p-day # 5

dearest family,
           how are you? :) things are so crazy busy here. the days are flying by. i remember that very first week in the provo mtc seeming to last like a whole year. the days were like 3 weeks long each. now, i can't believe the day is over when it is. i feel like there's not enough time in a day to learn everything that i want to get stuck in my head by the end of it. things are really going well with the
language though. the gift of tongues is so so real here. i was talking to one of my companions about it because i came into the mtc with the false impression that when i would both hear and speak spanish that i would have to quickly translate it into english and then translate what i want to say in english into spanish to respond. but it's not that way at all. when i speak and listen in spanish, my thoughts are actually complete in spanish. everything makes sense, but i don't have to translate anything into my natural language. it's the strangest thing ever. i find myself praying in my head in spanish and have to like really focus in order to say prayers in my head in english. both languages have become super bad. haha. i can't speak either language clearly anymore. my sentences usually come out with some of both. haha. spanglish at it's best. .)
           so, about my week. we have been teaching one of our teachers as an investigator names carlos. every time we teach him, i feel like us hermanas do it very well. but this week, he decided to challenge us with a question about polygamy. he asked both of the companionships of elders and by the time they were done teachin him, he decided he was confused and didn't want to hear from the sisters that night. it was super disappointing. but that kind of stuff will happen when i'm out there. i'm happy that they are preparing us for different situations that we could be in in the mission field, but at the same time it was super frustrating because we know that it's just a role play and we need the practice. oh well. the next day we set a date for his baptism and he accepted and we smoothed over his polygamy questions with my favorite scripture about faith, alma 32:27. it worked. it's like his
theme scripture. haha. i love it though. it always makes him feel better. i feel like my motto of my mission is going to be¨'poco a poco'. little by little.
            we also got to attend the temple this week on tuesday morning. it was so incredible. the temple here is super teeny tiny though. there were like 10 seats in the celestial room, but this week is something called semana santa. holy week. all of guatemala gets the whole week off of school and work and gets to celebrate with their families. so tons of saints come to the temple to do sessions and stay in the other half of the mtc called the casa de vuespos. it's so fun to see all of the kids and teens here with their families goingto the temple. i love it. :) but it also meant that the temple was crazy busy. so in the celestial room after the session, there was like nowhere to be. and with us 13 missionaries in there, it was super crowded. still incredible though. we had headphones to listen to the session in english, but i decided to be bold and listen to the whole thing in spanish with my headphones half on turned almost all the way down. it's incredible how much i comprehend when i listen. speaking the language is a different story, but i understand almost everything when i listen. i loved it. spanish is such a beautiful language. :)
            also, i forgot to tell you last week, but the president's wife asked me to be the music coordinator while i'm here. i'm i'm charge of coordinating all of music throughout all of the mtc for sacrament meetings and devotionals. it's hard to do when i can't really get my message across fully to the latinos, but i really like it. .) it helps me put myself out there even more and get to knwo more people. all of the missionaries here are amazing. i absolutely love getting to know them. all of the sisters on our floor are like the sweetest sisters i've ever met in my life. we all talk so much at meals and laugh so hard. somehow our hand actions and broken spanish gets our jokes across. haha. seriously, these latinas are so so hilarious. :)
         on tuesday night we watched an old devotional and guess what... it was from the first week that brayden was in the mtc last year! i searched for him everywhere but i could not find him. haha. it was a super good devotional by elder christofferson. i really enjoyed learning the things he had to say.k, i don't have much more time, but there is a photo on the webite of all of the missionaries here. i think anyways. i'm not sure what it is, but you should look for it. i'm wearing purple. and i'm on the
end. haha. on monday, we're going out proselyting with some missionaries that are here. it's going to be an adventure... haha.we'll see how my spanish goes! lastly, we play soccer every sports time. it's so much fun with the latinos! hermana nielsen is like a professional. haha. they are like asking her for her autograph at every meal now. i really really enjoy it. :) all right family. i love
you so much! have a wonderful easter! adios.