i cant believe its already been week. its gone by so fast but sooooo slow. this week has been about tiny miracles and big blessings.
my first full day in the ccm was the longest day in my life. by 10:30am i was ready for dinner and then bed. it was filled with meetings, orientation, registration, and practicing spanish.
i have good and bad days with spanish. sometimes i feel like i totally understand everything my instructor is saying and other times i have no idea whats going on. my spanish has gotten better, though, i know all the gospel words and i can usually follow along word for word when people speak to me. speaking it to other people is a different story though.
i saw kaelee carlson and she stopped by my house in the ccm and brought me chokis which are like cookies. i also saw tristan hovenden.
I live in what they call the casas here. they{re like little houses with five bedrooms that can house four hermanas with bunkbeds.
okay so let me tell you about my companion Hermana Coombs: she is from chicago, she just did a year at byu and lived in helaman. she plays lots of sports. and she is absolutely fantastic. i love her so much. she is so kind and considerate. she is very patient with me and everyone else. we also have lots of fun together. our personalities mesh well. were not into a lot of the same stuff but we get along cause we have the same spiritual goals. she is the best. she makes me want to be a better person. im so happy i have her, she is a big blessing. i wish i could be just like her because she deserves a better companion than me.
a basic day at the ccm is we wake up and study for an hour, eat breakfast,then sit in class for three hours with our teacher Hermano Salvador. He is amazing and so hilarious, we all love him a lot. he helps us with teaching and spanish.
my district is the best! i love them so much! we are the only hermanas and then we have four sets of elders. they're all going to peru, and equador. oh and hma coombs is also going to chile osorno, plus she said she had book of mormon with scott at byu!
our district has so much fun, it took the elders a couple days to stop being scared to talk to us hermanas. but we have bonded so much just within the past week. it makes me excited to have five more weeks with them and to get even closer.
oh one of the elders in my district was one of my fhe brothers at byu! Elder Neeley, Jared neeley, we were so excited to be in the same group. and another fhe brother, phil fancher was in our zone.
i pray so much here. more than i ever had in my entire life. it's an adjustment but i like it and i've learned that i need to invite the spirit in everything i do and what that means and how i recognize it. the spirit plays such a vital role in my job as a missionary.
thanks dad and evan for the espistles they were great.
the food isn't that good here, nothing that i get that excited about. most everyone gets snacks and treats at the little tienda they have here on campus.
I'm slowly but surely learning how to teach. we've been teaching a pretend investigator, Gaby. she is just a teacher here pretending to take the discussions. but we have to prepare and study and pray as if she is an actual investigator. we taught our first lesson in spanish on friday. it was scary but we got more and more used to it. we learned to not script our exactly what to say but to let the spirit guide us. in those moments is when little miracles happened like i was able to understand her fast spanish or i was able to bear my testimony all in spanish without hesitating. it was great.
sundays are great, they're nice little breaks. sacrament meeting is in spanish. I hadnt cried at the ccm yet until sunday when they sang a childs prayer and it wasn't sad it was the spirit and it was wonderful and i used dad's handkerchief. we don't have class afterwards, but we do still have to study. we have relief society and devotional. yes i met with my branch president, he is very nice and funny.
we got to watch a video on sunday, the testaments. it was great.
i saw charlie roll last night! it was great he went in for the hug but remembered that wasn't allowed haha. it made my day to see him.
my district went to the temple today for p day. the temple is closed for remodeling so we couldn't do a session but they let us tour the visitor center which is super cool, best visitor center i've ever seen. and i bought my first souvenir, one of those colorful woven cloth backpacks. hma coombs and i bought matching ones.
we took pictures as a district. all the elders wore purple ties and hermana coombs and i matched with blue and mustard yellow, i borrowed a cardigan from her. i will try to upload some photos.
sorry this is so messy and fast and long but i wanted to make sure and get everything down in writing before my time was up. i miss you all so much. mom i miss being able to talk with you and text you little things about my day. i miss hanging out with you and dad.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU LOTS
thanks evan and lizzie for coming up to see me before i left, it meant a lot and i miss you a bunch. i use the little journal you gave me everyday.
thanks for all the wonderful emails from my amigos, sorry if i wasn't able to send you a personal email but know that i read them and i really appreciate all the love! Baylee and Ethan you guys are the best.
to my missionaries clark, carolyn, kaylyn, sarah, lizzie, and maya: i miss you guys a ton. sorry if i don't have time to send you a personal email. know that i'm excited to be a missionary and i hope everything is going okay for all of you.
It was hard being here for the first couple days but the Lord really blessed me with a calm heart and a great district. there were days and hours of sadness, incompetence and discouragement. but when i feel the holy spirit my heart swells and i feel overwhelming peace and i swear i am the happiest i have ever been in my entire life. that's how i know i'm supposed to be here. i have yet to cry of sadness, only tears of eternal joy from my heavenly father. i know that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world and that i am a representative of him and his church. I feel such an honor to be called a servant of the Lord. I love this church with all my heart and i know that it is true.
i love you all so much.
love, Hermana Williams
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