November 12, 2009

¿que lo que?
How is everyone? Things on our schedule have changed up here because the Latins are here now so temple times are different. When we go today, it is my last time in English for two years. I'm stoaked. Its funny because every time our roommates here talk, I just yell to my companion "Ayudame" which means "help me!"

This week has been even a little harder than last week up until Tuesday evening. The Lord wants me to drill to the bottom of my efforts before he throws a rope down...then he does. He is tuning me to be the way HE wants me to be and NOT the way I want me to be. It is hard but I am a better person for it. The help of my companion and district are definitely in there too. It started when last Friday we had our simulation. Later we went into a small room with my comp and our teacher that night, Hna. Ruiz, and it was to review how we taught. She doesn't speak a lick of English and that right there is a reason her classes are hard. We sat down and we were all pretty happy and I introduced myself as being very excited and happy! Then the spirit changed quickly and I think it was because of my extreme struggle, she immediately sensed she needed to help me with something. She just sat there and started telling me a story about her mission and Elder Castro translated phrase by phrase for me. It was silent but for her soft voice and his quiet translation. She told me how she struggled. A lot. She didn't think she could do anything she wanted to and one day when she was told by her sr. comp. to teach on the spot she was scared spit less. But she taught. After the lesson her comp was like "Where did that come from? That was amazing." I cried and she cried and bore me her testimony. Then Elder Castro stopped translating and she just spoke. The spirit was so strong in there that he didn't have to. I understood everything she was saying and all her words of encouragement and her genuine faith in me and His love for me. I then told her of my main influence and examples to serve with everything I have and to give it my entire faith and best, being my older sisters who served missions. It was an incredible experience....She just knew I wasn't OK and I was pretending and that I needed to hear the things she said. The spirit is becoming my closest, dearest friend. His moment to moment encouragement and guidance is unfathomably seen in every aspect of my life now. He brings so much to the table and feeds me one thing at a time at a pace I can handle. Since this, my mind has relaxed so much on the language and fear for the future of my lack of ability to speak. My comp and Hna. Ruiz told me that I am bar none, the hardest person on oneself in the MTC. Its true. A) its so frustrating because I don't learn by regular techniques; visual, no. Audio, no. Writing, no. None of that. its by doing and I know that is how I will learn when I get out of the MTC. B) I get so frustrated with myself when I don't get what I want to get out of it. After I applied something to compare this too, its given me a lot of hope. I don't know how to learn how to replace an alternator, or a manifold or a head or anything by watching someone do it, or read a book or look at pictures or read instructions....I simply have to pop the hood and start doing it. Tear it down myself. Then if i make a mistake, learn from it. Dont do it again, and move on. And guaranteed the next time I can do it, and I can do it right. That is how I learn. That is simply it. I'm very excited to get out of here.

We are all going borderline nuts because we live in a room. That is it! Nothing more to it! Castro and I opened our small crack of a window the other day and stuck our heads out and started looking at things, 15 min later we realized how sad it is that we were that awestruck by looking at a view of an alleyway and the back of apartment buildings...its because we've been tied up in here for so long.

Another story is about a giggle fit i had last night while we watched a few clips of the PMG dvd. We had to gather around the TV so me and a few others were laying on the ground. As I looked up I laughed and laughed and laughed, looking at the way I swung the curtain up over itself and had the screen taken out, all for the purpose that my teacher was cold so I allowed a warm breeze to come in for him. The funny part about it, is only I would rig up this whole situation for that purpose...nothing big, but totally something I would do. It was a foresight to the future of all the crazy things that are just going to be a signature that I was there.

Its funny that I have so many tag lines and phrases that I have introduced here that are so popular. Leave it to me to invent new ways of saying off the wall stuff and have everyone pick them up.

So the university this week was good because we met up with our investigator again, Victor. He has read a lot of the L.M. (BOM) and likes it and feels a motivation to read more. We taught him lesson 2 and answered his questions. He hasnt prayed about it yet but we more or less made him do it this week. I hope he does, we will see next week, which is our last time with him. We were so happy he was at our meeting spot like he said he was going to be.

Its so funny with one of our Latins in our room, because of a rule of grammar he doesn't get with English. In Spanish, the sentence would be "La casa de Pedro" or "The house of pedro" but in english we would just say "Pedro's house" He thought that was the funniest thing on the earth and every time we see him, or randomly in the night before we fall asleep, he just says "Pedro's house!" and starts busting up!

There is an Elder here, Yates from Georgia who is too cool. We are definitely getting together after the mission. He is going to East with me and we hope we serve together. He goes to BYU and loves to go pellet gun shooting so we will hit that up. My companion plays the piano beautifully and plays Clair De lune and arabesque by Debussy for me. The other day when I was stressed, I was in the back of the 'chapel' sitting with Yates and across the room Castro starts playing Clair De lune. Yates and i get into a quite discussion about one of his close female friends, and mom, hearing that song took me to Oceans 11 so quick, ah it made me look forward to getting so much, but not trunky! Not to worry. But mom, you understand. It was so nice to listen to him play it flawlessly. Which reminds me, he is always called by everyone to play the piano for him and for me to direct whenever we sing so that is a fun team we have there.

This is how bored we are here. Yesterday Brother Bear (Thanks mom) was standing on the window sill and Castro had some rubber bands he was trying to shoot from across the room at him to knock him down. It turned into a solid 5 minute dialog of how he was a master sharp shooter and BB was innocent but mr. sharp shooter didn't care then he kept missing him and was like "Geez Samual the Lamanite up in here"....I just lost it and laughed so hard because this is what entertainment comes down to when you are in the MTC.......probably the whole mission! Sad huh! Man we are so churched out that that is all that is on our minds!

Time to run, but I hope everyone all has a good week. There are many of you that read this that are in my prayers and in the prayers of many through the incredible blessings of the temple. Thank you all so much for your support, palabras de sabaduria y orares. Muchas gracias por todos cosas y yo compartir mucho de me amor por ustedes. This email has come and gone too fast but I love to read everything that you have to share with me so continue your mail messages as well.

"You're all aces in my book."
-Saul in Ocean's 11

-McLean