July 17, 2013

Enthusiastic Zone Hermanas

My Companion

Dress Like an Elder Day - White shirts and "ties".

With Sister Sirrine

It's p-day again and MAN DID THAT GO FAST! The first week, well mostly the first 3 days... were crazy long! But now it is flying. Each day is relatively the same and everything blends together. I am really surprised/happy at how much spanish I have been able to learn. I hands down know more now than i ever learned in my 3 years of school. That might be partially because I now have a reason to learn it... So yesterday we taught in the TRC lab, which is when they bring members in and you go in and teach them and they give feedback. It's cool because they are not being investigators, they are just real members and we are supposed to teach by the spirit, so that is super neat. One of the ladies we taught (we had 2 lessons) was from Mexico. I really shouldn't need to say more, but I will. SHE TALKED SOOOOO FAST!!!!! Oh man! She started out talking slow(ish) but through the lesson she got muy rapido. Good thing most of the time she talked. It was great, we would share a scripture or and insight and then she would go on for 10 minutes about how that applied to her. Well at least that's what I think that she was saying. By the end she was speaking mucho rapido. We asked her to say the prayer, and half way through I was still trying to figure out how she has started it, because it wasn't our normal 'Nuestro Padre Celestial'. I have never heard a prayer that was faster. All I got out of it was Fe (faith) and Jesucristo amen. Yep. And aparently Argentines speak even faster. I am gunna die. But it's okay, cuz apparently it typically takes 2 months to understand, and 4 months to speak. So I'll just be UBER confused for 2 months :) Easta bien.

So we spend hours and hours a day in our classroom, and I am quite surprised that I have not turned into a human Popsicle. I don't know how everyone else is not frozen! They all say they are SO hot. but seriously i am going to get hypothermia. Oh and I am right where the AC vent blows! You would think that one of the other Hermanas (who are incescantly complaining about being hot) would switch me spots. But nope, they stood right where I sit for about a minute and decided that it was too cold. So they sit and complain it's hot, and I sit and freeze, and they wont let me shut the AC vent or switch spots. Do you see a disconnect? Yeah, so do I. But Nonetheless I will just accept the fact that I will forever be cold. Apparently it gets colder than I originally thought in ARG. one of my teachers got back from there 3 months ago and she said it is bitter. Even though it never snows she said the cold is so penetrating that she had so many layers on and still was freezing. So now I am a lil nervous about loosing toes or fingers. So mom, if i come back with less phalanges  it's okay, because it was in the service of the lord.

There is this tree on campus, and it literally smells like cream soda. No joke. (one of the attached pics is me and my comp smelling it) It is so funny to watch people try and get their friends to smell the tree. Everyone thinks it's a joke and that they are being pranked. They don't want to smell it (which I know how they feel) and look stupid... but when they do it is hillarious to watch their reactions! It's weird, but super cool at the same time. So every time I smell cream soda, i will think of the tree in the MTC. Another smell that is forever burned into my memory is green apple. We have this gree apple air freshener can thingy that one of the elders in my district LOVES to spray. I mean really loves. He sprays it all the time. At least it doesnt smell terrible... but it is definitely losing it's goodnes..

I have developed bionic hearing. Especially in terms of my watch ticking. I wear it every where and it drives me nuts! I do not like the sound of a ticking clock... and it is amazing how well i can here it from so far away! I wonder if that will translate into bionic hearing of the spirit...

Our zone has coined some new terms. 'literalmente' and 'Que en el mundo' are our favorites. We know that they are not correct... but our teachers wont tell us anything better to use, so we say it. And literalmente is a real word, just not really how we use it :) Que en el mundo is also correct... but it would be taken literally and doesn't make any sense. We also play volleyball every Friday night ( i am terrible at that sport) but this week, they ran out of volleyballs! it was quite unfortunate. so ya know what we did instead? played with a slightly flat soccerball. Let me tell you, that was painful! Still pretty fun tho. Oh, i don't think I ever told you about my Zone! We have 4 districts, two of which are all elders. we only have 12 hermanas in the zone. Well we did anyway, one of our districts left on monday, so we are now down to 8 hermanas.It was so sad to see them go! I was amazed how close I got to them so quickly. (there are pics attached of the zone, all the hermanas, and me and some random people from the zone).

Daily life is super repetitive. Class, study, eat, sleep, repeat. Yep sums it up right there! So pretty much any day that is different is real exciting! This week we teach 7 times. we have 3 investigators so we are pretty busy studying for them. We also taught twice in the TRC lab, so all in all this week we teach 9 times. Aparently we are special or something so our teachers gave us an extra investigator that most of the other people in the MTC dont have. Usually there are only 2 investigators.

i love sunday's here!!! they are the best ever! talk about spiritual high! Also tuesdays are pretty magnificent. it is way cool to have all of the missionaries all together. We got a picture taken and apparently that is only the third time that all the missionaries in the MTC have been photographed! So that was cool. Also we were spoken to by Richard G. hinkley. It was great! And for relief society, Carole Mikita spoke, she is AMAZING! 

My favorite quote from Brother Hinkley was "What do you want most in life? Then pay the price and get it." I have been thinking about that a lot and how profound that is. There are so many things that people say and are like, 'i would kill to do that or have that' but in reality, they wouldnt, because they don't have it. They are not willing to pay the price to have it. He also talked about how the greatest pain a missionary can feel is regret. I do not want to feel that! I know what I want from my mission and from my life and I will pay the price to get it. There is nothing more important to me than being sealed for time and all eternity with my family, the one I have now, and the one in the future. I will pay the price to be worthy to have that. I would hate to get done with this life and regret not paying the price to get what matters most. What does it mean to you? What are you willing to pay the price to get? What do you need to change in order to pay that price and get what you want? Just some things to contemplate :) 

I love you all so much!

Ether 12:27- really study this. Notice that it says weakness. not weaknesses... interesting. We only have one weakness. I guess that means that all of our sins/things we do wrong stem from one thing. And if eventually with enough work and persistence got will make our weakness strong, then we will be perfect. Just something I thought about this week.

Love, Hermana Sirrine