Hope you are all having
the most wonderful week!!! Thank you so much for your letters, love,
support and prayers! They make my day! I know that I am being
strengthened and it's the coolest feeling to be prayed for. I know the
Lord is blessing me. It has been such a beautiful and teaching(?) week!
haha anyway, I have learned a ton.
Our district is
crazy! And great. There are 7 of us, 4 elders and 3 sisters. Events of
this week include an elder breaking a desk, me getting called Aunt
Jemima because of a headband, threats of being shaved to those who
offend a sister who shaved llamas in her past life, and lots of
laughter.
We found out that brother in Tagalog is "Kapatid", and the
first time we heard a teacher say it, some of our elders thought they
said "Cup of Tea", so we now call our teacher Cup of Tea Smith... hahaha
This week language-wise we learned more conjugations of verbs. I
will share a couple just for fun. I really like makapag verbs, which
are abilitative verbs:
Makapagdasal- to be able to pray
Nakapagdasal- was able to pray
Nakakapagdasal- is able to pray
Makakapagdasal- will be able to pray
Fun fun! Also I forgot to talk about this.. if you put "ba"
in your sentence, it automatically makes it a question. Like
"Nakapagdasal po kayo." means You were able to pray. and "Nakapagdasal
po ba kayo? means were you able to pray. I really enjoy Tagalog. We have
been trying to work as hard as we can and we have had a non-English
day. It is so fun and I know the Lord is blessing me to learn so
quickly.
Our investigators are doing good, and I am
learning so much from them. Marlyn finally prayed! .Also, Daunte is doing well, we were able to teach
him about how the gospel can bless and strengthen his family, that they
can be more united and have less quarreling. I am starting to enjoy
teaching. We learned a very valuable lesson from teaching Brother
Estrada, someone who has stopped coming to church because of work. We
were trying so hard to get him to come back, to pray and to read, that
we didn't make time to show him that we loved him.
Elder Holland gave
the best talk that we watched part of, about understanding the person we
are teaching, and not expecting them to jump up to your level, but to
take them by the hand and lead them to Jesus Christ, to be patient with
them and to love them. It's about teaching PEOPLE not lessons.
I love
teaching, and I love studying the gospel so long every day. It is so
refreshing, and I have really received messages from the Lord on how to
help those we teach, my companions and others. This work is SO real, and
so mahalaga! (Important!) And not only does God want those who don't
know about the truth to learn it, but He wants us to come to Him as
well. The next time you read in the scriptures, ask yourself this
question about the verse or chapter.. "What does Heavenly Father want me
to know, feel and do based on these verses?" And don't just ask that,
write the answers, pray about it and ponder. I love that question.
We had a very special devotional sa MTC last Tuesday! Elder
Carlos A Godoy of the 70, (the one who is from Brazil), and his wife
spoke to us. It was so powerful! Elder Godoy was hilarious and used some
amazing examples. We love him!
I am so grateful
to be here in the MTC. It is such a blessing and I am appreciating it
more everyday. I only have 18 days left!! I will sad but excited to
leave. I love my companions and roomates and I am learning a bunch from
them.
I love this gospel and all of you! Have the best week ever and read
the BOM everyday! It is THE bestest book ever!!!
Much mahal!!!!
Sister Andelin
