Greetings from FREEZING Provo!
No joke it is seriously cold here. Thanks to my going to Paraguay, I didn't bring very warm clothes and I'm so glad the buildings here are so close together. Even then, I have to tread carefully--I've met four people so far who have broken ankles thanks to all the ice.
Anyways, this week was incredible. I hope I can do a good job of writing about just how great it is here.
I now have only one companion--Hermana Yingling. Hma. Brown switched to the Advanced class on the first day, pairing up with Hma. Yingling's companion and leaving us alone in the Intermediate class. We're still in the same zone though--we four Sisters and five Elders. Our zone is very small, yes, but our leaders are very nice and helpful. They gave us our mail for the first time so they quickly became our best friends. (P.S. I did get all of your letteres, even the ones that didn't have my mailbox number on them. Thank you SO MUCH Dad, Mom, Sarah, Ashley, Goompa, Starla, and Laurel.)
In our district it's just Hma. Yingling, me, and two Elders-- Elder Croft and Elder Andreason. The Elders are so dedicated to their studies and do a great job at teaching and speaking Spanish. And they're very generous with their aid and advice. I consider us to be good friends already. And Hma. Yingling I already consider one of my very best friends. I honestly think the Lord had me initially paired up with Hma. Brown just so that I would appreciate Hma. Yingling all the more when we became companions. That first day before the switch, Hma. Brown intimidated me a bit with her Spanish skills and she seemed to have a lot more in common with Hma. Gomez than with me. And it was the same for Hma. Yingling. We were actually quite relieved and grateful for the switch, and it has been an absolute blast every since.
Hma. Yingling is so sweet and fun. She's taller than me, has short blonde hair and blue eyes slanted like a cat. She loves to run, and I do a lot of jogging just trying to keep up with her between classes (we have to speed-walk a lot because there's never any spare time to our day, and she has longer legs than me). She loves the temple so much and we love discussing doctrine together. We also have a lot of fun learning the discussions and practicing Spanish. I think the Elders sometimes think we're silly and not taking this completely seriously, but the truth of the matter is that if we hadn't been laughing so much about our inadequacies and mistakes, we could have probably been crying all the time.
Those first three days were hard, just as everyone said they would be. Not so much emotionally because we're uplifted by the Spirit all day. But when it came to learning the language and figuring out how to use our time wisely, I felt like I could never keep up. My teacher explained everything in nonstop, mumbled Spanish those three days and I was so confused. Same with planning our days. It wasn't until yesterday that someone pointed out a daily checklist in the back of one of our books. Before that, Hma. Yingling and I just guessed and got frustrated. We'd had no idea how much of our learning depended on us. our days are so completely packed, yet we get to choose what we pack them with. I didn't expect that and I worried that i would fall behind.
On day four, though, it was like a switch went off and everything changed. All of a sudden I realized taht I'd retained all that strange vocabulary we'd learned and I could now almost totally understand my teacher. Hma. Yingling and I were doing companionship study for an hour when we both stopped and realized we'd been carrying on doctrinal conversations almost entirely in Spanish for a good 45 minutes! We took a minute to just sit back and be blown out of our minds. Also, yesterday I started reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish. I tried to do that over teh summer and got almost nothing out of it. Now though I can totally tell what's being said and appreciate the words just as much as if I were reading them in English. I have a newfound appreciation of the gift of tongues now for sure.
We have also learned SO MUCH about the gospel. I wish I could tell you every amazing revelation I've had this week but I don't have the memory or the time (sorry for the typos--I only have 18 minutes left). I guess to sum up, I'm just realizing how true it is that being am issionary (or a Latter-Day Saint in general) isn't about getting people to convert so we can boost our membership numbers. It's all about just loving people. It's about loving our fellow men--fellow sons and daugthers of God--so much taht we want nothing else than to help them see how much God loves them and how priceless they are in His eyes. That's what we've mostly focused on this week. We've also been learning to teach out of Preach My Gospel and practicing on each other. It's a blast. Not only is it loads of fun to choose an eccentric alter-ego when pretending to be an investigator, but I learn so many new ways every time how to get people talking about themselves so we can identify how we can help them find happiness in this life. I am so excited for our first visit to the Teaching Resource Center (where we practice on volunteer actors). I'll tell you how it goes in next week's letter. I'm sure I'll enjoy it a lot better than next week's TRC trip, because next week we'll have to teach in Spanish, and right now I'm nowhere close to being ready for that.
Anyways, I am really loving this Preparation Day thing. For my sisters who have no clue what MTC life is like, let me tell you. It's VERY busy. We're only ever in one of four places--the dorm, the classroom, the cafeteria, or the gym. Temple trips are few and far between and we REALLY love them for the change of scenery. We only go to the dorm to sleep from 10:30pm to 6:30am. The rest of the time--even Personal Study time--we are in the classroom, taking breaks only to eat (we're given 45 minutes so not much sitting back and enjoying it, either), or exercise. We're given gym time, but we sisters need it to shower and do our hari, so the MTC provides early morning classes every day for kickboxing, pilate,s and the like. It's a great start to the day and means taht we don't have to smell and look greasy all week. :) Plus now when we go to the gym we can just play volleyball or four-square or something (Hma. Yingling is not very coordinated and I have no endurance so together we make quite the pair). Every day we have one hour of personal study, one hour of companionship study, one hour of language study, and the other ten hours are filled with instruction, teaching practice, or devotionals. It all kind of meshes together after a while. It never feels like we get a break because even eating and sleeping are chores we have to do to stay alive. We are truly lost in the work. :)
And everyone around me is speaking Spanish all day. Our schedule coincides with all the other Spanish speakers, so I may as well be in a foreign country already. I pick up so much just associating with others in the dorm, cafeteria, and our class building. We're in a Spanish branch, too (naturally), so even church is in Spanish. Even as I write this I want to use Spanish words. I'm a total diglot (look it up). And something I never expected was that they have our entire branch write a talk for Sunday, 5 minutes each, in Spanish, EVERY WEEk, and then they just call people up at random so you have to be ready. It's a bit intimidating. This week was Fast Sunday, though, so we didn't have to give our talks (Hma. Yingling and I had already written them before we realized, though).
Sunday was incredible. All devotionals and firesides are increidlbe here, of coruse, but on Sunday we were all just so in the zone spiritually. Even though it was all in Spanish, I could feel the speakers' testimonies perfectly. At a fireside later that night we all sang "Army of Helaman" together and it was amazing. I got that "Great and Terrible" image of all of us as spiritual soldiers in training, ready and powerful enough to better the world. And then we watched the Joseph Smith movie which, after everything I'd been learning about God's love for us, totally strengthened my testimony and gave me a renewed love and appreciation for teh Book of Mormon. I cried really hard, teh Spirit was so strong. I thanked God so much that night for all my blessings I have had thanks to Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and God's kindness for giving the gospel to us.
I am seriously loving it here. There's so muchl ove and peace. I never have to worry about my stuff getting stolen (we leave it in our classroom as if it's a giant, communal locker), or about being harmed. And I always have my companion with me, which is kind of out of the way sometimes but very comforting all the same. Everyone here chose to be here. No one would stop them from leaving. Everyone loves the gospel and loves each other and I really hope the whole world can be like this small place in Provo someday.
I KNOW that God loves His children and that because He loves us He has restored His gospel on the earth today to guide us back to Him. I know that Thomas S. Monson is God's prophet. I have experienced the blessings that come from obeying the commandments and following the counsel of both President Monson and the prophets of old. I know that I'm in the right place, that I'm so superbly happy here for a reason. I pray that I'll be able to share that feeling of contentment and surety wiht others, starting with you. I love you. I thank you SO MUCH for all of your support and your strength when it comes to doing what's right.
Love always,
Hermana Springer
P.S. Hermana Yingling is going to Argentina, as is Hma. Brown. Elder Croft is going to Washington D.C. and Elder Andreasen is going to Paraguay, which is funny since he's from AZ, too.
P.P.S. I saw Elder Schwarz, carlee Child, Kevin Boyster, and an old friend from High School. I can't wait to see Sister Soderquist here soon.
P.P.P.S. I leave for Paraguay Feb. 28
PPPPPS...etc. No, Dad, don't send food. I'm definitely not starving, just that first day I was too nervous to eat so I was ravenous the next morning. I'm totally good now. Yes, Sarah, please put these on my blog and do whatever you want with my facebook status. This is the only e-mail I'll get to write. Mom, I want Omni 1:26 on my plaque. Thanks! Happy (very late) Birthday! I LOVE YOU!!
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