This week has been so amazing! We just got back from the Temple and it is GORGEOUS! There is a little tienda right on the Temple grounds that sells these awesome Mexican scripture cases. When I find out how to send pictures I will definitely send you one. I don't think I have ever been more tired in my life. I also don't know if I have ever been more happy in my life. This place is amazing. Simply amazing! I don't even know where to start. The first couple days was just a lot of orientations and meetings, stuff like that. We learned about security and the dress code, etc. etc. We also started our Spanish language classes. The first day I felt really confident about my Spanish. Our teacher doesn't speak much English though, so sometimes there is a language barrier, but we usually can understand what he is saying.
My companeras name is Hermana Enniss and she is awesome! She is totally dedicated to the work and always works so hard. We do really well together. The two other Hermanas that share a room with us are Hermana Field and Hermana Hurst. They are both so much fun. We basically are a four companionship because we go everywhere together haha. Both Hermana Hurst and Hermana Field are going to Tucson too! So we potentially could we companions out in the field. Our district is pretty awesome. We are the only two sister companionship's, and we've got three elder companionship's. I'm pretty sure I am the oldest person in our district though. I mean... 20 isn't old, but with the age change, I feel like the crypt keeper! So we have a progressing investigator named Roberto Carlos [not an actual investigator, just someone that works at the MTC who pretends to be so we can practice], and get this, on the second day of being here, we had to teach our first lesson... all in Spanish. It was terrifying. I'm pretty sure we didn't teach him much of anything, but as Hermana Enniss was saying something, I just sat there and realized we were teaching in Spanish. We were actually communicating in all Spanish! It was nuts! The spirit was so strong! I almost started crying. That is the one negative about being a missionary, I seriously cry so much now haha.
On Sunday we had a devotional where we watched a pre-recorded video of Elder Scott speaking at the Provo MTC. I think it was about a year ago. Go look that talk up it was honestly so amazing. His topic was about how we receive answers to our prayers and how weakness like fear, pride, etc, stop those answers from coming. I didn't know what happened but about halfway through the spirit hit me so hard. I was a total wreck. I went through about a whole package of tissues and the Elders in the row in front of me kept turning around and staring at me. It was awkward. I think the reason I felt so strongly about that talk was that on Saturday Hermana Enniss and I taught Roberto his second lesson and it just went awfully. We had written out our whole lesson in Spanish and had spent most of our preparation time translating so we didn't prepare very well. I also felt so unbelievably nervous before and was just dreading the lesson. We just couldn't communicate with him and he didn't seem to be getting anything from it and at the end Hermana Enniss asked him if he was learning anything from our lessons and he said no. That broke my heart. It was all I could do not to bust out in tears, again with the crying. But when I heard Elder Scott say part of the reason we may not be getting answers to our prayers, could be because of fear, I was totally overwhelmed. I felt so lame but also at the same time, so much love. I literally felt like I was getting the biggest hug of my life. We have been asked to do a lot of things here that take me out of my comfort zone, like talk to the Latinos to help with our Spanish, bear our testimonies to Latinos, teach a lesson in a language I don't know, etc. I realized at that moment, the reason I was not getting the success I want is because I don't have enough trust that the Lord will help me to succeed. The next day we had another lesson with Roberto. As we prepared, I worked hard on listening to the spirit as I studied and was totally lead to amazing scriptures. One problem Roberto has is he feels guilt for some things he has done in the past. We ended up teaching about repentance and the atonement a bit and used the story of Alma the younger. We had him read Alma 36 verses 19-21 and after he read them, I asked him how he felt about those scriptures. He bore such a powerful testimony of how he understood that it was because of repentance that Alma was able to escape those awful feelings of guilt and feel joy again. Oh man the spirit was so there. The room was bursting with it. We could totally tell he was feeling it too. At the end we asked him to pray about baptism. He said he needed some more time to think about it, but that he was seriously interested. Man alive, I almost started weeping right there. I really need to get a handle on my tear-ducts. We are teaching him again tomorrow and I am so excited to see how his prayers went. Fun fact, today at the temple we saw Roberto. We made eye contact with him and he looked away so fast. It was hilarious!
So here is my day to day life now that the chaos of being new is fading away. We wake up at 630 and have to be at our classroom by 7 to have study time with our district. Breakfast is from 8 to 9. The food here is so delicious!!! They almost always have vegetarian options which is awesome. I have tried to start eating more meat but sometimes they have some weird looking stuff. We tried this fruit the other day that tasted like I was biting down on a piece of tree bark. We have no idea what it was, but steer very clear from it everyday now haha. After breakfast we have language study, coaching, lesson preparation for about 3 hours. The personal study for half an hour then lunch at 1230. After lunch we have gym time. Hermana Field is totally sport savvy and was a trainer before she came here so lately I've been having her give me workout sets to do. I think I'm loosing weight, which is shocking considering we always eat so much during each meal. After gym we have time to prepare for our lesson and then we teach Roberto at 445. Thursday will be our last day with him though, so we have got two more days to teach him! Fingers crossed for baptism! At around 6 we have dinner. After dinner we do this program called TALL which is a computer Spanish training program. After TAll we have additional study time with our district then we head home at 930 and are in bed by 1030. I am not used to having such a set schedule, but its actually fun. Its nice to just follow the schedule.
I can already tell though that Sunday is going to be my favorite day every week. We have relief society then sacrament then devotional then a lesson with the MTC presidency and at the end of the day we watch a church related movie. My fingers are crossed for 17 miracles!
I love you guys so much! This place is amazing! One thing I challenge you to do this week is give a specific prayer. We had a lesson this week about how praying for something VERY specifically and having faith that it can be answered is a testimony builder. My specific prayer was to have a successful lesson with Roberto and to help him feel the spirit and want to be baptized. And it happened! Let me know how it goes! The gospel is true! I know it! I live it! I love it so so so much!
Love,
Hermana Lundquist