4 Weeks In, 2 To Go

 Hola mi familia y amigos

Well sorry y’all for not writing for my first 4 weeks haha, please forgive my slacking, but I promise you’ll be hearing from me weekly from now on. 

 

The virtual MTC (Missionary Training Center) has been going good though. I started on March 10th on a Wednesday. My companion and District are awesome, love them all to death. My companion, Elder Ashby is from Farmington Utah and couldn’t be more grateful to have him as a companion. The dudes a stud and has such a strong testimony of the Gospel. His nickname in the district is “Pops” because he’s the only one whose 21, which isn’t old at all, but because everyone else is 19, but also because he's like a true dad and loves saying “oh goodness” a lot haha. Shoutout to Elder Grothe, who isn’t the only Elder who everyone thinks is 35 haha. But all jokes aside, it's really because he cares more about our district than anyone else. Whenever someone in the District is having a rough day, he’s the first to reach out and help pick them back on their feet. 

For the daily routine I have 6 hours of class (3 in morning, 3 at night), and in between that is filled with personal studies and planning and study with my companion. For the first two weeks of the MTC it was English classes, learning a lot on how to teach with the spirit and teaching simply as well as gaining a better knowledge of the Gospel. Since March 24th I switched to Spanish classes with Spanish teachers at the Mexico City Missionary training center (CCM) where I can only speak Spanish in classes as well as my teachers. Luckily its still mountain standard time which is nice. My English teachers and Spanish teacher have been a great blessing as I can really see the love they have for us in helping us progress in our teaching. It was a little overwhelming at first switching to Spanish, but has turned out to be great transition for me and my teachers have been such a great support in the language as I take it one day at a time. I can definitely say though it I have seen my Spanish drastically improve through the last 2 weeks and can’t wait to face these next last two weeks. The Lord has been a great helping hand through it all as faith, obedience, and  remembering The Saviors Atonement and sacrifice all has been so key for me. Easter was today as wells as General Conference which just happened today and yesterday and it was great hearing from the prophet, apostles, and other leaders of our church. Love this time of year to reflect on Jesus Christ and his Resurrection and Atonement. He made the ultimate sacrifice so that we all will one day be resurrected and have the possibility and hope to live with our Heavenly Father again. 

Through it all the MTC has been a big learning experience for me, as it started out a lot tougher than I thought. A lot of doubts and tears at my self-confidence arised a week through it, as I switched into this new transition. But having patience by continually trusting in God and making him and his work as my strongest desire never fails me through my adversities. Each week for me has gotten better and better and am so grateful for my Savior’s help in that. During this time of a lot of pain and affliction in the world,  I invite all to read Alma 37:36-37 in the Book of Mormon and to reflect on its teachings. I know God loves all his children and that if we counsel with him in prayer in all our doings, he will direct us for good.

Again I will make sure to make weekly emails a priority for sure.

I miss all of you and hope things are great with everyone!! Feel free to email, would love to hear from you all!!