My spanish is coming along I think. Yesterday it hit me that this is another reason I was supposed to go to SVU for the time that I did. Some sisters came in yesterday that are going to Honduras and literally knew 0 spanish. Granted, I knew very very little when I came in but it got me through the first day which was a real blessing. Still, last week I told someone that they were sent to this earth "to become Jesus Christ." I forgot the "como." Needless to say the investigator was shocked. This week my companion told our investigator that we can be cleansed from all of our pescados (fish) ..instead of pecados (sins). Thus, last Friday we made a big decision. The main teacher for our zone came in our classroom and we were expressing to him our concerns with spanish. Our district has done a few "english fasts" but they don't seem to be super effective. We were just having a difficult time utilizing the things we were learning in class. Hermano Brodegard read us a scripture in Alma 17:23 that says "And Ammon said unto him: Yea I desire to dwell among this people for a time; yea, and perhaps until the day I die." He told us that when he was in the MTC as a missionary he decided to kick the crutch of english and pretend that he didn't know if he would ever speak english again. He went 4 weeks in the MTC only speaking english to Priesthood leaders. He challenged us to do something similar. We came up with a few exceptions (and a few others have had to be made) but for the most part we have spent the last (almost a) week speaking spanish. We made a paper with the scripture from Alma to remind us of our commitment and then prayed that Heavenly Father would help us. I have felt Heavenly Father helping me. Elder Holland once recited a poem that says:
"'Come to the edge,' he said. 'No we will fall.'
Come to the edge,' he said. 'No said we, 'we will fall!"
COME TO THE EDGE,' he said. So we came to the edge,
He pushed us! And we flew."
This commitment to speak spanish is our way of coming to the edge. We're hoping that in the end we'll fly. The elders in our zone haven't been super supportive because they aren't doing it and I think they want us to fail but you know me...competitive to a fault. That only fuels my fire. It's interesting because I have found that I think this may help me in other aspects of my life. It has caused me to be more positive because I don't have the words to be negative in Spanish. It has also caused me to really think before I speak (Daddy, maybe I should have done this a long time ago). I read a really good talk yesterday by Elder Marvin J. Ashton on Charity and I really really want to concentrate on being more charitable. I have a LONG way to go. Elder Ashton said that "Charity is expecting the best of each other." He also quoted someone else who said "The best and most clear indication that we are progressing spiritually and coming unto Christ is the way we treat other people." I know that is true. I am praying to be filled with that love.
This week I have thought a lot about the atonement. This began when an elder in our zone told us a story about a lady he knows. The lady's young family had recently moved into a new housing development and her kids kept going and playing in the frames of the houses that were being built. The mom kept telling them not to but they wouldn't listen. One day they came home and they had gotten into tar for the roofing of the houses. They had it all over them and the mom became super frustrated. She started trying to get the tar off and nothing would work. She wanted to just take sandpaper and scrub it off she was so frustrated but she went to the construction workers. She apologized and said that she was so sorry but her children had been playing on their site and got into tar. She asked if they knew how to get it off. Their response: baby oil and cotton balls. This is how the atonement is. We come to the Lord, dirty with sin and we need His help to be clean again. He goes on our behalf and asks forgiveness for us. The Elder in our zone said that we always expect repentance to be hard and to hurt like sandpaper but every time we come to Him it will always be cotton balls and baby oil because He loves us so much.
Hermana Pierce said that she used to baby sit a family with a little boy named Max. Max is a very mischievious little boy and was always getting into trouble...she said not because he was a bad kid but because he didn't understand. One day he was particularly bad and Hermana Pierce felt really frustrated with him. She laid him down for a nap and was trying to read him a story when he looked up at her and said "You know what Hailey Pierce...I love you." She said that everything he had done bad that day just disappeared because she loved him so much and to hear him say that made her so happy. And that's what we need to do with the Savior...come to him and tell Him that we love Him. It's interesting because we always talk about all the miracles Christ performed when he was on the earth. He raised the dead, caused the deaf to hear, the blind to receive their sight and the lame to walk. But in reality the greatest miracle He ever performed was for me and you. I know that without the atonement I wouldn't feel good enough or worthy to be a missionary. I wouldn't feel worthy to wear his name but I have felt his love and so I am able to bear witness of it. I can tell other people that it is always cotton balls and baby oil and that I love Him for that.
I love you all so much! Thank you for everything! Keep the letters coming please..you have no idea how much they help me!
-Hermana Jones
P.S. Challenge for this week read and compare Hebrews 11 and Ether 12. Then write your own "By Faith" chapter about the examples of faith you have seen in your life. I did it last night and it was awesome! :)
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