Mar
8, 3013
Family
and Friends!!
I am
leavinggg!!!!!!!! Happy day!! In exactly three days I will already have left
the MTC. I leave on Monday and FOUR in the morning (good thing I am a morning
person! oh wait....) and will arrive in Chile on Tuesday at one in the
afternoon. AHHHGHGH! I am so excited. and a bit nervous. but mainly so so so
excited.
Well,
first of all, we had the most incredible miracle happen this week. I honestly
am just so grateful--so remember katterinna Ayala? The sister we taught in TRC?
and remember the promise that hermana alvarez made that she would
be alright?
So,
little background on katterinna Ayala, she has been sick for a long long time
(i don't know how long exactly) and it hit a point where she was bed ridden
(spg?) and couldn't move for three months, while no doctor knew what was wrong.
so she is in the states to visit doctors and see if they could figure out what
is wrong. but here is the miracle: they went to the doctor last week to get her
results back, and all of her tests came back PERFECT. her blood, her bones,
everything. hermana ayala said her mother just cried and cried. And i know that
this is a fulfillment of that little promise that hermana Alvarez felt inspired
to make. AHH the gospel is so true!! and can I just tell you--being a
missionary is just as awesome as i thought it would be (and i am not even in
the field yet!!)
Alright...so
for some stories for y'all (I have obviously been with hermana Mcknight and her
Texas accent a little too much) My spanish is still definitely needing
some improvement:
Exhibit
A: I was talking to hermana Mcknight about how she is leaving so soon and how
sad that was that she would be in the MTC for a bit without us, and (we were
attempting to speak spanish, too) so very sincerely, I grabbed her arm and
looked in her eyes and I was TRYING to say "sister mcknight, i am going to
miss you"...and it came out "voy a casarse"...which in rough
translation means I am going to marry you. awkward. We laughed and laughed and
laughed. Better here than in the field, right?
Another
funny story: okay I really really really hope that a gift of the spirit is the
gift to remember names, because for the life of me I am awful at that. I got to
be a missionary host (you just show them around the MTC and stuff) on Wednesday,
and I was walking to get in line and I see hermana moffatt with a new sister,
so I waved. All the sudden, the new sister she is hosting screams (LOUDLY) and
runs straight at me and gives me the hugest hug and starts telling me how
excited she is and "oh sister monroe you are one of two people that I know
here, I am SO excited to see you!" Problem--I have absolutely NO idea who
this sister is… but of course, I just hug her back and tell her how good it is
to see her, so hermana moffatt, being a sweet kind person, says "hey, sister
monroe, you can host her!" and I tell her thanks, and all of the sudden I
am hosting a person who I have no idea who it is but who apparently knows
me...yikes. So I am asking her about how everything went (but I have no idea
about how much of her life I am really supposed to know..) and it is not until
TEN minutes later, when she is introducing me to someone else as "my
cousin's cousin" that I FINALLY make the connection. It's Lexi, the
knapp's cousin!! Inspiration!! I was SO relieved to finally realize that I DID
know her… but it was really funny and I really really really hope I am better
with names once I get on the field.
This
week I have been thinking a lot about the purpose of faith--and if any of you
have a moment, read the talk about character and faith by elder scott. It is
AMAZING. He says in there 'we become what we want to be by consistently being
what we want to become." isn't that the most empowering principle?! I have just had so many "ah ha!"
moments this week--for example, we heard a devotional (recorded) from elder
bednar called the characteristics of Christ, and i realized how much being more
like Christ is being able to turn outwards of ourselves. I mean, how much of my
life has been solely about myself? What I want, my goals, my desires? When Christ,
every moment of every day, was focusing about other people. i was so humbled,
and so excited for this opportunity to learn to focus on other people. This opportunity
is the biggest blessing of my life. so come what may on this mission--I am so
excited!
love
you all! and a major shout out to the BEST people in the whole entire
world--sarah and sammy--your package was SO sweet!!! I almost started crying
and read your notes over and over and over again. And thank you also to
sabrina, rachel, especially aunt Jan, and Mom (mom--you're awesome!) and
all those who wrote! Love you!
and
CONGRATS MICHAEL!
Love
hermana
monroe
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