Halfway there! (Livin' on a prayer?)

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Halfway there! (Livin' on a prayer?)


So I've made it one month in the MTC! I know Dad was doubting me...and Shawn... but nobody else, right? RIGHT? But really, it's been great and I don't know where the time has gone! When I think that I only have a month left, I start to get a little nervous because I still have SO much to learn!
This has been another interesting week, and you all are so lucky because you get to hear about it! So fasten your seatbelts, because this is going to be crazy! Ok no it's not.
The other day at lunch, one of the Elders in my district asked, "How is that taco salad?" The other Elder responded, "It's alright, nothing to write home about." He was correct. It was alright. But I thought I'd write home about it anyway, because I'm soooo funny.
I saw my old roommate, Jillbo Baggins (A.K.A. Jill Cassinat Urie). She teaches on the floor right above me! I've only seen her once, but hopefully I'll get to see her more.
I get to play basketball at gym time a LOT now. The Elders have all decided that they don't feel less manly when they lose, because apparently I'm an NBA All-Star in disguise. Bet you never knew that!
I've got a crazy accurate outside shot, in case anyone was wondering.
Last Wednesday, we had our first "ayuno de ingles" (English Fast). We spoke Spanish ALL DAY and it was great! This week, we've upped it to two days. We're going to speak only Spanish on Wednesday AND Friday. It helps me realize how much Spanish I've learned... and how much I really still need to! And, Dad, just to let you know, the MTC still hasn't "caught up" to the Spanish I learned in High School. I've gotten a lot more practice, and I've learned to speak better through that, but I haven't learned any new verb tenses or anything. The only things that are new are the gospel vocabulary and the massive amounts of practice we get.
This Sunday, the fireside speaker was Richard Heaton (he works here at the MTC). He gave a talk on focusing on your investigators in EVERYTHING you do and he called up some missionaries who have only been members of the church for a year. It was an incredibly powerful talk and I really loved it. Also (I know all you returned missionaries have heard this and are going to think about how lame I am now) we sang the Primary song "To Bring the World His Truth" and where the lyrics usually say, "and we will be the Lord's missionaries," they changed it to, "and we are now the Lord's missionaries." And I thought, "Wow, it's true! I am! Weird... How did I ever trick anyone into letting me be a missionary??? Do they know what they are trusting me with???" But really, I thought that was powerful, too. I'm a missionary! Wahoo!
Yesterday we went to the RC again, and I didn't have an experience exactly like last week, but I still loved it. I've decided to call only in Spanish from now on and it's so great! First of all, the people I talk to are all so nice--Latinos never say no! Haha. "Want a Book of Mormon? I'll send the missionaries with one!" "...ok sounds good." And when I forget a word or say something wrong and I tell them I'm learning Spanish, they're so nice and they tell me what a good job I'm doing and they speak more slowly. I just love the practice and sharing the gospel! I think I bore my testimony about 20 times yesterday and it's just so much fun every time! And they're real people! Ok that's enough about the RC for now... I'll exclaim about how much I love it again next week.
I tried out for a musical number on Thursday. They're going to have me sing in a devotional sometime around Easter. My companion is going to record it (on her tape recorder... we're so high-class) so I can send it home for you to hear. It's a beautiful song and it really does have a great Easter message. It's called "Gethsemane" and it's by Sally DeFord if anyone wants to look it up. And no, I'm not nervous.
Everyone in my district was freaked out that I wasn't nervous at all.
I guess the nerves wear off when you do stuff like that so much.
We had some sisters (including Hnas Barillas and Clark) leave this week, and we miss them, but we're glad they FINALLY get to go to Chile! They've been temporarily reassigned to the Chile Santiago Norte mission, but they'll get to Concepcion Sur soon enough! When they learned that we have horses, they got really excited and decided we're going to have an MTC reunion at our house, so consider this your warning, Mom!
So I'll say AGAIN: the MTC is great! I love it here and I love learning, but I'm also excited to be headed to Argentina in a month! I just want to go there and teach them all!
The Church is true, the Book is blue, GO COUGARS!
Love,
Hermana LaPray

P.S. Tell David I still haven't gained any weight. They better send me some of those coconut cookies or something :)