This is the last e-mail I'll send from the MTC! Can you believe it? I gotta make it a good one and I'm stressing about saying all that I need to before it gets significantly harder to contact each other. I don't know when my P-Day will be in the Field so don't panic if you don't hear from me next Tuesday. Someone will let you know if I'm not still breathing. :) And I've been advised to tell you all that packages have a VERY slim chance of reaching me in Paraguay so either send something today or just stick with e-mailing. Even letters might not be very reliable. I may not write you snail mail letters very quickly if at all but I'll be sure to send CDs of my photos and you'll still get my weekly e-mail.
We have our travel plans! It was like waiting for our mission calls all over again, and now getting ready to leave is like getting ready to leave home all over again. Here's my plan: I have to be at the travel office at 4am. Our plan leaves SLC at 7:10am (Elder Andreasen, some other Paraguay-going missionaries, some POLAND-going missionaries and I are on that flight together. Elder A is our travel leader). We land in Chicago at 11:20am, then leave again at 3:25pm. (The Poland missionaries head to London at this point). We land in Florida at 7:30pm, and then (this is the fun part) we fly from Florida to Buenos Aires Argentina from 8:35pm to 7:30am Tuesday morning. A full 24 hours of travelling, and that's not even reaching Paraguay yet! We actually haven't heard how we're getting to Paraguay yet. There IS a plan, don't worry. They just haven't told us yet. Elder A and I are guessing either a bush plane or a llama-drawn cart will take us teh rest of the way. :)
So I'm not sure as of right now if I get to call home during the layovers. I'm not promising anything, but Dad, Mom and Sisters, stay close to your phones on the 28th. I'm sending you letters in the mail today just in case, and a CD of all my MTC photos is coming soon.
Thank you Dad, Mom, and Laurel for your letters this week. I haven't gotten mail since Friday so sorry if you sent me something and I don't mention it. I should get more tonight or tomorrow morning. Anyways, thanks for telling me things about Paraguay and mission life in general. You're awesome.
This is my last week in the UNITED STATES! How weird is that?? I'm starting to pack already today. :) I'm having a hard time figuring out what to take and what to send home, but I know it will all work out. It's just so weird packing. All of our friends have already left for the most part, and now it's finally our turn! Hna. Y and I have both given talks in sacrament meeting now, which here is a sure indicator of an upcoming departure. And we've been watching "The District" a lot so I am just so ready to go. It's like Senioritis. And I got my wish--it's snowing a lot lately, so that's helping me want to leave even more. :)
I've said it before but I'll say it again--I wish EVERYONE went on a mission. The world would be such a better place. I am learning SO many things about life in general and the gospel in particular. I read "Our Heritage" the other day. I am so grateful to be living at this point in the Church's history. So many Latter-Day Saints have dedicated their lives to make the Church what it is today. I'm sorry for every time i ever took the Gospel for granted. I can see now that everything we are and everything we do as Latter-Day Saints has eternal purpose and benefit. I appreciate my parents' guidance so much more now that I see hwo it has prepared me to be a missionary, and I appreciate missionary work much more now that I see that by my serving the Lord I'm learning how to be a great eternal companion and mother in Zion and who knows what else someday. I'm making so many life-long goals that branch off of mission life (like having weekly companionship inventory for the rest of my life, only with an eternal companion). I'm dedicated to taking these habits I'm forming and using them to stay strong and stay on the path of righteousness my whole life.
We've had so many great lessons this week. Last Tuesday Elder Kevin Pearson blew us all away with a very blunt, almost harsh, talk about how we need to give up our all and be completely obedient if we truly want to leave our nets and be disciples of Christ. We can't just be good missionaries--we need to be phenomenal. We need to transform ourselves until we stop thinking about ourselves and do what it takes to have teh Spirit perform miracles through us. "The hardest, most miserable way to serve a mission," he said, "is to have less than 100% obedience and faith." Many complain that a mission is miserable because of all the rules when in fact it's the opposite. I've seen that so much just in my own experience. I can't even read Spanish out loud if I'm not focused on the gospel. My Spanish abilities aren't my own--they're a gift from the Lord, and if I"m not using them for what they're meant for, I'm going to lose them. But when I am listening to the Spirit and only thinking about how to help an investigator (for example), the Lord helps me to do more and be happier than I could ever achieve on my own even if I had all the world's knowledge and talents at my disposal.
My favorite thing that Elder Pearson said was that we may panic as missionaries, thinking we have to give people testimonies from scratch, when in reality every single person on this earth already knows the Truth. They had to have accepted it in its fulness in order to even be here on the earth. They KNOW, they just can't remember, and only by working with the Spriit can we help them recognize how familiar the gospel is. That's a much better approach to mission work, I think.
This week's LGM was wonderful of course but I'm not going to talk about it this week. The Sunday fireside, however, was awesome. President and Sister Nally talked to us about the power of music--how it changes our behavior and thoughts. We sang hymns together and they had us sing "Called to Serve," Army of Helaman-style with all of us on our feet, growing in volume and power as we went. It was so moving.
But the greatest thing about this week--what I feel has impacted my life the most this week--was yet another Elder Holland talk. It's titled "The Grandeur of God" and he gave it in Conference October 2003. Watch it ASAP. I'm gonna spoil it for you a bit but watch it anyways. Elder Holland addresses the fact that most people feel comfortable at the thought of meeting Christ, yet cringe when they think about facing God. But if you read Christ's words from His earthly ministry, you'll realize that everything the Savior did and said was taught Him and exemplified for Him by our Heavenly Father. Christ did nothing the Father wouldn't do. Think about it--God Himself would have suffered, atoned, and died for us had it been possible. He sees to our individual happiness about all other concerns. He is our Father! He loves us immeasurably.
I am SO grateful for all the things I've learned these short eight weeks. I'm excited to see how God has given me this perfect mix of knowledge and experiences to strengthen my testimony so that I can specifically help certain of His children in Paraguay find their way Home.
I don't know what else to say about this week. I've been doing more than well. I have all the support and guidance I could ever need. I have the assurance that I have nothing to worry about so long as I stay strong in the faith--that I will be provided for and I will see all my friends, mentors, and loved ones again. I laugh every day. I thank God many times each day for my health, friends, family, and life experiences, especially the joyful ones but even the bad ones, too. In short, I feel God's love, the grace of Christ's Atonement, and the direction of the Spirit. I am HAPPY.
I'm sure I've forgotten to say something important and I feel bad for not having gotten all your letters yet but no matter. You will hear from me next week. This is the end of the easy writing (aside from e-mail) but the start of a huge adventure that I can't wait to begin. I pray for your and hope in some way I can help you in the gospel even when we're several countries apart. I love you all so much and I can't thank you enough for your love. Have a wonderful end of February. When you hear from me next, it will be March, and I'll be in PARAGUAY!! :D!!
Until then, take care, pray always, and do something to forget yourself and serve someone else. I love you!
Love,
Hna. Springer
