Week Three at the MTC

Hola Mis Amigas,

How is everyone doing? I hope great, fabulous and wonderful if not that is okay as well. :)

I finally made it to week 3 of the MTC, which was better than weeks 1 and 2 combined. Everyone says that if you can make it to Sunday than you will be fine but I say that if you can make it to week two then you will be fine.

They have implemented a new curriculum at the MTC, which is designed to help missionaries learn the language faster. In this new program the teachers will not speak any English in class for at least the first week and you teach your first lesson on the second day in Spanish. Each week you have to teach a progressing investigator in Spanish. A progressing investigator is just someone who is interested in the church and is taking steps to be baptized. The investigators you teach are your teachers who are using real acting like different investigators from their mission.

Last week my companion and I taught Taylor, a student studying anthropology in Barcelona. She is great and I really enjoy teaching her as she reminds me a lot of myself before I joined the church. We are also teaching a man named Juan Jose who lives in Texas and is from Mexico but is struggling to find work in America. He has four children and a fifth child on the way.

I have been studying Spanish a ton and would say that I can successfully give a prayer, bare my testimony, and have a basic religious conversation. I even bore my testimony in Spanish last Sunday at church. It was a really good feeling. A few summer's ago I went to El Salvador to do humanitarian work and I always wanted to bare my testimony in Spanish but never got up the courage, but last Sunday I was able to do just that and if felt really good to accomplish a goal. Even if it was a few years later. :)

The MTC is super crowded right now; we have more missionaries here than we have had in a long time. There are 2,800 missionaries here, which is at an all time high. Typical summer high is 2,500 and we are getting a bunch of sisters next Wednesday. I really enjoy my district, as there are 11 of us all together. However we will be losing 2 elders on Tuesday because they are going down to the Guatemala MTC to finish their MTC time. We will miss them.

 I have been thinking a lot about faith this week and the type of faith that God requires of me not only to do missionary work but to show that I trust Him fully and completely. It is hard to trust God fully to have Faith in things not seen but in things hoped for, I am learning to put my trust in God because I know that his timing is perfect and my belief in God and his plan for us is growing everyday. I know that God loves me, that Jesus Christ is my brother, friend redeemer, and that Joseph restored the fullness of the Gospel, so that we can have temples, the priesthood, and return to live with God one day. A line from one of my favorites songs by Laura Story stated " the pain inside our heart reminds us that this in not our home."

Thanks always for the letters, prayers and support. Please send me your addresses and I will try and write you letters.

Love ya,

Hermana Zani