Faith and Futbol

Hermana Caballero and I before she left. She literally speaks no English.

Holaaaaa,

Holy cow I can't believe it's already been a week since last Preparation Day. Time has flown by so fast. And the language is coming that much faster.

Anyways, with the week.

THURSDAY: Everyone had it pretty rough after emails because we all got a little homesick. But no matter, the work must go on. We had ANOTHER successful lesson with Luis in which he has agreed to attend church this Sunday so THAT'S awesome. Sure enough Elder Yeakey and I recieved wonderful donuts from our families and celebrated a week at the CCM with a Krispy Kreme party Krispy Kreme hats and all. Wonderfulllll.

FRIDAY: being one of the longest days of my life after P-DAY getting back into the system was rough. Especially because Luis our "investigator" turned out to become our night teacher and he's been a member all along and was pretending to be an investigator.... soooooo cool. Hahah jk he's awesome. We love him to death. And it was still great practice. Elder Sheppert got a package so we got to have Dr. Pepper and beef jerky while studying which to be quite honest helped a ton with getting through the day. Our district elders also have found that they can SLAY any district at the CCM in futbol sooo that's our game of choice now during any gym time.

SATURDAY: This morning everyone was kind of in a bad mood from just being exhausted and I think some tension was being built from all the district. Sure enough Hermano Martinez had us have a district inventory and a companion inventory which as awkward as it was HELPED so much. And Hermano Martinez made us go outside to do running language games to wake us up too so that helped physically. We also had stress management class tonight which at first was outside but it started pouring but we still got to go running later AND it was probably the first time I had heard music blasting from the outside walls of the CCM which was awesome. FAVORITE moment of today was when we were talking about how to use the phrase "Me gusta" and Elder Sheppert asked, Can I say Me gusta mi novia? Hermana Guerrero responded "Well you can't because you don't have a girlfriend." I know it's not the funniest thing in the world, but we were dying of laughter. It was great.

SUNDAY: I HAVE NEVER LOVED SUNDAYS MORE THAN I DO NOW. The spirit is so strong during every moment of the day and IT IS AMAZING. So relief society we reflected on the words of D. Todd Christofferson which was honestly incredible and everyones testimonies on his words brought everyone to tears. Then in district meeting, Elder Sheppert taught on the Plan of Salvation and if I haven't expressed it already, this kid is WICKED smart. He spoke on the theory of relativity and how that works with the Plan of Salvation. I was so lost but it was cool learning about it. Then we had sacrament meeting and President Campo asked Hermana Van Rompaey and I to speak with him for a little and GUESS WHAT. We are now the sister zone training leaders for our zone. WHATTTTT. We're stoked. And Hermana Davis, my beautiful friend here who sadly leaves this Monday to Chile spoke in church and I thoroughly admired her for her incredible testimony that she spoke with such a strong spirit even as she struggled with some Spanish, I thought she sounded like a Latina. She is a rockstar and I'll miss her. Then we had a CCM devotional from the Mission president on testimony and conversion, practiced in choir Where can I turn for peace. Got to talk with the district a little before devotional which was awesome from President Cates. His theme was "stay on target." and our district has made it our district motto and goal that we now have on our classroom whiteboard everyday to keep us focused on the spirit and our district goals. WE HAD TO SAY GOODBYE TO HERMANA LEE AND HERMANA HOWELLS. HERMANA CABALLERO today. Hermana Caballero is a latina that connected with me on Insta before the mish and she has honestly taught me so much in the short time I got to be with her. She's amazing and I hope they all do amazing on their missions. We also watched as a whole CCM the Joseph Smith Restoration video which if any of you really know me, I always cry during that because of the spirit. And it was just that much more amazing being a missionary and watching it. I have such a strong testimony of Joseph Smith. I know he restored the gospel and he was a prophet of God. He is a BIG reason why I am serving the Lord today.

MONDAY: So prayer definitely works because this morning I asked for it to rain because it hadn't rained in a while and IT POURED ALL DAY. Elder Sheppert got sick though so we said a prayer for him and he's doing a lot better. We have a new "investigator" and his name is Christian and he asked so many questions about the gospel that I was surprised I was able to answer him. But we got him to agree to pray to know God loves him. Then we had TALL and for those who don't know, as a district, we absolutely despise this part of the day because it is soooo boring. Elder Johnson fell asleep while we were there so we all snuck out at the very end and slammed the door to wake him up. Literally stuff as simple as that is so funny to us here, it's hilarious. During additional study time we decided to try and play Never have I ever as a district in Spanish and it was actually helpful and hilarious. Losers, Elder Plowman and Elder Johnson had to sing the Star Spangled-Banner proudly in the middle of the CCM. Great moment. We had a ton of energy today for some reason and were bummed because of the rain that we couldnt play futbol. So during class, Hermana Guerrero (Luis) made us play ninja as a district to get our energy out. Still didn't really help so Elder Sheppert Elder Johnson Hermana Van Rompaey and I played a Spanish vocabulary game where we had to be the first to guess the meaning and if we didn't, we got slapped on the hand. It waked us up and definitely got our brains working faster. I felt bad because I caused bruising on Elder Johnson and Sheppert's hands.

TUESDAY: So today I think I felt the spirit stronger than ever before. Hermana Martinez called on me to act as an investigator for the district to teach and I had to play the role of someone who has a lot of problems. Each member took turns saying what they wanted and I just felt the spirit grow so strong in my heart. I literally couldn't hear for a few moments because I felt the spirit speak to me saying " we all have problems and trials in our life, but we are given them to recognize the incredible joy, happiness, and love that God and His gospel give us. Sure enough as soon as I refocused on the situation, Elder Smith said those exact words. It took everything in me not to break down in tears from the Spirit in front of everyone. It truly was the most amazing feeling and I'll always remember that moment and strive to have that in my life. Everyone was just silent for a few minutes because of how incredible that moment felt. In additional study time we played Mafia in Spanish which was hilarious and helpful as always. Gym time, we did PK's with Elder Riggs and Elder Yeakey in the light rain WHICH FELT AMAZING. Then apparently Elder Yeakey dropped the bomb that it was his birthday so naturally I grabbed a piece of pie at the Comodor and drizzled Happy B-day and the whole Comodor sang to him. THEN, i dont know how lucky we keep getting to hear from general authorites but Dallin H. Oaks spoke at the Provo MTC and we were part of the live streaming of it. It was incredible. He spoke on teaching people not lessons and teaching with the spirit. A talk to be remembered for sure. He also spoke on Holland's quote saying "be devastated" if an investigator isn't keeping commitments. Shoutout to Grandpa Creer for drilling that into me. Love this work.

WEDNESDAY: Another great day of course. We taught Christian and he has agreed to read a chapter of the Book of Mormon everyday so THAT's awesome. Then Elder Yeakey got a package and sure enough it was a giant birthday cake complete with five plates, hats, and forks. SO we celebrated Elder Yeakey's birthday with that using pieces of cardboard too as plates. Then we played Mafia again in Spanish and during gym time played soccer as a district where we split into four teams of two to get points as international soccer teams. Elder Riggs and I were Argentina (Messi represent) but unfortunately due to Elder Johnson's excessive soccer skills, we lost. Elder Plowman got some killer shots as well. Unfortunately as fun as it was, Elder Smith and I collided shins while fighting for the ball and we both have nasty bruises but its still fun! Then we had service activity of greeting the new B's which is always fun and then TRC. Teaching Recent Converts which was cool because it's actully real people. Our first convert was Brenda and she is shy but so fun. We got her talking a ton and she wrote on her feedback to us that she wants to see us again and wants to talk more. WHICH FELT GREAT cause I was so nervous I wasn't speaking well but she thought we were already in the field so I guess that's good. Then we taught Juan Carlos who has been a member for three years and he's such a sweet old man and we taught him about faith and he loved it. Honestly love TRC so much and excited for the next time we get to do it.

Well, that's it for this week. When I look back on it, it feels like a year from how much happens here. But I love every second of it and can't believe I only have three more weeks here as I leave on September 28. GAH its crazy.

I love you all so much. Thank you so much for all the emails of support and love. I'm sorry if I haven't responded to you yet. I'll be on till about 2 as I have to go. Our district challenged the Latinos to a game which should be a good game. So I'll be on here till' thennull. If not, hopefully I can talk to you next week.

This gospel is so true. I will never deny it.