Well this week has been a pretty good one I must say
Time is really starting to go by quicker, thats for sure. It seems like just yesterday we were greeting the new missionaries after I had only been here for a week, and now yesterday we greeted a whole new set of missionaries again. 2 weeks officially down here in the MTC and it is progressing quite well.
To be honest, I don't remember all of what I wrote in the last email for all of you, but I remember stating alot of facts about stuff, so now this email will be more about Teaching, cuz that's what this whole missionary experience is all about. During each class block (3 hours at a time...ugh...haha) We get taught new vocabulary, new teaching skills, new verb tenses, etc for the majority of it, mostly only speaking in Spanish, unless you really can't figure out how to express it in Spanish then you say it in English. So that learning process goes on for about 2 hours out of each of the class blocks, then for the other hour, we as companionships take turns teaching our "investigators" which are just our teachers that have set up fondos (backgrounds) in which we teach them and help them to come unto Christ in baptism and faith in Him. So teaching obviously started out being really, really difficult, to be honest since we didn't know any of the language practically, and we were expected to go in and teach these investigators todo en espanol and carry on this long discussion for like 35 minutes haha. But with every single passing day here, you are strengthened with the Don de Lenguas (Gift of tongues). It seriously is incredible how much you learn in such a short time. The MTC really knows what they're doing when it comes to a "learning by teaching and verbalizing" approach. Our current investigators right now are named Carlos and Maria. We've had 3 discussions with Maria and 2 with Carlos and in my opinion theyre going pretty well. This last discussion we had with Carlos we talked about la Primera Vision (The first vision) and I felt like that went really well and I was able to let my thoughts flow in a way that I think helped him understand the magnitude of how important that experience was to (Jose Smith) and to us as La Iglesia de Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Ultimos Dias. So since we've taught the 1st vision a few times, we're getting alot better and using specific scriptures and phrases that are helpful for the investigator. Useful words like: El Evangelio de Jesucristo (The Gospel of Jesus Christ), La Expiacion (The Atonement), etc. I seriously could write this whole letter in Spanish if I wanted to, but I don't want to torture you all haha, not yet ;) I might start writing some of my personal letters in Spanish so that both of us can practice, because once you get the language down, it's seriously like you can only think in Spanish. It's hard falling asleep at night because your head is running wild with different Spanish phrases or things you can say or should've said to that specific investigator.
What I've learned very quickly through teaching is that the commitments that you make with investigators will not always be followed through on. They'll say something like "Oh, I didn't get around to it, or I didn't feel like reading the Book of Mormon or praying last night about Jose Smith." And what I learned in class yesterday helped so much. We had another lady teacher come in and tell us that we really need to be bold like Jeffrey R Holland, my favorite apostle. If they say that they didn't read or pray, you just need to blatently ask why not? Because the whole point of this teaching is to bring others unto Christ, and if they are not following through and doing what will clearly bring them closer to Him and they're not progressing, then we need to make them understand the importance in a way that is directly geared towards them and their concerns. The number one thing about teaching is listening. As my companion said, "You were given 2 ears and 1 one mouth for a reason, elder" haha and I have to agree. Listen, pray fervently every day, asking for help discerning the language and really getting to the root of their problems so you can help them and show them how the Book of Mormon, the Gospel, the Atonement, and Repentence can really change the very fabric of their being entirely. Always prepare a lesson though, but don't expect to teach the whole thing word for word because that's stupid, really, if the Spirit tells you to say something, then you dang well better say it because He will NEVER steer you wrong. That is the Gregg guarantee.
It's funny how many awesome scriptures you find while studying here, things that you know will specifically and personally help someone with what they're struggling with. I don't have any written down with me right now, but there's one in D&C that really helps about teaching by the spirit, talking about how in the very hour I will give you the words that you need to say through the power of the Spirit. You need to show the investigator that you love them and care about them and how your message that you teach will strengthen their lives permanently. There is almost nothing more powerful that hearing someone bear strong testimony word for word of the first vision in Spanish, it sounds so cool. Some email soon I'm gonna write it all out for you guys, maybe I'll do it in a regular letter home so I can write all the accents and stuff.
Everyone here calls me Elder Jukebox because I am always singing here, pretty loudly too, but I think my voice is getting alot better because of it. It's like I sing all the time, songs other than hymns but mostly hymns, and people are like "Wow you know so many songs" haha. It really makes me happy singing here. We sang "Yo se que mi Redentor vive" which is your favorite hymn Mom "I know that my redeemer lives"in sacrament and I thought of you, so powerful of a song.
So choir is really fun, I actually filmed like 3 songs that we've sung during firesides even though you arent allowed to have cameras in there. It's me filming up at the lights but listen and you can hear what we've sung so far, really cool. It doesn't sound as good as I did in person though.
This week's devotional was pretty exciting, we have a fireside on Sunday and a real cool devotion on Tuesdays. But this week was exciting for the wrong reason because at the end of the fireside, Elder Clark who is in our room, had like a mini seizure at the end of the closing prayer. It was really scary, we took him to the front desk and he's been to the hospital like 4 times since Sunday. He's ok now but he had to have like a ton of tests done on him to try to figure out why it happened. It has something to do with some memory he has of his cousin and it makes him really sick, but this is the first time he's passed out and had a seizure. We keep praying for him everyday, but he seems like he's going to be good and continue his normal mission.
I love our Branch President, President Tyler. That old man is so full of cute love stories and scriptural knowledge it amazes me. He's like one of the nicest people I've ever met too. Yesterday was really cool because we actually had lunch with the PRESIDENT OF THE MTC, yeah, crazy. He just sat down and ate lunch with us and we talked about our missions and he gave us all these awesome scriptures about the atonement from all the prophets perspectives in the Book of Mormon.
Hermano Litzenberger is really cool about teaching. He always says "Let a little 'Elder Kniff' come out in your teaching. People will come unto Christ because of you being personal and having fun with them. Use that personality that God gave you. Don't become some "ideal cookie-cutter" missionary that they try to mold you into at the MTC" It's so true, be personable and love everyone.
I encourage you all to watch Mormon Messages and the I'm a Mormon videos, they invite the spirit so quickly it's crazy. I watch them in my free time after language study and they are just really nice.
The weather is getting really cold here, I don't know if I mentioned it before but we have to wear our suit coats everywhere now, ever since I've got here so I'm like wearing it into the ground haha. Good thing I will never wear it in Panama. The weather is insanely dry too, so I had to buy lotion cuz it dries out your skin so much.
This week definitely went by much faster though. It's funny seeing the "noobs" come in every Wednesday and look so confused and excited, crazy to think that was me just 2 weeks ago.
Smile often, sing often, love everyone you teach and encounter with. Practice Spanish alot.
I don't know if I mentioned but we can't listen to the music we brought with us here, only in the field. So I can't wait for that because I miss music so much. There's a Korean elder here that sings really incredible opera type music, and sometime soon I'm gonna get him to sing for me and I'll record it and send it home, I always tell him "Usted tiene un voz de los angeles" haha.
Love you all very much, thank you for your letters, keep them coming :)
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