Week 2

Friends and Family!

Holy cow another week has flown by! The time is so messed up here, it is 100% true what they say: days are long but weeks feel so short. 

I just wanted to start off by thanking everyone for the packages, emails, and dear elders. I love them so much! They make my days so much better. 

Me with the succulent mom sent - I love it!

My zone is amazing. The girls in the other districts are so nice and willing to help us with anything. We have a group leaving this week so we are all pretty bummed about it, but we are getting a new district with eight elders in it. Then we have two groups leaving the following week with no one coming in, so it will just be the new elders and us. It will definitely be a different dynamic, but we are excited to meet new people. 

Celebrating Ellen's birthday!

When you meet someone new at the MTC you will most likely be asked three questions: Where are you from, where are you going, and have you broken down yet? Well, this week I had a total break down. Me and my companions were really struggling to agree on which direction to go for our lesson and we were all getting so frustrated and stressed. The lesson was supposed to start the next hour. I started crying in front of my district, which makes the Elders super uncomfortable (which looking back is a little funny). I went to the hall and my teacher, Hermano Irizarry, was outside. He took me into the office and just let me talk and calm down. You don't realize how much you love your teachers and how much they love you until you realize how comfortable you are ugly crying in front of your twenty two year old male teacher. My teachers are the best. I calmed down and then Hermano Irizarry helped us plan our lesson. We were able to get on the same page and had the best lesson we have ever had. The spirit was so strong, and the investigator, Jorge, told us that he could feel the spirit and he even committed to baptism! We were so excited. The high moments here are so much greater than the lows. And even in the low moments you just feel loved from you zone and your teachers.

Our district

I have two main teachers, Hermano Tuft, who is with us everyday and teaches the main lesson, and Hermano Roberts, who teaches the secondary lesson. Hermano Roberts is out of town this week so Hermano Irizarry has been his sub. We love them all. We appreciate Hermano Irizarry because he starts and ends every lesson with a cool story from his mission. Their testimonies are so strong and amazing to listen to. I am so happy to be in the zone that I am in. 

Hermano Irizarry - he's the teacher I cry to on a regular basis now...

We played a joke on Elder Stapely this week. He fell asleep in class right before lunch, so we all left and turned off the lights. Then we had a teacher from the zone next to us go in and ask him where his district was and why he was alone. He was super confused and when he came out of the room and saw us his face got really red. It was great. 

Our district had a really cool moment together this week. We went to a devotional and then had a district review together. District review is when you get an hour and a half to talk about what you learned and you get to hear from a member of the branch presidency. Our branch president is out of town this week so we were alone and had nothing to do for the last forty-five minutes. We decided to go around and have everyone read their mission scripture in Spanish and then in English and then say why they chose it. It was so cool to see a little peak into everyone's lives through their favorite scripture. We got more unified and the spirit was so strong. I love them! (My mission scripture is Words of Mormon 1:7 if anyone was wondering)

Me and my sister training leaders

Along with teaching our investigators, this week we also got to teach members. It was the funnest thing ever. Even though it was still a struggle because we were speaking Spanish, it was fun to just bare testimony to them. With the investigators, there is always the stress of getting asked a question that you don't know how to reply to in Spanish (or worse when you have no idea what they are asking). With the members we are able to just relax and teach. I was able to say everything I wanted to in Spanish, which is insane because my Spanish is still pretty bad. I know that God is helping me because there is no way I could know as much as I do without Him. 

Other than the rare stresses and frustrations of the week, it was pretty similar to last week. We spend about ten hours a day in class either learning about Preach My Gospel, the scriptures, or Spanish. We eat in the main building cafeteria most days, with the occasional sack lunch on P-days. Sadly we did not get to go to the temple today because it is Pioneer Day, which is apparently a big deal here. I think we might get to go watch fireworks in the parking lot tonight, but that might just be a rumor.

I love you all and I pray for you all the time! Yo se que La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Ultimos Días es verdad. I am so happy to be a missionary here! 

Have a wonderful week! Keep sending Dear Elders, they are the best!

Hermana Doxey