HOLA!!!!
Well, it has been another great week at the CCM (MTC). This week we started teaching investigators, they really are just our teachers, but it is still good practice. At first it was kind of hard and I didn{t know what to say because I couldn{t say many things in Spanish. Hermana Rasmussen also has a louder personality so she would just take over the lesson and I would bear my testimony or say something when she wasnt talking. We have improved so much over the last week though. Now we split the time pretty evenly when teaching and we try to let our investigators talk as much as they can. Sometimes that{s kind of difficult because when we ask a question we don{t exactly know what they are saying when they respond so it gets interesting:)
On Saturday we had the opportunity to go proselytzing in Lima. We were assigned a latina companion. I was so blessed to get paired up with one of our latina roommates. She is from Ecuador. Her name is Hermana Cordova. We went to a stake center in Lima and then were assigned a few houses of less active members to go visit. Once we were done we were just supposed to talk to people of the streets. It was such a humbling experience. The area the hermanas went to was supposedly the safest and nicest, but still the buildings were so dirty and I don{t even know how to explain it. Lets just say we have SOOOOO much to be grateful for! My companion said everything in the area we were in was a lot smaller than the buildings in Quito, Ecuador and it was a lot dirtier. It was so sad to see how they live and yet we often complain about the things we don{t have. I can tell you all that you have more than you really need, so be grateful! The first house we went into I was so nervous and then the people started talking. That only made me feel more nervous. I could not understand a word they said. I thought I was improving and learning a lot of Spanish, but that is not what we had learned! haha. I had to ask my companion to explain everything they said but slower. The rest of the time I didn{t say much other than to introduce what we were talking about or to bear my testimony. It was a great experience, but I definitely need to work on my Spanish!
We are now intermediate missionaries (been here two weeks)! Since latino missionaries only stay at the CCM for 2 weeks we had to say goodbye to our latina roommates. It was so sad. Even though there was a language barrier it was so fun to have them in our room. Now we are lonely and only have us 4 American missionaries. New missionaries came this week though. I think we got 60 new missionaries. We have 5 new American hermanas so we are pretty excited.
On Sunday we watched a devotional by President Uchtdorf from April. It was AMAZING!!!! One thing he said that stuck out to me was "What kind of witness will you be? Will you take only a few sips of this water through a straw or will you let the water fill your hole body and serve with all your heart, might, mind, and strength?" After we watched this devotional we went back to our classroom and talked to our district about it. I felt the Spirit stronger than I ever have since I{ve been here. I think everyone except for a few Elders in our district was crying. Everyone had such great inputs on the devotional. It was very interesting though to see some of the elders reactions. I think one of the big differences between the elders and the hermanas is that all the hermanas are here because they want to be. That is not true for a lot of the elders. Some of them make comments about wishing they were on a plan going home or counting down the days until they go home. Really? We have only been here for two weeks!!! THis really bothered Elder Andersen and so he addressed it in our meeting because President Uchtdorf kind of touched on it as well. We talked about how we are already here so we might as well give it our all and work as hard as we can. That goes for anything. Sometimes we aren{t always pleased with the situation we are in and we wish we could be doing something else, but you{re not. So make the most of every situation you are in. Be positive.
I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a missionary. I am so grateful for the gospel and the way it has guided my life. I know that it is true. I know that we have a loving Heavenly Father who has a plan for us and wants us to succeed. I know that our Savior died for us and through His Atonement we may be able to find peace and comfort in all the wrong that is in the world. I love you guys! I hope you all have a wonderful week!!!:)
Love,
Hermana Monson
It really is so crazy! It}s great having Braden in my district. He is so much more mature than a lot of the other elders. He is really dedicated and tries really hard to be the best missionary he can be. He is a great example to the rest of us. He is also the best in our district at speaking Spanish. Really I wish I could be as well spoken as he is.
Everyone is kind of envies our district and wishes they were in it. we are more productive and are a little better at focusing on the gospel and studying than some of the other districts.
Cassie{s baby is so cute!!!
How was girls camp Aub?
Dad, we use preach my gospel a lot. I haven{t studied the whole lessons as much as I should though. Thanks for the scriptures. They were great! I have been studying the Atonement this week. What were the things we studied before I left? Something about how the Atonement made all these other things possible...
The food here is great! This week we had these churros for dessert. They were probably the best things ever! They had this dulce de leche stuff in the middle. They tasted like a mapple bar... maybe even a little bit better. Aub, you would love them! I also love this fruit called granadia. It has a harder outer shell that you crack/peel. THen inside there are these seeds and slimy stuff. You just swallow it without chewing it. I know it sounds gross but its so good! I thought It looked gross but I tried it my first day and now i{m hooked! I have one everyday! The bananas and oranges have also been so good as well. We eat rice every meal, except breakfast. I thought I would be sick of it, but I just squeeze a lime on it and its great. We usually have two choices for meals.... chicken, carne, fish, or pork. It is a lot better than I thought, and everyone says the food in Chiclayo is amazing so I{m excited.
July 28th is Peru{s independence day so dad I will probably be on a float so maybe Britton Johnson will be here to chase me down or something.
Some elders went to the immigration office the other day and they ran into my mission president! They said he seems super chill and cool. He said that everyone will have a lady to cook or them and only some will have a lady to do their laundry. Only if she is a member. We will also probably be living with members. By the time we get there every companionship will have a cell phone, so things are changing a little bit here too I guess.
Mom, I took your challenge. I have so many things to be grateful for!
Oh, one more thing. I forgot to make a copy of my passport ID page. The scaned picture should be in a document in the trash on my laptop. If you could just save it on the computer again and print a copy to put in my personal information drawer at home that would be great! Thanks!
I love you guys so much! Sorry I am behind a week on the emails. I have to write to you, take a picture of your emails, read them on my camera later, and then respond the next week, so sorry!
Have a great week!
Love,
Hermana Monson
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