Hermana Sullivan: The Story of a Mission Nurse: 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!