are counted here, we are almost done with week 4. It doesn't quite make sense to
me.
I have been thinking about the variety of problems that
come up here. There is no perfect week. Sometimes there is homesickness and
sometimes there is real sickness. You struggle with your companion or you
struggle with the language. As soon as you think you have thinks figured out, a
new challenge comes along. I think that one of the main ways in which the Lord
blesses us here is by making our trials seem like they happened a long time
ago, even if it was only yesterday that everything seemed pretty
rough.
A fun thing: My companion Hermana Merrell was asked to
play piano for the Latino Choir. (We don't spend much time with the Latino
missionaries because they only stay here for 2 weeks, and they are in different
classes because we would just bring them down with our atrocious Spanish. For
devotionals, we are sometimes separate so that one video can be shown in
English and one in Spanish). Somehow, they ended up not having a piano player,
so Hna Merrell was asked to play for their Tuesday Pre-Devotional number.
Definitely not the most talented choir I have ever heard, but they had so much
spirit! I kind of really wanted to sing with them, but I was in charge of
turning the pages of sheet music. But it was still really fun. I loved it. Now
we have a few new friends that say hi to us in the hallways and
stuff.
Our lessons with our investigators Karen and Edgar have
been going well. During class yesterday, we were told to practice giving part of
a lesson in English, which was a first. It felt super strange, because we have
generally only been expressing spiritual matters in Spanish for about a month
now. English felt almost insincere because I didn't have to try with all of my
heart and mind to find the right words. It was
odd.
So yesterday, I was walking with Hermana Meacham out of
the comedor after lunch, because Hna Simpson and Hna Merrell had left a few
minutes before and we just switch companions often. Hermana Pratt, the mission
president's wife, was walking past us. All of a sudden, she stopped and said my
name. Then, she told me that I needed to get a haircut. I tried to explain that
I had yet to get one, because I was afraid of not being able to explain what I
wanted done to my hair. The ladies who work at the salon here only speak
Spanish. Hna Pratt gave me a few solutions, all of them ending with me getting
my hair cut as soon as possible. So that's what I did this morning, rather more
grudgingly than was necessary. Everyone else in our casa thought the whole
story was hilarious. Whatever.
The Devotional that we had on Tuesday was a recording of
a Devotional given by Elder Jeffery R Holland in Provo in Jan 2013. It was
pretty incredible. One of my favorite things that he talked about was Real Life.
As missionaries, we often talk about before or after our mission as being "real
life", something that feels very far away from us right now. Elder Holland said
"This is the closest you are every going to get to Real Life." I can't quite
explain how it makes sense, but it does. Of all the things in the world, this
work has meaning like nothing else does. We are dedicated like we have
never been before. After our missions, we will hopefully still be walking in the
Savoir's footsteps, but it will be much less obvious. As challenging as it is,
this life is great.
On Wednesdays, we have TRC. I don't know what that stands
for, but it means we get to teach people who aren't teachers here. They are
usually recent converts to the church or curious friends of the teachers. We
taught a guy names Noé, who was really nice. It made me realize that I know
hardly any Spanish outside of what we use for lessons. Even when we asked him
to please repeat what he had just said, our vocabulary wasn't good enough. But
it was a good experience. I was glad that he was
patient.
I just want to bear testimony that I know this Church is
true. I know that when we have questions, we can find answers. Sometimes these
answers are not what we want to hear, or they come in ways that we aren't
expecting. But I have faith that God knows what is best for me, and for you as
well. Have a good week.
Hermana Pace