Hola Familia y Amigos!
So I'm pretty grateful that even though we do the same things everyday here at the MTC... There are still lots of things to talk about!
Chistes de Misioneros
So our (maestra) teacher Hermana Skidmore, told us that we will develop our own missionary jokes... So far the first and most classic is "pescado" vs. "pecado." Apparently some of our elders in our district told Roberto our "investigator" that he could be forgiven of his pescados... Yeah, "pecado" means sin, and pescado means fish. So they literally told Roberto that he could be forgiven of his fishes haha! How he kept a straight face and took us seriously through our lessons is beyond me. A talent I tell you, a talent.
But, the best yet is by your's truly. This is such a classic Amy moment, you'll love it.
So one night we had three extra teachers in our classroom to help us practice contacting and other fun missionary stuff. So Hermana Ahlmer and I approached one of them sitting at a table and we started chatting with him. Keep in my mind, this wasn't real thank goodness! But eventually he told us that he was "divorced and just wanted his life to change for the better" and that's when I said "Pues, tenemos un massage por usted!" Hoping that would translate to "Well, we have a message for you!"
... I can literally hear Matt laughing at me right now. Our "contact" started laughing and motioned with his hands by opening and closing them like he was massaging someone's shoulders and said, "no no no no. Not massage. It's, mensaje. Massage literally means massage." So I told the guy we had a massage for him pero, esta bien... At least now there is no way I can forget that Mensaje (men-saw-hey) means message and massage (ma-saw-hey) means massage! This definietly made the Chistes de misioneros list for sure! Missionary jokes, haha.
Adios Roberto, Hola Hermano Roberts
So on Monday we had our "last" lesson with Roberto. That was an adventure in itself because Hermana Ahlmer and I were trying to explain what a bishop was and it just lead to me drawing pictures of churches and Heavenly Father while trying to explain in very broken Spanish and he was probably just about as confused as you are now haha. Pero, esta bien.
Annnnyways.
We had heard rumors from districts that had been here longer than us that they had a "progressive investigator" at first and then after their final lesson, their investigator became their teacher so we all had our suspicions. And waddya know, Tuesday after lunch Hermana Ahlmer and I walked into class first and there was Roberto dressed in maestro church clothes! We were pretty psyched. And so we found out his name is actually Parker Roberts, he served in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is from Draper, and has a twin brother! Whaaaat? We see his brother all the time, and their not identical because Hermano Roberts is way taller and darker than his brother haha. But even weirder, he and Hermana Ahlmer went to school together at Alta her sophomore year and he graduated with her older brother so they kind of new each other before now. The MTC just keeps getting smaller and smaller here I tell you!
My Ex-Investigator Saved My Life
So on Wednesday, we were memorizing the principles in the first lesson of preach my gospel. Hermano Roberts paired us up and had us recite it and explain it all in spanish. No hablamos ingles en el CCM.... Entonces, he gave us a time limit that eventually became less and less until we had THIRTY seconds to do it and I was PUMPED. Way too pumped. I wonder if this is what they call greenie fire? This is totally another Classic Amy moment. You'll love this one too.
Our desks are the kind where the seat and the actual desk is attached to each other just fyi. Anyways I was paired up with Hermana Timm and we were sitting across from each other and the moment Hermano Roberts said "Empezar" I was so excited I leaned forward so fast and all of a sudden I started falling forward in slow motion and Hermana Timm was kind of screaming and maybe I was too but I don't know I was trying hard not to slam my face into her desk. Luckily, Hermano Roberts was walking behind me just as this was happening so he pushed my seat back down and therefore saved my life.
Whew, gracias!
Esta bien. Estoy bien.
Hermana Timm and I couldn't stop laughing and I struggled so hard to say the principles after that. Even Hermano Roberts struggled not to laugh for the rest of the thrity seconds. But I wish you all could hear Hermana Timm's laugh. It's seriously the best and makes everything 137x better!
"What did you think I was saying???"
So I kind of have a lot of stories involving Hermano Roberto this week haha. Oh this another classic Amy Moment. We're tallied up to 3 Amy moments total this week haha esta bien. You'll love this one too. It's the best! So during class at this one moment I decided not to pay attention, Elder Schiess asked Hermano Roberts something about "caja" (caw-ha). Now for some reason that made me remember Hermana Timm and Elders Knickerbocker and McCoy discussing something about Kaka literally meaning poop in spanish. So I leaned over to Hermana Ahlmer and asked her "doesn't kaka mean poop?"
Dead. Silence.
Yeah, all my years of being best friends with Abby Stanworth has taught me nothing but how NOT to whisper. Love you Elroy but Everybody heard me.
Hermana Timm burst out into tears laughing so hard like the way she always does and then I lost it and Hermano Roberts was trying so hard not to laugh but he eventually lost it too.
"No Hermana," he pointed at the word caja he had written on the board. "Not kaka. CAJA."
Elder Schiess was red from laughing so hard. "What did you think I was saying???"
No. Me. Gusta. Cereal.
So this is probably going to be the worst/best highlight of my entire MTC experience. But I HATE cereal now because of it.
Elder Trapani.
Great guy, really just a great guy.
He's our Zone Leader.
From Virgina.
Fun to talk to.
Encourages everyone.
But I will always remember him as the person who made me hate cereal.
After our walk around the Provo temple on Sunday and sang songs outside the MTC, Elder Trapani had us huddle up and he gave the oddest most inspiring pep talk I've ever gotten about cereal.
"Alright guys! Tonight is the Night! Our record of bowls of cereal our zone has eaten at once is 118. We're gonna break it tonight! I want to see my best out of you, and out of you, out of you, and out of all of you! Tonight we're not just going to break that record... We're gonna set a new record for 250! Take this seriously! I only want to see rice krispies or life! No chocolate milk! I don't want to see any funny business!"
"Awww come on Elder!"
"Can't we eat whatever cereal we want!"
"Alright fine!" Elder Trapani yelled with a determined look on his face. "Just do you, just do you. We're going to eat 250 bowls of cereal"
...
The sisters and I all thought like "whatever, the elders can eat themselves sick if they want but we're going to be healthy."
But when you're in the heat of the moment and you can feel the competitive spirit of all the Elders inhaling four bowls of cereal at once all around you, you kind of just get sucked into it without even realizing what you're doing. I'm sorry all the new sisters from last week had to experience that, but I had never seen such heroism. I ate five bowls, Hermana Ahlmer had six, Hermana Timm had five, Hermanas Bradley, Knoepf, Hollingworth, and one of the new sisters had eight.
And we were sick.
"I could probably eat more, but I feel like I shouldn't be that rude to my body." - Hermana Hollingworth.
I remember hearing that a sister threw up after the last competition so I was scared. When I opened my mouth to sing at choir practice that night I was so afraid that words weren't going to be the only things tumbling out of my mouth.
Pero, esta bien.
The elders though were determined. And they were sick in more ways than just one. Elder Knickerbocker I kid you not ate FIFTEEN bowls of cereal and was 100% okay but I was like only 14% okay about it. Elders can pound it like nothing else and not gain weight. Must be nice.
Anywho, one or two of them mayyyy have thrown up, perhaps right there in the lunch hall and started laughing and smiling about it and saying, "hey I feel better now!"
Or maybe not...
That's up to you. I won't be too specific.
We tried our best but we only made it to 241 bowls of cereal total. We cleaned out the milk machine in the cafeteria. Worth it? No but yes.
No because now I feel anxiety whenever I think of cereal.
Yes because now I have a great classic MTC story to tell.
I love my zone!
Sí, Puede!
Here at the MTC, it´s not all about singing in a choir of angels (minus that one person that's always off key) and having cereal contests. We are here to learn and work. I don't ever feel overwhelmed, but it is a lot to take in a day because we are seriously doing something from 6:30 in the morning to 10:30 at night. I've never slept so good or had such weird dreams haha.
But there has been a sister in my district that has been struggling a lot. She is really really really smart. Spouts fun facts all day. I learn lots of things besides gospel doctrine and Spanish because of her. But she gets really frustrated with the language I think because she's not picking it up as fast as the rest of us and she is really is just so smart. She didn't have the best attitude either.
Hermana Skidmore, our maestra, zeroed in on this so quick. She gave us a peptalk one day and told us that because we are missionaries and have been called of God and have been set apart, WE CAN DO IT! She told us she believed in us and that we already made her so proud and other mushy stuff only an Hermana would say that we loved. She had us chant, "Sí, Podemos!" (Yes, we can!)
And she wrote sticky notes on our desks with our names on it like "Hermana Davidson, sí puede!" (Sister Davidson, yes you can!)
It wasn't really something I needed at the moment, but I have definitely relied on that since then. Hermana Ahlmer and I say "Sí, podemos!" all the time now.
Esta bien!
Hermana Ahlmer and I had the sweet opportunity to teach Relief Society this week. And I'm not being sarcastic! I have never loved teaching a lesson so much! It was about teaching with the spirit, and man, did we teach with the spirit haha! Hermana Ahlmer and I make such a great team and it was the first time we taught a lesson where we both understood what each other and ourselves were saying because it was all in English.
I wish teaching lessons at home were as good as they are in the MTC because EVERYONE participates and because of that, the spirit is so strong and the conversation goes directly where it is needed to go.
The discussion eventually turned into relying on our Heavenly Father when we need to. Here at the MTC, and on the mission in general I guess, you pray as much as you breathe it is such a sweet blessing. I don't think I have realized before now that prayer is one of the most powerful gifts we have been given.
When Hermana Ahlmer and I taught our first lesson with Roberto, we forgot to say the opening prayer and the whole lesson was a TRAINWRECK. We talked about it after and we both agreed we did not feel the spirit at all and then we looked at each other as the realization dawned on us and we were like "OMG we forgot to pray!" We prayed during the second lesson and it went sooooo good. Praying, especially praying with a sincere heart makes a huge difference. I hope all of you at home are remembering to pray with clear focus and intent because seriously...
PRAYER is one of our most POWERFUL and PRECIOUS gifts that we have been given.
During the lesson, prayer was reiterated a lot. I told the sisters that I think that everyone feels inadequate or unworthy in some way. I had this very great friend at BYU-I, and he told me that "Before, during, and after your mission you're going to feel unworthy of something because that's how Satan wants you to feel. He knows you and the powerful things you will do in life. He's afraid of you. He doesn't want you to become so great." I told the class that I had read a scripture somewhere in PMG that said we shouldn't rely on or be confident in our own strengths. We don't have to be confident at all. But we should be confident on the Lord and his strengths, because he can expand our insecurities into our capabilities 100x strong. All what you need to do is to be willing and ask for it through prayer. It's okay to be scared, but trust in Him and you don't have to be. He knows and loves you, He will take care of you always.
Hermana Ahlmer shared a scripture in D&C 50, and as we were reading along I saw some verses there that had I highlighted a long time ago and felt inspired to read it.
It's D&C 50: 40-44
40 Behold, ye are little children and ye cannot bear all things now; ye must grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth.
41 Fear not, little children, for you are mine, and I have overcome the world, and you are of them that my Father hath given me;
I think it's my new favorite scripture. I think our lesson really was inspired and need by the sisters because later on through the week, became really apparent that the new sisters needed our 1 week veteran experience haha. One sister asked for advice from during our temple walk. I was so surprised and flattered. Knowing me, I'm usually the one that needs advice not the other way around. But it felt good to help her out a little. I have really grown to love the sisters so much so quickly and just love it.
On Monday, two of the new sisters confided in us that they've been really struggling in the MTC. Hermana Ahlmer is perfect for making people feel good. She's like a much nicer, younger, and whole lot prettier female version of Donald Trump because she knows how to ramble on and on about a subject and you kind of feel confused because she talks so much but it makes you feel really really good and happy. She has gift.
I felt so proud as the sisters teared up at her words. She said exactly what they needed to hear!
You guys, not going to lie... I'm scared to get a new companion after all of this. Hermana Ahlmer has set my standards and expectations for companions way too high.
Bless her.
Well that's all for this week! I hope I made you cry with laughter and with spiritualness... Is that even a word??? But I love you all, and just want to let you know that I remember you but I don't worry about you because I know you're in the best hands. I hope you do the same for me.
Te Amo!
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