Sleep Walking.......??

Hola. How's life? 

So last week and the first half of this week was the New Mission President's seminar, and I got to meet my mission president and his wife! They are way cool. Their names are the Wilson's. It made me even more excited to get out into the mission field!

Yeah, the thing on Sunday was cool. It was more about members than missionaries, but it was cool to sing in the choir and stuff. Even though they didn't show me or Hermana Dangerfield. Psh. I did spot us from afar though, in the big shot with everyone, but I'm sure you won't be able to.

The guy who gave the opening prayer, Elder Ludlow, was one of my zone leaders. They left on  Monday but they were hilarious. They are like the most random funny guys ever but they had an awesome spiritual side too. And then he got called out by Elder Holland! Funny funny.

It was way exciting to see the Petersens! And random. I want to see the picture!

The devotional on Tuesday was cool. The speakers were Janice Kapp Perry (who wrote most of the children's songbook and stuff) and her husband. It was really funny, she was talking about how they met, and she told us the first line he used on her. She was about to go up and play a clarinet in a band or something, in college, and he leaned over and said, "Those lips look like they were meant for more than playing a clarinet." And everyone laughed of course. Then, in real life, he walked up to her and kissed her, right on the mouth. It was hilarious. As he was walking back to his seat, he did a fist pump. The whole entire Marriot center went crazy. It was hilarious. Old people are the greatest. It was a really good devotional.

So want to hear my scary story of the week? I thought you might. So one day I was in the bathroom and I saw some glasses that looked just like mine on the counter. I was like, "Oh, that's odd, someone has the same glasses as me. The night before, I remembered having this weird dream about wandering around my room and stuff and like talking to someone or something (and it felt like I had just gotten back from somewhere) and I went over to my bed and was about to get in it, but I touched the pillow and I was like, "This isn't my bed..." So I went over to mine and got in and fell asleep. It felt like way real though. Like usually you can't feel anything in dreams and stuff but I felt like I could actually touch stuff and things. It was weird.  The next night I took out my contacts and I went to put on my glasses and the case was there, but my glasses weren't inside. I hadn't worn my glasses in a couple days, but I knew they were in the case the day before. So I went over to the lost and found and they weren't there. I was starting to panic when I suddenly had this prompting to go look in the bathroom. I went in there and sure enough, those glasses were still there. I tried them on and they were indeed my glasses. I was really weirded out. I was wondering how they possibly could have gotten there, when I remembered that weird dream I had about wandering about the room and stuff.  So there you have it, folks. Either someone decided to steal my glasses from a locked room and put them on the bathroom counter, or I just had my first recorded instance of sleepwalking. Scary!

We've been learning tons and tons of Spanish and how to teach by the Spirit and things. It is way cool. I'm really excited to get out of the MTC though. You get extremely tired of the same square mile of space for this long. We only get occasional trips to the temple or the field.

Can you believe it has already been almost a month since I've been out here? I only have 17 months left! It's crazy. Time doesn't exist here. It seems like it drags by super slowly, but at the same time, I find it hard to believe I've already been here a month! 

But I know if the Gospel wasn't every bit true as it is, I wouldn't still be here. This past month has been extremely hard, tiring in every way and basically the picture of stress, and yet I am happy. I love teaching people the Gospel, even if they aren't real investigators. I am SO excited to get out into the field and bring people to the knowledge of the truth. There is no way I could learn Spanish this fast without divine help. Especially those people that have had zero Spanish experience that are learning everything too! It is so crazy! And you get to feel the Spirit all the time, which is the main cause of my happiness. While teaching I can feel it pushing me in certain directions that I wouldn't ever think to go, or say things I didn't know I knew how to say, and all these incredible things that just could not possibly be coming from me. After the lessons, the "investigators" give us feedback and sometimes they mention how that was just what they needed to hear and stuff. It is crazy cool.

I know without any doubt in my mind that this Gospel is true. Satan is trying to break me down and make me quit but I have God on my side. I literally cannot lose when He is there for me. It is like all the stories with Captain Moroni and the stripling warriors and stuff, how they won every single battle when they were faithful, but when their faith started to slip, that is when the Lamanites started to win. I know that if I can stay strong and faithful, the Lord will be on my side. You should all read D&C 103:5-7. It is my favorite scripture and it talks a lot about this.
Well, anyways. I'd better go. Adios!

Chance meeting!

Hermana Pratt with Jessica & Jonah Peterson from our home ward!  They saw her after the special Missionary Training Broadcast at the Marriott Center.

So, I finally got the pictures up and working (I think). I have pictures of my district, me, my companion, and various other ones.
It is crazy that my time is almost half over! Well, in the MTC anyways.

I miss Doctor Who. And Sherlock. And you guys. But it is way good here! I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to share the gospel and all the joy it brings with the world! I know that that is the only reason I've been learning the language so fast, and just coping in general. I'm way tired from all the long days and short nights, but oh well. It is worth it.

I will be singing in the choir for the broadcast. I've heard a bunch of rumors that there is going to be some big announcement, but I don't know what to believe. I think it's probably just going to be like a broadcast to inspire members to work with missionaries and vice versa. But who knows, I could be wrong.

We've been doing a lot of teaching lately and learning about the importance of inspired questions. We've done lots of practices for both teaching and asking inspired questions. It is hard in Spanish, but it is way cool to just be guided by the Spirit. I can hardly remember the questions I asked sometimes, but they open right up. It is like in Alma 18 when Ammon is teaching King Lamoni and twice he asks him questions and the King is silent for a whole hour both times, and then he asks a different question that the Spirit tells him, and the King opens his heart and tells Ammon what he needs from him, allowing Ammon to be able to help him. It is way cool.

Emily and her companion - Sister Dangerfield

Emily and her district

Still so photogenic!!

10 Days in the MTC

Hola!

Como esta? I'm doing much better. It's been a REALLY long ten days, but at the same time it is going fast. I'm getting a bit more used to the 6:00 AM thing, but it still kills me. 

I'm doing way good with Spanish, we've taught 5 lessons and have been progressing way fast.There is no way I could do this without the Lord on my side. I love this Gospel!

So now I suppose I'll tell you about the people in my district.  So there is Elder Lee, who just graduated high school. He's like 6'4'' and pretty good at learning Spanish. He's from Rexburg Idaho. He's our district leader.

His companion is Elder Nuttall. He's hilarious. If you remember Ratatoullie, he is Linguini. Like exactly. The only difference is he doesn't have ginger curls or a massive nose. His voice is the same, he acts the same, he's just as spazzy; we're pretty sure they based the part on him. A quote from Elder Nuttall, after learning and teaching us Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, "We should sing this to Hermana Bryan when she comes in. We're totally going to Spanish her!" Needless to say, she was entirely Spanished. He and Elder Lee have the funniest conversations.

Then there is Hermana Parkinson. She has the most hilarious laugh ever. It is ridiculous. Every time she inhales there is like this super loud squeak. And she always laughs the hardest at her own jokes. It is great.

Her companion in Hermana Hood. She is shorter than me, with curly blonde hair, and she talks with this rasp because she has Nodes, which is apparently something from Pitch Perfect. But it's like a disease things that puts stress on your vocal cords and crushes your dreams, apparently.

Then there is Hermana Fisher. She is tall, and tan, from St George. She's always cold, being from there, and always wants to turn up the heat. I bet you can guess how I feel about that.

Her companion is Hermana Beckstrand. She's quiet, with dark hair, and she's way nice. I like her.

Then there is Elder Denney who has blonde hair, blue eyes and is hilarious also. At first he's pretty quiet and solemn, but secretly he's really funny.

Elder Smith is his companero. He is also really tall, and is a ginger. He pretty much has my same sense of humor. It's like if I was turned into a redheaded guy. It's really entertaining.

Then there is mi companera, Hermana Dangerfield. She's way cool, and also really funny, especially at night. She's doing way good at learning Spanish, considering she spoke zero Spanish before the MTC. She's really good at keeping me focused and it's sweet.

Our teachers are Hermana Bryan and Hermano Osuna. Hermano Osuna was the one that was pretending to be Carlos, our investigator, for the first week. I feel really bad for him. I can't believe he was able to decipher our Spanish. Now he is our teacher. Hermana Bryan is now pretending to be our next investigator. She's pretending to be a 12-year-old girl named Camila. We taught her for the first time yesterday. It went well. We were apparently the only ones who got her to open up and tell us about what she wanted to know.

I think next week we start teaching Hermano Osuna again, this time as "Everardo." Hopefully it goes well.

Well, not much else to say for now. I just want to tell you that I love this Gospel! It is the best part of my life and I know that without the guidance of the Holy Ghost, not only would I not be here (obviously), but I also wouldn't be nearly as happy, I would have no purpose or direction in my life. I know that He is there and that God loves us. If you're ever feeling down, just go say a prayer and ask to know that. I promise you will receive an answer. He is our Father and He wants to talk to us. I'm so grateful for the Book of Mormon, and the Spirit I feel when I read it. I know that it truly is the most correct book on earth and that if we abide by it's precepts, we cannot go wrong. I'm so glad for the opportunity I have to be here, learning how to teach His children and learning Spanish, for that matter! It is incredible.

Well, that's all for now. Adios!

4 Days at the MTC

Hola!

Como estas? Today is my fourth day at the MTC. It's really early and I'm more tired today than I have been any other day I've been here. Hopefully someday I'll get used to it. Hopefully.

So here is a basic outline of my schedule. We usually get up and shower and stuff at like 6. Breakfast is at 6:45 (way too early) and then we usually go do something in the classroom. Personal study or language study usually. We stay there til lunch which is at like 12:10ish. Then we go back to the classroom til dinner at 4:00 or 5:00. Then it's back to the classroom til like 9:00 or 9:30. Oh and we exercise somewhere in there. Sometimes at the gym and sometimes at our room. We had to watch this gym orientation video and it was hilarious. It was way cheesy.  

The classes and stuff have been good! They are really interesting and I've learned a LOT about Spanish. My three years of Spanish are starting to come back to me. My companion didn't know any Spanish but she is picking it up really quick too. 

So yesterday we taught our first "investigator." En Espanol. *cue weird face from me* But actually it didn't go too bad. He talked a lot and pretty slowly and repeated things if we didn't understand them right away. His name is Carlos. And we got to bring notes and stuff as well, so that was lovely. Mostly it was just scary because on our second day here we'd had all of one Spanish class, where we only learned a how to introduce ourselves and pray, they were just like, "Hey guess what!? You're going to be teaching your first investigator tomorrow." And we were all a bit nervous, but we thought it was pretty do-able until they added, "In Spanish." That was about when all the panic started. And you know I tend not to stress much until everyone else does. Except I probably would have been worried about this anyways. But not as much. 
But yeah like I said, he was really nice and very helpful. I just feel bad that he had to try to decipher what we were saying because I'm sure the grammar was atrocious.

My district has four elders and six hermanas. All the elders and two of the hermanas are going to McCallan Texas, and two were supposed to be going to Peru but their visas aren't here yet. Then me and my companion are both going to Virginia. All of us are speaking Espanol. Everyone is lovely. Luckily everyone is starting to relax because for the first couple days I would make a joke or just say anything in general besides how nervous I was or where I was going, everyone would give me this scandalized look like I had just told them to go die in a hole. But yeah, they are starting to relax and I think they are starting to get used to my odd sense of humor. Lucky them. 

Well, I'll be off. Adios! Te amo!

Off to the MTC

Emily - just set apart as a missionary!

At the MTC - off on her adventure!

 

  Good luck Emily!