Buenos tardes mi
familia y mis amigos,
Well, let's start off
with some fun facts from this week. Those sisters who randomly showed up in our
room last week moved out a few days later. We now have two new Advanced Sisters
that just moved in on Wednesday. They are with the new district in our zone.
One is from Australia, and the other from No. California and they are both
going to SLC West mission (same as Hermana Dudley!) - fun stuff! We haven't
been able to get to know them too well yet, as the past 2 days have been a
little crazy, but they seem great so far. Why has it been so crazy, you ask? I
guess after they finished construction on the 4th floor (that's why we got
those random girls from the 4th floor last week), they decided that everyone on
3rd floor had better move up to 4th so they can do construction on 3rd as well.
Quite obnoxious, if you ask me. Anyway, we were supposed to move this morning,
but we had Temple Time this morning and we really didn't want to give it up. We
ended up moving last night, but by the time we got out of class and exchanged
keys it was past 9:00. We had to completely clean out our old room, including
bedding. It was sucha pain. We didn't end up getting lights out until
11:15! I felt like such a rebel, but it was the only time we had to move and it
was necessary. We have really had to be patient with everything they've been
making us do. Oh well, life goes on.
Spanish is still
difficult, but I'm finally starting to get some of the hard grammar, like
Subjuntive and Conditional. I can't really fluently speak it yet (it takes
me so long to figure out what I want to say in my head), but I can understand
it and I know how it works! Yay! Teaching has been going fairly well, though we
are still trying to be able to teach a short lesson - we just talk
too much! Hermano Wheeler (one of our classroom teachers) was being our
new investigator Alejandro (first lesson actually) and had apparently set
his phone at 20 minutes to pretend to ring. He then continued to kick us out of
his house because I apparently had to get somewhere important. He did this to
help us with our timing, but it was still prettyfrustrating. Fun stuff though,
it's all part of the learning experience. Hmm, what else this week? The
two elders in our class who aren't really in our district just got called to be Zone Leaders
(in their zone, not ours) so we won't be seeing them as much during
studies and things like that, but they'll still be in class with us. That's
good news because we like them :) they're great missionaries.
Elder and Sister
Foster (from the 70) were our Tuesday Devotional - they were great. They talked
a lot about relying on Christ, and what consecration really means. Elder Foster
shared the story of Jared Carter and John Tanner. Wow! I can't believe I had
never heard the story of John Tanner before! Talk about dedication to the
church, the building up of Zion, and to the will of the Lord. If you don't know
his story, go look it up! It's probably on LDS.org somewhere. I know there is a
movie (maybe 20-30 min.) on his life in the church. It is very powerful. Elder
Neal A. Maxwell said "Consecration is the only surrender which is also a
victory." I completely agree. I still feel like I don't completely
understand the law of Consecration, but I know that it is the greatest way we
can be blessed, in this life and in the life to come. This gospel is real, God
is real, His love for us is real, and so our love for him should be as well.
Sunday evening we were
able to watch a recording of a talk that Elder Holland gave here at the MTC
called "Missions Are Forever". Wow, talk about powerful! That man
just fills you with the spirit and with guilt of how worthless you are as a
missionary, and also gives you such hopes and desires to be so much more! All I
have to say is that you can change. You can help other people change. But it is
not easy. It is never easy. Why should it be easy when it was never easy for
Him? Salvation is not a cheap experience.
Well, I'm here to say
that if you're thinking about going on a mission, you should. I doubt many
people who read my blog are ones who are considering, but there might be a few.
This work is real and is as true as it gets. It's hard on a mission,
but the work needs to be done. You will grow spiritually and will gain a deeper
understanding of this gospel, what it is, and what it means to you. I look
forwarding to the field, which I know is so ready for the
harvest! Serving a mission is not about going and doing good stuff
for 18-24 months, it's about bringing people salvation. It is nothing less than
that.
I love this gospel and
I love my Savior. I am grateful for His willingness to help me, despite
all of my faults and weaknesses. If you're not sure of any of these
things, cry unto God and He will tell you. He loves you. I promise you
that. As do I.
Con todo mi amor y
corazón,
Hermana
Escalante
P.s.Happy Thanksgiving
next week!
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