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| Sister Jacobsen and Sister Allan |
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| Trying on the investigator wigs with their MTC teachers |
First, a few fun facts about the CCM and the DR. When it rains, the lights will turn on and off at random times all day long. We sometimes have brownies as the main course for breakfast. Latinos sing at the top of their lungs no matter what they sound like so Sunday hymns are really fun! :) One of the hermanas is from Puerto Rico, so she's been giving us tons of advice. I'm so excited to go there!
This past Sunday I played a musical number in sacrament meeting, which was pretty exciting. Two of the latino elders thought that playing the piano is the coolest thing ever so they asked me to teach them something so I taught them Mary Had a Little Lamb. That was fun. :) Also on Sunday, we get to take a walk around the temple and this time there were 4 or 5 bats flying all around the temple. It was pretty exciting!
The language is slowly but surely coming along. The Spirit definitely gives us a boost when we are teaching. I can pray and bear my testimony in Spanish and I know enough to make it an entire day without speaking English so I'm really happy about that! This morning at the temple, we did sealings in Spanish and I could actually understand most of it.
Sister Jacobsen and I are getting along so well. She has been such a blessing to me. It's amazing to see how close you can get to someone when you're completely focused and centered on the gospel. Some days we'll finish teaching and then just sit for a really long time having a deep conversation about how it went and about the principles we taught. My testimony has been strengthened so much just be talking with her. I love her!
On Saturday, we met with our investigator for the last time. He basically just told us that he didn't want anything to do with the church. Even though he wasn't a real investigator, It felt like my heart had just been torn in half. It was so hard to hear him say no because I had come to love and care for him so much and I really wanted him to have these blessings that come from the gospel. It made me think of this scripture which I've come to love since being here:
7 And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, heworketh in me to do according to his will.
8 And my prayer to God is concerning my brethren, that they may once again come to the knowledge of God, yea, the redemption of Christ; that they may once again be a delightsome people.
My prayer is to teach everyone about the gospel so it was a difficult pill to swallow when he said no, but it taught me a lot. Heavenly Father has blessed me with so much love for this gospel and I just want everyone to have it, so it was hard, but I know I will experience that a lot in the field so at least I've had practice with it now.
So then we got 2 more investigators and they are a lot harder than the first one. It's rough but it's also been such an amazing learning experience. I can't even believe how much I've learned in just 2 weeks, but I love it so very much!!!
On Tuesday, every missionary except my district (4 of us) left for the field. So it was just the 4 of us here at the MTC all day Tuesday and Wednesday. It was so weird. But then we got the new bunch of missionaries on Wednesday night. There are 3 Haitian elders, 12 North American elders, and 2 sisters both from Utah. So now we have 15 elders and 4 sisters. All of the new ones are serving in the DR so my district is the only one going to Puerto Rico. I love smaller groups so I'm really enjoying it. I don't feel like I've been here long enough to be the "senior" missionary, but it'll be fun.
On Tuesday we also got to leave the temple gates! My district got to experience the city for the first time and walk to their store that is like Walmart but half the size. The driving here is super sketchy so we almost died a couple of times crossing the street but we made it! The walk there and back was my favorite because it was so pretty and we almost never get to go outside so it was nice to be in the sun for awhile.
I think that's really interesting about the silence things and just thinking. My last year of high school, I realized that I never gave myself time to think and ponder on things so I made a goal to only listen to the radio one day a week as I drove to and from school and I noticed a huge difference! I think it's very important that we give Heavenly Father and the Spirit that chance to answer our prayers and give us guidance as to what we need to do to become who He wants us to be. I wish more people could understand that because I think it would help a lot of people.
Anyways, I'm absolutely loving it here! I'm going to try to answer a couple other people's emails now so I love you all and I hope you all have a fabulous week!!!
Love you!!!
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~Hermana Allan
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