"Be still and Know that I am God." Psalms 46:10
Hello family and friends!
Another week has passed by and I'm still happy to be a missionary. This week has been a good one. I have come to realize more fully how much Heavenly Father loves each of his children and how he places us in situations where we can learn best and grow. I have always known this but it has become more apparent to me looking back on situations and times in my life when I have grown so much. I know that Heavenly Father places people in our path for a reason- to teach them and grow from them. "Men are that they might have joy." 2 Nephi 2:25. The scripture "be still and know that I am God" in Psalms 46:10 has really been in my heart lately. In the chaos of everyday life, we tend to forget the important things in life- like serving others, in our families and out of our families and loving others and centering our lives on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This scripture reminds me that as I do my best, I can be calm and content with the direction my life is going and know that as long as I do my part, God will place me in situations that I need to be in to help others and to grow myself. It's like there is a storm outside and the refuge is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and if we cling to it, we can have the peace that comes from knowing our Savior intimately. I feel so much closer to Heavenly Father and the Savior as I continue to serve him as a missionary. I think a lot of it has to do with slowing down and contemplating and pondering what Heavenly Father has done for me and taking time to really study my scriptures.
This week has been pretty eventful. I got assigned to be coordinating sister, which is kind of like relief society president. On top of standing up in Sacrament to accept my assignment, I led the music in Sacrament as well. I better get used to it because esp in Latin American countries, if you are a missionary, you are in charge of music in Sacrament and in general. I think I can handle that =) Basically, the assignment of coordinating sister (you don't have callings on your mission because your calling is to be a missionary) is to care for sisters in your zone and make sure all their needs are met and set up exchanges and things of that sort. I am excited! Right now, there are only 6 sisters in our zone, including myself and my two companions. One of the things I am most excited for is I get to take the new missionaries in our zone on a tour of the MTC and give them an orientation! It is going to be very fun. Tonight we are getting a new district of 8 elders (no hermanas =/) and I get to go with Elder Bigelow and Elder Wilkins, the zone leaders, to take them on a tour of the MTC. The zone leaders are pretty hilarious so it's going to be a lot of fun. And it will be fun to lead the new missionaries around- they will all look like deers in the headlights. Another cool opportunity was going to a meeting which Sis. Brown, the MTC president's wife with all the newly called coordinating sisters. You should have seen it- having all of those sisters missionaries in there- all of them very accomplished young ladies- it was powerful to hear their comments and feel of their spirits. We are a force to be reckoned with, if I do say so myself. "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; it is the only thing that ever has." -Margaret Mead
Last week, we got to have an extra companion for the day because this sister's companions had already left on their missions the day before. So it turns out that this sister, Sister Lanae Carmichael, was in my ward at Liberty Square my sophomore year at BYU. I recognized her but I never really talked to her. It was so fun spending the day with her! We talked about everyone we knew at BYU and we have a ton of mutual friends. And we talked about a lot of things about the mission and life in general and it was like a breath of fresh air to talk to someone who had gone through the same experiences as me at BYU and who is now on a mission as well. She left on her mission to Winnipeg Canada the next day. She also went on a 4 month service mission to Nauvoo last summer- singing in the play and giving tours. That is like my dream- maybe I will do it when I get back? She also speaks better Spanish than we do. She came to our Spanish class with us and we expected her to not know what was going on and then she starts speaking. She went on a study abroad for 4 months to Mexico. All in all, it was really fun being her companion for the day.
Christian Tolentino, I just saw our friend, Kyle Grimes and his new wife outside the temple! It was so cool to see him and meet his wife and tell him I'm going on a mission. You need to write me!
We are officially the oldest district in our zone and we will be the leaders and examples of our zone for the next 3 weeks. Our teachers are emphasizing how important it is to be examples- we need to be good examples, regardless, since we are missionaries but also however we act will be how the rest of the zone acts and so if we are not good examples, the teachers will have to deal with it when we leave. Our district has recommitted to speaking more Spanish and have been praying for more diligence and patience to do so. We have been slacking a little bit lately but the fact that in 3 weeks I will be speaking ONLY Spanish is a good motivation for me to learn. I have a feeling that my trainer will be a native speaker so I better learn all I can here to try to make the transition a little smoother. We are expecting to get travel plans next week (!!!) and I am very excited. My departure date is still set for April 11th.
So hopefully you haven't gotten too bored with my MTC emails but if you have, I can assure you that ones from Paraguay will be 1000 times more eventful and filled with adventures. I can't wait. Thank you for all your letters and cards and packages. They mean so much to me. I'm grateful to know so many wonderful people. I hope everyone is doing well and just know that I love you and think of you!
Love,
Hermana Brittner
No comments:
Post a Comment