Week 2 at the MTC

Hey yall!!! How's everybody doing?! This week has been super amazing!! It's already flying by and I just want it to slow down! I love the MTC!!! We have a blast all the time! I love having cinco hermanas en mi distrito! It's the best! We already have plans to room together when we come back home to BYU :) Crazy to think that I will continue to meet amazing hermanas y elders on this AMAZING journey! So conference! Oh man!! It was sooo cool watching it as a missionary! We all gathered in the gym and the Spirit was just so strong. It seemed like every talk was directed right towards me and it seemed like they all had to do with missionary work! One thing that I learned this week that es muy importante is teaching with the Spirit! Because in all honesty if we don't have the Spirit then how are the people we're teaching going to know that we're saying is la verdad?! We have a progressive investigator, Gabriel, who just happens to be a teacher that served in Paraguay so we were really excited to teach him! BUT the first time we taught him it was NO BUENO!! I think that Heavenly Father wanted us to humble ourselves because we really needed to learn that the Spirit has to be with us when we teach! And then all during conference and at devotionals and firesides and LGM's they talked about how having the Spirit is so important to the work! So I think I've learned my lesson! So right now I'm trying really hard to pray for the Spirit as I plan and as we teach! Our lessons are so much better when we have the Spirit guiding us! So a couple nights ago Hno. Stone (a member of the branch presidency) was talking to us after the Tuesday night devo. and he promised us that by March 1, 2010 we will be talking and thinking in Spanish only!!! As long as we do our part and give our all and trust in the Lord! How amazing is that!!! So I'm going to strive really hard to reach that! It would be so helpful and then I'd be able to learn Guarani and help the people even more! While he was talking to us he also randomly said, "Hermana Nelson, I know you were called exactly where you were supposed to be called because it's the first time in your life where you're going to feel tall." I was like haha oh thanks so much! Not exactly what I was expecting lol. Oh today I saw Sister Buchanan in the temple!!! Talk about amazing!!! I was soo excited to see her! The temple is so amazing!! I love going once a week and I'm really excited that we'll actually be able to go in Paraguay! Ha ok funny story (probably funnier if you were actually there but yeah..) so we were teaching this week in the TRC (where volunteers will come in and pretend like they're not members and they're supposed to stay in "pretend" character the whole time!) So we were getting ready to teach a guy named Spencer and then all of a sudden one of the workers came in and told us that we would also be teaching his long lost sister Vanessa! Oh Vanessa...she has only been a member for a couple of months and it was her first time at the TRC so she had no idea what she was supposed to do and had no idea she was supposed to not really be a member. haha so we were teaching the first principle and all of a sudden she's like oh my gosh I know that to be true..let me tell you my conversion story! Ha so for the next like 5 min she goes on about how she found the church (it was actually a really good story but sooo funny) oh! and then before that even happened we told them we were going to say a prayer to invite the Spirit and then at the end of the lesson we were going to have one of them say the prayer..so right as Hna. G is about to start saying the prayer Vanessa busts out in prayer in Spanish!! lol I almost peed my pants! It was hilarious! And then she says this beautiful prayer I'm sure..I couldn't really understand it but I bet it was great! So all through the lesson she would interrupt us and tell these stories about a principle we were teaching and she never caught on that she wasn't supposed to already be a member UNTIL the very end of the lesson, when I did the baptismal committment to Spencer..."Spencer as you read and pray for yourself to know that these things are true, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authority of God" and before he answered she looked at us and then looked at him and was like "WAIT, you're not a member?!!" lol it was hilarious! He looked at us apolegetically and then said yes I'll be baptized if it's true! Oh man it was hilarious. But what I did learn was how to teach with a member, which I'm sure I'll be doing all the time in the mission field so bueno! And she really did bring in a strong spirit when she was sharing personal stories about how she found out the truth for herself! And it was so cool to hear how her life had been changed because of the gospel and it makes me really excited to be a tool in the Lord's hands and help people come unto Christ! So Spanish is pretty good! I love learning it and I just wish like there was more time in a day...weird because I've never been as productive as I am in the MTC in one day ever in my life, but it still seems like I don't have enough time to ready and study from the BOM and PMG and everything else! It's all so good! I wish I had more time! Nuestro distrito is really coming along. We're a lot more united now and es muy divertido! I'm beginning to see the challenges of a trio but it's all good :) At the devotional Brother Banks shared a quote with us from President Hinckley that said, "I regard you as my companions in this work." How amazing is that! A prophet of God considers me a companion in this work! Ahh! And the work is good! Oh and there's been a couple times when the speakers have shared testimony of how we were called exactly where the Lord wanted us to be and how they really recieve revelation from the Lord on each individual! Brother Banks told a story about how he was there when they were going through each name and they had gone through a pile and then he told them to go back a couple names and then went on to say how he had messed up and the Lord wanted that person somewhere else! Ah Paraguay Asuncion North! I know and I knew from the first moment I saw where I was going that that is where I'm supposed to be! I'm so excited! There's a whole district of elders in my zone that are going there in a couple of weeks and they are all studs! I can't wait to meet the people and love them and share with them the gospel! And one thing I really want to do while I'm there is keep a high retention rate with the people I teach! I don't want them to fall away after a year! I'm going to really work hard on committing each member and helping them know and see how the gospel can truly bless their lives! I love the gospel and the changes I can already see it bringing into my own life! It's just soo good!! I love yall and miss yall but I'm ok with that now! The time is already flying by and I'll be back before you know it and then I'll just want to go back and visit all the time!!! lol ahh I got to go! I'm writing a letter home about family stuff so you should get that soon! Love yall love ya love!!! Miss ya too! Yall are the best family ever! Keep the letters coming :)
Love,
Hermana Nelson