2016.06.25 Week 4 - the food was just the last straw

  Weeks fly by but also so much happens in one week. This week my compañera and I became STL´s. It´s basically the equivalent of Zone Leaders, but obviously, we are girls. I thought it would be an easier assignment than it is, it´s not too hard but we have to interview all the girls every week and see how they are doing. I don´t exactly love that because lots of people are having issues that I do not know how to help them with. I want everyone to have a good experience but do not exactly know how to help them.

   We got two new districts in our zone on Wednesday and I got to give them a tour of the MTC. It´s really funny that we are giving the tour since it seems like we just got here, but you are basically an MTC expert after about 2 days. The food is absolutely disgusting this week, we are eating in the gym because the cafeteria is reserved for general authorities and honestly, it is not good. I showed up at one meal and literally started crying because the food was just the last straw.

     Speaking of food. Say hello to your fat friend. I weighed myself on Tuesday and I have gained between 11-13 lbs. So I'm actually still really skinny but it's a good thing you sent pants that were 50 sizes too big with me, they fit perfectly. I have started running during exercise time and instead of taking every dessert at every meal I am limiting myself to one. The guys are all losing weight because they are all losing muscle, so I am just assuming that I have gained 11 lbs of muscle. YAY FOR FAT.

     We got two new roommates this week which is actually pretty unusual because they aren't even in our zone. On Wednesday we were all laughing because none of us were dressed and we thought it would be hilarious if they walked in right then, but then they did. So their first encounter with the MTC was walking into their room and seeing four naked roommates. Bienvenido!!!

     We also got another one of our investigators to commit to baptism which was really spiritual and awesome. I cannot believe my time here is halfway gone. I have so much Spanish to learn, and so little time. I guess it will all work out though! I love my district and love the spirit that I feel constantly! Ciao.

2016.6.18 Week 3 - I speak constant Spanglish

This week was great, time really moves in a super strange way at the MTC. Hour to hour is extremely slow, but after Sunday the weeks FLY BY. I am halfway done with my time at the MTC, but it feels like I just got here. The weeks are still just full of class all the time. The food is getting worse because they have kind of closed down 3/4 of the cafeteria to put up a huge stage. So basically we are constantly getting more people, and less food, and less space to eat. No me gusta.

Foursquare is extremely hardcore here and my knee has a huge scab and my pants are ripped from it. 

Shockingly I am still not fluent in Spanish but it gets easier every day. I currently can't spell anything in English and get confused with my words all the time. I speak constant Spanglish. I will start saying a word in one language and then halfway through the word switch languages, this means that nobody ever knows what I am saying. My district can always count on me to come up with the next Spanish insult. Here are a few from this week:

Usted es un promedio aguacate.

Su mente es un bellota.

Usted mora en un sobaco.

Keep in mind that I am aware that these are actually not funny but I live in the MTC where everything is funny because I live in the MTC. Every time we walk back from the temple I wonder why we all willingly walk back into jail.

My district is super awesome and so is my companion. I am so glad that I get to spend all my time with funny people because if not I am not sure I would survive. All of them remind me of different random people from home and they are hilarious. On a different note my companion A) Found her soulmate this week, and B) Decided that for her entire MTC experience she will not be shaving her armpits. Love her.

The week was filled with lots of lessons with investigators that ranged from completely horrible to super awesome. I hope all is going well with everyone I know. Also, I'm still like super into working out meaning that every day in class I try not to fall asleep by holding my feet straight out and above the ground #getswoll, the six pack is coming in nicely.

~~~SNAIL MAIL LETTER~~~

I never had a bad attitude about missionary work, but I have a new attitude now. I went to an amazing devotional with Elder Holland that really changed my perspective on missionary work. I have literally been called by God and been given his authority to go and save lives. This is not just something I chose to do and knew was gong to be hard. It is something that God had asked me to do, and needs to be treated that way. I need to study and prepare in a way that shows that I  am taking this seriously. There are children of God at stake! I need to be as ready as possible for the people in Argentina. Love you all, please say hi to the fam and tell the boys to prep now because this is big deal hard stuff.

~~~~~~~~~

Mi and the compañera. This is what someone said to her, "Wow, I really like your outfit. You look like a nun. Really righteous." Um, was that a compliment sir? Because if so, it failed.

I love this building because it has my bed in it.

Maybe my selfies need help.

My district has a lot of really hard workers.

Trevor's cousin.

2016.06.13 pictures

2016.06.11 Week 2 ~ Hermana Lejo, please stop diving

Week two was super crazy. There are moments when I absolutely love the MTC and moments when I hate it. Spanish is hard, I can understand mostly everything, but can say basically nothing. Here are some stories from the week:

1. Gym Time: This is all I hear the entire time..."Hermana Lejo, please stop diving!" "Hermana please no more collisions." "Remember we don't need to keep score" Basically I can't control myself, I just want to hit the ball if I know I can, regardless of if the floor or another person is in the way. Also, I am somewhat shocked by the inability of a lot of people to do anything active.

2. I was in the choir this week so I was able to be on a broadcast where we premiered Elder Bednar's new primary song. It was really cool, it's called "One by One." He also came to speak and the spirit was really there.

3. We committed our investigator to baptism. Yay! It was a really spiritual lesson regardless of the fact that I don't know any Spanish. Here some language issues from so far:

Elder D- Jesus Christ can save you from your fish.

Me and the Comp- We are all given the fight of Christ

Trying to explain the temple- Its the big white gospel (meant to say church)

4. Last night I was super super annoyed because I could not sleep. My bed just kept making this really annoying noise and in my delirium and while I was half asleep I kept thinking, "the best thing to do right now would be to get an axe and break this bed, then it will stop making noise." Well, eventually I fell asleep but woke up really mad because I didn't get as much sleep as I would have liked to. I said something about it and one of my roommates complains that she heard it all night also. I then start moving this piece on the top bunk and it makes the exact noise that was happening ALL NIGHT.  The whole room was awake all night because of that noise. Then my roommate goes to the bathroom at 4am and locks herself out and wakes up my companion by pounding on the door to let her back in. WHHHHYYYYYYY.  

5. Overall I love my district and my companion a lot which makes it really hard to study. We get off topic a lot of the time. Luckily the elders are immature enough to ask how to say all the words like poop and fart. I want to know these words but its nice that they ask and I don't have to.

6. Friday was the worst day ever. I couldn't stay awake and was really wondering why I would make the decision to do this for 18 months. Then I prayed for comfort, and was immediately granted that wish. I got a package notification and it was a ginormous box of food. Muchas gracias, it made my whole day better and will continue to make it better because, food. Letters also make every day better.

Overall a great but really hard week. Your brain just feels like it is going to explode all the time because so much information is being forced into it. 

Ciao,

Hermana Lejo

2016.06.04 random texted picture

This picture was texted to my phone on Saturday. 

I have no idea who these cute kids are, and no idea who sent it, but I was so happy to get it!

2016.06.04 MTC Week 1

The MTC is super awesome but also extremely weird. It feels like all I do is sit around and eat. Probably because that is all that I do. Here is life in the MTC. 

1. Get up earlier than you want to.

2. Study and have people talk at you in spanish

3. Breakfast

4. Study and countdown to exercise

5. Lunch

6. Exercise time HALELUJAH*

7. Study and be really focused

8. Dinner

9. Study and let your food soak in

10. Study and get fat

11. Sleep for less time than you want to

I am really glad to be here but keep having moments where I just think, "Where did I come from? What am I doing? and Where am I going?" and then I just burst out laughing because I am really just amazed by how many people are willing to give up so much to go on a mission. That's probably why the spirit is constantly here, because there are so many people who are truly giving up everything to serve the Lord, I guess that deserves the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. Overall it is a great, weird and busy place.

*Day 1 and 2 didn't include exercise time and I kind of thought I might die, I have realized there is a possibility that I have ADD, so every day is now somewhat just a countdown until the next gym time.

#preach

Hermana Farr