One more week in the CCM

December 12, 2013

¡¡Hola familia!!

So this is crazy, but I leave the CCM on Tuesday! I´m not sure what time yet.  It´s probably going to be really early in the morning, like 4 a.m.. I´m so nervous, but I´m also really excited.  I love getting to go proselyting on Saturdays, but it´s sad talking to people and never knowing what happens after that.  This week´s experience was different.  I had been praying the whole week before for Heavenly Father to prepare people and put them in our path so we could talk to them.  We got nine references out of the 5 hours we were out and gave out 3 Book of Mormons. After every person we talked to Hermana Louder and I would look at each other and think, how did that just happen?  The third person we talked to was this young girl.  We rang the bell of the house before her´s and the gentleman there wasn´t interested at all, before we had even gotten to her door though she opened it.  We were confused so we went over and started talking to her.  She had never heard of us before and when we gave her a Book of Mormon, she kept saying things like "I believe you, and thank you so much, I´m going to read this." Another time we talked to this 16 year old girl and her younger siblings.  We gave them a Book of Mormon, but forgot to get their reference. We were so bummed, that we forgot, but while at the next door we were talking to this lady, who again was definitely not interested, right after we were done talking to her, the girl and her siblings came out of the house again to ask us if we wanted something cold to drink. All I can say is the Lord answers prayers, and really does prepare people to meet us.  Also, that was probably the best juice I´ve ever had in my life.  Maybe it was because of the Spirit or maybe it was just because it was so hot outside! I´m just sad that I will never know what happens to them, but we planted a seed.

The power went out again a couple of times this week.  It seems to happen when the weather gets stormy.  It´s fun though! Although, it always seems to happen right when we are about to use something electrical.  Tuesday we fasted from speaking English as a district.  We started before dinner and went until lunch the next day.  I felt like my brain was going to explode, but I was surprised with how much Spanish I actually know.  Honestly, I full heartedly believe in the gift of tongues.  In these short 6 weeks I have been here, I´ve been able to communicate on a level I was never able to do with my 4 and a half years of French.  Our roommates are so helpful and nice.  They reassure me all the time that my Spanish is really good.  I don´t exactly believe them, but I am proud of the achievements I´ve made here.  I definitely don´t feel ready to go into the field but, I know that if I continue to work my hardest and trust in the Lord he will help me.

On Sunday we were talking about a talk by Elder Christoffersen.  I´ve heard it before, but it´s a really good one and I think you all should look it up.  I don´t remember the name of the talk, but he tells a story about a current bush. There is a Mormon message about it too.  A man had just bought a farm and this current bush was like six feet tall and not producing any fruit.  So the man took some pruning sheers and cut the bush down until it was just a small stump. This bush looked like it had a tear and the man seemed to hear the bush say, "How could you do this to me? I used to be so tall, now all of the other plants will look down and laugh at me." and the man replies, "Look little current bush, I am the gardener here.  I cut you down so you could grow to be what you are, which is a current bush that produces good fruit." Anyways the story on goes to tell about the man not getting a promotion in the military that he was qualified for, because he was Mormon.  And he was mad and upset and accusing the Lord, saying "How could you do this me?" When he heard his own voice say, "I am the gardener here.  I cut you down so you could grow to be what you are."  Sometimes we need to be chastened before we can achieve our highest points.  We won´t understand why until much later, but the Lord knows.  I have had to put so much trust in the Lord since I´ve been here in the CCM, but I know that He is only cutting me down so that I can grow to be the best missionary I can me. Mosiah 24:14-16 (I believe) talks about bearing your burdens with patience and the Lord will make them light. 

I love you all so much.  I can´t believe it´s Christmas time, because it feels like July here!  But I´m so excited to get to talk to you in a few weeks!

Have a wonderful week.

 ¡Te amo!

Hermana Lindsay

Link to currant bush talk:

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/as-many-as-i-love-i-rebuke-and-chasten?lang=eng&query=currant+bush 

Link to video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr8xvw0cgw0

Four Weeks Down Two to Go

December 5, 2013

Hola!

Two more weeks until I´m in Paraguay!! I´m so excited, except extremely nervous.  My Spanish is far from ready, but I know the Lord will help me and I know I will be able to learn it.  Since I only get an hour to write, I just write to you guys and then print off the e-mails and read them later, so I´ll answer some of your questions from last week.  I´m am feeling one hundred percent better.  It took awhile my nose to stop running, but I feel good and healthy and all is well! (That´s for you mom :)) Anyways, right now  there is about 36 North Americans in the CCM and we are receiving a group of about 51 Latinos  today,  I´m not sure how many hermanas and how  many elders.  So ya, it´s a pretty small CCM.  The last group of North American Hermanas were all going to the Paraguay Asuncion North mission and there was about 6 of them.  My mission is about a third of the size as theirs so that would be why I haven´t seen a ton of hermanas going there, but there should be some Latinas in this group heading to my mission, so hopefully I won´t be alone when we leave. 

We do have a modern laundry. Each companionship gets assigned a day and a time, and that´s basically how that works.  The bathrooms are really nice.  Actually Hermana Louder and I have the biggest bathroom because there are eight beds in our room.  So we have two of everything and it is not as squishy as some of the other ones.  It´s actually funny that you asked about my blow dryer and straightener, because I hadn’t used either of them until this week.  My hair has just been really curly since I´ve gotten here so most days I don´t even touch it.  I straightened my hair this week, but the humidity makes it go kind of wavy throughout the day.  ´The plugs here are different in Argentina, but they have like a strip with all the different plugs on it.  My blow dryer however doesn´t fit.  The prongs are too big, so I’m hoping it´s going to work for me in Paraguay, so far I haven´t really needed to use it.  We get an hour of activity time each day.  Usually Hermana Louder and I try to play with the Elders, they are nice, they always want us to play like volleyball or handball even though we aren´t very good. Hermana is a runner and well, I´m just me :)

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We didn´t really do much, it was just a normal day.  The Elders had a turkey bowl though, so I guess  maybe that´s something.  The weather has been heating up and so it doesn´t really feel like Christmas here.  I love it though, and I actually have kind of a tan line from my watch! Crazy right.  Speaking of my watch, (Sorry I feel like I´m all over the place), I´ll probably have to end up buying a new  one at some point.  The strap is kind of small and it´s already pretty worn from taking it on and off every day.  Está bien! 

This last Saturday we were in the same area for proslyeting.  We saw a lot more people, but we didn´t have much success, although we did talk to some really nice people and that made it all worth it.  Many of them have had the missionaries come around before (I´m sure they reuse the  areas a lot) but they were so nice.  And we were able to share our testimonies about the Book of Mormon with several people.  If anything, they are starting to see that it´s important if so many different young people who can´t even speak Spanish very well are coming around so often.  One lady was so nice and gave us water, it was so hot!  I hope we were able to make a difference.  I love going proslyting! It´s sad that I´m never going to know what happens to the people I talk with, that´s why I´m really excited to get to my mission.  I don´t want to just go to one area and never go back again. 

One thing that stuck out to me in my classes this week was about making goals.  I´ve always had a hard time with making goals.  I would have good intentions, and I would even write them down, but other than that, nothing really happened.  So in class one of my teachers said. "A goal is just a wish until you have a plan" I love that!  And that works for anything.  I´m starting to see the importance of goal keeping more and more.  And I hope I can make a good habit of it. 

I´m so happy to be here, and doing the Lord´s work.  Maybe my Spanish isn´t quite ready to teach people, but my spirit is!  I love this Gospel and I love the Savior for all that he has done for me.  If you build up one person´s sins and sorrows over one life time, that pain alone would be unbearable and it would probably kill the normal person. Now just imagine a world full of people now and since the world began! I can´t even imagine that love! One of the things Elder Holland said, and don´t quote me because this isn´t exact but, "The road to salvation is not a cheap of experience. It has to be hard, because it was hard for Him.  Every road must go through Gethsemane.  Wherever we go He goes, and the tears we shed are some of the same tears he shed"  I love that.  It not only makes it feel like my Savior is closer to me, but that I am closer to my Savior.  My pain will never be as great or severe as what He went through, but throughout my hard times, I can feel some of the same things that He felt.  The atonement is real! And that´s the message I´m excited to get out and share.

I love you all so much!

Until next week,

Hermana Lindsay

Happy Thanksgiving

November 28, 2013

Hola! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

It definitely doesn´t feel like Thanksgiving on this end of the world, but maybe that´s because they don´t celebrate it here, also it´s sunny today.  The past few days have been really rainy and cold though, so I was starting to feel in the Spirit.  I´m not sure if they do anything for Thanksgiving here in the CCM.  I´ve heard that we might be having turkey or something. 

This week has honestly flown by really fast!  And I´m at my half way mark here! Woo! I am feeling much better, which I am so grateful for! The new North American sisters are so nice, we don´t see them very much because they are on a different schedule, but we get to go to the temple with them today so that´s going to be fun! 

On Saturday we went proselyting. Our area was nicer then some of the ones the elders went to.  Basically everyone has a dog or two.  Hermana Louder is afraid of dogs, so I think she is going to have a rude awakening when she realizes Uruguay has just as many.  The Argentinean people are very private.  All of their windows are barred and they all have gates around their property so we don´t knock on doors here.  Most people have a buzzer, but if they don´t you just have to clap, and they don´t come to the door to answer, they peek through the shades to talk to you first.  We shared a brief message with one lady where we couldn´t even see her face, all we could see was the bottom part of her arm.

At first it was really scary.  I still don´t understand what people are saying to me, but the spirit speaks all languages. We did talk to a few people and placed some Book of Mormons and they didn´t seem to mind that we couldn´t speak the language very well.  We get to go back to that area again this Saturday, but after that we give the references to the missionaries in Buenos Aires.  I hope we can talk to some of the same people, or just find more to talk to.  It honestly makes me so excited to get to Paraguay.  I just love this gospel so much, and I honestly do love the South American people.  They are so kind and willing to help you learn.  Our roommates this time around are just as sweet and I´m going to be sad to see them go on Tuesday. 

So this past week I got called as one of the Sister Leader Trainers in the CCM.  There are always two, a Latina Hermana and a North American, so it covers all the languages, but we look after all of the hermanas here.  Our job is basically to look after the sisters when we are in the Sister´s quarters where their district leaders can´t come, so we are kind of like the mediators.  We are also there in case of emergencies and to make sure the sisters are all happy and healthy.  I also have meetings with Presidente and the other North American district leaders 3 times a week. 

I don´t have much to say except that I love you all so much and I´m so grateful for the support,  I´m also grateful for the Atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Through Him it is possible to overcome both spiritual and physical death.  I love my Savior with all my heart and I know that this is His true Gospel restored on the earth.  Mormon said in Words of Mormon 1:7 "And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me.  And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will." 

And that´s how I feel, I may not ever be a perfect missionary, but I wouldn´t want to be anywhere else right now than on a mission doing the Lord´s work!

All is well, Happy Thanksgiving again. Te amo con todo mi corazon!

Love,

Hermana Lindsay