Week 1 & 2

¡¡Hola Hermanos y Hermanas!!

Intro

So it's technically week two of my mission, but I've been at the Mexico MTC for five days. 

I would've written about my experience doing online MTC, but I didn't. That's because I lost the email list paper on my P day, and not much really happened at all. I did meet my district and my companions, and that was nice, but I didn't quite feel like a missionary while I was online. 

District 8c

Anyways, I am in a trio right now. I'm with Elder Allen, and Elder Springer. Elder Allen is a very tall guy and a cowboy wannabee and Elder Springer is muy fuerte, a total gym bro. 

They're both really funny, and have shared many powerful spiritual thoughts. I love having them for companions.

The Hermanas in my district are cool and they're all pretty funny. We've got 9 missionaries in the district. Both of my companions already speak Spanish very well. Elder Allen did Spanish immersion for 12 years, and Elder Springer took 5 years. That's been a major blessing because they've been able to teach me a bunch. I've learned a lot from them. Sadly, they were both put in a more advances Spanish class so my teacher is my companion during Spanish class. Anyways, our district started doing our practice lessons in Spanish from day 1, even though everyone does English for their first three weeks. So I guess we're pretty cool. We're ahead of the game.

Spanish Progress

So I mentioned in my farewell talk that I took 3 years of Spanish in school, learned very little (if any) and my teacher told me I should drop out of the class. Haha I don't think he liked me very much. Anyways, I want to learn the language asap, and the preach my gospel said to speak Spanish at every opportunity. I've been speaking to everybody. I realized there's an opportunity to speak Spanish every time someone walks bye so I've gotten really good at saying "¡HOLA HERMANAS!" and "¡HOLA ELDERES!" My companions think it's funny, and it's helping me learn more Spanish. I've been able to learn a lot, and I'm really enjoying learning it! I hated it when I tried to learn it at school, but it doesn't feel like I'm learning the same language.

Spiritual thought

So this is something I testified of to my house two nights ago, and I feel like sharing it here too. So, I'm the house leader. I guess that means I'm pretty cool, but 5 of the other elders in our house are house leaders, so I guess I'm not special. ): Anyways, as a house, everyone shared their favorito scripture, and one elder shared Doctrine and Covenants 31: 3-13. I wont talk about all of it because that would take too long, but verse 3 is enough to share my thought. "Lift up your heart and rejoice, for the hour of your mission is come; and your tongue shall be loosed, and you shall declare glad tidings of great joy unto this generation." When he read it, the words lift up your heart and rejoice stood out to me. It helped me emphasize how a mission isn't supposed to be sad, depressing, and you don't have to only enjoy it at the very end. It's meant to be a wonderful experience! And you're supposed to enjoy it, which is why everyone is so sad to go home when it's time. Why not start early and choose to enjoy every moment now? Why wouldn't you choose to enjoy the process of learning a new language? I think it's OK for me to share this, but in my patriarchal blessing, it specifically said that the first 6 months of my mission would be a challenging and difficult time. At first, I took this to mean that I would be depressed, upset, or that I would just hate it for 6 months. But, after I testified of how the mission is supposed to be a joyful experience, that phrase popped into my head with a new meaning. Rock climbing is challenging and difficult but I love rock climbing. Ice hockey is challenging and difficult and I love Ice hockey! In fact, the fact that it is challenging and difficult is what makes it so wonderful. The gospel literally means the good news, so rejoice! There is so much joy in this gospel. I think the best way to say it is "If you're not having the time of your life living the gospel, you've missed something." - Brother Osborne

Let the adventure begin!

I know that this church is true, and that it is so so good. This gospel makes me so happy, and I know that true joy comes from following our savior, Jesus Christ. En el nombre de Jesucristo, Amén.