Week 4

Friends and Family,

Every p-day I just think how crazy it is that another week has already flown by! The time is so fast here. I love my district so much I can't even explain it. And the new Elders that came into our zone last week are so funny and sweet. It makes 10 hours of studying a day so much fun! I got my travel itinerary today so I am officially leaving for Scottsdale on August 17! I am so excited but also super sad to leave my zone. These people have been my family for the past four and a half weeks.

Every week I feel like so much has happened but I have nothing to say, but here are a few memorable moments from this week. 

First and by far the best part of my week was Tuesday night devotional. We heard a rumor that an Apostle was going to be speaking so my whole zone decided to sing in the choir to make sure we got seats in the main building (there are so many missionaries here that we have to have a huge secondary room of overflow seating- but the choir is half of the MTC missionaries at about 1,200 singers). Well I was so glad that I did, because Russell M. Nelson was the speaker! It was his first speaking engagement since he was made the president of the Quorum of the Twelve. Not only was hearing him speak incredible, but singing in the choir was amazing. We sang Be Still My Soul and I think it has to be my favorite song now. The thing that impressed me the most about President Nelson is his insane humility. He spoke with such power but at the same time talked about how his is not a perfect person. Everything he said was just so humble. I have so much respect and love for him. I know he is an Apostle of God. He talked about a lot of different things and I can't even begin to pick a favorite, but one thing I liked was when he said that we are never alone in this life because of all that the Savior has done for us, and that sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a sacred work. I know that that is true because I have felt the blessings of serving already. 

This week for Member TRC (still don't know what that stands for but it is when we teach investigators, in this case a member of the Church) we got to have a Skype lesson. That means that whoever you are talking to is a native speaker living in a different country. Our member was the sweetest 19 year old from Argentina. She just put in her mission papers so it was so cool to talk to her! I feel like that makes it seem like my Spanish is really good. It's not. I can get through the lessons okay, and small talk. But sometimes (a lot of the time) I have no idea what people are saying to me. In lessons I can get the gist of what is being said, enough to come up with a short response. My companionship's favorite saying is, "when in doubt just bare your testimony". That happens a lot. Sometimes I will be in the middle of a sentence and just have no idea where it is going so I just give up and bare my testimony on whatever I was trying to say. But hey my testimony is getting pretty good in Spanish! I don't conjugate correctly at all but I can speak "fluidly" (for lack of a better, more accurate word) if I just don't think about the conjugations. Probably not the best plan…I will work on that. 

This week we got to be traffic hosts for the incoming missionaries! We thought we were going to be the host that takes the new missionaries around but when we got there we got assigned to be the traffic control district. We got sweet orange vests and I even got to talk into a walkie-talkie. This week we get to be the regular hosts so that will be fun to! It is a little sad to watch everyone say goodbye to their families, especially the ones that are crying a lot. But on the up side I met an Elder that will be flying out with my to Scottsdale, because he is English speaking he will only be here for 12 days. I fly out with a total of 18 missionaries either going to my mission, Mesa, or Phoenix, but that Elder is the only one I have met. 

We had to say good-bye to our main TRC investigator this week and it was super sad. He was crying when he said goodbye to us. We love him so much! I brought the cookies that grandma sent (thank you so much grandma, they were delish) and we had a little fiesta for our last lesson. We also had to say goodbye to one of our amazing teachers. All the goodbyes just make me realize that throughout my mission I am going to have just enough time to grow to really love people right before they make me leave! But all is well because I know I have a work to do and I am so excited to share with the people in Scottsdale what makes me so happy!

Our investigator we had to say goodbye to this week

I love the MTC, I love the gospel, and I LOVE being a missionary. I pray for everyone all the time and hope everyone has a great week (especially all those lucky ducks in California partying it up without me!). Thank you all for the amazing cards, packages, and emails I love them so much! I love you! THE CHURCH IS TRUE.

Much Love,

Hermana Doxey