Week 4

Hola Family and Friends!!

I am overwhelmed with love right now for our family. Although I am sad that I have to witness our new addition to the family via pictures, I am so much more grateful for the blessing of the Gospel in my life! The blessing that we know where beautiful Alina came from. That she has not only a loving earthly father, but an ever loving Father in Heaven that will be looking out for her in every single aspect of her life, as he does for each and every one of us!

God really does love all of us. All the time.

Well we have had some amazing lessons with our investigators this week! I have felt the Spirit so strong in every single one. We are getting so much more comfortable with teaching without notes, and by doing that we are showing our faith, and letting the Spirit not only guide us in what we say, but fills in the gaps in what we don't say. 

Our latina roommates left this morning, and we will be getting our last wave of new missionaries tomorrow! I cannot believe that we are the oldest folks here! It has flown by!!

So here are some of the funny things that have happened this week!

-we started playing 4 square during sports (it is normally between basketball, volleyball, and the stationary bikes) and I have rekindled my elementary love for it :)

-We play a lot of "destresser" games throughout the day.. And this week we played "ráton y gato" with the Elders ties! Basically there were 2 ties that started on opposite sides of the circle and you had to put it on and then pass it on, until the cat caught up to the rat! It was super great, and almost more stressful than helpful!!

-In one of our lessons our investigator (who is also hands down the best teacher here) said when we asked him if he read, he said no, and then said "Es Chiste" and I thought he said "Es Triste" which means it´s sad, and the first means it's a joke! I was like yeah, it is sad!! And then he started laughing.. it took me a moment to realize, and then when I did I had to laugh at myself!

-During class when we were roll playing, the teacher asked an Elder for a name, and the Elder said "Colton" and our teacher looked at him like he was crazy! Our teacher tried a couple times to say it and then was like " Never mind, let´s just go with Aurellio" We were all like, "how is that any better?!"

We are going to a "strip mall" today! It is so nice that we get to leave every other week! It also hasn't rained in over a week here! It´s like we are having a drought! They had to turn on sprinklers outside the other day! 

So, here is my basic day:

6:30Am- wake up

6:40-sports

7:25-get ready

8:00-breakfast

8:30-language study

9:30-class or teaching

12:45-lunch

1:30-more classes and teaching

5:45-dinner

6:30-Classes

7:30-Snack

8:00-Personal Study

9:00-Planning

9:30- Sisters devotional

10:00-Get ready for bed

10:30-BEDTIME!!

And then we wake up and do it again! It's the best! :) I actually really love it! We have 2 of the greatest teachers here, and my companion is amazing! We have had a little more variety lately with some devotionals in the evening, but that is pretty much my day!

My "ponderizing" scripture for this week is Matt 11:28-30. Those verses are so applicable to my life right now! I am reading the New Testament, and I am going to finish before we leave the MTC. I love learning about the Savior´s life. I am constantly in awe of his unconditional love. I hope that I can also have that kind of deep love for the amazing people here. 

After our temple session this morning, there was a little girl with her mom in the lobby. She was the cutest!! We tried to get her to talk to us so we could practice our Spanish, but she just kept asking her mom why we were girl missionaries! She couldn't get over that :)

I know that there is no better place for me to be right now than here. I am so very grateful for this opportunity. I am learning more about myself, and so much more about the Gospel. I know that Jesucristo died for each of us. I have become more fond of the phrase "one by one". He loves, one by one. Heals one by one. We are all important to him. He knows EXACTLY how we feel. It isn't easy to be a missionary. There are hard days, and there are times when I have absolutely no idea what is going on. But there is One who knows exactly how I feel. That is my comfort. That is how I can continue to be happy. That is where I draw my strength. 

Love you all! Let me know if there is anything else you would like to know about the CCM (MTC)!! Got 2 more weeks!!

-Hermana Garrett