MTC Week 4

Hola Familia! Esta semana fue muy divertido y espiritual! Wow, I love being a missionary! First of all, thank you all SO much for writing me, dearelder.com-ing me, and for your constant prayers on my behalf (Mars, uncle Scooter, Amy Brown, todos!). I can feel the power of the Lord helping me; our Father in Heaven truly answers prayers! Special thanks to Holly, Greg, and DeVore family for the cute card! Muchas Gracias! And Mom, MUCHAS GRACIAS por las galletas (ga-shhe-tas pronounced with the Argentine accent! :) haha) My class and maestro were so grateful for the pick-me-up! I hope Dad is feeling better! I put his name on the temple role...again! :) I love going to the temple every week on P-day. I am learning so much as I truly ponder the teachings of the endowment and feel of the Spirit in the Celestial room. It's one of my favorite parts of my week! On a different note, I have another favorite part of the week: Volleyball! I play every gym period and I've finally started to learn how to do a "semi-spike!" But the best part is that old habits die hard - I counted EIGHT bruises on my knees this last week. EIGHT! haha And one HUGE one that's been bothering me. I also had a bruise on my palm of my hand for a while, but I just love playing volleyball! And it helps me have fun during gym time, then work hard during study time. Oh, and I see Mallory at least every couple days. She's incredible! Pues, Every week we write a talk for Sunday. Then the Bishop gets up and calls two people to give a talk in Spanish about what we prepared (but we don't know beforehand if we're going to give it or not). This week was about repentance, so I studied and thought about repentance, about CHANG(E)ing our hearts all this week. I did a lot of soul searching and I have felt the love and mercy of my Savior and Redeemer (Salvador y Redentor) Jesucristo. Ok, so Tuesday's devotional was Bruce C. Hafen. He had a wonderful talk about truly knowing the gospel is true. And that we don't have to know everything right now, but we just have to have the desire and work ethic too. I've taken that to heart and thought about a few parts of my testimony that I needed to do better on. I challenge all of us to continue to re-evaluate ourselves in a positive way. Because it has changed the way I study my scriptures and said my prayers. Plus my weaknesses have truly made me humble and I have put my trust in the Lord to lift me up. Similarly, in class Hermana Jesperson talked to us about a talk written by Joseph B. Writhlin called "Follow Me." It talks about casting our nets aside, like Peter and Andrew, and follow Christ. She encouraged us to cast our nets aside and follow Christ with our whole hearts on our missions. I love this quote from it, "As Jesus the Christ stood on the shores of the Sea of Galilee 2,000 yearas ago, so He stand today, issuing the same call He gave to those faithful fishermen and now to all who will hear His voice" "Follow Me!" We have nets that must be tended and nets that must be mended. But when the Master of Ocean, earth, and sky calls to us, "Follow me," we should leave the entangling, worldly nets behind and follow His footsteps." On Sunday, Sister Margaret Liffereth of the General Primary Presidency spoke to us. She's a very powerful woman in that she always focuses on our Father and Jesus Christ. And then one of my favorite moments this week was singing We'll Bring the World His Truth with the entire MTC. And you know what? They changed the words for us to sing, "We are as the army of Helaman, we have been taught in our Youth. And we ARE NOW the Lord's missionaries to bring the world His truth!" I AM A MISSIONARY!!! I am sooo grateful to my Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ to have this opportunity to serve them and their children. This is truly una obra marvillosa! Ben (and everyone), I LOVE TEACHING! I feel like I've been doing it my whole life. I feel like it comes very naturally. I am grateful I had opportunities to teach with the missionaries before my mission and also to teach Gospel Principles- that helped a great deal! I always go with what I feel in my heart. Sometimes Hermana Crosby doesn't always see where I'm going with something, but in the end the Espiritu Santo is always present and I know that we're doing our best and the Holy Ghost is taking care of the rest! Ben, I would LOVE for me and Herm. Crosby to teach you as a progressive investigator! OH, and this week I have a pretty difficult goal. I have decided that I want to actual be a representative of Jesus Christ in what I say, do, think, etc. I AM lucky enough to be His representative now as a set apart missionary, so I want to do as He woudl do, say what He would say, think what He would think. So far, there's been a clear distinction between the Spirit and Satan working on me trying to pull me in opposite directions and it's been a great experience. We have the FULLNESS of the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth! I KNOW we have a modern-day Prophet, named Thomas S. Monson. He leads and guides this church- he has all the keys necessary for the work of the Lord. He must talk to the Savior often. Oh yeah, and this week is my first week of teaching in SPANISH! Yikes! I am very very very nervous because I feel like I can not express myself in Spanish yet. It will probably take a few months, but I will trust in the Lord like I have been taught by goodly parents. I love all of you SO much! So, is Dad feeling better? I was hoping to see him at the temple (haha), but just know that I was thinking about you a lot today, Daddy! Mom, you're AMAZING! I don't know how you do it all! Did you receive my letter yet? I wrote about my schedule and life here at the MTC in greater detail. Biffy, I LOVE YOU SOOO MUCH! I'll write you again! Ben and Jackie, my prayers are always with you! Abby and Jack, keep those smiles on and you'll be a great missionary in your crazy school! :) Hermana Tingey P.S. Mom, can I get Dad, Ben, Jackie, and Biffy's email? Can you dearelder.com me your letters from last week? I miss you Mommio! HUGS AND HANDSHAKES!