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Elder Holland Inspires me to do better |
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Ciao Mia Famiglia!
My companion told me that she wrote to her family to nag them for letters/packages and the next day it all come pouring in, Not because they had already received the guilt trip, but because it is a law of nature. So disregard my guilt trip, It was a necessary step in the process. Thank you for the bittersweet letter mom, I have been worrying and praying about that subject. My companions were out of the room while I read it and when they came in and saw me crying, they began to fear lest the stable element in our companionship had become unstable. I assured them I was fine. It is good to be here together with Ethan because we steal moments to discuss and purge and cry together.
Anyway it was good to get the fun letter also. Nate kills me!
Chandler: Congratulations Mr. 100%. But I’m not really shocked. You are so awesome! I <3 you and I miss you, but Anziano Butler has been informed that he is your substitute, has met your picture and has agreed to do his best.
Jeffrey R. Holland came the other night for Tuesday devotional and gave such a powerful talk, nay, sermon about not wasting this time, keeping all the rules and just generally the importance of what we are about. Everyone as far as I could tell, left sober but determined. Earlier that day we had a long shift at the referral center and I had a bad attitude because the initial “honeymoon” period I described last letter had worn off somewhat. I mean I still had good calls and spiritual experiences, but they were giving us 5 hr. Shifts. O.D.ing us basically. Madonna! I don’t know how Ethan did his telemarketing job.
Anyway, after Jeffrey R. Holland, I was so excited to do my last shift here @ the MTC referral cent. There was a marked difference in the way people responded. When I asked if they wanted missionaries, instead of saying “Sure, why not.” they were saying, “Yeah, Please, When can they come?” Why the change? It’s not that I didn’t feel the Spirit before, This time it was just so much more fortissimo and I think a measure of that was transmitted through the phone lines. Attitude is everything. When I have a good attitude, my companions don’t annoy me as much ( I <3 them now, though I’ll never get used to Sorella Hutchins 100% girliness, Sorella Brough I <3 through and through), I learn better, My energy level is higher and everything is just better.
La lingua va bene. It’s so funny. They teach us a grammar lesson and then 5 minutes later, we have “mastery check” like we are supposed to have mastered it in 15 minutes, but you know what’s awesome, we actually do really well. Usually the teachers give us sentences in English and we have to write them in Italian on the board. The spirit just helps us so much. My DL- Anziano Harriss passed 5 AP tests in High School so it kills him that I get it better/faster than him, he is just like me- has to be the best, so he rubs it in whenever I get something wrong and he always compares “Task Performance Check” scores with me and does little dances because his scores are higher, I don’t want to sound prideful, but I don’t think it occurs to him that the teachers might be grading me harder because they expect more of me.
Non lo so, pero ogni giorno mi piache più e più parlare l’italiano. But you know what is divertissimo? We have 2 Anziani and one Sorella here for three weeks because they already speak the language. The Anziani are Native Italians (one is a GA’s son) and the Sorella (Roig) is from Paraguay. She took Italian in school so she speaks it well enough and has excellent comprehension because of Spanish. So we do this fun thing where I translate from Spanish to English which Anziano Castellani knows a little and somehow we are all able to communicate when one of us doesn’t know how to say something.
Sorella Roig is gorgeous and awesome. The Anziani are charmers because they are Italian and it’s who they are, but she doesn’t put up with it, yet she is still charming and sweet, they both are so in love with her. Anyway, I<3 her, we just are kindred spirits. Also, Spanish came in handy @ the Referral Center. There were some shifts where I barely used my own computer because I was running from room to room whenever anyone had a Spanish call. So fun! Even though I butchered the language because I was translating prompts as I was saying them and I switched back and forth between “tu” and “Ud”, the latinos were still so receptive.
By the end of one call, a woman had adopted me as her new daughter and insisted I write down her address and name so I can stop by next time I’m in Miami. She reminded me a lot of Lita. Even though we are supposed to limit our calls to 5 minutes, I talked to her for like 20 min. And she was really way more excited about hearing the missionaries.
Oh My! I have just read over my letter and it seems Sorella Hutchins’ valley girl lingo is rubbing off, Mi dispiace (sorry) I shall strive to not let it happen henceforth.
Oh yeah, one last RC call to tell you about. I talked to one man who wanted to Bible Bash. We called him to see if his BOM had been delivered and he said he never ordered one. But he had heard about our church and said he had “some questions” for me. He had issues about why we were the only ones who had authority to baptize and why didn’t the Bible tell about the BOM. I quoted “other sheep” and he still wanted to fight. Re authority I said that God is a God of order and His order is the priesthood. Even though there are good pastors and preachers, they don’t have the proper authority. He didn’t respond as quickly as before but still had a rebuttal. So I said, Sir, I could pull out my Bible and show you chapter and verse to prove everything I believe, and I’m sure you could too, but I don’t think either one of us is going to convince the other one, all I can tell you is that the BOM and the Bible are the word of God and they are both true and stand together to testify of Christ” (or something like that, I can’t remember my exact words). Then his tone changed and he said why don’t you go ahead and send me that book, I’d like to find out for myself (still in a contemptuous tone, but softened somewhat) I told him that I thought that it was awesome of him to be open minded and I was humbled and impressed by his knowledge of the Scriptures. Then I bore my testimony of Jesus as my Savior and Redeemer and we ended by “God Bless You” to each other.
Before I began the next call (I needed a breather) I said a prayer that the missionaries would know how to answer his questions, and that the man would be prepared to hear them. We’ll see how it washes out when we get to the Spirit World I guess.
Anyway, I came away from that realizing that I need to have more scriptures on call in my memory banks, so Chandler and Mikk, It’s never too early to start!! Memorize Scripture Mastery, and start learning the discussions and memorize the corresponding scriptures, that way all the time you spend in the field will be more quality because you won’t be spending the first six months trying to learn all that stuff. The language will be a challenge enough. Also, gain a testimony of the following:
Joseph Smith (read his story and pray)
The Book of Mormon (read it and pray)
Jesus Christ (Be Christlike, Repent, Read NT, 3 Nephi and pray)
Gordon B. Hinckley (Read Conference Talks etc. and Pray)
(Past, Present, Future) Families (<3 eachother)
The Elders who have done this are so much more prepared and are able to focus more on the language, so not only do they have a better knowledge of the Gospel, but they become more fluent in the language as well because they can devote more study time to that. So there’s my 10 cents for this letter….:) It is late and tomorrow is Sunday, so I best get to bed.
Also, I need to put the finishing touches on my talk. They do this special (fascinating) thing where they give the topic for sacrament meeting for the following week (one of the discussions usually) and everyone in the Branch (about 50 people right now) has to prepare a 10 minute talk. Then when we get to Sacrament Mtg. we sing, pray, have the Sacrament, and then they announce who the two lucky winners are for the week.
Last week it was Sorella Hutchins and Elder Chamberlain (Gavin). Gavin gambled that he wouldn’t be picked, and lost! :) So he got up there and taught the whole discussion almost-interactive style-fascinating, simply fascinating. I was smirking the whole time because I knew exactly what was up, but he was so confident and well spoken that most people were impressed. I mocked him later as a result of which I know I’ll be picked tomorrow. The cool thing about this is that if you prepare a talk each week, you have 8-10 ready made talks for when you get to the field and you are working in a struggling branch.
So, buona notte la mia cara famiglia! Vi amo con tutto il mio cuore! Ciao Belli!!!
<3 Sorella o Davis
P.S. Today was temple day and I had such a wonderful session, then, when we came out, the sun was setting in puffy/wispy clouds over the lake, the birds were singing and it was snowing even though it was sunny-like the movie Legend (Tom Cruise, Unicorns) when the blossom petals were falling everywhere. Bellissimo!
P.P.S. Mom, I <3 your mountains now, I really want to climb them. I have come to find them inspiring instead of suffocating.
P.P.P.S. I love you Shiloh- write me a letter :)
P.P.P.P.S. I love you Enoch- write me a letter :)
P.P.P.P.P.S. I love you Mikkel- write me a letter :)
P.P.P.P.P.P.S. I love you Darby, HAPPY BIRTHDAY (LATE) Write me a letter about the ward, Draw me a picture etc. per favore, grazie a tutti! |
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