First week at the MTC

September 14th, 2015

Hi Mami, Papi, Calilis, and Tule!

Thanks for the KitKats! I was so tempted to eat them all myself but I shared them with my roommates.

I have been very busy here at the MTC. It's been great! The MTC is very different from what I thought it would be though. I thought we would be learning straight from Preach My Gospel, but the classes are not like that at all. We have been teaching "investigators" (people who play investigators) and we have been learning to plan the lessons according to the investigators needs. On the first day, about 100 of us greenies were discussing with one investigator named Chicho who was from Italy. At one point, the discussion was about prayer and one of the Elders demonstrated to Chicho how to pray by saying a prayer. While he was praying, he said, "Please help Chica....I mean Chico....Chicha....oh Chicho! Help Chicho feel thy Spirit...." I was silently dying of laughter during the rest of that prayer. I have learned that we need to get to know our investigators a little bit in order to help them, or at least learn their name!

Calilis, here at the MTC we only have about 30 minutes to eat during meals, and that includes standing in line to get the food, so we have to eat real quick. Just FYI.

There are a total of 8 missionaries in my district. Three of us are going to Modesto, the others are going to Argentina, Ecuador, Mesa Arizona, and Texas.

Yesterday we had our first Choir practice. We will be singing before the devotional on Tuesday. The song is titled "Hurrah for Israel" and was written for Elder Groberg. It's a great song. The choir director, like any other director I've ever had, was a character. But I love that he said that when we are "yoked" with Christ, really what that means is that he is doing all of the work, and you are just an instrument that he uses. Christ picks you out of His toolbox to do the work.

We saw a talk by President Uchtdorf which he gave years ago titled "A Missionary's Calling" which was super good. He said the English is the dominant language in the Church right now, but eventually English with an accent will be the dominant language! I loved that. We also saw a clip from one of Elder Bednar's talks he gave at the MTC. He said we often worry about analyzing whether it's the Spirit speaking or if it's just our own thoughts. He said something like, "Quit worrying about it." He said as long as we are being a "good girl or boy" and that we are keeping our covenants and striving to do our best, then we will be doing the right thing. I love it when the apostles are so blunt like that! There is no secret to knowing how to follow and recognize the Spirit, you just do it!

My companion is Hermana Rodas who loves music and she was the music director in her home ward. She is from Houston but her family is from Guatemala.

Here at the MTC I have seen Meredith Bates (she works here as a teacher I believe) and Elder Owen Bates. In one of my classes I happened to sit next to Elder Alex Blosil, who as you know is going to the France Paris mission just like Calilis, but in French. And I ran into Sister McKenna Cox who was very happy to see me and I told her that Papi is so proud of her. She said she still remembers when Papi would tell us that the 3 most important things in life are Church, family, and soccer, and she gets it now after all these years. She looked so beautiful and I'm sure she'll be a great missionary. She has been at the MTC for about 9 weeks and will be leaving the MTC the same day I do, next Monday.

My teacher is Nena Picuasi, who Mami might remember. She was in my math class in BYU and she came over to our house so that we could do our homework together. I was practically her tutor. So it's pretty cool that she is teaching me now.

During our gym time, my companion and I played the basketball game "Speed" and I don't know how to say this humbly: I rocked the house! The Elders that we were playing with called me Sister Jordan (as in Michael Jordan). These Elders were like twice my height but I destroyed them!

I played the piano during sacrament meeting, just like I did in the good ol' days in the Spanish branch.

My Spanish is still pretty rough, but I know I will improve.

Also, I read an article online awhile back, which talked about how the Church leaders don't use the term "free agency" anymore. Could you find the article, read it, and remind me what it was about? I can't remember but it was really good. I think it was on LDSliving.com but you can try googling it, too.

We went to the Provo temple today, which was wonderful. I am really going to miss that temple, and the mountains surrounding us here. I didn't notice until yesterday that the color in the mountains are changing colors, so they look especially gorgeous right now.

Next Monday (P-day) I will be traveling to Modesto, so I'm not sure if I will be able to email you. I'm so sorry if I don't send you an email next week, but know that I will be thinking of you every day. I think of you every night before sleeping, at around 10:30pm. I'm too busy here to be homesick, which is a good thing.

There are pictures of all the mission presidents in glass cases on the walls of the main building of the MTC. I looked for my president, President Palmer, and I also found Sister Jean Stevens and her husband!

So the MTC is great, but at the same time I cannot wait to actually go to Modesto and feel like a real missionary. It still does not feel real!!

I love you so much. I know I am in the right place.

Sincerely,

Hermana Aburto

 14 de septiembre de 2015

¡Hola mami, papi, Calilis y Tule!

He estado muy ocupada aquí en el CCM. ¡Es buena onda estar aquí! El CCM es muy distinto a lo que pensé. Pensé que solo íbamos a estudiar Predicad Mi Evangelio pero en realidad no es así. Hemos estado practicando con “investigadores” (personas que hacen el papel de investigadores) y aprendiendo a planear las lecciones de acuerdo con las necesidades de ellos. El primer día, entre 100 nuevos misioneros le dimos una charla a un investigador que se llama Chicho y es de Italia. En un momento dado, se tocó el tema de la oración y uno de los élderes le hizo una demostración a Chicho de cómo se hace una oración. Entonces, mientras oraba, dijo: “Te rogamos que ayudes a Chica... digo, Chico… Chicha… ¡ah… Chicho! “Ayuda a Chicho a sentir el Espíritu…”. Por dentro yo me moría de la risa mientras el élder siguió orando. Así que he aprendido que tenemos que conocer mejor a los investigadores para poder ayudarles, ¡o por lo menos saber cómo se llaman!

Calilis, aquí en el CCM solo te dan 30 minutos para comer y eso incluye el tiempo que estás en la cola, así que uno tiene que comer rápido. Solo para que sepas.

En mi distrito somos un total de 8 misioneros. Tres vamos a Modesto y los demás a Argentina, Ecuador, Arizona y Texas.

Ayer tuvimos nuestra primera práctica de coro. Vamos a cantar en un devocional que habrá este martes. El himno que vamos a cantar se llama “Hurra por Israel” y se lo escribieron al élder Groberg. Está bonito. El director del coro, como todos los que he tenido, es todo un personaje. Me encanta que nos dijo que estar “enyuntados” con Cristo en realidad quiere decir que Él hace todo el trabajo y nosotros solamente somos instrumentos en Sus manos. Lo que Cristo hace es tomarte de Su caja de herramientas para hacer la obra.

Vimos un discurso que el presidente Uchtdorf dio hace unos años, se llama “El llamamiento de un misionero” y está buenísimo. El presidente dice que por ahora el inglés es el idioma principal de la Iglesia, ¡pero que con el tiempo seguirá siendo el inglés hablado con acento extranjero! Eso me encantó. También vimos un video de un discurso que dio el élder Bednar aquí en el CCM. El élder dice que con frecuencia nos preocupamos por determinar si es el Espíritu el que nos habla o si solo son ideas nuestras. Entonces lo que él dice es que no nos debemos preocupar. Que siempre y cuando seamos buenos muchachitos o muchachitas, guardemos nuestros convenios y hagamos nuestro mejor esfuerzo, estaremos haciendo lo correcto. ¡Me encanta siempre que los apóstoles son así de directos! ¡No es ningún secreto saber cómo seguir y reconocer el Espíritu, solo es cosa de hacerlo!

Mi compañera es la hermana Rodas, a ella le encanta la música y era la directora de música de su barrio. Es de Houston pero su familia es guatemalteca.

El otro día me encontré a McKenna Cox a quien le dio mucho gusto verme y le dije que mi papá estaba muy orgulloso de ella. Ella me dijo que aún se acuerda de que mi papá nos decía que las tres cosas más importantes de la vida son la Iglesia, la familia y el futbol, y después de todos estos años hasta ahora le cayó el veinte. Se ve muy bonita y estoy segura de que será una gran misionera. Ya lleva nueve semanas en el CCM y se va el mismo día que yo, o sea el próximo lunes.

Durante nuestro rato para jugar, mi compañera y yo nos pusimos a jugar "Speed" en la cancha de basket, y no sé cómo decir esto con humildad, ¡pero jugué re bien! Los élderes que se pusieron a jugar con nosotras me decían hermana Jordan (por Michael Jordan). Ellos eran como dos veces mi estatura pero, ¡les puse una paliza!

En la reunión sacramental toqué el piano, igual que en los viejos tiempos en nuestra rama en español.

Con el español no me va muy bien que digamos, pero sé que mejoraré.

Hoy fuimos al templo de Provo y fue algo bien lindo. Voy a extrañar mucho ese templo y las montañas que lo rodean. Hasta ayer me di cuenta de que las montañas ya están cambiando de color y ahorita se ven bien bonitas.

La cosa es que es buena onda estar en el CCM, pero al mismo tiempo me muero por ir a Modesto y sentirme como misionera de verdad. ¡Todavía no me la creo!

Los quiero mucho y sé que estoy donde tengo que estar.

Afectuosamente,

Hermana Aburto