November 26, 2014
Man! What a great week this has been! I love the MTC and
everything about it. Btdubs my Pday is today because of thanksgiving and such,
and maybe will be Wednesday the rest of the time... so there is that! But
seriously, I love everything about the CCM and being a missionary. All of it.
One of the funniest parts of this week was when I ran into one of
the new Latino sisters. I was coming out of the hall bathroom and she was
coming in, and we both kind of saw each other and took a step back, and she
look so scared! Because... she literally came up to my belly button! I felt
like a giant monster and felt so bad for scaring her, she literally tilted her
head all the way up to look at me haha.... got to get used to that feeling. She
is super nice though.
Also, during class our favorite teacher who always jokes told us
to prepare to teach the Latinos in five minutes, then about 2 minutes later he
was like, "NO worries, is un chiste (joke)" And from earthquakes, to
Latinos, to verbs due, etc, I was sick of his chistes, so through laughing
frustration I said, "YO ENFERMO SUS CHISTES" (I‘m sick of your jokes
haha) and his response back was "USTED ES UN CHISTE!!" (YOU ARE A
JOKE!" haha we all were like crying laughing... the people here are
literally so funny and almost never serious.
Now for the Zombie part. I can feel the brain washing happening. I
don’t want to get ready in the morning, I only want to read my scriptures out
loud in Spanish and stuff like that. I can’t remember names of artists, movies,
people, etc. from home. My favorite thing of the day is watching a clip of a
general authority, and it’s the best day ever if we have fish for dinner.
Things that are NOT NORMAL but truly are amazing. I know these changes are good
because I am truly learning how to become a better missionary and give myself
to the Lord completely for these next months. Although, it has been a struggle.
Not singing songs "of the world" has been incredibly difficult. And
although I do let Disney and some other good ones stay, a lot of other ones do
distract from what we are doing here, and it has been a struggle. Also not
being able to just go running and play the piano have been some rough withdrawals.
HOWEVER in reading a talk about becoming a consecrated missionary (thank you
Amanda!!) I have realized that the blessings of choosing the things of the
world and giving up those "little things" that are holding you back
is so worth it. I felt the spirit SO strong, in lessons, in just everything. A
quote I loved from a talk this week was "We were created and destined for
glory long before the world was, therefore, which is more important?" I
know that I am forced to choose only the things that help me spiritually and
are not of the world, but know that in choosing to do and spend time with
spiritual things you will always be more blessed. Also, yesterday me and my
comp walked around the little box for like 2 hours memorizing the first vision
and such and I did feel like a zombie then haha....
Also the other night we had the opportunity to do lessons with the
NEWBIES and let me tell you, the lord has blessed me! I realized that I
actually had learned something here and knew Spanish! One time though we were
with these elders that were not even trying. NOT EVEN! And it kind of made me
mad because I could see they didn’t realize at all the sacredness of their
calling. Then when it was our turn to give feedback, I felt the Spirit burn in
me so strong and words just flowed. I told them they needed to realize they had
been set apart to teach and had the Lord on their side, and that even if they
couldn’t do anything, they could try. I felt so much power and knew that they
needed to hear that. After I said that I said, sorry to be so harsh, I just
felt SO strongly that I needed to tell you that, and they were chill with it.
Afterwards I almost threw up though cause I felt bad... maybe that’s just a
reaction to feeling the spirit strong haha... But after that I realized... holy
smokes! I’m like a missionary! I can feel the Spirit working through me and
saying the things Heavenly Father needs to tell his children. Haha you would
have thought I’d figured that out long ago, but it was a fun realization for
me...
Anyhow, nothing else too exciting. My hermanas and district are so
great! There is this one elder from a Navajo reservation in Arizona and he
tells us some pretty awesome stories! Dad I told him about the blood suckers and
the cave, but he said he hadn’t heard it haha... so that’s fun. Also we have
played volleyball EVERY DAY this week and one day we did Hermanas vs. Elders
and WE TOTALLY KILLED! Well.. if we kept score we would have haha... Oh man,
and the one day I did play soccer, the teacher reffing told us to be careful
because the new group of Latinos we have is very aggressive... and we said
okay. But then halfway through the game he told us we couldn’t play because he
didn’t want us to get hurt.. I was kind of mad we got kicked out, but then some
elder almost broke his ankle and had to go to the hospital, so I felt better
after that. If there is one thing that is serious here, it’s soccer. They kind
of just don’t apply the competitive rule to it haha.
Have a happy thanksgiving and know I am thankful for all of you!!
Love,
Hermana Clegg
