HOLA! Como frijole (how you bean?) hahaha
So on the 7th marks one whole month down!!! I cannot believe it. Only 17 more of these and I will be home. I don't wanna come home quite yet though, being a missionary is too fun.
This week was spectacular. I have never seen so much growth in my entire life. I have learned more spanish in 4 weeks than I have all of high school and I have learned more about myself than I could ever imagine.
Starting with last wednesday! It was a wonderful P-Day and it is always so great to hear from everyone. We always have a hard time going back to class at 6 because we have the whole day off but our teacher Hermana Captian taught us an AMAZING lesson about the role of the book of Mormon in conversions. While we were sitting in class Elder Betzsold randomly said, "I wish I could just follow Hermana Root around and write a book about her. She is just so funny but has the greatest insights!" It was awesome. The elders in my district are like my brothers. They are always there for us and it means so much.
This week I realized just how much the Book of Mormon does play in our investigators life,as well as mine. It was insane! We gave a book to our investigator Leticia and she has been reading so much of it. She has changed. She loves Christ so much and it is amazing to see. My companions and I made it a goal to study the life of Christ everyday. It has made such an impact on my week. I started reading Jesus the Christ and spend a lot of my study time looking up anything about Christ. Christ is the one who is by my side through this. I just felt like because I am representing him and wearing his name on my tag everywhere I go, I can never know enough about him. I challenge all of you to study about Christ!! (extending commitments because that is what missionaries do) hahaha
We had a companionship inventory with our teacher Hermano Avuila. All three of us went in a room and he asked us to tell the strengths of our companions. My companions are just so wonderful. One of them shared with me that prior to her mission she was never able to balance fun and serious. Hermana Paulson is serious but will always unwind at the appropriate times but I am the more comical one out of all of us. They shared with me how I help them all handle their stress and how they are so thankful for my positively and blunt honesty. I never realized how great of a gift it is to just laugh at your mistakes. I am so great at it! I mess up all the time but I really have not got down on myself about it. Our teacher then asked us why we thought God put us three as companions? None of us know the answer to this but I know that they will be my forever friends. They are both so wonderful and they teach me so much!
Our teaching this week was incredible! We followed the spirit so much! I went from slipping in a few words to LEADING THE LESSONS. Hermana Tidwell has always been the one ahead in the speaking category, but this week I grew so much. I had an awesome experience. We were teaching our investigator Leticia and her brother and law walked in and was a little frustrated that she was talking the discussions. He was of another religion and did not like that we had taught her how to say personal prayers to heavenly father. He started going off about how God cannot be loving if he doesn't treat everyone equal. He then proceeded to say how he has cancer, his daughter died of cancer, and how his parents are both dead. He looked at us and said you all seem fine! And i looked at him, with tears in my eyes and said Jorge, my uncle has cancer. It has been so hard for me because I look up to my uncle so much. I don't understand why that had to happen but I can remember saying a prayer the night I found out, asking Heavenly Father why it had to happen, and I received an answer saying that no matter what God loves me, I am his child, and he is there. Sometimes bad things happen to amazing people. God doesn't love them any less. Not everything that happens to us has to deal with what God wants. We all have our agency but God has a plan for us and he has a plan to take care of all of us. He had tears in his eyes as well. I was amazed that I could say that in Spanish. (It was a little simpler in Spanish by my missing of vocabulary) but it was an amazing experience. I was able to bear testimony to our investigator Leticia that I knew the Book of Mormon was true. I told her how I found out myself. Being able to say things that are personal to me is the best part of missionary work and speaking Spanish. Right now we have 10 investigators and each lesson I leave feeling so lifted by the spirit. I could not be able to do this without the help of the spirit. I am so blessed.
One of the Elders in my district this week got a call from his stake president saying that his parents are getting a divorce. It was out of the blue and he is struggling. He is such a great man but he is having the best attitude. He keeps saying that he knows he is where he is supposed to be. He knows God will take care of him and his family. Seeing him possess that much faith is such a testimony builder for me. God is great. The ways that he lifts up his missionaries is amazing. I have yet to have a day where I haven't seen millions of blessings.
We were role playing this week and Hermana Tidwell was being such a hard investigator. She said that she didn't think God was powerful enough to answer her prayers. Hermana Paulson and I were teaching her and everything we said she shut down. We both were feeling so distraught. Hermana Paulson looked her in the eye and said open the book. (Speaking of the Book of Mormon) She had the book of Mormon in her hands and she kept saying how she didn't think God was able to interfere with us on this earth. The moment she opened it she found a scripture that talked about how God is so powerful that he can move mountains and create worlds. We were able to look her straight in the eye and say If god can do that, he can listen and answer your prayers. All of us felt the spirit so strong! It was wonderful!!!
We all memorized the first vision in Spanish this week! It is SOO much cooler to say! Everything in Spanish is cooler! After we finished it Elder Betzsold and Ward were like, Okay we know enough, time to grab the bull by the horns, move to Argentina, and teach some people! hahah we don't know enough but we all are so ready to leave and teach. I already love the people and I haven't even got there.
Sibling of the week award goes to: SABRINA! Sending me about 4 dozen cookies made my WEEK! As well as all the elders in my zone! They were SOO happy and wanted me to express their gratitude! They were AMAZING!
So Hannie is here and we have got to talk a few times. She is doing great! I make her wish she was on west campus like the rest of the cool cats because everything is nicer over here. Everyone is complaining about the MTC cafeteria but all the BYUH kids tell everyone how they know NOTHING about bad cafeterias. Our friend Mary comes in here today and so does Sister Lamb! And McAlla will be here the next week. I met some of the sisters that will be in McAlla's district today! I told them about how wonderful she is and they are waiting for her arrival!
Gramatical Errors this week were a little less! WHOOO!
- One night I was saying companion prayer and I was trying to say Teneamos Gracias Dios.. (We give thanks God..) but I said Mucho Gusto Dios which means Nice to Meet you God haha
- We make it a joke to tell each other Tenga un mal dia! instead of Have a good day we say have a bad day! (only to my district as a joke!) but I was trying to say Have a worst day! back to an Elder and accidentally said Have a Pear day!
haha Spanish is fun! Rivka's email is so true about dying from the cafeteria though and salad bars and PB&Js are the best! I haven't gained ANY weight here so that is a positive! I refuse to let the MTC 15 come on to me. Everyone is warning us about all the carbs, meat, and gelato we will have in Argentina. It will be like my 4 days in Italy last spring but for 18 months!! Carbs and Gelato, my weakness haha
I love being a missionary. I love this work!
Yo se que el evangelio de Jesucristo es verdadero! Yo se que Dios es nuestro padre celestial! Yo se que Jose Smith es profeta de dios! Yo se que El libro de mormon es la plabra de Dios! haha that is my testimony, not sure how well my spelling is!
Te amo muchoooo! Estoy agredicias for ustedes!!
I love you all forever and thanks for all the prayers, letters, and packages!
Hermana Root
Pictures:
1) Hermana Tidwell, Paulson, and I at the temple this morning.
2) Hermana Tidwell and Paulson eating all the food our mothers and siblings sent us that day
3) Us on the Bus!
4) Plus the cookies from Nena!
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