My dear people.
The church is true! In case you didn't know.
This week has been a very tough, but very spiritual week. The days begin to blur together after awhile, and so the weeks go by so quickly. I've been able to enjoy ALMOST every minute. We leave for Mexico two weeks from Monday, which is INSANE. Seriously, I can't even believe how quickly it has gone.
It's UNREAL.
(that's my new favorite saying here in the MTC).
Hna Bunderson and I love to do the MTC choir. We got to sing "Jesus Once of Humble Birth" this week in the Tuesday devotional. I have forgotten how much I miss choir! Oh, speaking of that, I see Elder Webb pretty much every day. I haven't gotten a picture with him yet, but it's become a sort of competition between us as to who can see who first.
I usually lose.
Actually I've only won twice.
Hna Bunderson is better at spotting him than me.
Ha ha.... oh well. It's been a fun game to play! I sure MTC-appropriately-love that kid.
Oh! In choir, Hna Bunderson has this friend that's going to Slovakia! I talked to her and her companion about how much I absolutely LOVE Slovakia and they were so excited. Ah! What I wouldn't do to go back there! We talked about it for like a good twenty minutes, and I mentioned that I had gone there for model rocketry when all of the sudden, both girls are freaking out...
"WAIT A SECOND. YOU'RE THE ROCKET GIRL?"
"WE READ YOUR MORMON.ORG PROFILE!"
I guess they had searched Slovakia on Mormon.org and I had come up. Oh man I was DYING. It is SUCH a small world. We had a lot of fun with that one :)
Oh, to mention. Our district's favorite thing is... kickball. Ya. Can't get enough of that one during our gym time. We are SO GOOD.
This week we started TRC training where we are teaching a progressive investigator. Our girl, named Maria, is from Venezuela and so she honest-to-goodness does not know very much English. Our first lesson... oh man. Don't even ask about the first lesson. We made the mistake of diving right into teaching. Second lesson though, we sat and talked to her for forty five minutes. We just got to know her better. Ha ha! At one point, she wanted me to SING to her. So after five minutes of laughing, I totally sang her a verse from a hymn I'm practicing. We laughed soooo long about that one. The things you will do for investigators!
Third lesson... we sat and talked to her for an hour. At one point, I was so sure I was following the conversation just fine (Hna Bunderson knows more Spanish than I do, so she was able to communicate a lot better) and I thought they had moved on from talking about cooking to talking about sewing. But all the sudden Maria is doing these violent hand gestures (like she was doing SURGERY or something) and all I can do is look at them and say "¿Qué en el MUNDO?" What the heck is going on?!
Ha ha... Maria could not stop laughing. I thought they had been talking about sewing. They were actually talking about cutting open a chicken.
Spanish. I'm telling ya. You learn new things every day, whether you want to or not.
OH! Mama Oaks! Thank you SO much for the package you sent to us! The Hnas were SO excited (see the picture at the bottom). We love mints and stickers more than ANYTHING, especially Hna B! We're saving the rice krispies for our fiesta on Monday.
Speaking of Monday!
Hno Snyder is leaving us on Monday. So the Hnas did what any good person would do. We sticky-noted the hecka out of his motorcycle.
Ahhhhhhhh. It was a beautiful day of dying from laughter.
We've been planning this thing for a WEEK. Ahhhh.
We're so sneaky.
Yesterday we had a really spiritual experience. We were talking about receiving revelation through church attendance, and how important it is that investigators (and members) attend church each week. Hna T and Hno S took us up to the Wyview Chapel and we had the opportunity to sit in the priesthood room, the relief society room, and the chapel. After, we were given the opportunity to give our own "tours" of the church to some of the teachers and workers there at the church, teaching them as themselves instead of fake investigators. Hna Bunderson and I won rock-paper-scissors to teach Hno Snyder.
We were supposed to give a tour of the church but we never even left the chapel. Ah man. I can't even remember most of the things that I said, but I can remember how strong the Spirit was in those twenty minutes that we had the opportunity to sit down and teach Hno Snyder as Hno Snyder. We were all crying by the end. It has been a long time since I have felt the Spirit that strongly.
We don't want him to go on Monday.
But.
We understand why.
This gospel is true. I have had experiences here in the MTC that make me unable to deny the truthfulness of this gospel, of the gift of tongues, of the testifying power of the Holy Spirit. It's real. It's all real. There is a message, an aspect of the gospel, that applies to each and every one of you, no matter what you are going through or enduring. The gospel can help. Christ can help. He wants to help. He wants to pull you from the water, he wants to rescue you. His arm is already outstretched towards you. It's our responsibility to reach out and grab it, to accept His help.
I love you all, and I'm so grateful for the influence that you all have had on me in my life. Every single one of you.
Two more weeks until Mexico!
Be safe. Don't do drugs. Make good choices.
