So this week was rough. I dont know what happened, but I was homesick and my spanish sucked and I kind of wanted to cry for 90 percent of it. But, hey, its a mission, that happens. Thankfully I have 10 percent of goodness to share with you. And like 2 percent not-so-good but esta bien.
Okay, so I did TRC this week. I have no idea what that acronym actually stands for, but it should probably stand for....something painful. And hard. Because TRC is where you wait in a hallway and actual real mexican citizens who are either members of our church or inactive or legit investigadores come in and sit in little rooms and you go in and make up a lesson on the fly. And you say ¨um¨ and ¨lo siento¨ constantly and they just look super perplexed and you say ¨ummmmm Padre Celestial nos ama y Jesucristo es un ejemplo perfecto¨ even though the lesson isnt about either of those things. Its pretty ridiculous. But fun. And weird. Mexicans speak really really fast. So I spent 90 percent of my time trying to sort through what they said and translate enough to respond in a way that is somewhat relevant. oh man. But really...it was great. I was shocked at how much I knew. Our first victim was Alex, a joven (youth) who wants to serve a mission after high school, and he wanted some advice and a pep talk from the querida hermanas. That was actually super fun. He asked us how we decided to go on a mission. And I got really emotional while I was talking about it in my dumb baby spanish. That was definitely cool. He said ¨Miro muchas hermanas de estados unidos aprender español en dos o tres meses... ustedes son ejemplos buenos para me.¨ And then at the end, he told me since I prayed for him at the beginning of the leccíon in spanish, he would pray in english. And he said the sweetest prayer in simple, broken english. The peace in the room was tangible. It was a very cool moment.
We also had a real live devocíonal where real live people spoke in the same room as us, which is weird when youre at the Mexico CCM and not Provo. The leaders of the missionary department came and spoke and it was AMAZING. My parte favorita was when one of the speakers talked about a talk Presidenté Monson gave at a conferencia about how there are times he wishes he could go back and give himself a pep talk and say ¨don´t you give up boy! dont stop walking! there is joy ahead, so much joy!"¨ But the speaker changed it for us and said ¨IF youre having a hard day and you cant seem to understand the spanish and youre homesick, dont you dare give up! You keep walking and you dont stop! There is joy in the future...so much joy! And spanish! Believe it or not, there will be spanish. And lots of it. Just dont you dare give up.¨ I bawled. I needed to hear that from someone. Ill keep crawling if I have to.
So, one thing I dont enjoy about the CCM is that it is a lovely little place where I have all the things I am worst at spotlighted and highlighted for the world to see. For instance: I am horrible at spanish. I almost failed my one year of it. I have the whitest accent in the world. I can barely remember any vocab. And I get to speak it all. Day. Every. Day. Todo día, cada día, as the elderés say. And, when Im not epically failing at being a spanish speaker, I am playing sports. For fun. Ha. Anyone who knows me knows thats ridiculous. remember weights, meghank? He he he. I feel sorry for everyone who has to tolerate my volleyball. I am so sorry. And, if that wasnt enough, I never ever get to use what im good at. There are no cellos here. And Im pretty sure my distrito forgets I was a music major pre mish. Like....all the time. Oh well. Whatever. I want to play my cello in a symphony so bad its ridiculous. Whatevs, rant over! Esta bien! ESTA BIEN.
So, on a happier volleyball related note, the other day the hermanas and I wanted to play volley ball with the elderés from our distrito and some really crazy competitive elderés that we had never met. But we only had 4 people. Noooo! And then this one elder, Elder Gaspar de Alba, whos as bad at volleyball as we are, was like ¨lets form a team and call it Gaspar and the Ladybugs. We are gentle creatures but we´ll cream you.¨ I just about died. it was great. I had a ton of fun. even if it was volleyball (hmph).
Okay...another great moment in missionary life. The other day we were studying and minding our business and listening to our teachers demonstrate spanish and then, from across the street outside the walls of the CCM, this store started blasting top 40s hits from the US because they had just opened. So, we were trying to focus and ¨Wiggle¨ by Jason Derulo came on and we LOST IT. Like, crying laughing. Hilarious. And we whistled the hook the whole freakin day after that. Thats another thing, songs get stuck so easily in our heads and we cant even listen to normal music or anything because MTC life. So we walk around singing weird stuff. The other day it was the first few lines of ¨Youre the one that I want¨ from Grease. I GOT CHIIIIIIIILLS THEYRE MULTIPLYINGGGGG. Oh man. SOS. We are officially going crazy.
On Sunday we watched an old devocíonal from Bednar. it was amazing. Matt, you told me about it from when you were in the MTC and its amazing. Its about the character of christ and it changed my life. If you are entering the MTC, I sincerely hope you get to see it because you will never be the same. Speaking of which, I also heard this amazing Holland devocíonal the other day and I want to share a few of my notes from it for my other future missionary friends... enjoy!
¨Missionary work is changing. The work today means greater responsibility, distance, languages, and lands. This is a global mission and a global message. No task has ever been given that is so big and so important. We need bolder, more powerful missionaries.
When I look back on my life, I realize everything I have can be attributed back to my mission. Literally everything I have, I look back and say ´the turning point is the day I got that call.´ The mission happened, and the blessings came. It feels like yesterday...I blink and I am where you sit.
Invest yourselves. For your sake, for the church´s sake, for the angels sake...you are young but we are not going to apologize for that. So, allow me to welcome you all. Welcome to the work.
Pray every night and say ´Help me to know what to say, and how to say it properly.´ Read Mosiah 5:17,18,19. These verses talk about talking with the power of the spirit, with a voice like thunder. People can have earthquakes happen exactly where they stand, and YOU can do that.
So go out there and astonish somebody! Your charge is to astonish people and thats exactly what youre going to do...in your own personal little missionary way, you will absolutely astound people.
You will speak so firmly and powerfully about what you believe that you will shock them...you will shake their very foundation, and when you leave, they will turn to each other and say ´Who were those two? And where on earth did they come from?´
Work as hard as you can until its time to go home. And I promise you you will be blessed. Your life is about to change forever.¨
That blew my mind. I feel like I cant even follow that up, so I wont even try.
Have a great week, I love you all!
Mucho amor,
Hermana Haws :)
ps- DOS MÁS SEMANAS AHHHH THEN IM IN NICARAGUA OMG pray for me.
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