Hi everyone!
Has it really only been a week? Each day is so packed that it seems like we accomplish two days worth of work in just 16 hours or so.
Moving into the Intermediate class has definitely been a tender mercy from God. My district is so amazing, and though it's hard sometimes to be spoken to in words that make absolutely no sense, I'm learning a lot, and we've really bonded. It's clear that not every district enjoys each other's company like we do. We always play sand volleyball up at the field across from the temple during gym time. We aren't good (it's bad if I'm one of the best athletes out there!), but we laugh a lot and get closer all the time.
I told you about Elder E, right? My companion? Well, he got bumped up from Beginning Spanish on day two. Now he's in Advanced Spanish because he's so good. He was born in Mexico, but raised in Canada, so his English and Spanish are both great. We miss seeing him since he's moved, but he's still in our Branch, so that's good. I'm companions with Elders G and M again. We all have different personalities, but manage to get by really well. G is from Centerville UT, just an hour north of here. He just graduated high school, so he's kind of a goober sometimes, but he works really hard because he's a lot slower at Spanish than most of the district. He's a lot of fun. Elder M is from north Phoenix (he went to Thunderbird HS, I've never heard of it). He's 6'5"!!! He is a little strange, but he's also working really hard to learn Spanish and be a good missionary. If their visas come in they'll leave me in 2 weeks for the MTC in the Dominican Republic. I don't know what they'd do with me after that, because I'll be the only one left in the room! There is one other Elder in our district going to the MTC down there too, so I'll probably be put with that Elder that gets left hanging.
We taught Victor 5 lessons in the first 7 days. It's amazing that you really start to love this person and want them to accept the truth the first time you visit them! I know Victor is just a character played by a BYU student, but all of the companionship's in our district really focused on how we could impact his life. Through our broken Spanish we tried our best to teach him the gospel and how him that we care about him. They always tell us here that we "teach people, not lessons," which is some of the best advice I think I've gotten. Ultimately we asked him to be baptized at the end of the last lesson. He said he wasn't ready to commit, but wants us to keep coming back. He also hasn't been to church yet, so that was a pretty realistic answer from our pretend investigator. Victor is actually our second teacher, and now that we've had 5 lessons with him, he and Hermano W, my other teacher, will be teaching us Spanish and Preach My Gospel from here on out.
We went to the temple today. The Provo temple is kind of weird... a bunch of the hallways are curved because they're along the outside wall, so you can't ever really see what's around the corner. I kind of got lost after my session today. Hahaha. But the Celestial room was wicked cool (no natural light though, which I thought was atypical). Seriously, it was so nice in there. I guess all Celestial rooms are nice, but still...
I'm learning a lot, and am having a good time. Things really couldn't have worked out any better than they have considering I'm leaving the nest for the first time to go out on this big adventure. None of that is my doing, either. The Spirit is always around this place, even if I don't realize it. I know the Holy Ghost has already directed my fake lessons with Victor, so I look forward to experiencing that more, and I've got 103 more weeks to let that happen!
You guys are the best. Thanks for everything! I love you!
Zac
Moving into the Intermediate class has definitely been a tender mercy from God. My district is so amazing, and though it's hard sometimes to be spoken to in words that make absolutely no sense, I'm learning a lot, and we've really bonded. It's clear that not every district enjoys each other's company like we do. We always play sand volleyball up at the field across from the temple during gym time. We aren't good (it's bad if I'm one of the best athletes out there!), but we laugh a lot and get closer all the time.
I told you about Elder E, right? My companion? Well, he got bumped up from Beginning Spanish on day two. Now he's in Advanced Spanish because he's so good. He was born in Mexico, but raised in Canada, so his English and Spanish are both great. We miss seeing him since he's moved, but he's still in our Branch, so that's good. I'm companions with Elders G and M again. We all have different personalities, but manage to get by really well. G is from Centerville UT, just an hour north of here. He just graduated high school, so he's kind of a goober sometimes, but he works really hard because he's a lot slower at Spanish than most of the district. He's a lot of fun. Elder M is from north Phoenix (he went to Thunderbird HS, I've never heard of it). He's 6'5"!!! He is a little strange, but he's also working really hard to learn Spanish and be a good missionary. If their visas come in they'll leave me in 2 weeks for the MTC in the Dominican Republic. I don't know what they'd do with me after that, because I'll be the only one left in the room! There is one other Elder in our district going to the MTC down there too, so I'll probably be put with that Elder that gets left hanging.
We taught Victor 5 lessons in the first 7 days. It's amazing that you really start to love this person and want them to accept the truth the first time you visit them! I know Victor is just a character played by a BYU student, but all of the companionship's in our district really focused on how we could impact his life. Through our broken Spanish we tried our best to teach him the gospel and how him that we care about him. They always tell us here that we "teach people, not lessons," which is some of the best advice I think I've gotten. Ultimately we asked him to be baptized at the end of the last lesson. He said he wasn't ready to commit, but wants us to keep coming back. He also hasn't been to church yet, so that was a pretty realistic answer from our pretend investigator. Victor is actually our second teacher, and now that we've had 5 lessons with him, he and Hermano W, my other teacher, will be teaching us Spanish and Preach My Gospel from here on out.
We went to the temple today. The Provo temple is kind of weird... a bunch of the hallways are curved because they're along the outside wall, so you can't ever really see what's around the corner. I kind of got lost after my session today. Hahaha. But the Celestial room was wicked cool (no natural light though, which I thought was atypical). Seriously, it was so nice in there. I guess all Celestial rooms are nice, but still...
I'm learning a lot, and am having a good time. Things really couldn't have worked out any better than they have considering I'm leaving the nest for the first time to go out on this big adventure. None of that is my doing, either. The Spirit is always around this place, even if I don't realize it. I know the Holy Ghost has already directed my fake lessons with Victor, so I look forward to experiencing that more, and I've got 103 more weeks to let that happen!
You guys are the best. Thanks for everything! I love you!
Zac
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