Take ye no thought for the morrow…

I can’t believe that it has already been another week! Each day at the MTC seems to go by with the blink of an eye. I used to think that time was moving so slowly and now I feel like I don’t have time to catch up with everything. So here are some highlights…

On Friday we were able to go contacting at the University. We walked a few blocks to get there and it was fun to get out and see the people a bit more. In one of their parks they have all of this exercise equipment that people can just use for free. It was super fancy. Our teacher also said that they teach free classes to people there as well. We need some of those in the US!

I was really nervous to try and talk to people in Spanish and teach them really quickly about the gospel. Once we got going and just let go of any fears we had though, we were fine and we did our best. We would walk and say hello to everyone we saw and then when we noticed someone we felt would be open to our message we would stop and talk to them. I would explain that we were missionaries and then depending on the person I would ask what they know about God, or what their purpose in life was. It was usually the latter. Then I would share 2 Ne 2:25, explain that God wants us to be happy and that happiness comes from the gospel. I would then share my purpose was to help others come to Christ. Then we would give them a pamphlet about the restoration that had numbers to the missionaries on the back.

We ended handing out all of our pamphlets in an hour (around 10). Hermana Stuber is still kind of bad at Spanish and so I ended up having to do pretty much all of the talking. I made her contact one person on her own though and it was a bit interesting. She took about 20 minutes to finally work up the courage to talk to someone and then I had to kind of feed her words the entire time. She said something on her own and then the guy leaned down to kiss her and me! I’m still not sure what she messed up on in the language but it was entertaining. I didn’t really understand a lot of what people were saying to me but just tried to nod and act interested and then ask them to repeat things if I couldn’t understand at all. One guy that we talked to asked if I had studied Spanish before I came to the DR. When I told him I had only taken a little in school…about 7 years ago…he was shocked and said I speak very well for only being here 2 weeks.

Later that night we had 2 girls from the university come to the CCM because they needed to practice interviewing people for an English class. When they arrived they chose to talk to me because I “look like I’m a funny and loving person who she could be friends with.” After they finished their assignment I bore my testimony to them in Spanish. As my companion and I were walking back upstairs I felt like we should give them a Book of Mormon and the number to the missionaries. So we sprinted up to the 4^th floor, and then back down to catch them before they left. It was quite the day… 10 pamphlets and a Book of Mormon!

This week Hermana Stuber and I were assigned to be the Sister Training Leaders. Our job is very similar to that of a district leader but we only work with the sisters. So if one of the sister missionaries is having a hard time and doesn’t feel comfortable talking to an Elder about what is going on, they come and talk to us regardless of their district. It has been a really fun opportunity to serve and help others grow as missionaries.

I was also able to sing at a devotional this week with one of the Elders here (Elder Peterson). I arranged an accompaniment on the piano and then we sang the words of “O Mi Padre” to the tune of “Come Thou Fount.” Luckily we have a sister who is good at playing by ear so I played the accompaniment a few times for her and then she was able to accompany us. It was absolutely beautiful. We found out about it Monday night and then had to sing Tuesday morning so we only practiced twice but the spirit was so strong and I was very grateful for the opportunity to spend more time with music.

This week has been one of the more difficult weeks for most of us. I have had some frustrating lessons where I wish that I could just speak the language and explain my thoughts. I don’t know how many times I have thought how much easier it would be to serve a mission in English. I know where to find things in my scriptures and how to explain gospel concepts. In Spanish, however, I end up sounding kind of like a 5 year old trying to teach the gospel. It is so easy to get frustrated. Luckily Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers and our teachers are very in tune with the spirit.

Saturday was one of the days where pretty much my entire district was just struggling and feeling overwhelmed. Our teacher stopped his lesson and asked us what was going on. As we talked he spent the next hour teaching us in very broken English that we don’t need to be perfect to be effective missionaries. He shared 1 Ne 3:7 with us and testified that we were called here because the Lord knew that we could do this. He also shared D&C 88:80-88. Both scriptures comforted me and reminded me that it’s ok that I won’t know everything. I think that the biggest testimony builder was that he tried to explain this all to us in English. I realized that’s probably how I sound speaking Spanish. Even though his words didn’t always match up the spirit was so strong and he was able to help each one of us that night. I know that even if I am speaking very slowly and poorly the Lord will still be able to teach others through the spirit.

I know that when we show gratitude for the blessings we have received and confidence in the Lord that He will continue to bless us and will make up the difference for our shortcomings. As always I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be serving a mission. I am so blessed each day as I strive to live and learn the gospel and I know that these blessings can come to anyone if they put forth the same effort. The Lord truly knows and loves us and is strengthening us.

All my love,

Hermana Ewell