questions in your head and it's so cool when that happens because it's totally what the investigator needs to hear.

 

Guess who came to our Devotional on Tuesday night this week! Elder Dallin H. Oaks! Two Elder's from the Quorum of the 12 coming right in a row is apparently very rare, so I'm happy it happened while I was here! And that night our zone had to usher so we got prime seats for his talk. Here are some of my favorite things he talked about:

 

He said that we are called to affirm and demonstrate by example the need to endure to the end. I really liked this because it's so true that the best way to teach is by example. There was this lady who spoke once here and she said that one day she took some non-members to a McDonalds for lunch and she saw two missionaries in there and she thought "oh good, I can introduce them to my friends!" Then she saw that they were throwing french fries at each other and just messing around and she ended up not even metioning that they were missionaries because it was so embarrassing. Then she told of another story of missionaries she saw in a different McDonalds and they saw this single mom there and she had a few kids and was having a hard time getting all the trays and keeping track of her kids and just looked super stressed so they asked her if they could help. She asked them why they were so nice and willing to help and they got to talking and, I bet you can guess what happened... she got baptized! It just really reiterated that we always need to be a good example, even if we don't think anyone is watching us. Someone always is!

 

He also said that we didn't come on missions to receive praise and thanks. Many times we won't receive thanks when we deserve it, but that doesn't matter because that's not what we're here for! We're hear to help others come unto Christ and we shouldn't expect to receive any blessing or any praise for it!

 

The best way to help others is to love them. I've noticed that even in our "fake" teaching, that the investigators who we've developed a relationship with are way more likely to keep their commitments like reading the Book of Mormon every day or praying every day. I can't quite explain it, but if they know that you love them and if they can feel the love of Christ through you, they are way more likely to keep their commitments. They're way more likely to change if that feel that love, and that is what we want as missionaries: to help them change. So we have to love our investigators!

 

I'm pretty sure I say this in every email, but I LOVE the Elders in our Zone! We got a new group of 10 two weeks ago and of them is my new buddy. His name is Elder Crane and he likes to give me presents. These present are a little unusual though. The first one was a little tiny snail shell he found outside and it "took me two hours to find!" I accidentaly lost it the same day. So, two days later he tells me I have a present in on my desk, so I go in there and there's a LIVE snail sitting on a paper towel on my desk! Hahaha I laughed so hard! The Elders are always making me laugh, I'm so glad we have such good guys in our Zone :)

 

As I've mentioned a few times, our schedule is TOTALLY different now! We used to have like 4 hours of MDT (missionary directed time where you could either study, teach, do workshops, etc.) but now we have everthing scheduled in for us. We have it scheduled in when we do personal study, companion study, and language study. Which I actually kind of like because then I know that I'll get all three hours of studying in every day! But, that's why our P-day changed and that's why I didn't write yesterday! Everything is different and everyone is complaining about it. I think it's funny they complain about it because they act like the MTC Presidency just decided of their own free will to change things and didn't even consult Heavenly Father on it. I'm sure the First Presidency was super involved in it too, so I'm not too worried about it because I know it's what's best for us! Plus, I only have like 11 more days here!!

 

It's funny because when I first came to the MTC I was super nervous about it and didn't knwo what to expect! Now, I've been here for a while and I know what to expect and I really like it. It's not scary and I'm comfortable with it. But now, that's all changing and I'm nervous again and I don't have ANY idea what to expect! But I know I'll be fine, I probably won't understand the people I'm teaching for like the first 6 months, but I'll make it through somehow :) I'm interested to see how much I actually understand when people are speaking at a normal speed, I have a feeling I'll be a little lost for the first while!! But, I'll learn eventually!!

 

Well, I must go eat dinner now... I will write you all next week and then I'll only have like 4 days left! Yikes! I'm SUUUUUUUPER excited to get out into the field so I am able to listen to music! Who thought I would be so excited to listen to church music?? :)

 

I love you all, thanks for praying for me and supporting me!