Monday, November 30, 2009
My First Week in Paraguay
It is my first P-day (preparation day) in the country and we have been having a great time. I was glad to hear about the snow at home because it is so hot here, really hot all the time. It only gets hotter in December and January, but don´t worry, I´ve got sunscreen. I slept at the mission office Wednesday night in a little bunk house they have there for the new missionaries. We didn´t spend too much time there. Right after study time and breakfast we went to the church in Asuncion for changes. Its actually the church right next to the temple. It was wonderful to see the temple. You´ll never guess who my trainer is, remember how Haley Dennis has a brother serving here? Well, he´s training me, its pretty funny actually and he keeps on telling me about how crazy his family is going to respond to the news. He´s training me in a little city called Pedro Juan Caballero, its eight hours from the capital Asunción and right on the border of Brazil, literally on the border. Paraguay has three steps along the north border, I like to call it its back, and Pedro Juan is in the corner of the middle step. There are so many people here that speak Portuguese so it has been hard starting out with the language. My Spanish isn´t really bad at all, so people can usually understand me. Most of the people here speak Spanish, Portuguese, and Guaraní so I usually can´t understand them. If they just speak straight Spanish it is easier, I can´t understand everything but I get most of it. Yet almost always they speak Spanish with a Guaraní mix or Portuguese with a Guaraní mix so most of the time I just don´t know what is going on. It is nice people can understand me though when I speak Spanish. When we teach the people here need everything simply put so they can understand. I really feel the Lord has been helping me with the language. It is hard for me to keep up in lessons but it seems like when it is my turn to talk I can say everything I need to and I can pretty much answer questions directed to me. It is a little hard here to because we are opening a new area. We had eight people here already with baptismal dates but it looks like we only have about three that are super sure. This mission has a lot of baptisms. The first day we were here we were told by the AP´s (Assistants to the President) the goal for the mission for us to keep is a baptism every week, the goal is 4 per month. One baptism per week is pretty awesome, so pretty soon with the investigators we are teaching I should be able to write about some baptisms. The work is hard here but it is fun and rewarding. The people here are really nice. It gets frustrating sometimes though, for example, the other day we taught this lady and her neighbor the first lesson and set up a date to come back and the next day when we came back we could see the lady in the back of the house, she hid. Anyway, the city we are in right now isn´t as poor as the rest of Paraguay, but it is still pretty poor, but people still have some nice things. Everyone here has a motorcycle, I mean everyone, there are probably twice as many on the road or more than any cars at one time. Everything is going great, we had some investigators in church yesterday that are getting really excited about their baptismal dates. We´re teaching five sisters right now and they are just awesome. They all really have a desire to do what is right, they´re reading everyday and they´re praying and getting ready for the 18th when they´ll be baptized. Some are more excited than others, but I think we´ll have them all ready by the baptismal date we have for them. We are also teaching this Indian family where some of them only speak Guaraní. Most of the time we are there, Elder Dennis just says everything and I have no idea what is going on. The man has to get married to his wife before they get baptized, and we´re working on that right now. It seems no one gets married here. Everyone lives together and raises a family but very few we teach are married. They say they are husband and wife. Here in Paraguay if you want to separate it is a really hard process and you have to wait two years so people just don´t get married. We have been working really hard though, we have met a lot of good people and have been teaching pretty much all day everyday. We also have some awesome members in our branch here that love to go teach with us and that is such a big help. The branch is really small. We had fifteen people in church yesterday. Three were investigators. Elder Dennis and I gave the talks, said the prayers, and passed the sacrament, so it was special. We´ve already had one huge rainstorm and got soaked walking home, I don´t think we would have been more wet jumping in a pool.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
First Companion, Missionary Trainer, Elder Dennis
We have been so excited Elder Dennis is Ryan's first companion and trainer. Our family had many associations with his family while we lived in New York. Ryan even went on a fun double date with his sister, Haley, while in New York before he went to Brigham Young University. We knew Elder Dennis was in Ryan's mission and would only have a few months left before he returned home when Ryan would arrive in the mission field. We wondered when the mission call was received could there be any possibility the two could be put together on his mission?
Arrival in Paraguay
Elder Adamson in the arriving group of missionaries to the Paraguay Asuncion North Mission on November 25, 2009.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Week 8 in the MTC
I've now been here just about 8 weeks and I am so excited to be heading off to Paraguay soon, only 6 days left now! I leave Salt Lake City, Utah on November 23rd early in the morning and I will arrive in Asuncion, Paraguay on November 24th about dinner time. I've got at total of over 30 hours travel time with one sweet 7 and a half hour layover in Buenos Aires!
Anyway, just some business to go over, so they told me in the mailroom that any dearelders that come and we have already left just get thrown out, they don't get forwarded on because they don't have any postage, so anything sent to me after noon on Saturday, November 21st, I won't get. I'm pretty sure dearelder.com will work once I get into my mission but you will have to change the address to send those to my mission because the church has a pouch service for my mission. I've never been on dearelder.com so you'll have to figure that out, but just keep that in mind.
One main highlight of this week was when my teacher decided, which was a great idea, to have a little mach baptism to teach us all how to go through the interview questions with an investigator, and how to plan the whole baptism. My district leader was put in charge and we were all given roles to play and it turned out really awesome. My teacher was the investigator and we were all given different roles in the baptismal service. I was given the role of the investigator's best member friend and I gave a talk at the baptism about the gift of the Holy Ghost. Oh, and by the way, all of this was done in Spanish, which you probably already guessed. It was a super cool experience because of the spirit that was there. I could really feel the love that I had for this fake investigator and it made me think about all of the times I will be doing this for real people on my mission and it was just so cool to think about the Spirit being brought to the hearts of those I am going to teach in Paraguay. We were able to have a testimony meeting as a district too. I could really just feel the love that God has for all of us, it was one of the best experiences I have had here at the MTC. After all this we found out, Angela, the girl from San Antonio I was telling you about, meet with the missionaries and set her baptismal date for tomorrow, Angela our investigator from the Referral Center is going to get baptized tomorrow, how cool is that?! I just want to end with my testimony that I know without a doubt that this is God's work among men, I know this because of that Spirit I can feel so strong while I study and especially while I teach people about the truths of this gospel. I am so excited to get down to Paraguay and start touching the lives of the people there. I can't wait to tell you all about South America, con amor, Elder Adamson V
Anyway, just some business to go over, so they told me in the mailroom that any dearelders that come and we have already left just get thrown out, they don't get forwarded on because they don't have any postage, so anything sent to me after noon on Saturday, November 21st, I won't get. I'm pretty sure dearelder.com will work once I get into my mission but you will have to change the address to send those to my mission because the church has a pouch service for my mission. I've never been on dearelder.com so you'll have to figure that out, but just keep that in mind.
One main highlight of this week was when my teacher decided, which was a great idea, to have a little mach baptism to teach us all how to go through the interview questions with an investigator, and how to plan the whole baptism. My district leader was put in charge and we were all given roles to play and it turned out really awesome. My teacher was the investigator and we were all given different roles in the baptismal service. I was given the role of the investigator's best member friend and I gave a talk at the baptism about the gift of the Holy Ghost. Oh, and by the way, all of this was done in Spanish, which you probably already guessed. It was a super cool experience because of the spirit that was there. I could really feel the love that I had for this fake investigator and it made me think about all of the times I will be doing this for real people on my mission and it was just so cool to think about the Spirit being brought to the hearts of those I am going to teach in Paraguay. We were able to have a testimony meeting as a district too. I could really just feel the love that God has for all of us, it was one of the best experiences I have had here at the MTC. After all this we found out, Angela, the girl from San Antonio I was telling you about, meet with the missionaries and set her baptismal date for tomorrow, Angela our investigator from the Referral Center is going to get baptized tomorrow, how cool is that?! I just want to end with my testimony that I know without a doubt that this is God's work among men, I know this because of that Spirit I can feel so strong while I study and especially while I teach people about the truths of this gospel. I am so excited to get down to Paraguay and start touching the lives of the people there. I can't wait to tell you all about South America, con amor, Elder Adamson V
Week 7 at the MTC
I can't believe how fast the time is going by now, its been 7 weeks now since I've been in the MTC and I leave here in 13 days. This last week was a super awesome week. The spirit has been so strong. We were able to do some work this week with real investigators. It has been pretty awesome. Last Tuesday the devotional was amazing. I remember exactly the things that were said and the way it impressed me. It was one of those moments when you are listening and thinking and the spirit is filling in the cracks and giving you impressions. I don't even really know how to describe it, but it was awesome and I could seriously feel the spirit telling me things and giving me revelation about the things that were being said about the atonement and about our role in the plan of Salvation as missionaries. It was just an awesome way to start out an awesome week.
The next day we found out that our TRC appointment for the week was going to be David. I don't know if I already told you what the TRC is, but it is our teaching at the end of each week to practice the things that we have been practicing. It's like the test at the end of the week at school. David is this inactive member of the church my teacher has been bringing for people to teach at the TRC. It was quite the experience being able to teach him. We got to plan and do activities and things specifically to the investigator, just like on the mission, and the lesson ending up going really well. David had started reading the Book of Mormon again because of a challenge given to him last week in the TRC. He had read 85 pages this last week. It was pretty amazing. During the lesson he was pointing out things he liked and things he didn't understand. David is well on his way, but I still don't really feel like he really understands how important it is to him. He knows that the church is good for him and can better his life, but I don't think he understands its real eternal worth. That is something that the other missionaries in our district are going to try to help him with this week, with a little of our help planning.
Also we had a couple of people we called from the Referral Center that are doing really great. We had this one girl, Angela, that lives in San Antonio, Texas. She is going to school there. We had been talking to her and found out she has been talking to a lot of other elders here too. We found out she has decided to be baptized and knows all of these things are true, but hasn't even met with the missionaries in San Antonio. She's just been talking to missionaries here in the training center via chat and calls and every other week with missionaries in her home town. We found all this out and we called her on Saturday and I got her to promise to go to church in San Antonio and meet with the Elders there and talk to them about getting baptized. When we called back to check on her on Monday it was so awesome. She just kept going off about how much she loved church, and how there were girls there her age, and she found out about institute and has started to go now. She is going to help out with a youth conference this weekend. She described how she could feel the spirit so strong during church and then when she left she could tell the difference, and she was excited because she met sister missionaries there and she was telling us and she said, "You know they have girl elders here?" She is so on track it is awesome. It was to be our last call, we were going to make sure she was set with the missionaries there and make it our last call so we could focus on other referrals. I told her we weren't going to call her back until the day before we leave here to tell her goodbye and she was so funny, she said, "Oh, don't worry, you can call me anytime that day, or anytime this week, or you can even call me everyday until you leave if you want." I reassured her and told her we would call again before we leave and made sure she would keep talking to the missionaries in San Antonio, so it was a pretty awesome call.
Then after that call we called a Spanish women living in NYC. She was one of the very first Spanish calls I made here calling to see if she got her DVD. She said she received a Bible but not the DVD she wanted. I told her I would re-send it and then call her again in about a week or two to check again. So I was calling to check again and she said she got it and was really receptive to all we had to say. She asked us what the difference between the Catholic Church and our church was and we went right into the first lesson about the restoration of the gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith. We ended up teaching the first lesson for the first time to a real investigator in Spanish and it was awesome. I really could only understand about 50-75% of what she was saying, but I could get the gist of everything and the spirit was definitely there. She was very receptive and we were actually able to send a Book of Mormon and the missionaries to her house so I think our first time went pretty well.
I'm just going to finish with my testimony, I know this church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is true and I know this is the Lord's work. The spirit is just so strong in the things we do here I can't even begin to doubt what I am doing. I love my Savior and I can't wait to be able to share this joy with the people in Paraguay in 13 days. Yo sé que Jesucristo es mi Salvador.
The next day we found out that our TRC appointment for the week was going to be David. I don't know if I already told you what the TRC is, but it is our teaching at the end of each week to practice the things that we have been practicing. It's like the test at the end of the week at school. David is this inactive member of the church my teacher has been bringing for people to teach at the TRC. It was quite the experience being able to teach him. We got to plan and do activities and things specifically to the investigator, just like on the mission, and the lesson ending up going really well. David had started reading the Book of Mormon again because of a challenge given to him last week in the TRC. He had read 85 pages this last week. It was pretty amazing. During the lesson he was pointing out things he liked and things he didn't understand. David is well on his way, but I still don't really feel like he really understands how important it is to him. He knows that the church is good for him and can better his life, but I don't think he understands its real eternal worth. That is something that the other missionaries in our district are going to try to help him with this week, with a little of our help planning.
Also we had a couple of people we called from the Referral Center that are doing really great. We had this one girl, Angela, that lives in San Antonio, Texas. She is going to school there. We had been talking to her and found out she has been talking to a lot of other elders here too. We found out she has decided to be baptized and knows all of these things are true, but hasn't even met with the missionaries in San Antonio. She's just been talking to missionaries here in the training center via chat and calls and every other week with missionaries in her home town. We found all this out and we called her on Saturday and I got her to promise to go to church in San Antonio and meet with the Elders there and talk to them about getting baptized. When we called back to check on her on Monday it was so awesome. She just kept going off about how much she loved church, and how there were girls there her age, and she found out about institute and has started to go now. She is going to help out with a youth conference this weekend. She described how she could feel the spirit so strong during church and then when she left she could tell the difference, and she was excited because she met sister missionaries there and she was telling us and she said, "You know they have girl elders here?" She is so on track it is awesome. It was to be our last call, we were going to make sure she was set with the missionaries there and make it our last call so we could focus on other referrals. I told her we weren't going to call her back until the day before we leave here to tell her goodbye and she was so funny, she said, "Oh, don't worry, you can call me anytime that day, or anytime this week, or you can even call me everyday until you leave if you want." I reassured her and told her we would call again before we leave and made sure she would keep talking to the missionaries in San Antonio, so it was a pretty awesome call.
Then after that call we called a Spanish women living in NYC. She was one of the very first Spanish calls I made here calling to see if she got her DVD. She said she received a Bible but not the DVD she wanted. I told her I would re-send it and then call her again in about a week or two to check again. So I was calling to check again and she said she got it and was really receptive to all we had to say. She asked us what the difference between the Catholic Church and our church was and we went right into the first lesson about the restoration of the gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith. We ended up teaching the first lesson for the first time to a real investigator in Spanish and it was awesome. I really could only understand about 50-75% of what she was saying, but I could get the gist of everything and the spirit was definitely there. She was very receptive and we were actually able to send a Book of Mormon and the missionaries to her house so I think our first time went pretty well.
I'm just going to finish with my testimony, I know this church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is true and I know this is the Lord's work. The spirit is just so strong in the things we do here I can't even begin to doubt what I am doing. I love my Savior and I can't wait to be able to share this joy with the people in Paraguay in 13 days. Yo sé que Jesucristo es mi Salvador.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Week 6 at the MTC
I've got another week down in the MTC, it is getting pretty crazy how fast the time goes by now. I have been here a while. The weeks are just flying now, and then I'll be flying to Paraguay. Less than 3 weeks from now. It is kind of cool to think about it because now I'm one of the elders that all of the new missionaries look up to because it seems like I have years worth of wisdom when really I was just in their shoes. I still remember when I got here how all the elders in my zone seemed like they were years older than me when they were all really my same age.
I'm super excited for tomorrow because new missionaries are coming in and that is always awesome. I get to host this time so its going to be pretty sweet.
Big news, we had Elder L. Tom Perry come to the MTC last week, it was pretty awesome, I love the spirit that an apostle can bring to the room, and the wisdom he was able to bring us was amazing. It is even more amazing the Lord has picked me to wear the same title as those amazing men. I want more than anything to be and stay worthy of this great calling of being a missionary for the Lord Jesus Christ.
I got my second haircut. A little update on my weight gain, I didn't stop eating whatever I want (I'm only here 3 more weeks, why stop now) and it seems I have hit my peak. I actually lost 1 pound this week which puts me at a solid 8 pound gain and if I'm lucky, like its looking, I won't gain any more. I really think I'll be alright though, I exercise for 50 minutes a day 5 days a week. Once I get on my mission I don't think I'll have to worry at all about gaining weight, plus I want to enjoy having this much food while I've got it.
My companion I've had for what seems like forever now, is from upstate California, around the Bay area. He's the oldest in his family of 3 children and is an awesome missionary. Sometimes he likes to goof around a little bit, but you can tell he has a sincere desire to do this work and he has a strong testimony of this gospel. He and I are actually a lot alike and so we get along really well. He had a job this summer selling motorcycles in California and so he always has these awesome tips on how to ask questions and how to get people to like you which I'm super grateful for because I've been able to learn a lot from him. I'm even more grateful though for his example with how much he cares about people.
For a couple of weeks, we have been a threesome companionship. My second companion, the one who lost his passport and returned to the MTC is a cool guy from upstate Nevada who did a year at the University there before he came on his mission. He doesn't really talk all that much. Sometimes it is hard. He really thinks about things before he says things, which I admire him for. This week especially there have been a few times when he just didn't want to do what we were doing and would sit and read his scriptures without saying a word to us no matter what we ask him. That has been hard, but I think it is getting better. I have been praying for the Lord to help me find ways to connect with him and maybe catch a little bit of what he is thinking sometimes. Other times he can be really funny, sometimes at night when we are going around he says some of the funniest things and we all have a really good time. I hope he can get back to the Domincan on time and his mission will be awesome for him.
My Spanish is coming along really well. We did the coolest thing this week, we killed Spanish! I spent a couple nights this week making a coffin out of cardboard and duct tape, it was sweet. It looks pretty legit too. I shared I bought an English dictionary and we ripped it all up and put it in the coffin. I had everyone in our district write their doubts about Spanish on some paper and put those in there too. Now that English is dead we only speak Spanish. Every night now I go up to the Latinos that live in my building and talk to them in Spanish. It's pretty fun and I've made some really good friends. They are all trying to learn English and I'm learning Spanish so we go back and forth talking to each other. So I'm not really worrying too much about my language. I know my Spanish will be okay by the time I leave here, and I'm super excited to learn Guaraní. One of the Latinos that lives in my building is actually from my mission and just got here last week so he has been teaching me some Guarani too.
I want to bear my testimony, I know this work is real and I know Jesus is my Savior and I know He is right here with me, helping me preach this gospel.
I'm super excited for tomorrow because new missionaries are coming in and that is always awesome. I get to host this time so its going to be pretty sweet.
Big news, we had Elder L. Tom Perry come to the MTC last week, it was pretty awesome, I love the spirit that an apostle can bring to the room, and the wisdom he was able to bring us was amazing. It is even more amazing the Lord has picked me to wear the same title as those amazing men. I want more than anything to be and stay worthy of this great calling of being a missionary for the Lord Jesus Christ.
I got my second haircut. A little update on my weight gain, I didn't stop eating whatever I want (I'm only here 3 more weeks, why stop now) and it seems I have hit my peak. I actually lost 1 pound this week which puts me at a solid 8 pound gain and if I'm lucky, like its looking, I won't gain any more. I really think I'll be alright though, I exercise for 50 minutes a day 5 days a week. Once I get on my mission I don't think I'll have to worry at all about gaining weight, plus I want to enjoy having this much food while I've got it.
My companion I've had for what seems like forever now, is from upstate California, around the Bay area. He's the oldest in his family of 3 children and is an awesome missionary. Sometimes he likes to goof around a little bit, but you can tell he has a sincere desire to do this work and he has a strong testimony of this gospel. He and I are actually a lot alike and so we get along really well. He had a job this summer selling motorcycles in California and so he always has these awesome tips on how to ask questions and how to get people to like you which I'm super grateful for because I've been able to learn a lot from him. I'm even more grateful though for his example with how much he cares about people.
For a couple of weeks, we have been a threesome companionship. My second companion, the one who lost his passport and returned to the MTC is a cool guy from upstate Nevada who did a year at the University there before he came on his mission. He doesn't really talk all that much. Sometimes it is hard. He really thinks about things before he says things, which I admire him for. This week especially there have been a few times when he just didn't want to do what we were doing and would sit and read his scriptures without saying a word to us no matter what we ask him. That has been hard, but I think it is getting better. I have been praying for the Lord to help me find ways to connect with him and maybe catch a little bit of what he is thinking sometimes. Other times he can be really funny, sometimes at night when we are going around he says some of the funniest things and we all have a really good time. I hope he can get back to the Domincan on time and his mission will be awesome for him.
My Spanish is coming along really well. We did the coolest thing this week, we killed Spanish! I spent a couple nights this week making a coffin out of cardboard and duct tape, it was sweet. It looks pretty legit too. I shared I bought an English dictionary and we ripped it all up and put it in the coffin. I had everyone in our district write their doubts about Spanish on some paper and put those in there too. Now that English is dead we only speak Spanish. Every night now I go up to the Latinos that live in my building and talk to them in Spanish. It's pretty fun and I've made some really good friends. They are all trying to learn English and I'm learning Spanish so we go back and forth talking to each other. So I'm not really worrying too much about my language. I know my Spanish will be okay by the time I leave here, and I'm super excited to learn Guaraní. One of the Latinos that lives in my building is actually from my mission and just got here last week so he has been teaching me some Guarani too.
I want to bear my testimony, I know this work is real and I know Jesus is my Savior and I know He is right here with me, helping me preach this gospel.
Week 5 at the MTC
This was the fastest week ever. First off, I've been weighing myself here in the MTC because of all the stories of how you gain tons of weight here, and I've just about gained 10 pounds since I got here and honestly I don't even know where it is. I don't feel or look (well at least I don't think I look) any different than when I left, but when I came I weighed in at 153.7 and I'm now 162.3, so at this pace I'll be over 170 by the time I leave here... I really don't look any different. I'm pretty positive once I get down to Paraguay and actually start moving more than just 50 min for 5 days a week I'll lose the weight again, hopefully not any more than I've gained but you never know.
This week is our first week teaching full lessons in Spanish, and it is pretty intense. We've tried it before but this week we have to do it in the TRC, which is the big test here at the end of the week with the real fake investigator they give us. Our class is going to have a funeral for English, I'm pretty excited about that, but at the same time it is going to be pretty intense. I bought a little cheap English dictionary for the ceremony and everything, but really it'll be a lot of help to really shift the focus to Spanish. We are supposed to now speak as much Spanish as we can, but it is going to be pretty intense to try to not speak English at all. I'm pretty sure we can do it.
A cool thing happened in class this week. Last Saturday my teacher, Bro. Alder, was sharing with us the Christlike attribute we should work on for next week. The attribute is patience. He told us about some of his own personal experiences he was having right now and it was just so cool how what he was saying applied so much to what we as a district needed to do and even cooler was how it applied to me personally. These past couple weeks have been a little frustrating for me because I really felt like I could be doing better than I was and that I wasn't really progressing much, I felt as though I had been really honestly trying as hard as I could and it seemed as though I was dormant and really not reaching where I knew I could be. When Bro. Alder talked about his experiences he was having and how studying patience had helped him it was like it was exactly what I needed and the Spirit was just so strong. I could tell he was being inspired and his life was even being directed in a way that he could personally relate to us. The story gets better, the next day was Sunday and in Priesthood our branch President was teaching us about all different things and then he pulled out his Preach My Gospel and said that he felt like something we really needed to work on and study, he said in his words that we need to "tear it apart studing it," is the section in Preach My Gospel on patience, and it was just so powerful, a second confirmation of what I had already received a witness of. Then in sacrament meeting one of the members of the Branch Presidency talked about Faith in Jesus Christ relating his talk to the talk given in the April General Conference about the 6 destructive D's. On Monday, in Bro. Alders class, we watched the talk in Spanish and really outlined the talk with an emphasis on how our faith in Jesus Christ can keep us out of pattern of the 6destructive D's. It was such a powerful lesson that again just really applied to how I felt and what I needed. I even asked Bro. Alder how often he talks to our presidency and he said he talks to them now and again but he hadn't seen them for a couple weeks and he never goes over lesson plans with them. I know the Lord is watching over us, he knows all of us individually and really is aware and cares about our needs. I see miracles happen all the time in this work, though they be small I cannot deny the presence of them here and I am forever grateful for the Spirit they bring. I know Jesus Christ is real and He is my power, my only hope in bringing souls back to the Father, including my own. I will put my entire trust in Him so I can do the work I have been called to do, because I can't do it without Him.
This week is our first week teaching full lessons in Spanish, and it is pretty intense. We've tried it before but this week we have to do it in the TRC, which is the big test here at the end of the week with the real fake investigator they give us. Our class is going to have a funeral for English, I'm pretty excited about that, but at the same time it is going to be pretty intense. I bought a little cheap English dictionary for the ceremony and everything, but really it'll be a lot of help to really shift the focus to Spanish. We are supposed to now speak as much Spanish as we can, but it is going to be pretty intense to try to not speak English at all. I'm pretty sure we can do it.
A cool thing happened in class this week. Last Saturday my teacher, Bro. Alder, was sharing with us the Christlike attribute we should work on for next week. The attribute is patience. He told us about some of his own personal experiences he was having right now and it was just so cool how what he was saying applied so much to what we as a district needed to do and even cooler was how it applied to me personally. These past couple weeks have been a little frustrating for me because I really felt like I could be doing better than I was and that I wasn't really progressing much, I felt as though I had been really honestly trying as hard as I could and it seemed as though I was dormant and really not reaching where I knew I could be. When Bro. Alder talked about his experiences he was having and how studying patience had helped him it was like it was exactly what I needed and the Spirit was just so strong. I could tell he was being inspired and his life was even being directed in a way that he could personally relate to us. The story gets better, the next day was Sunday and in Priesthood our branch President was teaching us about all different things and then he pulled out his Preach My Gospel and said that he felt like something we really needed to work on and study, he said in his words that we need to "tear it apart studing it," is the section in Preach My Gospel on patience, and it was just so powerful, a second confirmation of what I had already received a witness of. Then in sacrament meeting one of the members of the Branch Presidency talked about Faith in Jesus Christ relating his talk to the talk given in the April General Conference about the 6 destructive D's. On Monday, in Bro. Alders class, we watched the talk in Spanish and really outlined the talk with an emphasis on how our faith in Jesus Christ can keep us out of pattern of the 6destructive D's. It was such a powerful lesson that again just really applied to how I felt and what I needed. I even asked Bro. Alder how often he talks to our presidency and he said he talks to them now and again but he hadn't seen them for a couple weeks and he never goes over lesson plans with them. I know the Lord is watching over us, he knows all of us individually and really is aware and cares about our needs. I see miracles happen all the time in this work, though they be small I cannot deny the presence of them here and I am forever grateful for the Spirit they bring. I know Jesus Christ is real and He is my power, my only hope in bringing souls back to the Father, including my own. I will put my entire trust in Him so I can do the work I have been called to do, because I can't do it without Him.
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