Week 5 email (August 9, 2011):
He lived, he lives, and he will come again
Hello again!
This week has been interesting. I've learned to be patient. The MTC is a wonderful place, but it sure is crowded and the food is really getting to me. I've started just eating whole grain cereal and salad every day. Which isn't filling, but goodness. Everything they serve here is powder out of a box or deep fried, and I've started getting more acne, and I have a feeling there is a connection from the poor diet. They have to feed a lot of missionaries so I understand it, but three heavy meals a day kills you! I am grateful for it, but I am excited to have bread with grain and fresh vegetables. Also this week my companion, Sister Meyers was scheduled to leave to Bulgaria. She's been counting down since two weeks ago, and it started getting on my nerves. I have made a goal not to talk about how excited I am to leave until day of or the day before I go because it drives everyone else around you crazy. Anyway last week she found out her visa didn't make it in time so they were going to send her stateside, but then yesterday they told her the visa came through and she'd be leaving on time. So Sister Black and I missed out on study time yesterday to help her pack and get her laundry done. I packed all of her suitcases and got them to 48 lbs each. Plus I rock at packing suitcases since I love Tetris so much so she kept telling me how good everything looked in the bag, haha, so I was proud of that and happy I could help her out some. Anyway we got to bed at 1 [am], and then we had to get up at 4 [am] to walk her out to her shuttle, so it's been an interesting night. We skipped breakfast and slept till 8 [am], but now we are doing laundry :).
I have never been more exhausted in my life. Every day is a whirlwind, and I just sit all day, but my spirit and brain are growing so much I just have these bags under my eyes and you just can't stop because you know if you do you'll drop dead. Ok not dead but sick maybe, haha. Such is life! You just gotta get up and keep going even if you're completely exhausted and don't think you can do anymore. I've noticed at those times though is when you learn the most, and the Lord blesses you the most because He helps you the rest of the way.
I started feeling a little frustrated last week because I feel like my language has hit a plateau so I am just trying to keep learning etc., but my teachers say I am improving despite what I think. I know my teaching has gotten better. Last night my teacher Sister Austin pulled me aside and said that she loves it when I teach her because she can tell that I genuinely care about her and what she is feeling. She watched me and Elder Bird teach our other teacher Brother Machado yesterday, and she said that with everyone I teach I use lots of personal experiences and I touch people because I pay attention to what they are saying. My language might not be all there, and my grammar is worse than anything, but I can touch people because I care. That made me happy because that is something I've noticed about myself that I'm so grateful Heavenly Father blessed me with.
I make friends with all the seniors here, and they love me; it's the best. I always talk to them in line and get them going, and lots of them know me by name and will stop me on campus and on my way to class. I just really love old people! I love it when people have gone through things and are willing to talk about it, and for some reason I have been blessed with this gift of getting people to open up easily and making them feel comfortable. That's why it is crucial to me to go into something in school where I work with people, because that is what makes me happiest. Everyone in my Zone always says that they have no idea what to say when I invite the seniors over to our table to eat. What does it matter if they are fifty years our senior? Who even cares?! Haha, I just have never seen a boundary in age and friendship, so that is something I have come to be really grateful for here. How boring is it to only talk to people your age? Aka [also known as]. Boring. You need a balance, and the seniors at the MTC have saved me. There are so many that served in the army and so many that have gone on a few missions already and talk about that to me, and it's just super interesting. I love it. Anyway moving on...
On Sunday I had a really cool experience. I was having a hard time for some reason. I think I was tired, but I was just exhausted for the week, and I took the time to find a quiet place and really pour my heart out to Heavenly Father. I asked Him for a spiritual experience, because I really really needed one to get me going again. That night we watched "The Testaments." I highly recommend it, and I bet you can find it online. But, Mommy--you will cry. It is a GORGEOUS film, and it would be very worth getting into our "Mormon Movie Library." Anyway, at the end when Christ comes down I just felt like Christ was standing right in front of me. He most likely wasn't, but I could feel him so strongly, and the reality of His existence hit me. Christ lives. He lived, he lives, and he is coming again. I sent Mommy the scripture I want to use for my plaque last week, but I will share it here so that all my blogger reader buddies can look it up. It's Doctrine and Covenants 68:6. Christ lives. And He IS coming again. I love Him. Someday I will be able to fall at his feet. And for some reason I could just imagine him standing right in front of me on Sunday. It was like I could almost touch him, his reality hit me so. I love Christ. Through Him every guilt we have from the past, every fear we have for the future, and every hardship we are dealing with in the present can be overcome. He is everything to me. Always has been, but through the last 5 weeks I have felt myself come closer to Him and through applying his atonement in helping me learn this language I have received hope and peace and comfort. I love Christ. I love the gospel. I love the light, and I love the peace. I love that we have a way to become better and perfect ourselves so that we can return to live with Him and God. Because of Christ I have a purpose. Everyone has a purpose. And that is the message I am bringing to the world. Christ lived, he lives, and he will come again. We lived, we live, and because of Christ we will live again because he overcame death. Not only can we live again, but we get to have happiness beyond our imagination, because if we just follow him and receive this gospel, the blessings will pour in. I love how little our part is. Heavenly Father wants to give us everything He has. He wants us to have our families forever. He wants us to have peace and be able to become perfect. And that is why He sent his Son. And all we have to do to get all of those blessings is listen to Christ's teachings and live his gospel. Easier said than done, but if you think about it we have a pretty good deal going on.
Also earlier this week I had another cool experience. I will try to get it all in since I only have 6 minutes left or so. I was struggling with the Moroni promise. I was frustrated, because I have never had this overwhelming answer that the Book of Mormon is true, and I want to have one so that I can tell my investigator that I KNOW that the promise works. I kept reading the Book of Mormon and praying, and I just wasn't getting anything. (So I thought). I was praying hard to get an answer, and I felt as though I was sincere, and I felt like my intentions of getting one was good. But nothing was coming. Then on Thursday night we went to go teach TRC [Teaching Resource Center]. The person we were teaching was telling us about how he gets revelation through the Book of Mormon, but I just wasn't understanding anything he was saying. I asked my companion if he understood, and he said 'no, but we should just keep teaching anyway.' I said in English NO. I NEED TO know what he is saying so that I can understand him. Right then the Spirit flew in, and the investigator started talking in English. He said that when his dad had cancer he was able to feel peace from reading the Book of Mormon, and that's how he knew it was true. Immediately tears started flowing down my cheeks. And when I say flowing I mean FLOWING. I couldn't stop.
I was reminded of high school when my special buddy Vicky died. She was very special to me, and had severe mental and physical handicaps. I would take her to Seminary every day and read the scriptures to her. I really tried to connect to her spiritually through her eyes, and I did. I loved Vicky. And one day she didn't come to class. She had died in her sleep. I was so sad, and I started reading Alma. In Alma 11 or 12 it talks about death and the afterlife, and I remember feeling really peaceful. I knew then that Vicky was somewhere, and she was happy and free from her imperfect body. At her funeral I felt her presence, and I knew she was singing. She always tried to sing with me but never could. But I knew she could now. That experience made me remember that God HAS answered my prayers. He has and He will. I have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. I know that it is true, because when I take the time to read it and ask myself "so what?" after each verse I read, no matter where it is, I receive revelation and ideas like never before. My scriptures are very full of markings and writings in the margins, and they are becoming my most precious possession. I love the scriptures, and I have a testimony that God speaks to us through them. The Bible and the Book of Mormon combined are a wonderful tool.
I love you all, I gotta go. The timer is out. Until next week,
Sestra Izatt
P.S. Anyone reading this PLEASE send me your conversion stories. I need to hear them! Love you!
Week 6 email (August 16, 2011):
I love pranks, and I love getting pranked
Hi there everyone!
I just wanted to say thank you for all the letters I got this week! I am very blessed to have such a support system! Thank you. Letters make the days much more bright here! I can’t even remember what week I'm on! Is it 5 or 6? Hopefully 6. This week was alright, not much really happened, but I shall try to fill the 30 minutes with stories :). Last week Sister Meyers finally left to Bulgaria, and so we got three new roommates. Sister Tate is the new Bulgarian sister, and so she is my third companion, but it is weird because she isn’t in our Branch or even our Zone, so that makes things interesting. Then we have two new sisters who are going to Arizona, English speaking. They are great, but for some reason the room STUNK the second they moved in. And you know me, I'm somewhat blunt. So I immediately told them that the room stunk (with humor, so don't worry I haven’t turned into a complete turd), and they kept saying it wasn't them etc. etc., and we laughed about it, and I opened the window last week to air out the place. Every night I leave the door wide open, too, in order to get some ventilation. I'm telling you, it STINKS. I want to die every night. So anyway last night I finally had it and told everyone to put their shoes outside in the hallway, because I felt fungus starting to grow out of my ears. So we all started gathering our shoes, when one of the sisters looked at the top of her cabinet and said, "Oh look! My sneakers that I took camping!" OH MY GOSH! I attacked her and threw her shoes out the window. Ok, not really, but I threatened. So I made her promise to wash them in the washing machine the next day, and she did, so hopefully our room won't be diseased anymore. Oh the joys of living with six females. Glad we got that resolved.
Yesterday the funny story of the day was when I was showering, and our showers are just separated by walls so you can see the feet of the next person showering next to you. I have a tendency to grab people’s ankles while they are showering. So first I started with sister Fassold (one of the new roommates), and she didn’t say anything which was a bummer. But then I grabbed sister Tate's ankle and she SCREAMED. This blood-piercing scream. Oh, I just DIED laughing. I just realized I haven’t written you about any of my pranks! Living with this many girls makes plenty opportunity for me to prank a bit. For example, last week I helped sister Meyers pack. When I went to go weigh the suitcase I'd packed for her, I checked the give-away box for any treasures and found a plastic snake. So I hid that in the middle of her stuff in her suitcase. Then, at the very bottom of the suitcase I wrote her a note saying that the snake was a sign of my affection. I can only imagine her surprise when she opened her suitcase in Bulgaria. Bahaha. That's how I roll. I shall let you know if I remember any of the others. I'm pretty tricky. I love pranks, and I love getting pranked. Oh! Like for example the week sister Brown left I was changing in a bathroom stall. She came by and stole all my clothes off the top of the door. Luckily I had my towel on my head so I just quietly wrapped it around myself and followed her into the room. We got a good laugh out of that. She thought she was so clever, but I got around it, I did! These sorts of things keep you sane at the MTC.
Ok perhaps I should move onto some spiritual things haha! Sooooo.
Yesterday for class we had both the missionaries from the Czech Republic come and visit our class. We do love them, even though we can only pick up bits and pieces of what they say, since they speak so quickly. Elder Hudec is hilarious though. He talked to us on Sunday up by the temple and told us, "You know how they tell you to take money with you so that if someone tries to rob you, you can just give them money? Well, that's good, but in my country you'll either just get robbed or maybe hit. But they won't kill you. It isn't RUSSIA." Aaahaha I got a good laugh. And I thought Mommy would like that since the Finns aren't too fond of Russia either! [Mother’s comment: Russia is full of lovely people, but the political tensions between Finland and Russia have been historically significant.]
Also yesterday we were discussing the role of the Spirit in conversion. I liked that lesson because in Second Nephi 31 verse 3 it talks about how God speaks through the language of the people. Since missionaries are representatives of Jesus Christ we must also speak through the languages of the people. But since we cannot usually speak the language we must rely on the universal language, the Spirit. Everyone understands that language. And plus, the Spirit does all the teaching anyway. I am just a vessel who needs to open her mouth to bring the Spirit unto people. Anyway I was thinking about how in Doctrine & Covenants someone tries to write a revelation, and it doesn’t work. The reason it didn’t work is because there was no Spirit behind it, and it wasn’t what God wanted. That is why, in my opinion, we can expound on scriptures, General Conference talks, etc. Because they are able to be likened unto us. That is why people can read the same verse and get very different things out of them. The Spirit is talking to their hearts. It's not the words that do the talking, but the Spirit. This is why the Spirit is so critical in teaching investigators. If you don’t have the Spirit, what you are saying is just words, and they cannot liken what you are saying to their lives, and their hearts will not be touched. In the Doctrine & Covenants we also learn that anything spoken with the Spirit is scripture. So, I cannot just want the Spirit, but it is VITAL and critical to my success. Without it I will not be a good missionary.
I also had a cool experience this week with the gift of tongues. Speaking the language is really frustrating for me because I'm not catching onto things as quickly as I would hope to. But during the lesson I had a word I really wanted to use but couldn’t think of it. Then suddenly I remembered it and remembered studying it with flashcards a few weeks ago, and I was able to use it. Cool right? And it happened once more after that. The trick with the Spirit is that it will BRING things unto your remembrance. The point is that we have to have it somewhere in our brains so that the Spirit can help us remember it! We have to do our part. So those experiences got me excited because I know that if I study hard and do my part He will help me fill my mouth when I need it to and when God wants me to say something. It's cool though because if God fills my mouth, that means I am saying what He wants me to say. I love that!
At TRC [Teaching Resource Center] this week we had some newly returned missionaries come, and one was a sister who was actually taller than me. She was adorable, and we clicked instantly. She wanted pictures with me, and I loved that! I love clicking with people.
Shoot, my time's almost done so I’m just gonna type super fast to try and finish.
I love this gospel. I really do. The MTC is only the beginning. I cannot wait to teach real people. I cannot wait to be stuck with my language and be pushed into learning more daily. I cannot wait to eat good food and to be immersed in a totally different culture. I cannot wait to visit the castles, and learn about Czech Republic's long history. I cannot wait to see miracles. I cannot wait to be a part of helping people come unto Christ. Any success that comes from a mission is because of God, not us. It is not up to us, because we are nothing without the Lord. If we work our hardest, the atonement and God's help will make up for the rest. Remember that every member is a missionary. Learning about how missionary work works I have realized how critical it is to our success to have members help the investigators. GO to lessons, and then befriend them so that investigators have somewhere to go once they are a part of the ward. It is our job to bring them into the ward, but it is the ward members' job to keep them there. Be missionaries! Send missionaries referrals! We need them!
Alright, Gotta run.
I love you all! Happy birthday YAK!!!!!
Love,
Sestra Satu Izatt
He lived, he lives, and he will come again
Hello again!
This week has been interesting. I've learned to be patient. The MTC is a wonderful place, but it sure is crowded and the food is really getting to me. I've started just eating whole grain cereal and salad every day. Which isn't filling, but goodness. Everything they serve here is powder out of a box or deep fried, and I've started getting more acne, and I have a feeling there is a connection from the poor diet. They have to feed a lot of missionaries so I understand it, but three heavy meals a day kills you! I am grateful for it, but I am excited to have bread with grain and fresh vegetables. Also this week my companion, Sister Meyers was scheduled to leave to Bulgaria. She's been counting down since two weeks ago, and it started getting on my nerves. I have made a goal not to talk about how excited I am to leave until day of or the day before I go because it drives everyone else around you crazy. Anyway last week she found out her visa didn't make it in time so they were going to send her stateside, but then yesterday they told her the visa came through and she'd be leaving on time. So Sister Black and I missed out on study time yesterday to help her pack and get her laundry done. I packed all of her suitcases and got them to 48 lbs each. Plus I rock at packing suitcases since I love Tetris so much so she kept telling me how good everything looked in the bag, haha, so I was proud of that and happy I could help her out some. Anyway we got to bed at 1 [am], and then we had to get up at 4 [am] to walk her out to her shuttle, so it's been an interesting night. We skipped breakfast and slept till 8 [am], but now we are doing laundry :).
I have never been more exhausted in my life. Every day is a whirlwind, and I just sit all day, but my spirit and brain are growing so much I just have these bags under my eyes and you just can't stop because you know if you do you'll drop dead. Ok not dead but sick maybe, haha. Such is life! You just gotta get up and keep going even if you're completely exhausted and don't think you can do anymore. I've noticed at those times though is when you learn the most, and the Lord blesses you the most because He helps you the rest of the way.
I started feeling a little frustrated last week because I feel like my language has hit a plateau so I am just trying to keep learning etc., but my teachers say I am improving despite what I think. I know my teaching has gotten better. Last night my teacher Sister Austin pulled me aside and said that she loves it when I teach her because she can tell that I genuinely care about her and what she is feeling. She watched me and Elder Bird teach our other teacher Brother Machado yesterday, and she said that with everyone I teach I use lots of personal experiences and I touch people because I pay attention to what they are saying. My language might not be all there, and my grammar is worse than anything, but I can touch people because I care. That made me happy because that is something I've noticed about myself that I'm so grateful Heavenly Father blessed me with.
I make friends with all the seniors here, and they love me; it's the best. I always talk to them in line and get them going, and lots of them know me by name and will stop me on campus and on my way to class. I just really love old people! I love it when people have gone through things and are willing to talk about it, and for some reason I have been blessed with this gift of getting people to open up easily and making them feel comfortable. That's why it is crucial to me to go into something in school where I work with people, because that is what makes me happiest. Everyone in my Zone always says that they have no idea what to say when I invite the seniors over to our table to eat. What does it matter if they are fifty years our senior? Who even cares?! Haha, I just have never seen a boundary in age and friendship, so that is something I have come to be really grateful for here. How boring is it to only talk to people your age? Aka [also known as]. Boring. You need a balance, and the seniors at the MTC have saved me. There are so many that served in the army and so many that have gone on a few missions already and talk about that to me, and it's just super interesting. I love it. Anyway moving on...
On Sunday I had a really cool experience. I was having a hard time for some reason. I think I was tired, but I was just exhausted for the week, and I took the time to find a quiet place and really pour my heart out to Heavenly Father. I asked Him for a spiritual experience, because I really really needed one to get me going again. That night we watched "The Testaments." I highly recommend it, and I bet you can find it online. But, Mommy--you will cry. It is a GORGEOUS film, and it would be very worth getting into our "Mormon Movie Library." Anyway, at the end when Christ comes down I just felt like Christ was standing right in front of me. He most likely wasn't, but I could feel him so strongly, and the reality of His existence hit me. Christ lives. He lived, he lives, and he is coming again. I sent Mommy the scripture I want to use for my plaque last week, but I will share it here so that all my blogger reader buddies can look it up. It's Doctrine and Covenants 68:6. Christ lives. And He IS coming again. I love Him. Someday I will be able to fall at his feet. And for some reason I could just imagine him standing right in front of me on Sunday. It was like I could almost touch him, his reality hit me so. I love Christ. Through Him every guilt we have from the past, every fear we have for the future, and every hardship we are dealing with in the present can be overcome. He is everything to me. Always has been, but through the last 5 weeks I have felt myself come closer to Him and through applying his atonement in helping me learn this language I have received hope and peace and comfort. I love Christ. I love the gospel. I love the light, and I love the peace. I love that we have a way to become better and perfect ourselves so that we can return to live with Him and God. Because of Christ I have a purpose. Everyone has a purpose. And that is the message I am bringing to the world. Christ lived, he lives, and he will come again. We lived, we live, and because of Christ we will live again because he overcame death. Not only can we live again, but we get to have happiness beyond our imagination, because if we just follow him and receive this gospel, the blessings will pour in. I love how little our part is. Heavenly Father wants to give us everything He has. He wants us to have our families forever. He wants us to have peace and be able to become perfect. And that is why He sent his Son. And all we have to do to get all of those blessings is listen to Christ's teachings and live his gospel. Easier said than done, but if you think about it we have a pretty good deal going on.
Also earlier this week I had another cool experience. I will try to get it all in since I only have 6 minutes left or so. I was struggling with the Moroni promise. I was frustrated, because I have never had this overwhelming answer that the Book of Mormon is true, and I want to have one so that I can tell my investigator that I KNOW that the promise works. I kept reading the Book of Mormon and praying, and I just wasn't getting anything. (So I thought). I was praying hard to get an answer, and I felt as though I was sincere, and I felt like my intentions of getting one was good. But nothing was coming. Then on Thursday night we went to go teach TRC [Teaching Resource Center]. The person we were teaching was telling us about how he gets revelation through the Book of Mormon, but I just wasn't understanding anything he was saying. I asked my companion if he understood, and he said 'no, but we should just keep teaching anyway.' I said in English NO. I NEED TO know what he is saying so that I can understand him. Right then the Spirit flew in, and the investigator started talking in English. He said that when his dad had cancer he was able to feel peace from reading the Book of Mormon, and that's how he knew it was true. Immediately tears started flowing down my cheeks. And when I say flowing I mean FLOWING. I couldn't stop.
I was reminded of high school when my special buddy Vicky died. She was very special to me, and had severe mental and physical handicaps. I would take her to Seminary every day and read the scriptures to her. I really tried to connect to her spiritually through her eyes, and I did. I loved Vicky. And one day she didn't come to class. She had died in her sleep. I was so sad, and I started reading Alma. In Alma 11 or 12 it talks about death and the afterlife, and I remember feeling really peaceful. I knew then that Vicky was somewhere, and she was happy and free from her imperfect body. At her funeral I felt her presence, and I knew she was singing. She always tried to sing with me but never could. But I knew she could now. That experience made me remember that God HAS answered my prayers. He has and He will. I have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. I know that it is true, because when I take the time to read it and ask myself "so what?" after each verse I read, no matter where it is, I receive revelation and ideas like never before. My scriptures are very full of markings and writings in the margins, and they are becoming my most precious possession. I love the scriptures, and I have a testimony that God speaks to us through them. The Bible and the Book of Mormon combined are a wonderful tool.
I love you all, I gotta go. The timer is out. Until next week,
Sestra Izatt
P.S. Anyone reading this PLEASE send me your conversion stories. I need to hear them! Love you!
Week 6 email (August 16, 2011):
I love pranks, and I love getting pranked
Hi there everyone!
I just wanted to say thank you for all the letters I got this week! I am very blessed to have such a support system! Thank you. Letters make the days much more bright here! I can’t even remember what week I'm on! Is it 5 or 6? Hopefully 6. This week was alright, not much really happened, but I shall try to fill the 30 minutes with stories :). Last week Sister Meyers finally left to Bulgaria, and so we got three new roommates. Sister Tate is the new Bulgarian sister, and so she is my third companion, but it is weird because she isn’t in our Branch or even our Zone, so that makes things interesting. Then we have two new sisters who are going to Arizona, English speaking. They are great, but for some reason the room STUNK the second they moved in. And you know me, I'm somewhat blunt. So I immediately told them that the room stunk (with humor, so don't worry I haven’t turned into a complete turd), and they kept saying it wasn't them etc. etc., and we laughed about it, and I opened the window last week to air out the place. Every night I leave the door wide open, too, in order to get some ventilation. I'm telling you, it STINKS. I want to die every night. So anyway last night I finally had it and told everyone to put their shoes outside in the hallway, because I felt fungus starting to grow out of my ears. So we all started gathering our shoes, when one of the sisters looked at the top of her cabinet and said, "Oh look! My sneakers that I took camping!" OH MY GOSH! I attacked her and threw her shoes out the window. Ok, not really, but I threatened. So I made her promise to wash them in the washing machine the next day, and she did, so hopefully our room won't be diseased anymore. Oh the joys of living with six females. Glad we got that resolved.
Yesterday the funny story of the day was when I was showering, and our showers are just separated by walls so you can see the feet of the next person showering next to you. I have a tendency to grab people’s ankles while they are showering. So first I started with sister Fassold (one of the new roommates), and she didn’t say anything which was a bummer. But then I grabbed sister Tate's ankle and she SCREAMED. This blood-piercing scream. Oh, I just DIED laughing. I just realized I haven’t written you about any of my pranks! Living with this many girls makes plenty opportunity for me to prank a bit. For example, last week I helped sister Meyers pack. When I went to go weigh the suitcase I'd packed for her, I checked the give-away box for any treasures and found a plastic snake. So I hid that in the middle of her stuff in her suitcase. Then, at the very bottom of the suitcase I wrote her a note saying that the snake was a sign of my affection. I can only imagine her surprise when she opened her suitcase in Bulgaria. Bahaha. That's how I roll. I shall let you know if I remember any of the others. I'm pretty tricky. I love pranks, and I love getting pranked. Oh! Like for example the week sister Brown left I was changing in a bathroom stall. She came by and stole all my clothes off the top of the door. Luckily I had my towel on my head so I just quietly wrapped it around myself and followed her into the room. We got a good laugh out of that. She thought she was so clever, but I got around it, I did! These sorts of things keep you sane at the MTC.
Ok perhaps I should move onto some spiritual things haha! Sooooo.
Yesterday for class we had both the missionaries from the Czech Republic come and visit our class. We do love them, even though we can only pick up bits and pieces of what they say, since they speak so quickly. Elder Hudec is hilarious though. He talked to us on Sunday up by the temple and told us, "You know how they tell you to take money with you so that if someone tries to rob you, you can just give them money? Well, that's good, but in my country you'll either just get robbed or maybe hit. But they won't kill you. It isn't RUSSIA." Aaahaha I got a good laugh. And I thought Mommy would like that since the Finns aren't too fond of Russia either! [Mother’s comment: Russia is full of lovely people, but the political tensions between Finland and Russia have been historically significant.]
Also yesterday we were discussing the role of the Spirit in conversion. I liked that lesson because in Second Nephi 31 verse 3 it talks about how God speaks through the language of the people. Since missionaries are representatives of Jesus Christ we must also speak through the languages of the people. But since we cannot usually speak the language we must rely on the universal language, the Spirit. Everyone understands that language. And plus, the Spirit does all the teaching anyway. I am just a vessel who needs to open her mouth to bring the Spirit unto people. Anyway I was thinking about how in Doctrine & Covenants someone tries to write a revelation, and it doesn’t work. The reason it didn’t work is because there was no Spirit behind it, and it wasn’t what God wanted. That is why, in my opinion, we can expound on scriptures, General Conference talks, etc. Because they are able to be likened unto us. That is why people can read the same verse and get very different things out of them. The Spirit is talking to their hearts. It's not the words that do the talking, but the Spirit. This is why the Spirit is so critical in teaching investigators. If you don’t have the Spirit, what you are saying is just words, and they cannot liken what you are saying to their lives, and their hearts will not be touched. In the Doctrine & Covenants we also learn that anything spoken with the Spirit is scripture. So, I cannot just want the Spirit, but it is VITAL and critical to my success. Without it I will not be a good missionary.
I also had a cool experience this week with the gift of tongues. Speaking the language is really frustrating for me because I'm not catching onto things as quickly as I would hope to. But during the lesson I had a word I really wanted to use but couldn’t think of it. Then suddenly I remembered it and remembered studying it with flashcards a few weeks ago, and I was able to use it. Cool right? And it happened once more after that. The trick with the Spirit is that it will BRING things unto your remembrance. The point is that we have to have it somewhere in our brains so that the Spirit can help us remember it! We have to do our part. So those experiences got me excited because I know that if I study hard and do my part He will help me fill my mouth when I need it to and when God wants me to say something. It's cool though because if God fills my mouth, that means I am saying what He wants me to say. I love that!
At TRC [Teaching Resource Center] this week we had some newly returned missionaries come, and one was a sister who was actually taller than me. She was adorable, and we clicked instantly. She wanted pictures with me, and I loved that! I love clicking with people.
Shoot, my time's almost done so I’m just gonna type super fast to try and finish.
I love this gospel. I really do. The MTC is only the beginning. I cannot wait to teach real people. I cannot wait to be stuck with my language and be pushed into learning more daily. I cannot wait to eat good food and to be immersed in a totally different culture. I cannot wait to visit the castles, and learn about Czech Republic's long history. I cannot wait to see miracles. I cannot wait to be a part of helping people come unto Christ. Any success that comes from a mission is because of God, not us. It is not up to us, because we are nothing without the Lord. If we work our hardest, the atonement and God's help will make up for the rest. Remember that every member is a missionary. Learning about how missionary work works I have realized how critical it is to our success to have members help the investigators. GO to lessons, and then befriend them so that investigators have somewhere to go once they are a part of the ward. It is our job to bring them into the ward, but it is the ward members' job to keep them there. Be missionaries! Send missionaries referrals! We need them!
Alright, Gotta run.
I love you all! Happy birthday YAK!!!!!
Love,
Sestra Satu Izatt