I
don't know if I've told you all, but exercise time is the greatest
thing ever. It is so wonderful to have that break and remember that we
are all just normal people who like to have fun. That time of the day is
a blessing we eagerly look forward to. Also, I'm totally killing it in
basketball. Everyone is always surprised by my capabilities, including
myself ha ha.
New
missionaries came in Wednesday and more are coming tomorrow! It's crazy
to think that my time here is almost over. I've loved every minute
here, but the closer it gets to my time to go the more excited I get. I
can't wait to get out there and do some work in the real world.
Brother
Anderson, one of our amazing teachers, said something that has really
been hitting home as I go throughout my week. I hope it will be as
inspiring to someone reading this as it has been for me
"Courage is never letting your actions be influenced by your fears."
Sometimes
life and our very real fears make it hard to do what we know is right
or to act on the feelings or promptings we receive. I know that if we
have the faith to look our fears in the face and move past them we can
accomplish anything.
Something
very amazing happened this week. Have I told you how much I love our
Elders? Well, sweet Elder Flores had a bit of a hard time preparing for
his mission financially. He has a lot of things that are necessary, but
there are a lot of other things he has less of or had to go without
entirely. Seeing this need, the Elders from our district and the one
ahead of us all chipped in and got him his own set of scriptures with
his name printed on them. He just about cried and so did everyone else.
What he didn't know was that waiting for him in their residence was a
suitcase that they filled with other things no missionary should have to
go without. They got him a nice satchel, ties, more shirts, exercise
shoes (since he had been borrowing an extra pair of sister Garza's) and
many other things. I am so grateful to be surrounded by such loving,
selfless people who care so much for each other.
This
week we were assigned two more investigators to work with and we got to
teach both of them yesterday! One of them is named Hely and she is
probably the most amazing person I ever met. She is from Guatemala and
has had an incredibly hard life. Growing up during a civil war made her
childhood very different from others and put her family through great
hardships. Despite everything she experienced she never lost her faith.
She relied on God in times when most people would be to hurt to turn to
Him. She is inspiring to me and I cannot wait to meet with her again
tomorrow!
Yesterday
morning our whole district was extra tired for some reason. Our
teacher, Brother Anderson, just looks at all of us. He finally stretched
His arms out wide, and with his big cheesy grin, shouts "Welcome to the
mission!!!" I know I am going to be tired every day, and I know I
haven't felt anything yet. I know that no matter how tired we all are
the Lord will be on our side to help us push through because I'm sure He
doesn't want a bunch of zombies doing His work haha.
The
district ahead of us slipped out in the wee hours of the morning and
are headed to their various missions. It's crazy to think that in about a
week I'll be doing to same thing. Including the crazy early hours. We
got our travel plans last week so that makes everything even more real. I
am loving the MTC, but I'm not really sad about my time flying by. I am
so ready to get out there.
I
wanted to leave you all with one thought from President Gordon B.
Hinckley. "We must be a little better, a little kinder, a little more
generous, a little more courteous, a little more thoughtful, a little
more outreaching to others." I know that as we do these things we will
become closer to Christ and more like Him which is our whole purpose in
this life. If we were all a little more of something each day the world
would be an amazing place.
I love you all! Until next week!
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| "That's my companion!" |
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| My District |
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| Travel information |
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| Our zone |
