HOLA FRIENDS AND FAMILY!
Overview
haha I am in the best mood EVER so this email will probably come off potentially even more ridiculously happy than the last one. This was definitely, hands down, one of the most rewarding and fun weeks of my life. My companion and I are finally starting to get a handle of the spanish, and we have found a way to study it that is more effective, and provides more time for actually studying the scriptures and the gospel which makes me SUPER happy. :) Last P day we made the goal to read a chapter of the scriptures in spanish every day, looking up all the words we do not know, and we have succeeded all days but one when we ALMOST got through chapter 8 of 1 Nefi because it was so long and so complicated (porque tree of life vision haha). Anyways, it has been the BEST things we have decided to do and even though it has taken us like an hour every day, it has DEFINITELY been worth it. Also, we start the day doing what Elder Bednar suggested in an MTC devotional that we watched the first week, by marking up BRAND NEW BLUE BOOK OF MORMONS with ideas to answer one specific question. I would love to be able to finish it again through by the time I leave the CCM. Anyways, in terms of spanish outside of scripture reading, we have been focusing specifically on the homework assignments given in class and the words we need to know for our lessons rather than trying to just learn EVERYTHING. I think a big reason we were slightly overwhelmed the first week is because we did not really focus our study for efficiency and rather tried to become fluent ASAP. Focusing our study has resulted in much more success, and much more efficiency. One day we were even sort of spotlighted as the only students who had done all the homework and that was crazy haha...OK THEN IN TERMS OF JUST GENERAL OVERALL LIFE, haha we have had the craziest 48 hours. Today is Hermana Hellawell's birthday and to celebrate we got haircuts (me just a few inches, somewhere between where it was last august and where it was when I left, and her a pixie) I love mine and Hermana Hellawell's is amazing as well so we are super happy with that and it is even more amazing because the haircuts were FREE. Also, last night after we turned out the lights, Hermana Bjork and I decorated the entire room and made a "cake" out of chokis (cookies like chips ahoy only better) and m and ms and put a starburst on it as the "candle" haha...we covered the room in different colored paper hearts saying all the things we like about her and then TO WAKE HER UP we sang happy birthday and I played it on the violin WHICH THE MUSIC HERMANA HAS DONATED TO ME WHILE I AM HERE AHHHH SO HAPPY.... It was such a beautiful moment, I wish I could send you pictures of it....(and my hair haha) Then later today we are playing volleyball with the Elders from our district which will be HAHAHAHAH.....INTERESTING. The other day, us girls played tennis and let us just say that my playing bordered on STRAIGHT UP COMEDY, so we will make the Elders laugh really hard as per usual... ALSO it is good today is a P day and a birthday because last night was pretty sad. One of the districts in our branch left, and even though we only knew them 2 weeks we are going to miss them so much. Our STLs left, so now Hermana Bjork and I are officially "in charge"...they gave us a sweet party in their casa before we left, and that was so nice. They are the best, they will do such great work in Texas. And also, some pretty awesome elders left. So, let us just say that last night sadness was felt all around in casa 21 haha.... ANYWAYS. Now that I have given you some idea of the week, and some moments even....here are the TOP TEN (again I will try to share a balance of funny and spiritual...)
1. OH MAN SO I FORGOT TO MENTION IN THE OVERVIEW, GENERAL CONFERENCE. To answer your questions, we did watch it in english haha and it was MUY BUENO. It was really spirtual though to also watch and listen to the speakers who spoke in their native languages, esp spanish. I felt the spirit super strong right then. I am DEFINITELY gaining a testimony of the beauty of the spanish language and of the gift of tongues. I seriously almost cried when one of the spanish general authorities spoke. It was SUPER cool.... I was like I UNDERSTAND HIM ANNNND THE TRANSLATION...
2. haha ok so this feels like forever ago, but our first lesson last week we did with NOTHING BUT A NOTECARD. That was SUPER stressful, and we had to do tons of sign language type stuff to get our point across but it was an uber big miracle in the end that we could understand him at all and that he could understand us haha. The teacher wanted us to move away from having a "script" and so that was our big move haha
3. Ok I do not know what category this falls into, but just as an illustration of the fact that some of the elders here are SUPER nice, on Thursday of last week when me and my companion were walking through the rain and I was struggling to remain under her umbrella, becoming thus SOAKED, this really nice elder showed up out of nowhere and gave his umbrella to me and then ran back to the JFSB where I gave it back to him. Obviously he got wet in the process. It kind of made my day...
4. Ok so I already mentioned this but my companion is AMAZING and she found the music lady and got me to play for her and one of the other senior hermanas violins that is for the missionaries and they loved it so much that they gave me the violin to play all the time. It is no strad, but it an instrument and playing it makes me so happy I want to cry. Thus far I have only played it that one time outside of P day though, so no worries I am not abusing the privilege. Although when I played bach this morning, all of the girls in our casa came up to our door and said CAN YOU DO THAT EVERY DAY and I was...MUCHO FLATTERED haha. the hermanas I live with are the BEST. they make me laugh every day and I love them SO MUCH!!! I hope we will all stay friends for LIFE...
5. hahaha ok so another thing about those beautiful girls. We did a yoga/tai chi class on Friday with all the girls in our casa that was super relaxing and also MUY DIVERTIDO haha so that was amazing. I also led a short meditation/deep breathing thing that everybody enjoyed, and we have decided to make it a Friday TRADITION...
6. Oh so this is violin related, but I have been asked to play for a group of Hermanas who are singing for their last sunday and i was MUCHO FLATTERED. I met them at lunch and they are the SWEETEST. I will DEFINITELY miss them when they leave....
7. We watched the spoken word before conference on Sunday and THAT ELIJAH CHORUS WAS AMAZING. For those of you who didnt see, YOU MUST FIND IT ON THE INTERNET AND WATCH IT....SO MANY BEAUTIFUL HARMONIES!!!! I TOTALLY SOAKED UP MUSIC AND THE SPOKEN WORD...
8. Another super spiritual moment for me was watching the womens conference (here we watch it a week later at the same time as the elders watch priesthood) and especially that beautiful video of all the little girls from Seoul singing I love to see the temple in Korean. There was more highlighted diversity in GC in general, but I particularly loved this moment. It was followed by a beautiful video of peoples testimonies about temples and I almost cried. MUCHO DE ALMOST TEARY MOMENTS THIS WEEK haha....
9. OK SO AWESOME SMALL WORLD MOMENT....I found Jessica Lawrence´s best friend right before the Women´s conference...Hermana Fraser. She looked adorable in this bright orange dress and she had just gotten here a few days ago. I was able to talk to her about how everything was going and that was reallly nice.
10. Ok so this one is super silly, and I probably should not tell you but some people (esp. Rebekah) will get a kick out of this. Yesterday, my companion basically dared me to give my email to this guy who was leaving for Chile and then magically somehow I found a non awkward way to do it...so that was fun... haha...obviously, if I really can not email friends in CA then it will be a lost and hopeless case, but oh well. In turn, she had to do the same for someone else. So we had a funny day yesterday. But no worries, asides from meal times in which we were trying to find them, we remained focused on the work. Good thing they are gone though haha oh dear...moving on haha
SPIRITUAL LIGHTBULB MOMENT
If I were to describe my spiritual realizations this week in one single word the word would be "HUMBLING". For those who know me really well, and even those who do not, you probably know that I am super stubborn. When I think I am right, and even sometimes when I am not sure, I stick to my opinion like none other. I guess what I realized during general conference, and throughout the week, is that being a true christian does not really include that kind of stubborn always-thinking-i-am-right kind of attitude. Granted, I always try to be sympathetic empathetic so it is not a relationships with people thing---but in terms of spirituality I think it is important to have humility so that we can submit to the words of the prophets and the promptings of the spirit. Sometimes, we will be told to do things that we do not understand or completely agree with. It takes humility in this case to obey. And obedience, of course, is a really important thing as a missionary. I also simultaneously realized that if I am to get the most out of my relationships with people here, then I need to be more open and more trusting. My companion and I have gotten better at communicating when we are feeling stressed or down so that we can re evaluate what we are doing so that we can do better and feel better at the same time. I guess, to put it into a phrase (and many will pump their fists at this) I am trying to break down my walls. To become open and free. Because THAT is what the gospel should bring--freedom and happiness. Not super uptightness. It has been a really brain changing week for me, and I think I am starting to make some major changes in my personality, so I guess you will all be able to see at some point haha... Anyways, my hours almost up so I have got to go.
No pictures this week but I will try to send some next week...
Hoping you all have been getting or will soon get my paper letters... I sent them to our home address in a super full envelope with a mexican stamp with a pear on it. It will probably be fairly conspicous...let me know...
I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! DO AMAZING THINGS AND BE HAPPY!!!!
XXX
Hermana Lindsey