11 Days and Counting!

Wow! Can you believe it?! 11 days! Neither can I. This whole experience has been amazing and hard and ridiculous and wonderful. My testimony has grown, so if nothing else, it has been worth it. However, it has been so much more than that. I am so excited (and freaking nervous) to get into the field and start in His work. Wow. Anyway, hi! It has been a crazy, rushed day, so I'm sorry if this turns out to be really disorganized and random. We'll see what we get out of this. Also, sorry again to many of you who I did not write back (again! - sorry) this week. Time is crazy short here. I promise to try to get caught up next week! Know that I still love you. Ok, here we go for real...

I guess I'll start off with some busy news. Hermana Liu is better (did I mention she was sick last week?). Hermana Dudely went to the medical center today to get some sort of infected blister on her toe cut off. Fun stuff! She has been with Hermana Liu all day so Hermana Carlson and I don't really know how she's doing at this point. Hopefully all is well :) I am feeling better as well, though I still have a rough cough that I am trying to get over. 

We have received our travel plans!! Woo hoo! Everyone in our room (except Hermana Liu - poor thing) will be heading out the same day. We all leave on the 11th, just different times. I need to report to the travel office at 5:00am and will be traveling with 11 other missionaries who are going to my mission! How exciting! I believe most of them are English-speaking Elders, but I know at least 2 of them are Spanish-speaking sisters, as I met them on Wednesday. 

Wednesday! We got to be hosts! It was super fun! We helped with the new arrivals, getting them to their rooms, helping them pick up their new books, getting them settled in their classroom, etc. Fun stuff! Hopefully we'll get to do it again next week (I loved it! - super fun), but we'll see. Hmm, what else. Well, I might as well get it over with. Here's the story from this week.

So we have been pretty happy with our lessons as of late. They definitely haven't been perfect, but they have been more consistent and getting better. I guess God decided we needed some humbling. Yesterday we taught "Alejandro" (Hermana Wheeler) and to be honest, it was awful. We're not really sure what all happened, but we know that we did not sufficiently represent Jesus Christ and teach simple doctrine. We felt sick afterwards, like we were the worst missionaries ever, and that we could never do this! Thankfully, more blessings were to come. 

It just happened to work out that in class with Hermana Ayala that evening (she is so amazing - the best teacher ever) that we were the only ones in class (for the last half, at least). Elder Murdock y Elder Clingo had Zone Leadership meetings and Elder Moss y Elder Gardner were on "watch" with a sick Elder in our zone. She cancelled everything she had planned and just worked with us on what we needed. We told her all about Alejandro and our lesson and she worked with us as if she were Alejandro, as well as our teacher, helping us along and yet pushing us so much. Wow! She is awesome. She is such a blessing for me. We felt the spirit, understood what we need to know, feel, and do as missionaries and what our investigators need. It was an amazing learning experience that was difficult and so needed. We were all crying and laughing and I'm not really sure why. I just know that I will be a better missionary and a better person because of Hermana Ayala, as well as my companions. Being in a trio is hard, but I feel this experience is exactly what I needed. I know God answers my prayers, even when it's not in the way I would like (Isaiah 55:8-9).

  

We taught in class the other day, NOT in our companions. It was strange. We actually switched it up and everything was with someone new, and I ended up teaching with Elder Moss (its weird teaching with an Elder...). It turned out great though! Wow, it is soooo much easier to teach in a duo. We taught the Plan of Salvation (which is the hardest lesson for me to teach - especially the Spanish with it), but it actually went really well! I'm so excited to get out in the field, to meet people, to preach the Gospel, and be the missionary the Lord wants me to be.

Learning to speak Spanish is hard, but I've realized I'm also learning how to speak "Spiritual-ese", as one missionary called it. Haha, the name makes me laugh, but it's so true. Learning to not speak what you want to say, but what the Spirit wants you to say. It is a whole new experience for me, and I'm still learning, but I love it.

My goal in my mission, and also in life, is to not just "Endure to the End" (2 Nephi 31), but Progess to the end! I want to continue to learn and grow everyday! Sometimes it's hard and I hold myself back from progressing because of my pride and other weaknesses, but little by little, we progress (2 Nephi 28:30).

Oh yeah! Well, I'm out of time, but a few of you have asked me what I might want for Christmas. I will post that list next week, along with my new address in the field.

Ok, I'm literally out of time! The church is true! I love you all!

Love, Hermana Escalante

P.S. How does time fly so fast?!