Hola,
I can't believe another week has gone by! The first week-ish
was a little slow moving but it feels like just yesterday that I was doing my
laundry and responding to emails. Pretty crazy. I'm definitely into
the swing of things by now so time is flying by!
Our teacher, Hermano Stevenson, is pretty funny. My companion and I are teaching him and he is playing the role of Ricardo, a 15 year old boy who "thinks he's cool" but his mom is a member so we are teaching him. Hno Stevenson is such a good actor. It's pretty funny because he is a grown man pretending to be a 15 yr old. Turns out, it's really hard to teach a teenager. He thinks he already knows everything and doesn't understand why God should be important in his life. We've definitely had to get creative with our teaching methods. And have to pretend to relate to him and his video games. Despite that, it's really cool how much Spanish i'm learning. I actually realized it a lot this week. The progression is slow so it's isn't super noticeable, but a couple of things happened this week that made me notice it. First, we did the TRC on tuesday, which is where members come in and volunteer and we teach them in Spanish just like we would be home teaching or giving a thought after a dinner appointment. It made me feel good because the members we taught were so impressed and were saying, "Wow, I can't believe you've only been here for two weeks!." And then, while teaching one of my lessons the other day, the investigator asked a question. I thought of the answer in English, and thought, "Man, I really wish I knew how to say that in Spanish." But then, I realized that I DID know how to say it in Spanish! I was so excited. So I answered his questions in my broken, Americanized Spanish with a whole lot of "Um's" but it worked and I got my point across.
Our teacher, Hermano Stevenson, is pretty funny. My companion and I are teaching him and he is playing the role of Ricardo, a 15 year old boy who "thinks he's cool" but his mom is a member so we are teaching him. Hno Stevenson is such a good actor. It's pretty funny because he is a grown man pretending to be a 15 yr old. Turns out, it's really hard to teach a teenager. He thinks he already knows everything and doesn't understand why God should be important in his life. We've definitely had to get creative with our teaching methods. And have to pretend to relate to him and his video games. Despite that, it's really cool how much Spanish i'm learning. I actually realized it a lot this week. The progression is slow so it's isn't super noticeable, but a couple of things happened this week that made me notice it. First, we did the TRC on tuesday, which is where members come in and volunteer and we teach them in Spanish just like we would be home teaching or giving a thought after a dinner appointment. It made me feel good because the members we taught were so impressed and were saying, "Wow, I can't believe you've only been here for two weeks!." And then, while teaching one of my lessons the other day, the investigator asked a question. I thought of the answer in English, and thought, "Man, I really wish I knew how to say that in Spanish." But then, I realized that I DID know how to say it in Spanish! I was so excited. So I answered his questions in my broken, Americanized Spanish with a whole lot of "Um's" but it worked and I got my point across.
Turns out, it's not very hard to run in a dress.
Whenever we start getting tired in class and get the 'glazed' look in our eyes,
Hno Stevenson takes us outside and makes us run laps. It was weird at
first but now i'm getting pretty pro at running in a skirt and flats.
On Wednesday, my companion boarded a flight to Peru! She got
her visa in last week, so she left on wednesday morning to the Peru MTC.
She left with a couple of districts with our zone, except for one sister who
did not leave. So now that sister is my new companion. Her name is
Hermana Boomhower. Interesting story about Hermana Boomhower. She
was assigned to Las Vegas West speaking English, but she broke her foot on the
first day of gym class. Because she had to stay here for her foot to
heal, they switched her to Spanish Speaking, but still Las Vegas West.
She spent the 6 weeks here, and her foot was not healed yet, so she got her
district changed. Anyway, she has been here 9 weeks now. She keeps
going to get her foot Xrayed and the doctor doesn't feel comfortable letting
her leave yet, so her date has been changed about 12 times of when she can
actually leave. She actually got her boot off yesterday, and she gets
X-rayed next week, and if all is well, she'll get to leave on June 3rd.
(I'm so excited for her Xray because that means I get to leave MTC campus and
go down the road to the Health Center---Civilization!!!) I feel so bad for
her. She is literally the nicest missionary at the MTC and she's had to
be here for so long. She said that she was praying for patience so this
all is her own fault for praying for that. Now everytime they change her
date, she just says, "Whatever!" Poor thing. We get along
really well though. Like I said, she is so nice. She is from
Indiana, and she is 22. I literally have nothing bad to say or think
about her because if she ever does something that could potentially be annoying,
she immediately apologizes. It takes us forever to get places because she
holds the doors open for everybody haha. I'm learning a lot from her
about patience and humility. And she is a pretty good teacher because she
has been here for over two months, so that's a plus.
Today at the lunchroom, I heard some workers overtalking
that apparently they are expected to get about 1500 new missionaries on
Wednesday, and only 500 are leaving. We have about 2600-2800 here right
now. That's crazy!! It's nice because there are six beds in our room and
only four of us living there, but I'm guessing that will change on
wednesday. They still haven't opened up the Raintree and Wyview campuses
yet, i'm not sure when they are planning to. Also, I'm not sure who all gets
sent to those campuses. I heard a rumor that English speakers would
be going other places but I have no way to know if that's true.
Whenever we're at the front desk doing something logisitcal, I usually try to
find out information like that because I think it's cool, but they aren't very
willing to share that info. I guess it's going to be pretty crowded until
they open the other campuses! Also, my branch president told us that they
were thinking about holding all the MTC devotionals and stuff at the BYU Marriott Center,
since apparently in July the MTC is going to double it's numbers or something
like that. Crazy! It's good though. It's pretty cool what's
happening with missionary work.
Word on the street is that there was a big tornado this week
in Oklahoma. Everyone kept saying that, but no one knew what town.
What are the details on that? Anybody we know affected by it? Also, this week
was the 2yr anniversary of the Joplin tornado! Did Joplin have any sort of
Memorial service or activity or anything? I was busy on wednesday, but it
did cross my mind when I realized that it was the 22nd. It also was crazy
to think that that was the day I was originally supposed to enter the
MTC. Definitely glad that I got moved ahead two weeks.
Last night we had a cool experience. Our branch
president came in and asked the elders if they would be able to give him a
blessing because he dislocated his shoulder earlier that day. It was very
humbling to see a 70 year-old man asking 19 year old elders, who have hardly
ever given blessings, to give him a blessing.
Can't think of much else to say. The day-to-day is
pretty normal. I'm learning a lot and enjoying my time
here. Every Tuesday/Wednesday tons of people leave, and it's
getting me excited to go into the field. It took 4 months for my comp to
get her visa, so if they are consistent, i'll probably get
reassigned state side for a couple of weeks. Which is fine,
it's kind of like getting another mission call. Apparently they reassign
you the same way you get your original assignment. The whole
committee and the Apostles and everything look at you, they just have to
pick somehwere in the states. While i'm assuming i'll get sent
somewhere else, i'm still hoping and praying that i'll get visa and
be able to get to Peru in a timely manner!
Thanks for all the letters and packages and love. You rock, a lot. Love you!
Thanks for all the letters and packages and love. You rock, a lot. Love you!
Love,
Hermana Jones
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