Hola!
I am doing fantastic, I absolutely
love the MTC! There is no place I'd rather be right now! Anyways last week was
good. I love my district and zone so much! Basically we start off the day
waking up around 6 or 6:30 and get ready for personal study at 7. We do that
for about an hour and go to get breakfast in the cafeteria. Afterwards, we go
to the gym and work out for a while. I usually run for about a mile and then go
and play volleyball with Hermana Rasmussen. Sometimes we even go out to the
field between the MTC and the temple and play volleyball with all of the elders
in our zone at the sand pit. Then we go to class for 3 hours, eat lunch, go
back to class for another 3 hours, eat dinner, and then back to class until
9:30 when we get ready for bed. We always get together with the sisters from
the other district in our zone to sing a hymn in Spanish before bed. We go to
sleep by 10:30. Our schedule changes every day but that's generally what it
is.
This morning we got to go to the
temple with our zone so that was fun!
Spanish is going great! It's
amazing how real the gift of tongues is here. I never go one day without
feeling its influence. Knowing French is helping too, because there are lots of
similarities between the two, however sometimes knowing French confuses me
more. Usually we spend about an hour of our own study time studying the
language, and then a full class time where the teacher teaches us a bit and
speaks to us in Spanish the whole time. About
4 hours is spent focused on learning Spanish each day.
The third day here we started
teaching a progressing "investigator" named Ullyses. It's really hard
teaching the gospel in a language I don't know very well, however it's getting
there. I know how to say prayers and share a simple testimony. Also I can pull
up some sentences if I think about it a lot and take it slowly. Teaching is fun
though! Hermana Rasmussen and I always seem to be on the same page about what
topics we feel like we should teach, which I guess is a sign we're doing
something right. Sometimes it's been hard to feel the spirit in our lessons
though, since I can't communicate all I want to. However, last lesson with Ullyses went
fantastic, and we got him to pray with us! Even though he's not an actual
investigator, it was still amazing and we felt the spirit very strong! I even
got out a few sentences without relying on my notes!
We also started teaching a really
sweet lady named Maribel who I think we will be teaching most of our time here.
For some reason when I went in with Hermana Rasmussen to teach her I totally
forgot all of the Spanish that I do know so it was really difficult for me.
Luckily Hermana Rasmussen is pretty much fluent in Spanish, so I can rely on
her to speak if I can't. Even though I didn't do much teaching yesterday we did
manage to sing “I am a child of God” for her and the spirit was very strong
there. Then when Hermana Rasmussen asked me to say a closing prayer somehow all
of the words that I needed came to my mind! It was really neat! Maribel even
complimented me on how well it went after we were done teaching!
Hermana Rasmussen is amazing! She
has such a strong testimony and has helped me so much with my Spanish! She's
from somewhere in Wyoming so she's in the same temple district and mission as
Grandpa and Grandma Allen. She is also almost exactly a year older than
me. She has some health problems, so we
have spent some time at the doctor’s office. It's teaching me a lot about
patience though! I sometimes get really frustrated, because I end up missing
classes and study time that I really need. I probably know the least amount of
Spanish in our district, but I am learning to be patient and not stress about
it all. I know as long as I am trying my best that the language will come even
if I don't learn all that I need to until I am out in the field. It's
surprising to me how relaxed I am. I feel totally happy! ( That doesn't mean I
don't miss you all because I do a lot, I guess I am just not letting it bring
me down because I know this is what I need to do right now.) Also she knows
Eric Barker (the Chipman’s cousin).
I have also gained a testimony of
how God puts us in certain places for a reason. I may not know why I was chosen
to be Hermana Rasmussen’s companion to help her through this, but I guess
that's where God thought I fit best. I also love the other sisters in my zone.
They're all so sweet and we've grown so close in just this little amount of
time! It's really sad though, because we will have to say goodbye to half of
them next week. However we are also getting another district into our zone
today! Oh also it's funny because one of my zone leaders is named Elder
Whittier, and so I asked him if he was related to Elder Whittier from our ward
at home. Turns out he's not, but he grew up in Castle Rock and is friends with
Landon Bellum, so we have a lot to talk about.
Anyways one thing I learned this
week about the spirit I think is found in D&C 50. It teaches how when you feel the spirit your
investigator will most likely too. This means that when we go into a lesson to
teach, we should seek to have the spirit with us beforehand so that it's more
likely for them to feel it. We need to have all of the qualities listed in
Galatian 5:22-23. If we already have the spirit it will be easier for us to
help the investigator feel it and gain a testimony of gospel principles!
Anyways I love you all! I hope you’re
doing well!
Love,
Hermana Burgoyne
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