Week #5 Getting Along

Buenos Dias, Todos!

 

      Well things this week have gone a lot better than last week! Which is always a good thing! Being in a companionship with three people is still really difficult, but as I serve them, and pray for help, I am growing to love my companions so much.

 

      As I have said in past letters, we are teaching two investigators, Trino and Alex. Trino is doing really well and is practically ready to be baptized, except that he isn't married to the women he has a child and lives with. We're working on that. But last Saturday we held a little sacrement meeting in our classroom for Trino. We didn't actually have the sacrement, but did everything else. We sang hymns and had a testimony meeting. Beforehand, one of our teachers had talked to us about it and told us to make it as real as possible. He's done it in the past where everyone acts like the overwelcoming members. And while that is nice and all.. it's not realistic. So two people are the missionaries, and everyone else are members of the congregation. We chose two people to be the welcoming members, one person that is a little weird (doesn't every ward have one of those?), and the rest of us were just normal! Well Elder Kener (yes mom, the one that is going to Houston) took his role as the weird person a little too seriously if you ask me. The whole meeting was in Spanish, so he had a notecard of his testimony written out, and afterwards I copied from it word for word what he said. I won't tell you word for word everything he said... but pretty much none of us could hold it together. Well except  Elder Kener. he was just up there talking and didn't laugh at all. But he said that He knows the Bishop is a king of God, that when we die we rise from the cemetaries. He is very grateful for his 8 sons and 10 daughters, he is a goatmilker and that God blesses his goats more than he blesses his family. He talked about how Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon and that because of Joseph Smith we can return to God. (Which is false... anyone that is reading this and does not know very much about the LDS faith, Joseph Smith TRANSLATED the book of mormon, and it is because of Jesus Christ that we can return to God!) Anyways, he said that and much more that I feel maybe I shouldn't share. It was just really funny though. As I am writing this I'm realizing that maybe it won't be as funny to all of you, but the look on poor Trino's face. Let's just say we had a lot of things to clear up the next visit with him. He is doing well though!

 

     The next day in sacrement meeting Elder Kener (the one and only) got called as our new District Leader, and about six people in the audience started laughing. Mostly because they could only think of him as Jose Fernandez (the crazy member in the ward...) So funny. He is a great District Leader though. The Houston East Mission will be lucky to have him.

 

     Sunday was fantastic. Before I came out on a mission, I thought that I would live for preparation days, but I live for Sundays. They just really make you remember what is most important. And this past Sunday was the best one I have had yet in the MTC. Relief Society is always so fantastic. The speaker is usually a member of the General Relief Society Board, but this past week it was actually Sister Rosemary Wixom, the General Primary President, and I think that was the most beautiful meeting I have been in. Maybe ever. She had us stand and sing a couple of primary songs, one being "I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ." They are such simple songs, and I sang them all the time as a child, but I can't remember the last time I sang any of the primary songs that we did. But the spirit bore such a strong witness that these simple things are so true. "I know who I am. I know God's plan. I will follow him in Faith. I believe in the Savior Jesus Christ. I'll follow his way." It was just so amazing to be in a room with 300 worthy sister missionaries that are going out to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and know that we are daughters of God. I think I really realized what that means for me this week. I've always known that, but we literally are His children. And he loves us.

 

      Sunday evening they show films. They show previous talks that have been given at the MTC, the Joseph Smith movie, Legacy, and for the first time since I have been here they showed the Testaments. It was really neat to watch it. I hadn't seen it in a verrrrry long time. But I loved it so much. I love the scenes showing Jesus Christ's life. The scene where he is crucified brings me to tears everytime. I can't imagine that kind of pain. To be nailed to a cross for over 9 hours before he died, having the power to not go through that... He truly does love us.

 

      The Tuesday evening devotional was given by Elder Jose L. Alonso. It was a great talk... but the really neat thing was that his wife didn't speak English, so when she got up before her husband to talk and bare her testimony, she did it in Spanish, and then they had a translator... but I understood most of the Spanish. Way cool.

 

      The rest of the week has been pretty much the same thing I do every week. Yesterday we got to go the TRC (Training Resource Center) where members volunteer time to talk to us and listen to our awful Spanish. We just get to know them and share a spiritual thought. I love the TRC, because you don't usually prepare too much for it, and so you go in there and try out all that Spanish that you have been learning. It was a neat experience, and I can definitely feel myself progressing. The hardest thing (as I am sure it is for most people learning Spanish) is the grammar. Words aren't too hard... it's the verbs and conjugating. But I'm working on it!

 

     I love you all and miss you so much!!

 

Love,

Hermana Larson

 

PS- Sorry for all the typoes and stuff that doesn't make sense. The better my Spanish gets, the worse my English is.