My companion is awesome! Her name's Hermana McGlinchy, we're going to the same mission! We've really come to love one another over this past week! She's an amazing example to me and I love having her constantly around. AND she gets to sing in the MTC choir for General Conference!!! SOOO AMAZING! SO incredibly happy for her! Definitely a tender mercy in both of our lives! Our district is AWESOME! It's just us two Hermans y 10 Elders! MUY loco!! But soooo fun! We laugh 'till we cry all the time. They are an awesome group of guys and after spending nearly 16 hours a day together, we've all gotten super close! Seriously LOVE them! Hermana McGlinchy y yo siempre talk about how we couldn't make it through the MTC without them because they always have such calm, chistoso spirits about them! LOVE IT!! Two of the Elders in our district are also going to our mission! Way cool! So happy we all get to stay together! We also have 4 Elders going to Nicaragua, 3 to Bolivia, and 1 to Ecuador!! We play sand or indoor volleyball everyday together and we've all really come to love one another. They're all definitely a blessing in my life!
Spanish is going well!! After only 1 day of learning Spanish we taught our first lesson to an investigator! Crazy!! It lasted for 30 minutes and was all in Spanish! The gift of tongues is so real!! We've taught 4 lessons to an investigator named Ricardo. It's truly amazing being able to teach about the gospel in Spanish. So cool! El Espiritu santo es real! Our 3rd lesson was our favorite because every question Ricardo asked us the spirit had already guided us to prepare for! So amazing!! We also asked if he would be baptized if he came to know the truth and he said he would! And in our last lesson he told us that he read the chapter we challenged him to (Mosiah 18) and he knows that he needs to be baptized! He just doesn't think he's ready but hey that's what we're here for! The elders have not been as successful with him haha they struggle a lot with teaching him but with time it'll get easier. It's just amazes me every time we teach him because we can communicate and understand each other in a language I could barely hold a 20 second conversation in just 7 days ago. Insane! Can't wait to see how much more we'll all grow by the end of these 6 weeks!
The devotionals here at the MTC are amazing! No general authorities (yet??) but still SO GREAT!! Here are a few of my favorite lines/topics.....
- We are inflicted with blessings. Everything that happens in our lives happens for a reason, even our trials. But too often we focus on the "inflicted" part not the "blessing". We think poor us. Why would we be asked to go through such a hard thing? When really we need to be looking for the silver lining. If we look hard enough, we will see that all the things in our lives that have been "inflicted" upon us are truly blessings. Focus on the blessings of our trials!!
- We watched the Character of Christ by Elder David A. Bednar on Sunday night. Game changer. Seriously one of the most profound, amazing talks I've ever heard. PLEASE go watch/read it! It's like 30 minutes long but so worth it. Hermana McGlinchy y yo left the room and all we could say was wow. We were in a daze and we still are just thinking about the messages that were shared. What stood out to me the most was the idea of turning outward. Christ siempre turned outward. He always looked to serve others. Several examples were shared from the scriptures. In order to become more like Christ, we must turn outward at times when we would usually turn inward. Follow Christ! WATCH THAT TALK!!!!! Could not stress that enough!
- I shouldn't expect all the moments on my mission to be perfect, but if I commit my whole heart and soul to my mission I will come to love them perfectly. I pray I can do this over the next 18 months!!
- Miracles have not ceased! Observe the miracles in our every day lives, trust heaven, be patient, and live with love!
- Church is not just a blessing for those we teach, it is a blessing for us too.
Throughout the week I have been blessed with many tender mercies! Here are a few...
- One night Hermana McGlinchy was having a really hard time so we went outside and cried. While we were sitting there a group of Elders came up to us and shared D&C 84:88 which talks about how angels are with us every step of the way. I felt SO loved while they were sharing their experiences here at the MTC and that scripture with us. Truly a blessing.
- One day during companion study we were sitting outside and this old man came by whistling. We told him we liked his whistle and he started to talk to us. He's lived in Provo for the past 19 years and is not a member of our church. He didn't even know anything about the gospel until 3 years ago when his grandson left on a mission. Since then he's become an investigator and is taught at the MTC. He told us that he doesn't just like us, he loves us so much and without us God's work would not be being done. He testified that there was no better way for us to be spending our time and asked us to pray for the opportunity to teach him because he wants to talk to us again. He truly felt like an angel sent from God to tell us those comforting words. So grateful!
- The gift of tongues! So insane I knew hardly any Spanish a week ago and now I can hold hour long conversations about the gospel. Such an amazing thing! Still difficult but also great!
- Seeing familiar faces!! I see so many friends from BYU here and I LOVE IT! They keep me going! Love you all!!
- Being able to go to the temple. I would encourage all of those who are able to, to go as often as possible! There is such a feeling of peace there!
This Sunday was really great because it was a nice break from Spanish. Church is held in English other than the missionary speakers. They ask everyone in our zone to prepare a 3-5 minute talk about that weeks topic and then ask 2-3 people to come up and share what they've prepared. Guess who was the first speaker and had 20 seconds of notice. Me. It was good though! haha The first 2 weeks you're allowed to give it in English but I chose to give it in Spanglish. It went well!
Here are a few things I miss...
- My BYU besties
- being able to check the weather (we never know what to dress for haha)
- my jandals
- sleeping past 6:30
- late night talks with the family
- being able to airdrop photos to each other
- Hermana McGlinchy (we were for sure meant to be companions. Such a blessing)
- My district (SOOO FUNNY)
- journaling (so nice to dump all my thoughts out onto paper every night)
- learning Spanish
- the gospel
- not having a phone (who knew right?)
- Espiritu santo
- wearing a watch
- having Christ's name on my chest
- going to bed at 10:30 (wait, what?!)
- hearing from all of you!
- Being surrounded by over 2000 other young people striving to do God's work
I'll leave you with mi testimonio... Yo se que Jesucristo es el Salvador. Yo testifico que el Evangelio es verdadero. Me encanta oracion y yo se que la oracion es una bendicion para mi y Ustedes. Jesucristo es muy importante en mi vida y yo se nostotros muy importante El. Este iglesia es verdadero. Es un bendicion en mi vide y en sus vidas. El Libro de Mormon es las palabras de Dios. Dios amamos. En el nombre de Jesucristo amen.
Much amor!!
Hermana Pfeil
ps. There's a service called DearElder where you can send me quick letters for free and they get delivered the same or next day! They really help to keep us going. I would love to hear from all of you! Hope your lives are amazing!!
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