Somehow It Just Keeps Getting Better!

This week has gone by so fast. Actually, time has gone by fast since I got here to the MTC. I know I have changed though in that short amount of time. If nothing else, I notice I am having a hard time spelling words (in English) correctly. This usually is not a struggle for me, but I think it's the effects of learning Spanish. I will embrace it as a good thing for now.

 

This week was fabulous! On Sunday, Sister Denise Doxey who is on the RS General Board came and spoke. The part about this that was so wonderful is that she is my old roommate's Mother in law!  Chels and Dan came to hear her speak so I got to see them!!! I love Chels!!! Sister Doxey's talk was wonderful- she talked about how we are fighting a war right now. It is real and we have to give it our gusto.

 

This week Hna Salmon and I had a teaching evaluation appt. We signed up with an MTC teacher and did getting to know you in Spanish. It is to practice the initial meeting and sharing a bit of the gospel with someone. We thought it was going great until the teacher stopped us and said, "Frankly I just feel weird." Uh-oh. I guess he felt like we were conducting an interrogation. Which we were. It was really funny and a good learning moment. Sis Salmon and I are usually pretty capable English speakers, but Spanish kinda turns us around. I end up moving on when I do not understand what the person says. Not the best thing! But I am sure I will be learning more in Peru. I am excited for this!

 

Elder Richard G. Scott came on Tuesday night to speak to the whole MTC. This was an amazing experience. I could not believe how my prayers were answered. He said some very specific things for sister missionaries and I was SO thankful to hear them! Elder Scott expressed his gratitude for the sisters serving and said, I would like to make a suggestion. Actually, not a suggestion but a REQUIREMENT to the sister missionaries to watch your health! He said that there are times when we will need more rest and we should exercise wise judgment and REST. We do not always need to be putting in as many hours as the elders. It is not worth it to be sent home over illness if we could have just taken better care of ourselves when we needed the rest. I appreciated this sooo much. My health is very important to me--- without it I will not have the energy or the ability to share the gospel! Another significant moment was that Elder Scott said he had a personal witness of how Heavenly Father takes care of the Sister missionaries-- he protects them and watches over them. Then Elder Scott said, I would like to exercise the authority and power I hold as an Apostle of God and make an apostolic promise. He then promised that the Sister missionaries would have a shield of protection and no danger would come to us. He said that if we listened to the Spirit, we would be protected from any possible harm. There will be times when we will be prompted to choose a different path or change our plans and we should follow these promptings. What a comfort this promise was to me and to all of the sister missionaries! I felt so loved and watched over. I know I will be safe on my mission! I am very thankful for the knowledge that Heavenly Father loves His children and me! Elder Scott ended his talk by saying, "I know Jesus Christ lives. He is the personage of perfect love and our intermediary with the Father. He lives. I know this because I know Him." This was very powerful to say the least. I am thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ. The reality of His love for us is that we can overcome anything through Him.

 

I love being a missionary. There is so much I am learning about myself and about the Lord's work. I have still been going to the aerobics classes and these are fabulous. I love my companion Hna Salmon-- we still love laughing and talking about random things in Spanish. It makes everything more exciting.

 

Have a Spooky Halloween!!!!!!!!

 

Love,

Seeesta Garlock