Hola!

First off, I want everyone to see how good I look in my fanny pack. I definitely see this coming back into style. haha

I sent some pictures of our apartment. We´re so lucky to be in such a nice apartment. It´s bigger than any of the houses we´ve been in, and a lot cleaner. We have electricity, and hot water, which is such a blessing. I´ve only had to take a bucket shower once, and that was my first day. It was a fun experience. haha We wash our clothes in a weird little washing machine, but it´s kind of fun. We put it in the machine for a little bit, take it out, let it soak in clothes softener, and then put it in the ¨dryer,¨ which doesn´t actually do much, but it helps a little. We let out clothes air dry.  Then we drain the water and sweep it off the balcony.  I think it´s fun. The only thing that isn´t very fun is that we can´t flush our TP, we just throw it away. Luckily that hasn´t been too gross, but I definitely make sure to only use the bathroom in our apartment or at the church.

I gave my very first talk in Spanish this Sunday. And I found out about it Sunday morning. haha So I didn´t have a ton of time to prepare it. I chose to talk on Faith, and I felt like it was an awesome talk, but once I got up to speak, I just couldn´t relay it the way I wanted to. Sometimes it´s a little frustating that I can´t say what I want. I just need to have patience, and I know it will come. I just wish it would come a little sooner. haha But really, it´s going pretty well. Everyone tells me that I know so much to begin with, and I can understand at least part of what everyone says. It just takes time. 

Last week, we had a ton of meetings in La Vega, so we didn´t have a lot of time to proselyte. I was so frustrated because it meant that we missed a lot of our appointments. I was also feeling frustrated because the people we did teach were just not willing to keep their commitments. But on Monday, I worked as hard as I could to get to all of our appointments, and to have the Spirit, and that made all the difference. We were on time to all of our appointments, and they all went so well. I´m starting to see the power of hard work. I know that when I do my best, the Lord will do the rest. 

Here are some of my thoughts about teaching with the Spirit. In the CCM, my teachers stressed the importance of focusing on having the Spirit, rather than knowing the language. They said that as long as you have the Spirit, it doesn´t matter how much Spanish you know. On Monday, I had a really wonderful personal study, and I felt the Spirit so strong. Then we had our district meeting, and I still felt it. But afterwards, we all went to lunch and starting talking about normal things, and I lost it. It wasn´t a bad thing to talk about those things, but I wasn´t focusing on the Spirit, and I could feel the difference. Afterwards, I was reading the BoM in Spanish for language study, and the Spirit came back. I worked hard to keep it with me throughout the rest of the day, and our lessons were so wonderful. It made me think of something my CCM teacher said. When he was a missionary, his president challenged him to always talk about things with his companion that brought the Spirit, so that when they arrived to their appointments, they already had the Spirit and the didn´t need to try to find it during their lesson. I saw that in my mission, and I know that if I focus on keeping my thoughts always on my purpose, that I can teach so much stronger. I think that applies to every day life too. When we give talks, when we teach a class, or even for FHE. I believe that, as a teacher, it doesn´t matter what you say, it´s the Spirit that matters. So my advice is, when you are teaching a lesson, focus more on having the Spirit with you BEFORE you teach. Prepare enough in advance that you aren´t running to the classroom stressing about what you´re going to teach. Maybe listen to church music before. Or take a few peaceful moments to think about what you´re teaching and how important it is to you. Have everything prepared so that from the moment you walk into the classroom, the people you teach are learning from the Spirit that you bring. That´s my two cents for this week.

A Day in the DR:

All of the bugs here are so much bigger than they are in the US. We had a huge moth in our apartment a few days ago. It wasn´t bothering us until it flew into our room in the middle of a really spiritual heart to heart. We spent the next hour trying to get it out of the apartment. This was our method- throw a shoe near it, hide under our covers while it flew around the room, spend the next five minutes trying to figure out where it went, and then starting over. haha Very effective. We finally threw my laundry hamper over it and took it outside. We had a pretty good time. haha This is a picture of us trying to reenact that night. 

A few days ago, we taught a family. The father is a member, but his wife isn´t. We´ve been teaching the whole family. Well, this last time, we walked in, and the two youngest ones are just running around naked. When we started the lesson, the youngest boy (he was young, but not that young) jumps on his mom´s lap, pulls down her shirt, and just starts breastfeeding. I was so shocked. I knew that that happened here, but I just wasn´t prepared for it. haha After a few minutes of talking, my companion turned to me and asked me to talk about repentance, and I had the hardest time focusing and teaching. haha It was just too much nakedness for me. haha But the next time we taught her, I was prepared and I was able to focus and teach the lesson.