Buenos Dias!

 

I cannot believe it is preparation day already! My time at the MTC is really picking up. I told myself before I came out on a mission that I would be honest about everything when I write home, and not just be superficial and talk about how amazing I am doing... although I am doing amazing! But this week was without a doubt my toughest here so far. The first two weeks everyone else was having a hard time and I was like, " It's not that bad people! Come on!"  But then I kind of got a glimpse of it this week. I guess it started Friday morning. I was in class, and we were going over some teaching techniques (in English) and it was so incredible. Just getting to know peoples' backgrounds and that kind of thing. Well we did that for an hour, and then they said, "Okay... now do that in Spanish!"   And I tried, but then I had a little bit of a freak out... because I was able to connect with people so well when I was speaking English, and I was loving it, but then when I had to speak in Spanish, it wasn't the same, and I couldn't say what I wanted to. I was just so frustrated, and jealous of the other people that get to speak English on their missions, and can really share how they feel with the people, and not be limited by the words that they knew. I just started crying, and a resource teacher came to work one on one with me, and I honestly couldn't think of any of the Spanish I knew, but he kept pushing me to talk in Spanish. So I finally was able to say a couple of sentences then he let me off the hook for a while. I was questioning why I was out here and just having a really hard time. I didn't want to be unhappy, but I didn't know what to do to be happy. That night I just felt the Spirit tell me to read my journal entries from when I decided to serve a mission. It was incredible how much better I felt.   I know that there is a reason God has commanded us to keep a journal. It's so important to be able to reflect on the spiritual experiences that we have had.

 

I went to sleep Friday feeling so much better about everything here, but when I woke up on Saturday my back was killing me. My lower back hurt so bad. I hadn't done anything to trigger it, but I couldn't lay down or sit anywhere that made it feel better. I tried streching it out, and that helped, but it still hurt. I took some pain reliever that made me feel better. I toughed it out through Saturday and Sunday, but when I woke up still in pain Monday I decided to go to the clinic. I was thinking that maybe it was the beds here that it had just been building up and building up. Well,of course it was Martin Luther King Day so the clinic was closed, but they told me to talk to a District President that was in for the day. He's the one that can give me permission to e-mail home and I was thinking Julie could just send me a mattress pad or something and maybe that would fix the problem. So I met with him and told him what was going on. I told him what I was thinking about the beds. He just said that he didn't think it was a good idea for me to e-mail home Monday, and that I was too young to not be able to sleep on these beds. It was kind of hard to hear because I guess that wasn't what I wanted to hear. But he asked me if I would like a blessing, and I said yes. He blessed me that I would be able to bear the pain and that I would be able to do everything that I needed to. I woke up the next morning a little stiff, and I still am in a little bit of pain when I have to sit in class allll day, but it is so much better.

 

Monday night we taught one of our progressing investigators about the Book of Mormon. I was still pretty frustrated with Spanish, and had not been having a very good day with my back hurting. But before we went in to teach him I just said a prayer that the leccion would go well. I needed it to go well. And it did. It was the best lesson we have had. I had been having difficulty feeling the Spirit in our lessons because we were struggling through our poor Spanish. But during this lesson our Spanish was just flowing. I felt like I was having an out of body experience where I could hear myself just speaking so smoothly. I never thought I would hear myself speak another language this well. The past couple of days have been incredible as far as Spanish goes. We are trying to SYL (speak your language) all day long.

 

Wednesday morning, at 4 am Hermana Paine left for the Peru MTC. Her compenara Hermana Marcum, became part of our compainionship, so now there are three of us.  She has an extremely different personality than I do. But she has nothing but good intentions, and I am trying very hard to love her and to make her feel welcome in our companionship. This morning we had the opportunity to attend the temple and do initiatories. I hadn't done those since my own, and it is incredible to be reminded of the wonderful blessings God has promised you if you stay faithful.

 

Sorry this letter was a bit of a downer. I'm trying to stay positive and have the best experience I can. My testimony of Jesus Christ, and his love for all of God's children is getting me through. But March 6th can't come fast enough. Also being fluent can't come fast enough. Thanks for the letters and all the support. I love you all.

 

Love love love,

Hermana Larson

 

 

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