Week 4 of MTC

Hola!

I LEAVE THE MTC IN 13 DAYS!!!!

So the MTC is getting pretty repetitive so I don't have a whole lot to say....

But this week we were able to go "contacting," and we first talked to this lady, and I understood most of what she was saying, but she basically gave us a huge layout of every country in South America and the weather that country has....why? I have no idea, but she was so cute and super funny and her friend that was sitting by her must have gotten bored cause she just got up and walked away...ha we also met a couple and I started talking to them and he spoke super fast Spanish, so I said, "Mi espanol is no bueno, repite mas llento" (My Spanish is really bad, repeat is much slower", then I'm not even joking, we had a real life "Best Two Years" moment.  The guy said, "I speak English", and with a huge smile on my face I said, "ME TOO!!"  It was great, he is atheist but we were able to clear up some misunderstandings of our church that he had.

Also we were able to go on splits with missionaries in the Santiago East Mission for 3 hours.  It was cool, right now everyone is on vacation so we were able to teach a lesson but we got to talk to a few people and it was nice to see a little bit of what the field is like!  

So the food.....I'm still being picky, what's new?  The food still make my stomach kinda sick, so I'm mostly just eating a ton of fruits and vegetables. To put this in more perspective, I eat more fruit in a day than Jen's entire family eats in 2 days.  Do you realize how much fruit that is?!?!  Anyone who knows Jen knows that her family eats way healthy and tons of fruits and veggies.....Also I had a banana for 10 meals in a row without realizing it.....do I really like bananas that much, no, no I do not.  But they are good and make me feel full!

My Favorite scriptures this week were in 3 Nephi 17:1-9, it takes about Christ teaching and when people began to be tired or "weak" Christ told them to go home, ponder, and prepare and he would be back the next day.  How can we prepare now for the words of the prophets at conference so that we are prepared for what they have to teach us?

Sorry for the shorter email, everything is just so repetitive now that I don't know what to talk about...

Key Things I learned this week:

1. The Greatest Blessing I have right now is being worthy to serve

2. Now is the time to tighten your grip on the iron rod

3. If you are struggling with anything, increase your tithes and fast offerings

4. An education is lighting a fire and opening many doors to opportunity, so study hard!

Love you all!  I pray for you every night!!  Thanks for the loving support!

Hermana Sullivan

Chile Santiago South Mission

Week 3 of MTC

Hola!!

This week has been so great!!  First off, we can't go to the temple which is super lame; it's closed for cleaning but now we get 4 more hours of free pday time to do whatever!  The last couple pdays we only got 2 hours of personal time....which was not very relaxing!  Also the new missionary schedule is awesome!  When I get to the field I won't have to wake up 'til 7 or 7:30!!  YAY!!   Also this week we took a small test on our "Spanish Basic Core", our district scored higher than any previous district so they brought us pizza last night!! (I would say they tell everyone that, but because we did so good, Hermana B., the MTC president wife, made us cookies and brownies, and the last district said they didn't get anything...)

Things are going great with my companions, we have had no problems and I am growing to love them so much!!  We have had some pretty funny times this week!

Here in Chile it is part of the culture to give all females a hug and kiss on the cheek....it's an awful tradition, like STOPPPPP  KISSSING MEE!!!  Haha Also people in Chile are really poor, they make the equivalent of about $350 a month and $4200 a year.  Hermana P. is from Ecuador and she didn't have any shorts for exercise time, so she asked to borrow mine.  Then when I was out shopping I found some shorts for $5 (3000 pesos) and I bought them for her.  She was so grateful, she told me she had looked for some but they were too expensive for her.  I felt really bad.  And I tell this story, not to make me seem like a good person, but to put into perspective all that we have been blessed with.  How was I so lucky to be blessed with a life in America and the family I have?! Also Hermana P. gave me a bag from Ecuador as a gratitude gift for the shorts.  She was my favorite Latina, she helped me a ton with my Spanish especially pronouncing things correctly.  But she left this week for her mission. 

One of the first days here I was frustrated and Hermana P. came to me and said, in her broken English, "BE HAPPY FOREVER, NOT ANGRY".  It was so cute, it was like listening to Tarzan try to speak English, which is probably what I sound like in Spanish...anyways it has been an ongoing joke to say "BE happy forever, not angry".

So funny story this week, we were doing a teaching practice and we had to teach about prayer and how to pray.  My companion Herman B. and I started off asking about prayer, then out of no where Hermana T. asks, "Do you have family"....Totally taking us way off topic!  But then our "fake" investigator said in Spanish that he had family when he was little but they all died.  She didn't understand so then she said, "Do you live with your mom?"  And he was like, "Muerte" (dead), still not understanding, Hermana T. says, "And your dad?".....the investigator just started at her and said, "Are you messing with my life?!?!"  By this point Hermana B., the whole class and I are laughing so hard at how bad this lesson went.  Then Hermana T. looks at us and says "Help me", and we both say, "we are way too far gone to come back from this"  hahaha Basically there was a HUGE miscommunication and language barrier!

Also in class this week our teacher was trying to explain the difference between por y para...we tried to ask a question and he didn't understand what we were asking so then one of the elders was talking about how stupid Spanish is, and it got our teacher into this huge rant about English (he served in California).  He freaks out and he's like yelling (happy, funny, yell) and he writes "MISSISSIPPI" on the board and says, " What is freaking wrong with English, why do you need so many S´s in one word?!?!"  It was super funny that the one word he chooses is a states.

My favorite scripture this week as Alma 31:34-35, it's about missionaries prayed into the lord to bring success because of the preciousness of the souls they teach.  I pray for my future investigators every night, so I especially loved these verses!

Key things I learned this week:

Real Intent=Action

Scriptures=Door To Revelation

Sabbath= Reflection of Commitments

Prophets=Anchor of Eternal Truth

Charity=Faith in Though and Action

Word of Widom= Increased spiritual truths

No Tithing= Robbing God

No Atonement= No Plan of salvation

Truth= No Mystery

Honest Fast= No extra cost (we would have spent the money anyways)

I love and miss you all!

Te Amo Mucho!

Hermana Sullivan

Pictures:

Tree that looks like a giant pineapple

Hermana P. and I (I talk her the sign for I love you)

Herman P. & Hermana P. (My favorite Latina & favorite american)

Group of us 5 MTC roomates

Waiting for president to get my mail out of the box

Cool painting on one of the sidewalk walls

Hermana P. and the Bag she gave me

My companions and I today

 

 

 
 

Week 2 of MTC

Hola!

Last Tuesday after writing we went to the temple for the first time and it was so amazing!  That makes 24 temples that I have had the opportunity to do work in!  The celestial room was so beautiful and perfect.  Also because there are so many American missionaries they let us do the session in English which is soooo nice! My companion fell asleep a couple times which was way funny, but that's okay!

We also watched a worldwide missionary broadcast and they made huge changes to the missionary schedule!  Which allows for more time on pday and more wiggle room to decide for ourselves when study time and meal times will be.  It will give us a lot more freedom of choice.  Also, pdays in the MTC kinda suck.  We get one hour to email and an additional 2 hour for whatever, the rest of the day is still scheduled out for us.

The food is......well I'm just being super picky.  I'm pretty positive I've lost weight!  My typical breakfast is fruit, with a piece of bread and peanut butter.  And I don't really eat a whole lot for lunch or dinner cause the meats scare me!  They always look half cooked, so I just try to stay with the carbs and veggies!  

So one of the funniest things that happened this week was we were teaching our fake investigator and I was on a roll!  Like he said he didn't believe in God because he can't see him, so I whipped out the scripture about faith in things not seen....anyways it was going so good until we committed him to church and he asked how long church was, and I said, "Tres años" (three years), as soon as I said it I knew it was the wrong word but by then we were all laughing so hard, also I was the first one to make our investigator break character, so there's that.

The pollution is soooo bad here in Chile, especially right now because Chile has a lot of fires right now (I'm not anywhere close).  But we are getting all the smoke so today was the very first time I saw the sun since I've been here.  And we have only been able to see the moon twice....GROSS AIR!!!  I can almost feel myself getting lung cancer...

For my friends who speak Spanish, here is a little tongue twister to practice "RR"...

Erre con erre

cigarro, erre con

erre barril, rapido 

corren los carros 

repletos de hierno

del ferro carril.

(it doesn't really translate to anything I don't think, but it's kinda fun)

So while in the MTC if you write me a long letter I won't be able to read it until the field.  They are really strict about only 1 hour on the computer and we are not allowed to print anything.....so keep it short for the next couple weeks and I'll respond the best that I can.

This week my favorite reading was in Helamen 5:23.  It talks about Lehi and Nephi cast into prison by the Lamanites for preaching the gospel and through faith they were encircled as if by fire and were not burned.  Then if you go to Exodus 3:2-4 the Lord appears by way of a burning bush to Moses and says, "Moses Moses Here am I".  How can we have as much faith in the Lord as did Lehi, Nephi, and Moses?

Key Things I learned This Week

1. Faith =Action (The key to faith is prayer, reading, and attending church)

2. Repentance= Change  (Repentance is not optional, it is a commandment)

3. Repentance & Baptism= the door to heaven

4.  Holy Ghost= Taste of Eternal Joy

5. Follow Christ= Lifelong commitment to endure to the end

6. Conversion= Key to our membership (A testimony alone will never be good enough)

7. Character= moral qualities

8. God´s Law=Freedom

That's it for now!!  Thanks for all the love, support, and emails!!  Miss you all!

Love,

Hermana Sullivan

Chile Santiago South Mission

Pictures:

Me and Hermana P (She's my favorite Latina)

My sock shrunk in the drier....

The view of the temple grounds from the MTC "Living room"

Me and my companions

Me and Elder A (I worked with his sister at Utah Valley, and we ran into each other today)

My typical breakfast

What my scriptures look like now, I have learned soooo much!