Friday, April 17, 2009

Less than one month til I hit Chile!

April 15, 2009

Familia,

I absolutely loved the rain yesterday! When we hiked up to the temple this morning it was a mixture of rain and snow. Then when we came out everything was covered with snow. I don't like that! Especially when the snow covers up the flowers.

Thank you so much for the Easter packages Mom and Grandma! Grandma read my mind and sent me a light that I clipped to the bottom of the bunk on top of me. I love it! Also thanks so much for the popcorn! I laughed when I found it at the bottom of my package and said to Hermana Atkin, "Ha ha she definitely knows me." Good thing I looked on the tag for my Easter bag. I didn't open it until Sunday, and it was a little bit hard. I got up at 5:30 on Sunday, mostly because I needed to shower and the showers are super busy on Sunday, but also because I couldn't wait to open my Easter bag. The talk by McConkie was so good, Mom. Thanks for sending it! After sacrament meeting each week we have a district meeting and we took turns reading it and then discussed it. Mom, you are teaching people and you are not even here! The John scripture you shared with me that says, "God is love" I have shared many times in the last couple of weeks. The flowers are beautiful, a mixture of pink and white tulips. I took lots of pictures of them and so did Elder Kearsley and he printed off a bunch that I am sending home with my other pictures from last week. Thank you so much, seriously it is so nice to still be surrounded by beautiful flowers. I love you Mom and Dad!

Big changes this past week! Hermana Patten got her visa for Spain last Friday and she left yesterday! Our teacher kept telling her that her visa was delayed for a reason and that she needed to stay with us a little longer because she needed to teach us something. Well last week I learned a big lesson from her and really came to love her, then she fasts on Friday and it comes. Crazy. We miss her a lot! So we are now a district with three Elders and three Hermanas. I have a new companion, Hermana Weir! Hermana Atkin and I love her so much and she will be a great addition to our team. District A from our zone also left this week and we miss them a lot. That district taught me a lot and they were such good friends. I know that they will all make people happy in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Austin Davis arrived at the MTC last week. He is going to Zurich, Switzerland. He assured me that his family is very happy and Cheney has remarried. He is such a good kid and I am sure his dad is so proud of him and will help him with his mission. He asked about Ben and said to tell him hi.

Yesterday we taught the lesson on the restoration in Spanish! It was hard to prepare for because we have been focused on effective teaching since day one and now we have to make everything really simple to be able to say it in Spanish. I thought it went pretty well, not super fantastic, but pretty well. I had a hard time understanding what the two men said when we asked them questions, but near the end I did catch one about how to recognize the Spirit and knew the exact scripture to share. Hermana Atkin has been really sick the last two days and so she observed Hermana Weir and I share the lesson, and when he asked the question she said she could just see my whole demeanor change from the back as I was prompted what to share. The scripture is Galatians 5:22 if you want to look it up. We usually share it at the beginning of lesson two when we follow up on commitments and ask if they felt any of the feelings listed in that scripture. When we were finished we got feedback from a teacher and to my surprise he said that we did an amazing job! He said he could tell that we put a lot of thought and hard work into it. I definitely learned what I can study this week to be ready to teach it again next week and I can't wait to get to it tomorrow!

Oh I was called to be the coordinating Sister on Sunday. So basically I am in charge of all the Hermanas in our zone, which at the moment is myself and my two companions. I am happy to serve and I hope it will give me an opportunity to do some fun little loving things for them.

Guess who spoke at devotional last night? ELDER HOLLAND! I love that man! He gave the most moving talk on the atonement during conference and I was so touched by it. I am really trying to learn more about the Savior because of his talk. Oh moses smell the roses, everyone was so excited when he walked in the room. You can always tell when an apostle is coming to speak because you can feel it. There is an energy that exudes from the room. His talk was one that I will never, EVER forget. It was so sincere and a lot of it can't be explained in words because there are just spiritual feelings that can't be expressed in words. He made me realize that I HAVE to be HERE, doing what I am doing. He said that he hopes we can spend some moments in Gethsemane and take some steps towards Calvary while we are on our missions. So powerful!I love that man and all of the things he has done for those around me.

Out of time! This is seriously so stressful! I have many letters to write today and I hope everyone can be patient and know that I will write back!

I love you with all my heart and more,
Amy

1 comment:

  1. Elder Holland is wonderful, isn't he? Amy i love reading your letters! you sound like you are learning and growing so much! love you!

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