"work, love, laugh"

Hola!

 

Well it was another great week in the MTC! I thought of Sister Williams and her mail shoutouts....thanks so much to all the friends and fam that sent me letters this week! It seriously makes my day :) I got my package too and it was the best! It reminded me that I have a real life outside of the MTC haha :) And I LOVE the pajama pants. I wore them to bed last night :) And since it's p-day I get to wear my 4th of July shirt ALL DAY! All the sisters are excited that I'm so excited about today haha! Jealous that I don't get to be at Stadium of Fire but at least we get to watch the fireworks :) It's gonna be awesome! And we are gonna have a devotional too which should be good.

 

So I just wanted to share something pretty awesome. It's Sister Doman's motto, I guess you could call it. Apply it to your life!

WORK

Work hard! NO ONE outworks us.

LOVE

Love more than you've ever loved before. Learn HOW to love. Guess what? It's the craziest thing, but e.v.e.r.y.o.n.e. wants to feelloved.

And last, LAUGH

Have fun and make the most of your MTC experience. supersize it. Because why not??

 

Our zone got a new district this week. 4 sisters and 4 elders just like my district! Two of them are going to Colombia and the rest Argentina. It's so crazy to think that we're not the new ones anymore! Our spanish has been improving a lot especially since Hermano Ralphs became our teacher. We are not allowed to speak one word in english. He says we are going to be the best missionaries the world has ever seen and I think he truly believes that and wants to help us accomplish that.

If you remember from last week, I was kind of having a hard time adjusting to him. And I felt like the invesigator that he was playing, Carlos, was essentially the same person. So one day Hermana Torgersen and I go in to teach him and we prayed like we always do and Hermana Eyring said to just give it time and really try and see what Heavenly Father wants you to learn from him. So we got to get to know him better and try to understand where he was coming from and why he didn't believe in God anymore. We listened a lot and explained why we were there and then I asked him what we could do to help him. He started answering and I didn't catch all of it but I did catch this one phrase. "You can help me to have hope again." And I just lost it. Like I started c.r.y.i.n.g. in the middle of our lesson and it was a huge turning point for me. The spirit in the room was SO strong and any negative thought I had about Carlos/Hno Ralphs totally disappeared and I just felt this overwhelming love for him and wanted to help him. Obviously I couldn't really talk and so Hna Torgersen took over and said just the perfect things that he needed to hear and then guess what...he said he would pray!!!! It was like a dream come true!!! We were reflecting on the lesson later and just realized how important it is to teach by the spirit and how much Heavenly Father blesses us if all we do is ask. Investigators can be frustrating especially when they don't want to do anything you ask them to but over time their hearts will soften and you just have to be patient and love them.

 

Devotional was awesome this week. It was Matthew O. Richardson from the Sunday School General Presidency. I was going to take a class from him at BYU. He spoke about acting our part well. If you look at that stone, the one with the What E're Thou Art, Act Well Thy Part quote, the one that President Mckay saw in Scotland on his mission, you'll see uner the quote all the little symbols and they're each numbers.

No matter which way you add them up, it will always be 18. He compared it to our missionary calls and different lines from it and how when they are all put together, great results will take place. Each of us has a part to do and we need to do it well!

 

My companions and I have been doing a fun thing every night called one nice thing and we say something about everyone in our district and our teachers. It's so much fun and really gets you to focus on the positive qualities that everyone has. You should try it at home! I hope you are all having a fabulous 4th of July! I miss you and love you lots!

 

Con amor,

Hermana Blackner