Hola,
I'm so excited for conference this weekend. I am taking your advice and praying to receive the teachings The Lord wants me to hear at this time. They haven't told us much about how or where we'll be watching it. We didn't get to watch the Women's Conference live. We'll be able to watch it during the Priesthood Session on Saturday night.
This week has been great! We have begun teaching through the TRC office. I think last week I said it's "Teaching a Recent Convert," but it's actually Training Resource Center. Entonces (So), we teach investigators who come onto the MTC campus. Some may be mock investigators, pero (but) they don't tell us. Viri is our first TRC investigator we're teaching. We've taught her 3-4 times, and our lesson yesterday morning was awesome. She's a student at BYU, pero she's from Mexico. I really pushed myself to speak up more in lessons even if I make mistakes or need to ask Hermana Dodd for a palabra (word)/frase (phrase) I don't know. One of our teachers, Hermano Workman, sort of chastised us for not speaking Espanol outside of the classroom. He said if God commands us to speak our mission language, to use the words we know, and to try in Espanol first, then we do it. It's His work, so we do it His way. I really tried this week to be better speaking the language outside of class, and I really believe I was blessed. Our lesson was incredible. Viri is having a hard time understanding what's she's being taught in classes about el Libro de Mormon, entonces we wanted to help her understand. We started by reading the introduction of el Libro de Mormon. We encouraged her to stop us if she had any preguntas (questions). She needed verification on who the Nephites were and that Jesus visited them. I was speaking and explaining without much hesitation. It was so neat. As we walked out of the TRC room, Hermana Dodd just explodes and says "You did SO GOOD!" She said she just sat back and allowed me to do teach. It was great. My faith in el don de lenguas (the gift of tongues) is growing day by day.
My studies have been focused on the first three lessons from Preach My Gospel. I feel so behind because I was so here and there with activity in the church for so many years. I barely read my scriptures and when I was at church, I was there but I wasn't active. My thoughts have really been focused on baptism lately. I think I had mentioned that our district participates in MTC choir. Brother Eggett is the choir director and he's SO POWERFUL. He teaches seminary in the Provo area as well, so he's just stellar all around. This week, we're singing "Baptism" from the Children's Songbook. He always gives a lesson while we're singing. On Sunday, he shared a lot of stories from his mission in Brazil. One of them was about a man they met who had been baptized into the Catholic church. They taught him about the law pertaining to baptism, and he really liked the idea about being able to choose baptism. After be was baptized, he stopped attending church. They went to visit him, and he denied being a part of The Church. He said he wanted to be baptized the right way, and that was it. So heartbreaking, especially for him and his companion. During practice, Bro. Eggett asked us why we get baptized. He would pick people out of the congregation. A person would answer, and he'd ask "Why?" to their response. Someone would provide more information, and he'd continue to ask "Why?" It was uncomfortable, but it really got us thinking about all of the aspects of baptism. We have practice tonight, and I'm so excited to hear more and learn more and feel more.
Our district is great. We've become very close, but Satan is trying to break us. At the beginning of our time here, we were getting along so well. Even Brother Nay, a member of the Branch Presidency, said we were unusually close-like a family. As soon as that happened, Satan came in and has been trying to wreck our spirits ever since. He's working double overtime to tear us apart. Yesterday morning I was doing personal study, but the Elders were laughing and looking at pictures on each other's cameras. I was getting so frustrated because that seems to be the way things are going lately. We try to set goals to do better, act better, study better, obey better, and then the next day it ends up being exactly opposite of how we wanted it to be. Some days I get discouraged being 29 in a group of teenagers because their maturity levels are, well, at a teenage level. Then I have to remember that they're all at the early part of their missions. The MTC is such a small part of the mission. Of course they're going to be immature at times and goof around. They're teenagers. We all need growth!
My companion is sweet. I pray every morning, night, and times in between to love her and to see her as Our Heavenly Father sees her.
Every day I have my eyes opened to just how much Christ loves me. He suffered in Gethsemene for me. For when I get discouraged in class because I don't know a word or don't understand what the teacher is saying. He died on the cross for ME so that I could return to my Heavenly Father. He accepted God's plan and accepted being our Savior. Our evening teacher, Hermana Hartshorn, was role playing with Elder Faber. He was an investigator and she was teaching him about The Restoration. She asked "How would you have felt to be in Christ's church when He was here?" I pondered her question for myself, and I became teary-eyed. It's unfathomable to think about being in Christ's presence. The love I feel for The Savior has grown so much since being here. His love is perfect.
I can't believe I've been in the MTC for 20 days. I'm almost half way there. I'll be receiving my travel plans, and I'll be off to Kentucky before I know it! The MTC really is such a great place. I think I'd probably enjoy it even more if I were in the same age group as the majority, but I'm grateful I don't have to worry about developing crushes or flirting with Elders. I really don't know how they do it.
Love you and miss you! Thanks again for the package and the sweet sweet letter. š
Hermana Boyson
Kentucky Louisville Mission
Elder Faber at the computer with Hermana Dodd holding up a peace sign. Elder Faber is reserved and diligent. Elder Winkie taking a picture of us taking a picture :)
Elder Briggs is so hilarious. He always gets us laughing even when we're not supposed to (especially when we're not supposed to). Elder Monkeya is our District Leader. He's got a great heart and loves to smile
.
The picture of us four girls is from today. It's so nice to wear street clot
hes.
