So basically I have had Mexican food everyday, on Tuesdays we get pizza :/. haha The dessert and breakfast here to say the least have not been very impressing. We had these pancake things too- it was basically a really doughy crepe and all it had was beans in it. possibly the nastiest thing I have had here.. We have heard gunshots, sirens(all day), and fireworks all day long. by all day long I mean all day the middle of the day and all night. THEY DONT STOP! fireworks in the middle of the day...who does that? So I am not quite fluent in Spanish yet. I had this idea in my head that they were going to teach me Spanish when I got here, apparently that is not what happens. Orientation was in Spanish, devotionals are in Spanish, sacrament meeting entirely in Spanish, everything is in Spanish...I have learned more Spanish in the past 8 days than I have in my entire life and I still dont know anything -haha. We didn't have a language class till the 3rd or 4th day and it wast even a class. The teacher spoke entirely in Spanish, or "spanglish" if we really looked confused. Our first real day we taught an investigator a 30 min lesson in Spanish-- all in Spanish! Scariest moment of my life. We hadn't even taken a language class yet! We get a teacher for maybe 3 hours a day. 2 hours of it is teaching us how to be missionaries and 1 hr is focused language, and the rest of the day is personal study and companionship study. My companion Hermana Stephens helps me out alot. She knows a lot more Spanish than I do, but we are both struggling! Eventually it will come. The Latino Missionaries are really good at saying hi to us and starting a conversation. Although I usually have to ask them to repeat more than once, then I reply in spanglish. We have had the opportunity to teach a lesson to an investigator (his name is Ricardo) everyday. Some days are great and you can totally feel the spirit, and some are horrible, and you leave the lesson feeling totally worthless.
I think the hardest day for me was the 6th day I believe. We just had a really hard lesson on the plan of salvation and we couldn't understand, let alone answer, any of his questions. Teaching in a new language is muy dificil. But we realized after much prayer and studying that we needed to focus less on us and not knowing the language, and more on our investigator. So the next day, we ditched the books and decided to not read from anything, but actually try to speak from the heart and bear our testimonies. And you know what? It totally did the trick! We asked him to be baptized and he committed to a date! ... Of course he isnt a real investigator. The story was real, and he knew the real investigator behind the story, but it was still such a great feeling! So our teacher's name is Hermano Hernandez. We had Hermano Alvarez for the first 3 days but he left unexpectedly then we got the district coordinator, who is Hermano Hernadez. He is super bien. Thats his phrase, super bien, haha! He constantly just radiates the spirit. It's so awesome! And we have learned so much from him in the short time we have had him.
Truth be told, the MTC experience is exhausting. The first couple days were the slowest in my entire life, no exaggeration., But they have sped up since Sunday, basically you live for Pday, then for sunday, then for Tuesday(devotional) then for PD again. We get to watch a movie every Sunday too! Of course it has to be church related, but that doesn't matter! We watched Meet the Mormons this past Sunday- definitely a highlight! So nobody has heard of my mission- literally! There are only 4 of us in the entire MTC(600 people) going to Queretaro and I'm the only girl. But I have loved everyone I have met here so far. It's so cool seeing so many young people dedicated to the Lord. My district is awesome. There are 8 elders and then me and my companion. They have basically become my second family. I love my companion too -she is super cool and we compliment each other on the way we handle things, so that's good. Basically so much has happened this week I can hardly express it all in words. It is the most different thing I have ever done. I dont know a lick of spanish but now I can somewhat hold a broken conversation and a lesson. I have also never been closer to my Heavenly Father or directly seen his impact on my life as I have seen in the past couple days. I will definitley keep you updated! Tell the kids I love them and that Landon and Jayden need to stop fighting. Hopefully Preston isn't dead and I'll pray that his medical records come in soon. And woohoo sidney! a date! That's awesome! haha I have not figure out my scripture yet for my plaque. I will send it too you next week. Love you bunches!!
Hermana Sever
Ps I am sending alot of picture, the B stands for Baptism, I sent a pic of the parrots, and the sink, also of my lunch which was very good! and my district! we are missing one pair of elders.
