Be careful what you pray for 'cause you just may get it

Well hello there! Fancy seeing you here at this weekly letter time. =)

 

 Hmm...so you'd like to know know what my schedule is like? That's a fair question. I get up at 6:30 everyday. It's great. Nobody else has an alarm which means it's basically my job to make sure we all get up ontime. Which is good since that means I actually do get up. We have gym everyday. It's either right after breakfast or right after lunch. Which, by the way is not condusive (sp?) to working out in the slightest bit. When we have gym in the morning we have sack breakfast so we don't have to get dressed in chuch clothes then go change again into our gym clothes. At gym I run at least a mile. Yes, I can run a mile. Not very fast mind you, but I can do it. Sometimes, depending on time I run a mile and a half or two miles. Then I do some sit ups and push ups then some of the weight machines. It's good. I'm enjoying running I won't lie. I'm sorta alone when I run since my companion stays on the bottom floor of the gym and play volleyball. And we're not allowed to have "running dates" so none of the elders can run with me. So that's great. I have made a new friend at gym though. She's also Spanish speaking but going to California. Sometimes after running a mile I just walk and talk with her. She's great. And she's worked so hard to get here. We got here on the same day and are leaving the same day. =) Okay, so meals are at 7:00 breakfast. Lunch 11:30. Dinner 4:30. By the time bedtime comes around I'm starving. =) On Thursdays we do service after gym. I usually get stuck cleaning the toilets because Hermana H doesn't want to. But it's fine. I don't mind. I'm cleaning toilets for Jesus. That makes it totally fine. =) Fridays are P days. We do laundry in the mornign and have temple time after lunch. I love the temple. Best thing EVER. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do when I get to Arizona and can't go once a week. Oh, well. I'll survive. Everday we have personal studytime at 10:30. It's only an hour long. I seriously could have three hours of study time and be able to fill it all up. On Tuesdays and Thursdasy there's choir. I love choir. It kinda sorta makes me feel like I'm back in band. I love music. I love participating in music and it is one of the things that I miss the most. Every Sunday they let us watch musci and the spoken word. Whenever I see the teachers that teach at USU and also play in the Orchestra at temple square I get a little sad. But then I sing in the choir. I get to bear my testimony to apostles! through song. Just about the best thing ever!!

 

Yep that's right apostles. And this week we acutally had one. A legit one of the top 15. Any guesses?

 

Holland? No. Apparent;y he came in June so we porabably won;t be seeing him.

 

What was that? Oaks? Nope.

 

Uchtdorf? No! Though he's one of the ones I'm rooting for. =)

 

Monson...? Well...sorta. =)

 

It was Elder Andersen. And since it was President Monson's birthday we sang to him (and it was just about the most beautiful renidtion of happy birthday I have ever heard.) Then the whole talk was about MOnson. About what he would say to us if he were there. It was pretty epic. Won't lie. They say we;re supposed to have one every three weeks which means we may get on more while we're here. YAY! I'm hoping for Uchtdorf or Bednar. But any of them will do great. 

 

We have six hours of class every day. (ugh so much sitting) Na hour of personl study. hour of language study. An hour of TALL time, the computer program to help you learn spanish. And sometimes additional study. SO that's basically my schedule. Or at least a general overview. Any question?

 

No?

 

Good. =)

 

Mom, have you done anything with that Spanish BofM yet? How's that going for you?

 

Dad I cannot believe you didn't like Bednar that much back in the day. He's one of the first ones that I actually remember listening to his talk during conference. It was the one about taking offense. How it's always our choice to take offense. Sis. Jennings, the wife of one of the members of the branch presidency has met him and said that his hair is as stiff as it looks and that he's always worried about it and that he is as stiff as his hair. =) The elders and H. Taylor did the math the other day. Bednar is 12 years younger than the next apostles which are Uchtdorf and Holland at 72. So they've all decided Bednar will be prophet one day. =) Those elders...

 

Josh, dude. How's it going, man?! *knuckles*

 

So I really love the movies they let us watch on Sundays after the firesides. They're always great. This last Sunday we watched Holland's talk called missions are forever. Holland talks with such fondness about his mission. About how there may have been one or two days in his life where he hasn't thought about it, but other than that he thinks about it all the time about the lessons he learned and about the people he loved and taught. I want to be like Holland and have that kind of fondness for this adventure. THis adventure of a lifetime that will help me becoem more of the daughter of God that He would like to be. Holland also talked about how wjy missions are hard. They are. lready it's been the hardest thing I've ever done. But he said, Salvation isn't easy. It is not cheap. It was not easy for christ. HOW DARE YOU THINK IT SHOULD BE EASY FOR YOU!! That;s almost word for word. With all sorts of emotion and such ephasis on those words. Leave it to Holland to just tell ya how it is. So I want this mission to be one I look back on know it shaped me into the person I will be.

 

So after hearing that talk I prayed for it....

 

be careful what you pray for 'cause you just may get it.

WABAM! 1 month!

AhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

As of tomorrow I've been her for one month already!! Crazy sauce!! Did the time go by as quickly for you as it did for me? I'm halfway done with this jail of spirituallity that I have to pay 400 dollars a month to be in. =) Nah, it's really not that bad...other than the food and the fact that we do the exact same thing at the exact same time just about everyday. I love what I'm learning and I'm thankful for this time to learn more Spanish,

Because I sure need it. =)

Even though I've been here a month now does not give you an excuse to not write me. Not to name any names. *cough* Sarah *cough* =) Love ya girl. =)

So mom, you started work again. How's it going? How are the new little kiddies?

Ryan, you all ready for college? Got everything you need? Is Reginald all ready? Give him a little pat for me, mmkay? Oh and you pretty much have to give your Logan address and you email. No battle.

Mi padres, could you maybe get me an Aggie shirt while you're up there? All this eating BYU food and stuff makes me miss my Aggie roots. Lots and lots and lots. They'll be starting band camp soon. I'm not sad I'm missing that, but I do miss the people.

So what's the deal with the fires? Somtimes it's so smokey down here you can't even see the closest part of Utah lake.

Oh and I saw Daniel. He has class in the same building as me so I see him quite frequently. It was actually him who saw me first. I just heard this loud "JESSICA!!!" coming from down the hall and I was super confused because I'm not really used to being called that anymore and there was Daniel. We shook hands since that's all we're allowed to do, talked a little bit and then went back to class. Since we're in the same building we have the just about the same schedule. So I see him at meals and at gym. He's always too cool to play volleyball with the hermans though. He always switches to the other court.

So I have some funny stories. I know that when I tell "funny" stories they proabably never come across that way, but these ones are hilarious. =) Are you ready?!

Story 1:

It's week one, third time we're teaching Roberto. I ask H. Holmes how to say sin in Spanish. She responds with "pescado." She sotpped for a sec and tells me that it's acutally pecado. Pescado means fish. So I'm trying to remember the word and in our lesson I precede to tell Roberto that he needs to repent of his fish two times in the same lesson. =)

Story 2:

Last week our teacher tells us a story about his companion who wanted to read the scripture Ne 3:7 (I will go and do) to the investigator. But he accidentally tells him 3 Ne 3:7 which is a letter from the Gadianton robbers to the govener of the Nephites telling the Nephites that if they submit to the robbers they will be as brethern not as slaves, that they will be let into their secret works. But as the missionary, since you don't know spanish all that well you can't really tell that the scripture they're reading outloud in spanish is not the one you want them to read. Anwyay, we're in a lesson with Matias last week, the day after our teacher told us this story about picking the worng scripture and H. Holmes deviates from our lesson a little bit, which is totally fine, but I was unsure where she was going, and suddenly asks Matias to read 3 Ne 10:3-5. Which is the scripture about how a hen gathers her chicks. But we didn't know this as she was reading. I look it up in English so I can see where she's going and read the scrpture and bust up laughing in the middle of the lesson. =)

Story 3

Yesterday, we challenged Matias to be baptized....sort of. I'm doing it from memory. And well, Matias has very pretty eyes, he's good looking, I'm scared because I'm not super great at memorizing stuff and I basically say, "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by someone with the proper authorty from God?" I totally forgot to put in the part about being baptized!!! AH!! Luckily Matias has a good sense of humor so we laughed and then we tried again. He must have been praying for me or something because I got it right the second time. =) He said if he liked going to church this Sunday and if he gets an answer that its true he will be baptized.

So on Sundays after the devotional we get to watch movies. Movies. Yes. =) Movies of other devotionals and firesides. And the church ones like Legacy and the Joseph Smith movie. Anyway, we watched the recording of Bednar's talk to the missionaries this last Christmas. It was sooooooo good. That man. We will be neighbors in heaven. Whether he wants to be or not. =) His talk was called the Character of Christ. Oh and these talks aren't usually ones you can get anywhere else. So he talked about how Cookie Monster is the prime example of the natural man. "I want cookies NOW!" And please imagine Bednar imitating cookie monster's voice  while saying it and shaking his fists because that is what he did. =) It's all about ME and what I want NOW. That is not the character of Character of Christ. The character of Christ is to turn outward when the natural man would turn in. He gave three examples of it from the NT and then said it's up to us to find the rest. One of the examples is when Christ is in Getsemani (can't remember how to sp in english sorry.) and his three good friend who are there with him falls asleep. They leave him to go through this trial when he asked them three times to stay awake. Then he suffers for every single person's sins every person who had lived and who would live and so great was his pain that he bled from every pore. After that Judas another apostle someone he considered a friend betrays Hims with a kiss. How would you feel? Upset. Betrayed. Hurt. Alone. Etc. Then Peter cuts off the ear of one of the guards. Intead of turning IN and saying that the guard deserved it and focusing on his pain He turned OUT ward and healed the man's ear. A superficial wound compared to what Christ had already suffered and what He would suffer in the next little while. And that is the Chracter of Chirst. I loved the whole talk. It rocked. Bednar rocks. The church rocks.

Herman Scott

All is Well...Could be Worse... =)

Okay so the subject is not a reflection of how I feel...at least most of the time. =) Apparentl in Russian, the hymn Come Come Ye Saints the line, "all is well," directly translates to "could be worse." I thought it was funny and seemed very Russianish. So I wanted to share it with you.

 

Anyway, thank you so much for the package. I loved everything in it. I am wearing the grey skirt today and already love it, even though it fits a little more snuggly than I wuold like. (I have cut back on the chaocolate milk so hopefully it won't get much worse.) The cookies are delicious and all the hermanas in my zone loved them. And now I am no longer freezing in the morning since I have another blanket and I don't wake up all itchy from the one provided by the MTC.

 

SO what I learned this week.

I have to keep studying Spanish. Even when I feel like I've got it down okay I need to keep studying Spanish faithfully. I took a day off of hardcore study and that night I could barely say anything with our investagator. It was so embarrassing and I'm sure it was frustrating for my companion. But yesterday, I diligently studied two chapters of grammer, understood them and did the assignments that went with them. Then that night when we met with a new investigator I could remember amlost all the words I needed. It was so cool. I could even remember the difference between hacer, poder, and deber. Which I usually get all sorts of confused.

 

I also had this awesome sauce experience while I was doing personal study yesterday. I was reading in Corinthians. One of the chapters at the beginning. (I'm reading the NT so I can better re;ate to Catholics and so I can say that I've read it and I really like it.) Anyway, the second verse said something about milk, and strong meat. I was curious as to what the symbolism/meaning to that was so I looked at the footnote which took me to another scripture. Milk is given to babies because they cannot bear meat yet. So as it said in one of the scriptures I found when you all called to teach you must drink milk not meat because that is what you'll be feeding people you teach. So the milkare the basics: faith repentance the anonement, baptism, etc. I have to start with those I have to have a testimony of them in order to teach about them to others. Then the last one I read was wahat REALLY related it to me. it was D&C 50:40-42. At this point I was super upset about my Spanish. The scripture explained that I have to learn by grace. I can't have all the knowledge of Spanish yet. I wouldn't beable to bear it all if I did. The L;ord says, fear not little child. For you aare one that the father gave me. And all that the father gives me will be saved. At least it went something like that. I will learn Spanish, line upon line precept upon precept. His grace will be suffiecent for me. As long as I do my part He will fill in the rest.

 

Oh man. This church is true. No doubt about that.

 

Oh and another thing, have you ever read Beware of Pride by Pres Benson? Well it's an awesome talk. Even though it's like God is hitting you over the head with a hammer saying, "you MUST be humble." Okay, not really like that cause He would never do that, but it deffinitely makes you realize your short comings. I honestly need to kepp this talk by my bed and read some of it every night. It talks about how pride is more than just thinking you're better than someone else. Pride is enmity toward God and your fellow man. Anytime you have bad feelings for another person you are being prideful. I am pretty sure I'm the most prideful person I know. But I am learning. I had a moment the other day when I absolutely no doubt about it felt a sliver of love that God feels for the elders in my district. I wanted them to succeed. I wanted them to remember that one Spanish word they couldn't remember. For a moment my whole heart was filled with love for them. It was pretty awesome. =) It's also happened with the hermanas. Hermana Macy was playing volleyball, like actually playing and she made a good hit over the net. One of the elders came and gave her a high five. The smile on her face in that moment was huge. And again I was so happy to see her succeed to see her that happy. She doesn't know I saw this exchange because I was upstairs running on the track and happened to run right by the spot so I could see her in that exact moment.

 

Oh man. The church is true.

 

The other hermanas in our zone are leaving on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. We're all super sad. We like them a lot. It turns out one of them went to high school with me and we graduated the same year. We know all of the same people, took almost the same kind of classes and we never met each other. Weird! They're all grown up and are heading into the mission field. It's so weird how much you come to love someone after only knowing them three weeks. All of our neighbors in the dorms left last week. Did you realize that if I was English speaking I would be out in the mission field right now?!? I loved our neighbors so much. We ate breakfast with someof them whenever we got sack breakfasts and the others were super nice and always gave us food. I miss them all dearly. But they're in a better place now. =) They'll be my neighbors in heaven. =)

 

Jason, I did not have a chance to write you today. You will be the first one I write next week. I really love your Dear Elders. They're long and very good. I'm so glad you had fun at scout camp.

 

Papa, Sarah, and Josh. You guys have letters headed your way.

 

OKay, so funny story. On tuesady there's a rumor going around that there's going to be an apostle speaking that night. Everyone is super excited. The whole district lines up outside the door to go in a hour before it starts. The security is a lot tighter than it had been the last couple of weeks. Hermana macy has to say the closing prayer so we're all a little jealous of her. Turns out it was another retired member of the 70. Baha! I found it amusing. =)

 

Love Hermana Scott

 

 

Let's Board the Super Bien Train/A Tree, a tree. We planted her a tree.

Oh, hey!

 

So I made a list of all the things I wanted to write about, but I left it in my room...oops. =) We'll se how this goes.

 

First, sorry familia that you thought I forgot about you last week. I readlly didn't. I just wanted to write you all back privately. Mi culpo. Lo siento. Joshua, on Sunday one of the wives of the branch presidency brought her grandson and he was about your age. The whole time I thought of you and really wanted a great Joshua hug. Are you ever going to write my companion? You said you would. She doesn't get very much mail and she really misses her dog Dogger. You should write her and tell her about Jemma. How is Jemma doing these days anyway? Sarah, I'm still upset you voed into my room the night I left. imean, really? =) I will try and write you all again today, but I may not have time. Why is it that P days seem to go by so much faster than every other day of the week?

 

So cool story/ fact: So do you know who Ken Jennings is? I didn't, but was quickly informed of this man's importance. He won tons of money on Jeopardy apparently. Well, his dad is the second counselor in the Branch presidency. Cool, huh! You can totally see how hw knows all those facts to win jeopardy. His parents know so many cool random things. Oh his mom is aweseom too. She has permanent smiling eyes that are clear blue and her hair is white. She so great and she always soys, "Seriously?!" whenever you tell her anything even remotely exciting.  LOVE her. And her husband. Well, he's an interesting character, but he's cool. Their relationship is awesome. They filrt in the middle of devotional reviews and hold hands. They finish each other's sentences and it's great. *sigh* One day in the far future.

 

The temple. We went to the temple last friday. It was so great. I had missed it so much. Provo temple may not be the prettiest on the outside, but the inside is gorgeous. Due to the circular shape, everything is circular on the inside. Even the chandeliers. (yes I can spell) We get to go again today, just like every P day. And I'm super stoked, but I am pretty sure I am going to fall asleep. We stayed up talking as a room last night. Clear until 11:30!! So late, I know! =) So we're all super tired today.

 

It's a small world, especially when you're LDS.

I ran into an Elder Hill on Wednesday, Bri's brother. He had quite a firm handshake and looked way stoked to be in the MTC. His companion was very tall and if I remember correctly he was from somewhere really cool. I also happen to have an Elder Madsen in my zone. Ryan, do you know who he is? Well, he lives by Britt and went to WJ. And he's in my zone. It's a small world. Oh and I ran into an Elder Listen and oh I can't remember the other one's name. But they're leaving for the Phillipeans on Monday and they said they worked with Carin and Joseph at the TRC. It's a small world.

 

Speaking of the TRC, I LOVE IT!! We went for the first time on Tuesday. It was great. We taught a member who is from the Mormon colonies in Mexico! I didn't even know there were Mormon colonies in MExico!! He was way nice and super not intimidating. If we didn't know how to say something in SPanish we'd just say "Como se dice..." Whatever the word was in English and he would tell us. We taugh him the importance of reciveving a personal conversion all the time. So we chall;enged him to pray to know if the Book of Mormon was true again. It was cool. The SPanish is going pretty well these days. At least as well as could be expected. =) I'm not the best in the class and I'm not the worst. I can say most of what I want to now though I get very important verbs confused. So they are going to be my focus this next week in my language study. We taught a temporary investigator this week. Her name is Luz. The first time we met with her we didn't get much accomplished. But the second time...man! It was so great! We focused on getting to know her and discovering her need. And once we did - WABAM! We covered it and the Spirit was so strong. She trusted us because we got to know her first and because we showed her that we loved her before we told her what she should be doing in her life. But we only taught her twice. We may again eventually. But not for a while. Our real investigators are more difficult than she was. She was more open. While Victor is prtty closed off and falls asleep while we teach him. We try and engage him in the conversation but it's hard because of the difficulty with the language. And we will meet Matias for the first time on Thursday.

 

We had a sub for two of the days this week. And she was AWESOMEISTICALLY AWESOME! She was so pumped all the time. She would walk in and say,"Como estan?! Listos? Let's board the super bien train!!" And she has this power stance that should would always do. Baha. I loved it. She made us stay awake and she brought an excitement to the work we're doing that we haven't had before. Of course the elders all had to talk about how attractive she was. Imagine me rolling my eyes now. =)

 

So cool experience of the week. I was reading in Romans this week in chapter 8. It's a hard shapter to follow. At least for me. But as I sat down and read slowly and thought about the words it all started to make sense. I loved the whole stinkin chapter! Especially the end verses. 35-39. READ EM!! No battle. Just do it!

 

Love ya all. Keep smiling. Pray. Read them scriptures!! *hugs*

 

Hermana Scott