CCM Week 4 - As God so Commandeth, He Provideth a Way

Hola todos! ¿Cómo estás todos? Este misionero es tan feliz y emocionado! (Hello everyone! How are you all? This missionary is so happy and excited!) We're going to the temple again today! Wooo! I made the mistake of sending my email early last week so I waited until later for this one. Siento, no siento (Sorry, not sorry). So what happened this week?

Wednesday (Miércoles) we went to the temple!!! It was absolutely epic and so pretty! The temple also sells what's known as sock ties and they're super popular here so I obviously had to grab some. I love the temple! El templo de la Cuidad de México es tán bonita! (The Mexico City Temple is so pretty!) It looks like an ancient Aztec temple which I'm told is where the inspiration for its design came from.

Thursday (Jueves) has a fun story attached to it that I'll share later. Right now, I'll share something that Hermana Rusil (la maestra) shared with me today. We were all asked individually how we were doing in our studies of memorization and with Basic Core. I have the memorization down but Basic Core has not been my friend. When she sat me down, I could just feel the love and concern she had for me. She said, "I know you can do this. Rely on the Spirit and the Gift of Tongues. I want to hear more from you in class because you can do it. You can speak Spanish." That really touched me to know that she was concerned and believed in me so much! That's just another testament of the awareness God has for each of us and how He blesses our lives when we follow His commandments and promptings from the Spirit.

Friday (Viernes) had many tender mercies, many of which are personal and I won't share here. However, I will share one that I feel is appropriate. We taught Katherine again and I actually was able to use some of my Spanish! Granted, it wasn't very good but for what it was, I was able to get the point across and the Spirit helped testify for what I lacked in. I love teaching!! Teaching the Gospel is so much fun and it makes me excited for the field.

Saturday (Sábado) was a great day pero (but) we lost a game of Latino. So if you don't know what that it, it's a game usually played over a short period of time and it consists of someone having to speak only Spanish, no English allowed. The others participating speak Spanish as well but they are allowed to speak English as well. The person guessing has a predetermined amount of guesses for who the Latino is. We've been playing a bigger version of that with our maestra en la mañana (teacher in the morning). We thought we had her fooled but she managed to guess who it was and we owe her chocolate. Pero, esta bien porque fue divertido (But, it's good because it was fun).
Spanish is kicking my basura (trash). We've started learning el gramática y es muy difícil (the grammar and it's very difficult). I was feeling pretty down on myself and one of my teachers shared this with me: "God commanded and helped Nephi build a ship. God has commanded and will help you learn Spanish".

Sunday (Domingo) I received new insight into the gospel. You think you know something and someone else comes in and blows your mind. In priesthood, we were talking about the sacrament and Elder Brown and Elder Drummond were teaching and shared the insight that the gospel is personal. Yeah, we're all members of the church and we participate in the same thing every week but it is very personal. Please remember that as you go throughout your week. The Gospel ispersonal.
We also watched the First Presidency Christmas devotional. The main message I got was that we needed to remember that Christmas is about Christ. Another thing I encourage you to remember through the week, and even throughout the month. It's not quite out on Gospel Library but I think it's a good idea to go read those talks when they become available.

Monday (Lunes) happened and, honestly, not sure what happened. All I remember was dying of laughter during dinner. Also, Elder Ramirez is now our district leader!

Tuesday (Martes) was great! I got to feel the Spirit in action as it guided our lesson. Elder Ramirez and I were teaching Brenda again and our goal was to invite her to read Moroni 10:5 and follow the council given within. We started off great, asked how things were, how work was, family, the sorts. She shared that her brothers were contentious at the moment and it was affecting the whole family. We offered our sincere apologies about that, offered a prayer, and started into our first point: prayer.
Elder Ramirez took this one, carefully tying it into her current situation. I was listening but then I kinda zoned out and forgot to listen. While zoned out, I got an impression: look in your notes. I didn't have my notebook so I opened Gospel Library and went to Notes. I tapped my "shared" tag for scriptures that had been shared with me before and came across D&C 121:7-8.

Elder Ramirez finished his part and I asked Brenda to read this scripture for us. She did and I expressed my compassion for her brothers causing contention and explained how it is a trial but through prayer, she can ask Heavenly Father for help. I was just about to invite her to pray on her own, just in general, when our time ran out. Big sadness but it was great nonetheless.

I have two things to share this week so lo siento, pero I feel very strongly that these need to be shared.

7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.D&C 121:7-8

"Don’t worry about your clumsily expressed feelings. Just talk to your compassionate, understanding Father. You are His precious child whom He loves perfectly and wants to help. As you pray, recognize that Father in Heaven is near and He is listening. ... Never feel you are too unworthy to pray." Richard G. Scott, "Using the Supernal Gift of Prayer", General Conference April 2007.

Fun(ny) things:

• On Thanksgiving, Elder Drummond was Skyping his family and his uncle named Steve happened to walk in and Elder Drummond yelled "Steve!". A group of missionaries happened to walk into his field of vision at the same time and so a joke calling Elder Drummond "Steve" ensued. Well, we left the classroom Thursday for mock teaching and came back to "Hello Steve" on the board, complete with hearts. Needless to say, our teacher was a bit concerned but joked with us about it. So now our district has a legacy to leave behind, aka The Steve Story.
• We all have a habit of saying "oscuridad", meaning "darkness", when we forget something, or are reminded of events, among many others. So that's running joke of the district number two.
• Elder Ramirez apparently can't read, just like every English speaker ever. We were learning some grammar and it gave the acronym of DREEMS. Well, he somehow managed to pronounce it as 'drems'. And if that wasn't evidence enough, he also pronounced 'chicos' as 'chichos'. He's a funny guy to say the least.

Keep smiling and embrace challenges as they come. You can get through it. Remember God's love for you. It is so great, we can't comprehend the entirety of His love. Remember that you are human, you will make mistakes. But through the Savior's Atonement, we can repent and become better. I'll talk to you all next week!

--
Elder Thacker