Feb 11, 2013
Hola, mama! I don't know Renee and dad's email off the top of my head, so if you want to forward this to them or just all of you gather around the computer at once...I don't know. I've already written you a lot of mail. If you haven't gotten any yet, it's coming. I'm trying to figure out how often I should write you. Maybe I'll limit it to a couple times a week plus an email... Anyway, things have been going good. They keep us busy and we can only study in our classroom, so we're sitting down almost everyday other than exercise time and lunch/breakfast/dinner. We have to teach an investigator named Ricarda in Spanish EVERY DAY except Sunday. It's tough, and so far I haven't been able to say anything except bearing my testimony and praying, which is still a bit limited... Everybody speaks English and says, "don't worry about the language" and then we get into a language class or Sacrament meeting and they only speak Spanish to you...oh, and we have to teach Ricarda in Spanish. They really expect you to push yourself and teach yourself, which is proving to be hard for me because I don't know where to start. They usually teach you a lesson for a very minor portion of the day and it's up to you to take it from there. Blah. I'll get there. We have to teach Ricarda today even though it's P-day. We just got back from the temple.
Last night was really great. Sundays are already my favorite day. :) We had a devotional where a man named Mark J. Lusvardi taught about loving and becoming friends with those you teach. He opened with a story about a waitress he met at Olive Garden one day who took away their menus and proceeded to bring out food of her own choosing. He said when he and his family left the restaurant, he felt like he just spent time with a friend because the waitress was so friendly and different and talked to them the whole night. The waitress was in like her 70s. So they began to go visit her at work every holiday and for special occasions. She is still very close to them to this day. It was a great devotional and he tied it in beautifully with the message. Then we watched a talk given by Jeffrey R. Holland that he gave some years back at the MTC. He spoke with so much passion about the seriousness of missionary work, it felt like he was lecturing everyone in the room. After that I know I will definitely not give up. I do not want to disappoint an apostle of the Lord, especially Elder Holland. He was laying the law down for sure. Quite intense. He shared a little poem that went something like this:
Go to the edge
no, I'll fall
Go to the edge
no, i'll fall
Go to the edge
....he went to the edge and got pushed off... and flew.
It sounded WAY better when Elder Holland said it, but you get it I hope.
He talked about how we shouldn't expect it to be easy because we are servants of the Lord. When we stand as His witness with His name on our chests, we must expect challenges and experiences that will push us to our limits. Christ suffered so much more than we can ever comprehend, but through missionary work we get a taste of that. It was super powerful. If we Endure to the End and have faith, we can fly. He will comfort us. We also have to love the people enough. Just as Christ loved all of us so much that he would give His own life and ask Heavenly Father to forgive us, we have to love others as sons and daughters of God because that's who we all are. Then we can also experience a taste of that pure love of Christ.
I'm running out of time, so I'll wrap it up. (Yes, there's a countdown...) I love you all very much and you will be in my prayers. Take care of my baby Smokey! I can't send pictures until I get out on the field because apparently the computers don't work well hooked up to cameras or something...whatever. I'll be here for 5 more weeks. Well, starting today. March 20th is when I head out to the field.
No comments:
Post a Comment