Be Thou An Example

Having completed half of my first transfer, I'm 1/34, or 2.9%, of the way done. That means I only have 33 more allotments of the time I've experienced. That's not very long when considering what I hope to gain and looking back on my growth. The Spanish, still, is coming well. Like my dad, I can analyze and understand the grammar really well. I love my teachers. I love the Latinos. Everywhere I go, they call me out. I got the chance to play the piano for a little bit, and got my jazzed up version of God Be with You Til We Meet Again stuck in Elder Scoube's head. I hear him whistling it about every hour or so, and he's a really good whistler. It could be an instrument for him.

Now for some cool experiences: 

Monday night I decided to find more ways to serve and then serve. Tuesday morning I got a letter from each member of my family about how I had served them or how they had seen me serve others. It gave me some ideas to serve here and it also helped me have the motivation to.

Wednesday, yesterday, my afternoon teacher said we (the class) didn't teach according to her needs. She said we taught what we wanted to teach her, and not what she needed to hear. That was hard, because I felt like I was trying to bend our teaching to fit her needs. We knew she had needs she hadn't told us, but we had no idea of how to figure them out except through more teaching. The whole class got really offended. I got offended too, which surprised me, because I don't identify with getting offended. My companion got really upset because he shared a concern and another elder snapped at him for making excuses. I was confused and trying to think through it, but didn't know quite how I should go about changing. Then I remembered a talk by Elder Holland to the missionaries. He said that when teaching, we should change things at least every 2 minutes. I thought about that, and I realized it kind of resembled my life. I try to change things frequently because if I'm already changing, it is much easier for me to change according to the Spirit's direction.

What else? Do you have any questions?

Q: Have you gotten over being offended? How? 
Yeah. I was over it quickly. I guess I should have specified that. :)

Q: Did you get the package we sent or just the letters? 
I got the package. The oreos were great. :)

Q: Anything else about the last week you want to share with the family and friends? 
 I'm writing a letter for the Collings, GMA GPA and Sister Morris.

 Q: What do you do on Pdays? 
Serving my companion:  I'm going to try to push him. The day is emotionally and physically demanding on him, while it isn't on me. If I use this to help him push himself a little more than is comfortable, his growth will be exciting. I gave him oreos. I have been doing the stuff around the dormitory. Folding many of his clothes, tried (rather unsuccessfully) to teach him how to sew a button on. He gets distracted easily. I try to ask him what I could do for him every day. We set goals, and I ask him how I can help, but every time I offer it he doesn't want to follow through. I'm not sure he's quite figured out how to match up his drive with his enthusiasm.

Serving my district: I help them when I can with the language. I've taken some time to help them understand the words they're trying to memorize. They get too impatient when they try to learn, and they get too patient when they don't know they should learn. They skip steps in learning when they have to learn and they wait to learn until they think they have to, which is about two or three days after the due date. (Sound familiar Mrs. Gourley?) When they ask my help I give them a thorough explanation of the concepts and the principles. It helps them learn, but much like all of us, they don't quite connect the dots. They just think of it as "Elder Brown" magic. :) I try to write notes of compliment and give them to people. It's weird here because the district is such a small bubble. I don't like working in small social bubbles. I feel confined in my abilities. Do you have any ideas on what I could do to serve people better?

Q: How does one abstract language? I've never heard of that before…
 When you think, you can frequently hear words bouncing around in your head. However, just before the words comes a concept. What people do is they try to add Spanish vocabulary to their English "dictionary". Then when they want to think or say something, they have the idea, then the english word, then they have to ask themselves, so I want to use the appendix(Spanish Language)? or just go with what I have(English)?  Then they have to find the word in the appendix, and that, at least in the beginning, is never very organized. They then try to pull together a cohesive thought and express it. They need to start a new dictionary. That way there's no translation. If they can consciously separate the languages then it will come much faster. When I read the Book of Mormon, I would watch the events of which I was reading play out as I read the Spanish words. too often I hear people translate it to english and then understand it. As an example, When I talk to people in Spanish, I can remember fairly well the events of the conversation, but when I switch to English, I can't remember what happened, because everything was experienced with a Spanish mindset. Does that make sense?

Q: Can you write about one of your spiritual experiences from the past week?
It's kind of hard to remember much of anything that happened. It's all just a blur to me. I will focus on marking something every day to remember to tell you about.

Here's one: In 3 Nephi 13:33-34, it says, "Mas buscad primeramente el reino de Dios y su Justicia; y todas estas cosas os seran añadidas. Así que, no os afanéis por el dia de mañana, porque el dia de mañana traerá afan sus propias cosas. Basta el dia para su propio mal."

I don't currently have the scriptures with me, so I had to give the memorized Spanish first. The translation is: But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. Take ye no thought therefore for tomorrow, for tomorrow will take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof.

That might not be exact, but I think it's pretty close. Anyway, I think sometimes I worry so much about living for the future that I forget to see the present. That is one  reason all of this time has gone by so quickly. Do I have the faith to let go of the future? Do I have the hope that my future is being cared for by God as I take care of the present? It is helping me to let go a little bit of the mechanics of it all and live more in the present. I know that at the end it says sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof, but in my mind, I hear Christ telling me, "there are plenty of things for you to worry about in the present. Let me take care of the past and the future." Faith acts because the past is taken care of. Hope lets go of self because the future is ensured. Charity is finally allowed to step forward and change the world.

Q: Did you watch General Conference in Spanish or English?
 I watched about 6 talks in Spanish. It was very difficult.

Q: We have heard that there are a lot of fireworks that go off every night. Can you tell us about those?
Yes. The Catholic church right next to our campus loves fireworks. They make loud cannon sounds, and so when we asked our teacher what the sound was, she made the Hunger Games sign. :) I think it would be awesome to be some of the missionaries orienting the newly-arrived ones, and then when the fireworks went off, we all dropped to the ground and yelled, "Get down!! Get Down! Get by a wall!" Probably fortunately for their sake, our district will never be welcoming new districts, as a different zone is in charge of orientation.