September 7, 2010

Moja Rodzina!

How are you! Thank you for the emails, I always love to get them. I am very jealous of the fun activities you got to do this week. I was thinking about the Storytelling festival and how much fun it always is to go with everyone. I would probably rather get the letters through Dear Elder just so I can have more time to answer your questions! Plus then its a boost in the middle of the week instead of a stressful 30 min, and when I'm missing you I can read it again :D.

This week has been wonderful; I still am just fired up to learn as much as I can. On Thursday we approached and bore our testimony to volunteers in the TRC and then taught the first lesson in English. We had been nervous and it was difficult for us to find a good balance and be fluid, but when we taught, the Spirit was so strong. I got to teach about the Restoration and when I testified about Joseph Smith I felt the power of the Holy Ghost one of the strongest times in my life. (Sorry my English is going, I am pounding my head with Polish all day and its already affecting me!) The rest of the lesson we weren't as structured and we just went 100% by the spirit. The room really was pulsating with the feeling and spirit, I can't describe it very well, but we were all very moved. It is so nice to teach real people (even if they are pretend investigators) because it makes it a lot more personal.

I have been working on how to be able to teach with the Spirit, and I think a big key to that is just studying enough to have a wide knowledge base so that things can be brought to my remembrance when it is needed. I'm picking up Polish pretty quickly (thanks Dad for Rosetta Stone!! It truly has made a world of difference, coming into the MTC being able to pronounce letter combinations and how to read for the most part.) I am the best and memorizing the phrases that we need to say--> I do this by doing laps around our floor while just saying it aloud over and over again. By the time I leave I fully expect to see tread marks on the carpet. After I know the phrases, I really study the vocab that is in the phrases, it sticks much better that way. I am much slower at grammar, but Siostra Marshall is a machine at it. I help Siostra Steadman with reading PMG aloud and she drills me with Scripture Mastery references any time we are walking somewhere or waiting for a meeting to start. I love it, it is a ton of hard work, but whenever I start to feel unmotivated, I realize that I'm going to be in Poland very soon, and I feel so unprepared. I want to be able to teach and be an effective missionary as soon as possible when I get there.

Polish phrase of the day! I like to rock climb = ja lubie wspinac' go'ry (accents above the letter) I remember by thinking that if you eat spinach you will be strong enough to climb mountains, but if you fall, it will be pretty gory :D

I feel like I’m getting closer to my companions which is great. We are very different, but I'm so glad it is all three of us, because we balance e/o out.

Caleb, I had a dream about you the other night! I miss you so much! We were having a big battle with pretend weapons and we had to run and hide in all of these different houses and a pirate ship. Congratulations on selling those books! Was the money machine fun? The elders in my district play a funny game where they try to slip spoons in other people's suit pant pockets while they are standing in line for food. What is your favorite game to play with your friends?

Savannah, that is awesome that you are reaching out to your non-member friend. Sometimes the best sort of missionary we can be is just to be a nice person and good example of someone who is living the gospel. Let me know how it goes, I'm praying for you every night :)

Lily, one of my best friends from Saint George is here in the MTC too, her name is Allie Nothum. She is even living on my floor and we have meals together so I see her all the time. She is a really good friend because she listens to the things that are frustrating me, but then encourages me to be better. We both set goals w/ each other and check up on them daily. You make friends so easily; try to be a good friend who makes people want to be a better person. I love you!

Dad, thanks for the letter! We made a goal as a district to always use all of the Polish words that we know, but at the moment, it’s pretty minimal. We learned during mission conference some good ideas on how to find investigators. I'm excited to try them out. After the language, finding people and being creative is my biggest concern right now. I heard you studied Alma as a prophet in scripture study so I studied the difference of his missionary attitude vs. Jonah. They both had to teach people who didn't want to listen, but they handled it very differently. I also studied Abinadi. He taught and gave his life and didn't know that he had a single convert, but he converted Alma the Elder who taught many others, and then Alma the Younger who converted thousands. I just need to work really hard, be bold, be focused on the people, and speak with power and authority like in Mosiah 13:6.

Mom, I’m stoked about the cookies! Thanks for your example that you've always been to me. I'm so lucky to come from great parents who both taught me a lot of the things that I need to know to be a good missionary. I can feel your love and support, I'm going to try to print off pictures and mail them this week. (Apparently it doesn't work over the Internet here). Thank you!

Well I got extra time this week, but I need to go. I love you family!

-Siostra Stay