Saturday, February 25, 2017

Week Five-Meeting Elder Russell M. Nelson!

¡Hola a todas!

I realized that last week I totally forgot to mention that PRESIDENT NELSON OF THE QUORUM OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES was coming this week! For those of you who aren't members, President Nelson is the person who is almost certainly going to be the next president of the entire Church! This Tuesday, he came and spoke to us. It was a super cool experience, and he shook every missionary's hand. He talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and the role it plays in the Church, and more especially about its role in missionary work. It was really cool to see the amount of respect people have for him. When he entered the room, everyone stood and was silent, and the only sound was the piano being played as he walked up to the stand. It was really an incredible experience to be able to see and hear him.

It's hard to top that, but I have other things to talk about. My Spanish is still getting better! I can actually understand the majority of what Latinos say to me, which is one thing I've always had trouble with. Two of the hermanas in our district made a goal to talk to some Latinos every day this week, so we usually sit near some during meal times so they can talk. It's really interesting being able to understand them, because it really shows the progress we have made.

I love learning Spanish and practicing with Latinos. The teachers sometimes have a hard time teaching certain concepts because it's in their native language. When you have always spoken a language, it makes it kind of difficult to teach someone else whose native language is different. Since I had a lot of Spanish classes before, I am sometimes able to help them teach things in a way that makes sense to English speakers. It has been really enjoyable to help others with their Spanish pronunciation and grammar.

 I actually had the chance to be my "investigator" this week. It was pretty cool to see the other side of teaching. Instead of being the missionary, I was hearing the message from the missionaries. It's helpful for two reasons: 1. I can learn from the other missionaries (and they can learn from me) 2. I get to feel like an investigator, which helps me to know what to do during lessons. It's also just enjoyable to pretend to be someone else.

I think my companion and I work really well together during the lessons. My Spanish is somewhat better, so it's easier for me to talk to investigators, but he is really good at remembering scriptures that apply to certain situations. That allows us to complement each other when we teach, which makes the lessons more fluid. It will be hard to leave all these people in the CCM! In less than two weeks, we'll all be gone to different missions! Luckily, my companion and I are both going to Provo, so we will probably see each other, but the rest of us won't see each other again! We're hoping to have some kind of CCM district reunion after our missions since most of us are going to school either at BYU or Utah State. Also, the family of one of our Hermanas is in our mission! We're hoping to see them while we're out! And, since she'll only be out 1 1/2 years, we may even see her before we're done.

I'm really excited to get out into the mission field to actually see the help I'm giving people. I don't have much longer to wait!

I actually have a couple pictures this week! They're the four elders in our district just taking some pictures. There's also a picture of Elder Youngblood holding this huge palm that he found! Not much exciting to take pictures of this week, but these ones are fun.


Not much else to say this week! Thanks to everyone who sent emails or letters this week! They really mean a lot, and it's nice to know that people are thinking about me. If you have anything you want to say to me, you can email me here! And if there is anyone you would like me to add to this email list, you can let me know and I will add them!

¡Hasta luego!​

Mom note: For some reason I can't see the pictures Chandler shared this week. They're hosted on Google Drive and it says I need permission. He granted permission for the one I've added here, but I still can't see the other ones. By the time we figured all of that out Chandler was out of time for emailing, ha ha. I could see last week's pictures just fine, so I'm not sure what's going on. Hopefully he can get it worked out before next week! 

Friday, February 17, 2017

Week Four at the CCM

Friday, February 10, 2017

Week Three-He's a District Leader!

Week Two-Our First Email