Hola Familia!! WOWWWWWWW! I LOVE BEING A
MISSIONARY SOOOOO MUCH! Thank you all so much for sending me the packages and
dear elders! Please send more! Also, let my friends know about the
dear elder thing. Its nice to get letters the same day you send
them! So I have soooo much to tell you guys but we only get an hour for
email and we are trying to be 100% obedient! I might be sending you all hand
written letters if I don’t have enough time. So my first day was CRAZY!
When the elder whisked me away the first thing we did was go get my name
tags. Then, there was like 500 different tables with different papers and
keys and access cards etc. Then they took me to the bookstore where I got
a giant 15 pound bag with supplies and books in spanish and english! I
felt bad cause the elder helping me was carrying all my heavy luggage, and I
live on the top floor and there is no elevators so I felt really bad
haha. Then we went to the classroom that I will be spending basically all
my time in for the next 6 weeks. The hermana teacher only spoke in
spanish and it was really hard to understand! Everyone in the classroom
was the people who are in my district for the next 6 weeks. I met my
companion, Elder Mercier(Mercy-A) he's awesome! I don't think I could’ve
gotten a better companero!
The teacher only spoke in spanish for the next
5 hours. Yeah so side note, I found out that they put me in the
intermediate spanish class???!!! So hard! I'm the most behind out of
everyone in my district with spanish. Almost all of them took AP spanish
this year! I didn't have time to open any of the letters in the
"open now" packet the first night but I was able to open them
throughout the week cause we were literally busy the whole day. I only
had about 10 minutes to get ready for bed and write in my journal before
"lights out". The spirit here is seriously SOOO STRONG!! The
first two days I struggled with spanish and understanding but now I'm to the
point where I understand almost all of what someone is saying to me! It's
just hard for me to speak back.
Last Thursday we had interviews with our
branch presidency and then after he called me to be the District Leader!!
I was really nervous and didn't really want to be because I felt like I had soo
much stuff to do and didn't have time. We had to prepare to teach a
lesson on Thursday and Friday completely in spanish, prepare a talk for
sacrament meeting, and me and Elder Mercier were assigned to teach priesthood
on Sunday too! I felt like I had so much stuff on my plate and I couldn't
handle the responsibility of being in charge of everyone. District
Leaders are responsible for the whole district, conduct interviews with the
senior companions, conducts meetings, make sure everyone is doing okay, reports
to branch presidency, etc. I accepted tho of course. I'm soo glad
that I did! It has been the best experience! Thursday night one of
the Hermanas, in our district, Hermana Beidler, was struggling and asked me if
I could give her a blessing, I did and I was really nervous cause the branch
presidency was there listening. The spirit was SOOO STRONG!
The priesthood is REAL! She told me later that she has
felt 100 X better. I love my district! I seriously feel like we have been best
friends with each other for our whole lives! On Friday I told the district that
we should set goals together so we set goals. I challenged everyone to be
100% obedient and everyone accepted the invitation! We have been doing
all that we can do to be 100% obedient! On our temple walk on Sunday we
even walked the long way cause the sign said "please don’t walk on the
grass” haha all of the other missionaries probably think we are crazy but
I know that we are being blessed with miracles because of it! I have
learned more spanish in the past week than I have in 3 years in school.
 |
| Left to right: Elder Bates, Elder Malovich, Elder Mercier, Elder Cook, Elder Smith, Elder Rasmussen Hermana Rounsville, Hermana Beidler, Hermana Peck |
By Friday I could pray completely in spanish and it’s cool cause all of our
prayers everyday, which is a lot, (waking up, gym, breakfast, class, ending
class, lunch, class, ending class, dinner, study time, nighttime, companionship
prayer etc.) are ALL 100% in spanish! I can basically say anything I want in my
prayers because of what I've learned so far! THE GIFT OF TOUNGES IS
REAL! My roommates are Elder Mercier, of course, who is from Oceanside,
CA, he is AWESOME! He is going to Cordoba, Argentina. I seriously
couldn’t have asked for a better comp. He has the same mindset as me and
strives to please the Lord. He was actually an ordinance worker at the
San Diego Temple before he came on his mission. He graduated in
2014. He's becoming to be one of my best friends! Also in my room
is Elder Rasmussen from Draper, who is going to Santiago Chile, and Elder
Smith, from Virginia who is going to Sydney Australia! WE all leave the
same day! I know that we were all meant to be here together. All of
us had crazy circumstances which led us to entering the MTC at this time.
My companion was supposed to be in the advanced 2 week course that started on
July 1 but they rescheduled him for July 15 intermediate randomly. For me
my mission call took forever and I didn't get into BYU summer term. The
others had similar circumstances but I can’t remember exactly. They are
really cool and everyone in our district is here for the right reasons.
It's sad to see other missionaries in our zone (floor) who aren't
obedient. They all stay up past bedtime and are playing games and stuff
in the hall. One night they were being so loud during (quiet time
10:15-10:30) my companion asked them if they could be quieter so that we could
feel the spirit. Guess who was the ones being loud? THE ZONE
LEADERS! AHHH hahaha The other Elders in our distrito are Elder Schwartz
(going to Orlando, FL) and Elder Malovich (going to Southern Argentina I forgot
the name) who are both from SLC. They are awesome too. Our district
is the only ones that are obedient and I'm grateful that I was blessed to be in
it. The hermanas in our district are Hermana Beidler from Virginia (going
to California somewhere) Hermana Peck from Arizona (who is going to Cordoba,
Argentina) and Hermana Rounsville from New Mexico (who is going to Cordoba,
Argentina). They are amazing and always have the spirit. Seriously tho I
LOVE THE MTC! The spirit here is so strong! One of the Elders in
our room was telling us about a talk one of the general authorities gave about
how special the MTC is and how he said something about angels who are
constantly on the rooftops of the buildings guarding us!!! When I get in
bed I hate taking off my name tag cuz I love seeing my name next to Christ’s.
I love knowing that I am a representative of him! I seriously can't go to
sleep sometimes because I'm so happy! I just can't stop smiling!
 |
| Where we spend 9 hours of our day |
It's funny because since we are in class so much only speaking spanish (9 hours
a day) we forget how to speak English sometimes! hahah We also usually teach 2
lessons a day. 100% spanish! The first one was pretty rough but we
have gotten a lot better! Our investigators are Antonio, and Alan.
Antonio is a fake investigator, but we think Alan is real cause people have
told us that and he doesn't wear garments.... So kinda
intimidating. We learned that as missionaries we need to be fluent in 3
languages, english, spanish, and the language of the spirit! The language
of the spirit is the MOST IMPORTANT! We had a very humbling experience
and lesson when we were teaching Antonio. We were teaching about baptism
but were having a hard time speaking. There was silence and I felt like I
needed to ask him if he would pray for us, to know if the church was true right
there! He did! The spirit immediately flooded the room! We
realized it didn't matter what we were saying or what we were trying to say in
spanish, but that the only language we need to be fluent in is in the
spirit! Even tho are spanish was horrible it was the most powerful
feeling! On Tuesday, Hermana Peck y Hermana Rounsville were getting a
cold. They asked us to give them blessings. I was able to anoint
the oil for Hermana Rounsville and mi companero gave the blessing. Then
with Hermana Peck we switched roles. SERIOUSLY I CANNOT DESCRIBE THE
POWER THAT WE FELT! Almost all of us were in tears after the blessings. I
didn't even know what I said but I know that God put all the words into my
mouth! I can't describe it! I LOVE THIS GOSPEL SO MUCH! I
LOVE BEING A MISIONERO! Sorry I have no time! I will send you guys all
personalized letters in the mail! Sorry! LOVE YOU ALL SOOOO
MUCH! I couldn’t be in a better place. Its funny we all say that we
are not in Provo, but in a whole different world. On our temple walk we
saw a family and we were like oh yeah I forgot that there are children in the
world! hahaha I get to go to the temple today @ 2! I got to go!
P.S. The food here sucks! Me and Elder Mercier
eat either cereal, PBJ sandwiches, or starve haha. We have only gotten
like 2 decent meals. But it’s all good!
 |
| Thanks for the real food, please send more!! |
-Elder Cook
No comments:
Post a Comment