Mi familia amorada,
Thank you from the depths of my heart for all of your letters this week. Dad, Sarah, Starla, Laurel, Goompa & Nana, and Grandma & Grandpa Springer. You're all wonderful and your letteres brighten my days (If I didn't mention you and you sent me a letter within the past four days, I don't get mail Saturdays, Sundays, or MLK Jr. Day, so I probably haven't gotten your letters yet. Sorry)
Thank you again McConkies for the awesome package--I've worn the cardigan twice already. And thanks Mom for the gorgeous pictures of you and my sisters. I still need one of Dad and the boys, though. And Starla, CONGRATULATIONS!! I'm so excited for you to go on your mission to Peru. How lucky are you to be sent to a country that you already know and love??
To answer some Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: With only two elders, Hma. Y and yourself, is your district small for the MTC?
A: Um...yes. It's the smallest district I've yet seen here. The classroom next to us is almost the same size room as ours but has 23 people in it! I can't imagein that. In our room we each have two desks and even then I have to keep some of my study supplies on the floor. I LOVE having a tiny group. We get lots of one-on-one time, our teachers are our best friends, and we feel like a little family. Plus, we can all sing, so when we sing a hymn before and after class, we sound like a beautiful, harmonious quartet. I'm the soprano. :)
Q: What is the food like at the MTC?
A: For the most part, it's good, but it's nowhere near as good as homemade meals. Sometimes the food looks (and apparently tastes) downright icky, but there's enough of a variety and a broad enough menu that everyone can find SOMETHING they like. Except on Sundays. Since they don't want to make people work on Sundays we have leftovers. And lots of ice cream. I dislike Sunday meals. Mostly I stick with the salad bar which rarely fails to satisfy.
I feel like I have so much more energy lately. Hma Y is a BYU runner and has appointed herself my personal trainer. She works me hard twice a day during gym times and with her constantly at my side I eat very healthy, too--usually only from the salad bar. It's been so fun having her as my companion. our two roommates and friends, Hmas. Brown and Gomez, headed out to the field already--Hma. Brown after only two weeks here at the MTC! Hma Y and I are so lonely without our fellow sisters around all the time. I miss them already. But we'll be getting four new sisters in our room tomorrow. I hope I'll be able to bond with them after having already bonded so much with the otehr sisters. We'll see. Mostly I'm worried about the smell. Our shoes STINK by the end of the day. We may have to start leaving them out in the hall, as is the common practice here.
Learning about the gospel and speaking Spanish has been going fine. I can understand almost all written and conversational Spanish but I still struggle to speak it. Hma. Y and I read aloud in Spanish with pens between our teeth so we can learn to use our tongue and lips correctly. This is hard to do with my overbite. :) But it gets really frustrating when I can teach the gospel SO WELL in English, then can't say anything in Spanish. We've improved a lot, but Hma Y and I have a hard time teaching "Pablo" and "Marcos" (our teachers' alter-egos) the gospel. I want them to be excited and understasnd how great the gospel is, but I don't have the words needed to explain better. And when we're in the classroom learning how to say things, I have the hardest time paying attention. There's always a fan on creating white noise and it's easy to zone out when someone's lecturing in a foreign language. Controlling my thoughts has definitely been my biggest obstacle, even without books, movies, or music to distract me. I know i can do it, I've had days that were just amazing because I caught every word, but I'm still working on making it a habit to concentrate on the work. The Adversary sure knows how to get to me through reminders of Harry Potter or "How to Train Your Dragon" and the like, but I'm excited by the fact that when, through practice and self-discipline, I master my thoughts and become a master scholar, the enemy will have virtually no bad habits to snare me with. :)
Yeah, Hma Y and I have had our challenges. Not like as companions or anything. We're tight. But at the TRC last Saturday morning we got really frustrated by our lack of learning. The TRC is almost our only real-world practice (and it's not even real) so we value what we learn and experience there. This week, though, the volunteer who we taught barely let us get a word in. Not in a bad way, she just kept going off on stories or tangeants about the gospel and forgetting that she was supposed to act like she knew nothing about the church. It was nice to hear her entire conversion story, starting with when she was five, but it sure didn't help us any with our teaching skills. Hma Y was sick all last week, too, so she was especially stressed. (Before you ask, Dad, yes I gave her Silver. She already knew all about it before I even offered, which was cool. We both said, "I thought I was the only one who knew about it!")
We had our first major meltdown this week. Hma Y's emotions were running high because of her cold and missing her boyfriend, and when Hmo. Alder called on her to teach something in Spanish she just burst into tears. Then I cried because I felt like I'd failed as a companion to help her. I think the Elders were a little scared. Hmo Alder was super supportive though and used the rest of our class time to encourage and praise us. Afterwards, Hma Y and I went to an empty classroom and cried some more, getting all our fears, doubts, and feelings of inadequacy out in the open. We consoled each other and set goals and said how much we love each other. Then we decided to not put ourselves down anymore. We've never had problems with each other, but we always would be condescending to ourselves. So we decided to put a stop to that--still push ourselves to learn but not listen to whisperings of ineptitude. Ever since that day, we have both been SO much happier. (Oh, and Hma Y was SO valiant when she was sick. We never went home early or took it easy or anything. I really admire her for her determination. And amazingly I never caught her cold and she's better now so YAY!)
My knowledge and appreciation of the gospel continues to grow daily. I love reading all the scripture chains in Preach My Gospel. The scriptures just make everything I'm taught so valid in my mind, and everything makes sense in such a way that I've never felt before the MTC. And yet, if anything, I've almost completely stopped relying on logic and "deep doctrine" to justify the Church. We've learned so much lately that to argue religion is not Christ's religion at all. Arguing drives the Spirit away, and without the Spirit we're nothing but teenagers wearing nametags. So I'm learning to put aside the obscure "answers" and focus more on trust and faith. It's helped me a lot already and I know it's the best way to help investigators, too.
We've been so spiritually edified this week. I swear every time I start to doubt or fear something, a speaker here at teh MTC will address and resolve it for me. One such speaker is the first counselor in our branch, Bro. Hollister. Whenever he sits down with our distrcit to see how we're doing, he ends up giving advice akin to a General Conference talk. This week he addressed how "going on a mission doesn't alter who you're going to marry, going on a mission ensures that you marry the right person." Hma Y was totally grateful to hear his words, but they helped me, too, and I don't even have a boyfriend at home waiting for me. It just quelled a lot of the fears that the world has instilled in me. Oh, my the way Dad, Bro. Hollister served in your same mission like a few months before you, which was fun to hear.
We also had a stellar Large Group Meeting this week, which addressed another fear that I'm sure every missionary has had instilled in them by even the members of the church. The teacher promised us that there is NEVER a mission that "never gets baptisms" or "won't welcome the gospel." He promised us that God sends us places for a reason, and that if we don't let people tell us that we'll fail and we work towards high goals, we will be extremely successful no matter how "hard" our mission areas are rumored to be. (P.S. Goompa, he used a lot of examples from when Pres. Monson was mission president in Canada. I couldn't see you in the group picture he showed but it still made me happy.)
The best part fo this week though was last Tuesday, soon after my last e-mail, when we had our Tuesday devotional. We got a new MTC presidency--the Browns (they are so sweet and seem so nervous but thrilled by their new calling). Since it was the Smiths' last devotional as presidents, ELDER HOLLAND came to speak! It was absolutely one hundred percent mindblowingly incredible. He is my favorite. he's so passionate about mission work and so inspiring and just so wonderful. I am so grateful that I got to hear from him. Funny story, though. Hma Y and I got in line by the gym doors early to get good seats. We rushed in once the doors were opened and got perfect fifth-row seats. But then, right before the meeting started, Hma Y really really needed to blow her nose. So she ran out and of course I had to follow her. Before we'd even left the room, the ushers stopped us and told us that we couldn't go back to our seats no matter what but had to go to overflow in another BUILDING for security reasons. So we had to leave our great seats, our coats, and our note-taking supplies and watch the devotional on a TV in another building. It was so lame. I was so mad at first, but then I decided to just laught it off mostly because Hma Y felt so bad. I think it's hilarious, now, and it was a fantastic devotional no matter where we were sitting, but now we know to never leave our seats and to always keep tissues on hand.
Well, that's all I have time to write. Tune in next week for another exciting installment of "Life at the MTC--The Spring Story" Episode 4. I love you all! Sorry I can't respond to you all individually this week. I appreciate everything you do and have done. I pray for you. Take care!
Love, Hma. Springer
P.S. If it's not too late, I'd love to have my plaque picture be that one that you sent me of me and Amanda (with Amanda cut out, of course). It's my favorite picture of me.
P.P.S. Sarabi--whenever we talk about charity and love ni class I always think about how we became friends when you were sick in Utah. You have my permission (and I beg you) to write that story down for me and post it on my blog. Thanks, kiddo! I LOVE YOU!!
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