WEEK4
Hello family and friends!
I have been a missionary for ONE month now! I can't believe it! I am so happy and grateful to have spent one month of my service in the Provo MTC. It is a wonderful place and the Spirit is abundant here. My companions and I have been teaching in Spanish for three weeks now and we have come a long way. We still have a long way to go however. We are trying to do 100% Spanish this week- Spanish 24-7. It is pretty tough but pretty amusing at the same time. The elders in our district have a problem with making up Spanish words, like adding an "idioso" at the end or something. It is pretty hilarious. Can I just tell you that I love my district? We each come from different circumstances, different walks of life, different levels of education but we all have come together with one purpose- to serve the Lord and invite others to come unto Christ. I have been so blessed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ that it is the least I can do to invite others to have the same happiness that I feel.
At the fireside last night, they said something interesting. That "happy" and "hard" can exist in the same sentence, for that is the definition of a mission. No mission is easy but it is always worth it and through serving our best, we can be happy and help others find happiness. I think this applies for life in general. Nephi 2:25 Men are that they might have joy. Even when we have trials in our life, we can still be happy. I know this to be true.
I have heard about the upset with BYU basketball. What a blow. For those of you who don't know, one of the star players, Davies got kicked off this season for disobeying the honor code. I am very proud though, to say that BYU, doesn't back down from the morals it stands for, regardless of how this might negatively affect the rest of the season. There is a standard to be upheld and no one is exempt from it.
Something funny that happened- well first let me tell you that I LOVE Hma. Ortega's class. She is like a shining example to me, she is from Argentina and served in Chile. During her class the tutor, Hmo. Penaillsho came in for a minute and then this missionary comes up behind him and puts him in a headlock! After a second, he looks down and realizes he is putting THE tutor in a headlock and he turns bright red because he thought it was a fellow missionary! (They do look pretty similar.) The funny thing is the missionary he thought he was grabbing was sitting right in front of him, Elder Wilkins and he started apologizing profusely and the entire class was hysterical with laughter. I was dying. We are always laughing and happy in Hma. Ortega's class. We just laugh and tease Hma. Ortega about her English pronunciation (in a loving way) and she does the same for our Spanish. I am so lucky to have her as my teacher.
This week I was studying Pres. Monson's talk, the Divine Gift of Gratitude. It is an excellent talk. In it, he quotes, "Epitctetus, a Greek Philosopher, "He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has." He goes on to say that "the grateful man sees so much in the world to be grateful for, and with him the good outweighs the evil. Love overpowers jealously and light drives darkness out of his life." When we are grateful, we are humble and willing to submit to the will of God. With humility comes charity. Charity and humility is the opposite of pride. Pride is being selfish and only concerned about one's self. Charity and humility and gratitude are looking to serve others and God. See Pride and the Priesthood- Utchdorf's talk- so good. I am working on being more grateful in my life, because I have SO much that the Lord has blessed me with. I know that as we turn to the Lord in prayer and thank Him for the many blessings on a daily basis, we will live in a spirit of Thanksgiving. It is only when we have gratitude in our hearts that we are truly happy. I invite each of you to remember your blessings and thank God for them every night and every morning. I promise you that as you do this, you will have an increase of optimism and love in your life, especially for those around you.
Thank you all for your love and support. I am truly a blessed sister missionary. I am so grateful to have friends in the Gospel. Thank you for all you do for me. I love you all.
Love Always,
Hermana Brittner
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