January 12 2013 Maren

Hola Familia! Como Estas?

I can't believe I am actually here. The whole first day I could hardly believe that I had actually done it, I'd actually walked through the doors of the MTC and was wearing a name tag with the Lords name on it. What a concept!

 I hope you guys already got my letter because I'm going to act like you did. :D

The days are already starting to blur together, that might be because I haven't gone a whole night yet without waking up at least once. The first few days non of us could get our Alarms to work so it was a little tricky getting up on time. Don't worry, we were always up by 6:30 but we had wanted to get up at 6 to go to early morning gym time instead of having to go after. We finally got all three of them to go off on time this morning. Success!!!

So my companion is awesome! We get along really well, we even want to eat the same thing all the time. She took a Spanish class last semester so she's got a really good foundation and we complement each other. I know the vocabulary and she knows more of the rules. Our teacher asked us yesterday if we wanted to move up to the intermediate class. He said he thought that we both could but that would mean we had to change districts and possibly even companions... We love our district so so far we've decided to stay put. If we did move out we could leave faster but I think I might want the extra time in the MTC, I mean they're already kicking us out three weeks early!

I feel like everything would be so different if we were speaking English. The Language is the source of so much stress and effort! We know what we want to say its just hard to simplify it so that we have the language to say it. Jake, in a lot of ways I envy you and the fact that you get to teach in English. The one thing I would say to you is to make sure you prepare yourself for the MTC, its a lot of time sitting in class and so far our elders are having a hard time focusing for as long as we need to. We try to correct them with love and keep them on task, hopefully we don't aggravate them too much. (They're all 18 and its pretty obvious that they're young, make sure you act like a missionary).

Our teacher told us the first day that Obedience is all about Signals. Obedience is our way of sending signals to our Father in Heaven. So if we want to leave class 15 minutes early we have to ask ourselves, what is the signal we are sending God? It helps me to not complain as much and stay obedient, even with the little things.

Um... lets see what else... I was made the Senior companion... kinda crazy. Its definitely hard to know how to lead without being demanding and respect the opinions of others. I think Hermana Powell and I both organize things in our brains differently and so when we are preparing lessons we have to compromise in what order and how we want to present things. We learned A LOT last night in our first lesson with our progressing investigator and hopefully we'll be better today when we visit with him.

His name is David and he's catholic but he's never gone to church. He believes in God and in Jesus Christ and even believes that he hears and answers our prayers. Today we want to teach him about the restoration and translation of the the Book of Mormon and invite him to read and pray to know that it is true.

Nathan, How is basketball going? had anymore games since I left? What about dates? Have you taken that girl of yours out yet? I challenge you to be proactive and learn how to date well now, since you'll be leaving when your 18 you wont really have a chance to date at all outside of high school.

Caleb, Isaac, and Simeon, how is school going? I love you all so much and just want to challenge you to learn all you can now. Now is a special time to absorb knowledge, secular and spiritual. The things you learn now will shape and build your testimony for when you are a missionary. Its never too early to start. I'm amazed at how many people that are strong members of the church have never read to Book of Mormon cover to cover, don't be one of them. The first few days I was here I didn't know how to manage my time the best so that I had enough time to read my scriptures on my own. The moment I found the time the read I immediately felt a lot of the fear and stress leave my body and assurances that I could do this with his help. Nothing can substitute for reading the Book of Mormon. Nothing. Read it now and read it well. It will help you into the eternities.

Tania and Jake, do you miss me? I miss you. I hope mom told you, Tania, about Hermana Lingenbrink, she is Jessica's (who married Chad) little sister from the Brittany ward last year. Lots of Crazy connections! Jake, I love you lots and miss you so much. I wish you were here so that I could still have someone to go to get a man hug from.

Well I've only got five minutes left so I will close with my testimony. I know that this is the work of the Lord. There are so many people in the world that he loves and that love him but don't know how to feel or express that love. I am here to do what he cannot here on this earth. To find those individuals and invite them to come unto Christ by receiving the restored Gospel through Faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the End. Repentance is real and brings to the hope of redemption to the individual. There is nothing that we cannot come back from, we are never that far gone.

By the way, you guys are getting beat, I've already received three letters but none from you, better step it up! I just want to hear about you and know how everyone is doing.

I love you!

-Hermana Hale