A Couple Weeks to Go...

Hola....

So I have about a week and a half left of being here at the MTC.  We should be getting our travel plans either tonight or tomorrow.  I'm so excited but so sad to leave my district.  I seriously love them so much.  We did the math and approx. 600 hours (or more) we've spent together.  Crazy, right?  I feel like I've known them my whole life!  I found out that my branch president knows my mission president! They are dear friends and both worked for CES as institute instructors here in Utah.  He said that he's a gem and one of the greatest people he's ever met (which is a big deal because my branch president is good friends with some of the apostles).  So it makes it that more exciting to finally meet him!  My branch president has a scripture for EVERYTHING....seriously he knows the scriptures inside and out.  It's amazing.  He's taught me so much and most of it through casual conversation.  I love the spirit here so much.  Three more elders were added to our district because their visas didn''t get in.  They actually happen to be our zone leaders so they hopefully get their travel plans tomorrow too.  They were in the 6 week program but it'll probably end up being 9.  Poor things.  They''re all going to Mexico so I try to teach them all that I know...which isn''t much.  I know...I''m a disappointment. It''s distracting to being writing this because there are chinese speaking elders in the computer lab right now and they keep shouting random sounds (which are apparently suppose to be words) so I feel like I''m in Asia right now. Nice.

      This week we had Brother Heaton talk (again) at Sunday night devotional and it was about tithing (again).  He said he's never repeated a talk ever but he felt really prompted to give the same talk again.  He said if we wanted our converts to be long time faithful members of the church, they HAVE to be honest tithe payers.  So it''s crucial as missionaries to really stress and teach clearly the law of tithing.  It's not about the money but it's about the faith in Heavenly Father.  I know if we all pay our tithing that the windows of heaven will be poured out upon us.  Miracles happen, I have witnessed it in my life.  I actually taught the law of tithing to our investigator this past week and shared an experience that I had with tithing.  You could tell the Spirit testified to her the importance of this ancient divine law and she fully committed.  Tithing is a privilege.  Please have faith in Heavenly Father when you pay your tithing.  I promise you'll gain a testimony of it.  I'm grateful that I have a strong testimony of each principle of the Gospel.  Was it easy? Of course not but as I showed faith, Heavenly Father definitely showed me that he does not break his promises.  Just trust in him! It''s no wonder that faith is the first principle of the Gospel.  Anyways I have to go now.  I love and miss you all.  I''ll write as much as I can, I''m just a little backed up...but I appreciate your letters!  I''ll let you know next week when I leave! Amo!

ps.

totally forgot thanksgiving is this week....eat lots of good food for me...i''m kind of nervous what we''re gonna eat here.  blah. oh well i heard they treat the missionaries very well here during holidays so no worries.

Shame on me

This is Jackie talking. I forgot to post her last weeks email. So this post has two emails from Sis. Ruiz. I'm so sorry to all her stalker fans!

Buenos dias!

Let me just say, time is going by so fast....I feel like I just emailed you yesterday.  This week has been going great. Sister Dalton (General President of the Young Woman's program) came and spoke on Sunday during Relief Society...it was the best talk I've heard so far in the MTC.  She was definitely the answer to my prayer and I'm grateful for her faithful example.  We celebrated (as much as we could) halloween on Monday.  All the sisters in my district wore ties (that we borrowed from the Elders) and we were Elders.  Creative, right?  Except I like to think I looked like the 5th member of The Beatles (with my haircut).  Anywho we went "dressed up" until after lunch where Brother Heaton (the adminstrator of the MTC or some important guy like that) told us it wasnt appropriate to wear ties on Halloween but we can wear ties any other days.  WHAT?!? Why would we wear ties on an other day other than halloween?? We were all confused so we just took them off.  We did get alot of compliments though so I guess that's good.  I don't have much to write since my days here are pretty repetitive and it's hard to remember what I did because I forgot to bring my journal with me.  I do have my schedule though and I wanted to share it just so you know what I do on a daily basis because not alot of people know what goes on at the MTC (unless you're an RM).  A regular day is as followed:

6:30- Arise and prepare (except I get up at 6 because theres a billion girls in the morning trying to take showers)

7:00-7:40- Personal Study Time (we can study the scriptures, preach my gospel, etc. in the classroom)

7:40- Breakfast

8:10-9:10- Personal Study Time (again)

9:15-12:15- Classroom instruction (This is where one of our teacher comes in for three hours...either Hermana De Leon or Hermano Tidwell.  This is the time we teach our "investigators" for an hour, then the second hour we usually do grammar or learning a specific skill that would help our investigators progress or we read the Book of Mormon outloud as a class.  It varies each class time)

12:15- Lunch

1:00-4:00- Classroom Instruction (another 3 hours with our teacher)

4:00-5:00- Language Study (pretty self explanatory, no?)

5:15- Dinner

6:20-7:10- GYM time

7:45-8:45- TALL (a computer program that helps us with our language study)

9:00-9:30- Daily Planning Session (we plan for the next day as a companionship and discuss the things we need to work on etc)

9:30-10:30- Personal time (to prepare for bed), Companionship Prayer and Bedtime!

The days vary...sometimes we have gym time in the morning or in the afternoon and Tuesdays we have devotional and Thursdays are our pdays so we only have one class those days.  Then Sunday is a completely different schedule since it's the Sabbath.  So as you can see, they keep us pretty busy but you are constantly reminded how important the work is and what a privilege it is to be at the MTC, and it definitely is.  We're still adjusting to being a trio, it's a little harder to teach with 2 companions but it's okay, we're working at it.  Sister Dalton said "If you're not being tried, then you aren't progressing" It was something I really needed to hear because it can get difficult at times but you also have to remind yourself that trials are a part of life and they're blessings in disguise.  I promise I'll write more next week.  Szandra Boleska, I am getting your letters and thank you sooo much! I just don't know how much postage costs for Switzerland or where ever you are.  Jacko, thank you so much for your letters...I am getting them, I'm just so busy on Pdays but I hope you got the ones I wrote last week.  Cam, thank you so much for the halloween card!  I'll write you.  Mole, I'll write you too...tell deegs thanks for the orange drawing!  Everyone else, I'll write back to you today!  I promise.  Thank you all for your letters.  Mail really does brighten up a missionaries day.  Sorry to all your RM's that I never wrote back to....totally know how it feels now.  My bad.  Oh! and Tia Mary!! The pumpkin bread was THE BEST!!!! I LOVED it! Thank you so much...I love my little zelayas.  Tell Nana that I did get her letters! They were an answer to my prayer.  Tell her I love and miss her and I'll write her today too.  I miss San Diego weather right now....forreals I'm freezing here and it hasn't even snowed yet.  My companion (since she's from Colorado) told me that her Dad said they just had 8 inches of snow.  NOOOOOO.  Dang it.  It's okay because I know there's people out there waiting for me there and apparently need to hear my testimony in Spanish.  Well I love you all and you're all in my prayers.  I leave here in 3 weeks...I'm gonna be a real missionary in 3 weeks (sometimes I feel like I'm not a missionary since it's the MTC) but I'm excited! Till next week, adios!

Con amor,

Hola!

So I didn't know I was going to email at this time but there was last minute changes so I don't have any of my notes (again) with me so this might seem like a random email.  I've been doing great here at the good ol' MTC.  I'm an old timer here...it's weird to see the new missionaries come in every Wednesday.  They look so fresh and eager when they get out of the car....little do they know that they're going to have the longest day of their life.  You really don't have any idea what you're getting yourself into.  I've been told it's like drinking water from a fire hose and it's totally true.  It's so overwhelming at first but as the weeks go by, it doesn't neccessarily get easier, you just realize that you can do it with the Lord's help.  It's getting easier to teach as a trio.  Companionship Inventory is SO essential...it helps us so much.  We've been teaching more united and we can see our progress because our investigators are progressing as well.  We just commited our third investigator for baptism yesterday (yay)!  Our other investigator is a little bit more complicated.  I extended the invitation to be baptized and he replied "Oh, I've already been baptized in my church....but thanks."
  My companions told me that my face was priceless....I mean I was not expecting that reply at all so I was kind of shocked and didn't know what to say.  It doesn't help that we were 5 minutes over our time limit so we just said we'll discuss it in our next lesson.  I told you that our "investigators" are our teachers....well they investigators that they act as are their own investigators/ converts when they served a mission so they know exactly their needs.  We as missionaries just need to find it.  Everything we do here in the MTC is focused on the needs of God's children.  The Gospel truly is for everyone.  I can feel the spirit through me as I testify of it's truthfulness in our lessons.  It's weird to think that you can feel the spirit so strongly in a role playing activity.  My testimony does strength every day.  I've thought alot about the promptings of the Holy Ghost this week.  Whenever you receive a prompting, PLEASE just follow it.  You NEVER know what the outcome is going to be and sometimes you don't even know you're being prompted but I promise you the Holy Ghost will give you comfort and peace when you follow them.  Listen closely, we live in a world where theres so much noise but I know if you pay attention to the voice of the spirit, you will be blessed.  I read something in Preach my Gospel that I really liked it and it says " A teacher of gospel truths is not planting something foreign or even new into an adult or child.  Rather, the missionary or teacher is making contact with the Spirit of Christ already there.  The Gospel will have a familiar 'ring' to them."  I love that.  We are all children of our Heavenly Father and he has given us a light within us.  We are His light and His light is in us.  That didn't make sense but it did in my head so go with it.  Anyways, it's starting to get freezing here.  Can't feel my face or hands half the time but it's okay, I don't need to feel them anyways.  I finally saw Dillon or I mean, Elder Doria last week and today at the temple.  I get my flight plans next week, I can't wait to go to Colorado!  I love the MTC, but I'm ready to meet the people I made covenants with in the premortal existence.  I love and miss you all and write me on dear elder.  I was popular the first week here and that's pretty much it.  Til' next week, amo!