Ahoj rodina!!!!!!
Here's the shpeal for this week. (and for last week, since I haven't been able to e-mail for a 10 days) Sorry, there's gonna be a bunch.
So my MTC teachers broke me :)
and an Elder in our zone tried to kill me.
Here are the stories:
- I was trying to teach Brat Bodily about baptism and extend the baptismal invitation. We were working on trying to resolve investigator's concerns with getting baptized (i.e. I'm afraid, I don't know enough, i've already been baptized, my mom will be mad, etc.) but the Slovak was a struggle, and I was stressed, and it just wasn't working out for me. It was rough, rough, ROUGH. I was desperately trying to keep it all together but I was just feeling like the lesson was going horribly and it couldn't figure out what the spirit was trying to tell me to say. Brat Bodily was like "you're doing good" and I lost it. I was just like "I need a minute." I grabbed sister johnson and just went out into the hall and cried a little bit. It's really hard to be a missionary sometimes. Trying to know exactly what to say to help some one come closer to Christ in a language you don't speak can be quite the challenge. I think I scared Brat Bodily a little bit ;) haha he didn't quite know what to do. He told sister Baird, "I just said she was doing a good job and I somehow broke her." I'm really grateful to have such wonderful teachers at the MTC. We truly do have some great teachers here. I feel like they are so in tune with the spirit and truly do try to help us be better missionaries. They are a great strength to us.
- story #2 we were playing kickball and starsi Pearce sent a ball at oohhh about 90 miles an hour straight at my face. Luckly, with my super human-like reflexes, I blocked the ball with my arm. Everyone else on the field didn't see me block it though and so they thought it hit me right in the face. I would have had a broken nose probably. Definitely. Now starsi pearce never gets to hear the end of it :) Everday we play kickball, people tease him for it. haha. it's great.
We moved classrooms AGAIN. and AGAIN. I think that The MTC likes us to move classrooms on a weekly basis. We also had 2 missionaries go home from our Zone. 1 for medical reasons 1 to get married. So that's been interesting.
I would love to receive a list from you/ryan/ anyone of soul searching questions/study topic ideas/FAQ's from investigators. etc.
We went contacting this week and picked up a new investigator. His name is Peter. We will be teaching him for the first time tonight. (Our other investigator "Rado" went on vacation about a week ago). We have been teaching one of our "czech" classmates in the mean time and trying to learn lots of slovak. This week we'll be teaching chastity lessons which means I get try and learn all types fun slovak vocab this week. (*sarcasm*)
Teaching is still difficult, as I imagine it will continue to be for the next few months, since I have the most limited vocab. It's getting better though. My companion and I still struggle with each other, but it's going okay. My goal has been to never say 1 negative thing about my companion my entire stay in the MTC and so far I haven't broken that goal. I am constantly trying to build her up and to understand her and listen to her better. I bought her breakfast this morning at the temple. I am trying to serve her. Serving her helps me to love her. I think one thing the Lord wants me to learn on my misison is how to work in a companionship. I am verrrrrryyyy independent, so it's quite the challenge for me. Missions definitely bring my weaknesses to the forefront. But i'm growing :) which is good.
Last night Brat Fish pulled me aside while we were cleaning our classrooms. He said, "Sister Kane, what can we do as teachers to help you more?" so I said, "Brat Fish, why are you asking me specifically?" (Ain't no blonde here. Teachers don't just pull aside one missionary to ask "how can I help you?" really what there asking is "what's wrong? what's going on?") He basically told me that the teachers have been able to tell I'm stressed and they want to help me out. It was really nice to be able to just talk with him about the pressures I feel as a missionary. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I tend to not realize the things I'm doing well; only the things I'm doing wrong. There's no such thing as a perfect missionary, but I often feel like I need to be one. I'm sure many missionaries have felt and do feel as I do now. I just really want to make God proud, you know? Be the most effective servant I can be and never regret a day. Always be able to say I never wasted His time when I was called to be a representive of His son. I have to be the best missionary I can be all the time and so of course, that creates a lot of stress. Luckily, like I said, we have great teachers. He helped me out to see the good things that I'm doing here at the MTC. He told me that he keeps notes on all of the missionaries about their strengths/weaknesses/feedback to give them. He told me he would have had no problem sending me to slovakia 3 weeks ago. He said "you know your purpose, you know why you're here. You are doing much better than you think you are. I'm very impressed with your Slovak and how you teach." I'm sharing this because I believe that all of us just sometimes need to here the truth about the mission. IT'S HARD! But the Lord will always have ways of building you up as a missionary. Brat Fish challenged me to pray and start telling to God the good things that I am doing as a missionary. Try to identify what I'm doing well and focus on the growth I've already made. I think maybe this will help some.
Today has already been a great day :) we went to the temple this morning and oh boy how much do I miss the temple!!! I'm going to miss it so much on my mission. We also got to eat at the temple cafeteria for the first time since our arrival and BOY LET ME TELL YOU WAS THAT A TENDER MERCY OR WHAT!??! I had a waffle with strawberries and blueberries and it was the most delicious thing I've eaten. Every missionary should eat at the temple. It's a great break from MTC food.
Tender mercies are everywhere when we only look for them.
Also, learned a cool idiom in slovak. Apparently, in slovakia they say "because bears don't have zippers" to justify any comment. So if a mom told her son "you have to wear a coat" and the son asked "why" the mom could respond "lebo medved nema zips!" :) Pretty funny right?
Also also, I am sick! I have had a cold for a little while. I lost my voice. It's okay though. It's hard to teach without a voice, but we made it through T.R.C. okay. We got to meet with one girl from Slovakia and she is awesome :) She always hugs us and she will actually be in slovakia when we get there so we'll see here there! I'm super excited. Her mom was the one who translated the Book of Mormon. I can't wait to take the gospel to the people of slovakia. I just know that the Lord is preparing people in Slovakia right now to hear his gospel. I only pray that I will be the missionary he needs me to be so I can be an instrument in his hands to establish His kingdom.
I've been studying the stripling warriors in my scripture study recently. I think they are such an example to me of youth with great faith. They were taught by their mothers and they were very young, yet they risked their lives many times because they trusted in God and had extreme faith. They were great examples of obedience. I find it so interesting that Helaman refers to them constantly as "my sons" and they refer to "Helaman" as "father". Even though they were not biologically related, they treated these familial titles with great respect and dignity. It was an honor to be called son and an honor to be called father. Can you imagine if we were to have such titles in our culture today? What if teachers were called "father" and students "sons/daughters" or even in government like in this instance in the Book of Mormon? Would the family play a bigger role in our society? Would we treat familial titles with respect? Our world often demeans the title of "father" nowdays, or even that of mother. Just look at the T.V. shows and pop culture to see how the world views the role of family in our lives. I think we, as a culture, have developed a great deal of disrespect for fathers and mothers. I am so grateful for a faith that helps me see the sacred nature of a family. Even God is referred to as our Father and Christ "the son". What greater titles could they be? What more meaningful terms of endearment?
I am also falling in love with Alma 26. I think it is just such a great example of missionary work. Even Ammon felt at times like he was "depressed" and should "turn back", but he didn't! And just look at all the lives he affected. Even if I only have 1 convert my whole mission, 1 baptism, then that will be thousands. Because they can have a family in the gospel and begin doing their ancestors' temple work. I am so excited to see the Holy Ghost work on the people in slovakia :)!!!!!
The Book of Mormon truly is an amazing book. It is beginning to bless my life in so many ways. I am loving reading the stories and likening the scriptures. I believe that as we focus and read it, the Lord can reveal his will to us. He loves us and He has much in store for us in this life. I am finding gems of truth throughout this scripture and I can feel my testimony of the gospel of Jessu Christ growing more and more each day.
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