"Blow-upaba" (aka adjusting to Madrid MTC)

So I´m obviously really smart since I told you our p-day is on Wednesday and it´s actually on Thursday.  Oops.

We just got back from the temple.  It´s BEAUTIFUL.  And I did the session in Spanish, which was really cool.  This afternoon we´re going to the PRADO, so I´ll have to tell you how that goes.

This week has been a little more challenging for me.  Not only did I get 8 hours of my life sucked away on an airplane on Thursday, but I came to a really different place.  The Madrid MTC is pretty tiny.  I know almost everyone here and it hasn´t even been a week.  The way they keep the rules is different, the way we teach "investigators" is different, and the way our class time is structured is totally different too.  I had gotten really used to the Provo MTC and the way we did things, and I had come to really love my district, so it was so hard for me to leave and even harder to come to somewhere like this.  I´ve been a little frustrated because they´re more lax on the rules here.  I have such a testimony that strict obedience brings miracles, and I don´t ever want to block myself off from Heavenly Father´s help by being disobedient.  It was really hard the first few days to just get to bed on time because no one else was and I would just lay there with all the lights on and everyone talking trying my hardest to go to sleep.  But then I prayed about it and told Heavenly Father that I really wanted to be able to keep the rules and help others keep the rules without being rude or annoying.  And then last night the sister training leaders for our zone made a new rule that we have to be in our rooms by 10:00 and we need to be quiet and studying/writing in our journals by 10:15!  I was so happy about it!

Hna. King is super nice and gorgeous and she has a really pretty voice.  Both of us love to sing and harmonize, and so we serenade our roommates with a medley of hymns sometimes.  Our district actually has 4 REALLY talented singers, and if one of us starts to hum a hymn during study time, it immediately breaks into 4-part harmony.  It´s so much fun.  We´re doing a musical number in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday and apparently I´m also singing a solo in the devotional Sunday night.  I should probably decide what I´m going to sing...

On Sunday we had a fireside with some of the first missionaries to serve in Spain and the sister sings, so she sang "O Divine Redeemer," just as a solo.  I knew it from when we sang it with Bro. Tolk in choir before, and so I was sort of mouthing along the second soprano part that layers in one of the verses.  Pres. Sitterud (the MTC president) knew I could sing and saw me mouthing it, so he asked her if she would mind just singing that one part of it again with me after the fireside.  It was really fun, even though my voice is nowhere near as pretty as hers.  She´s going to get me a version of it in Spanish to sing, so I´m excited for that.

The coolest thing about this MTC is that on Saturdays we get to go to the park (I don´t know what park it is, sorry.  The really big one smack dab in the middle of Madrid) and teach people!  I went with Hermana Noakes, who is awesome.  We gave out one Book of Mormon and some pass-along cards and had some great experiences.  We talked to one young man (in English) who didn´t believe in God and he asked us a lot of questions about what we believed and why we were serving missions and at the end he said "It´s been really good for me to talk with you.  Most religious people are angry and trying to force their religion on me, but you have been so nice and happy."  Of course, we had to bear testimony that the gospel makes us happy and that it would bless his life.  He was the one we left a Book of Mormon with, and I really hope he reads it!  It made me so excited to share the gospel with others, because after maybe 10 or 15 minutes, this man could see how immensely happy we were.

 

Funny Spanish incident: 

We were practicing the imperfect tense by telling what we used to do when we were kids.  (The imperfect tense adds the ending "-aba" to any verbs that end in -ar.)  Elder Kinghorn (who is HILARIOUS) was talking about how he liked to play with fire and explosives and instead of saying "it blew up" which would be "explodía" (I think) he said "blow-upaba."  That word is now on our vocabulary list on the whiteboard. 

 

Things that are different in Spain (or at least in the MTC) : the lightswitches.  Those are wacky.  They´re probably a 2x2 inch switch that you have to press up or down.  They´re really easy to hit with your back when you´re leaning against the wall.  Not that I know that from experience. ;)

The doorknobs.  There aren´t knobs, actually.  All the doors have handles that you have to twist and pull down and then pull outward.  They´re a little hard to get used to.

Bathroom doors and toilets. The toilets are shaped a little differently (who knew, right?) and the bathroom doors have a lock that you twist to lock into place. Also the stalls are almost floor-to-ceiling.

My shower (we have a shower in our room).  It´s SUPER narrow and the shower curtain hugs you and clings to you the entire time you´re in there.  It´s kind of obnoxious.

Have a wonderful week and I will email you again next THURSDAY.  (which will be my LAST P-DAY IN THE MTC!!!!)

Con amor,

Hermana Lara Schaumann

 

P.S. I tried to play soccer yesterday and realized that the only sport I know how to play is basketball. 

P.P.S.  You should read "The 20 Mark Note" by Elder Packer.  (I think it´s "mark", it´s whatever the currency is in Germany.)  We heard the story from it in class and it´s AMAZING.  It answered a question that had been preying on me for a really long time, and it was such a blessing to have that lifted!!!

Look Out Madrilenos.....Here We Come!

YES!  MY VISA CAME THROUGH AND I'M HEADED TO SPAIN ON THURSDAY!

Hna. P and Hna. H are also going, and Hna. J and Hna. T, and Elder V from my district.  I'm beyond excited!  :)  We're all really excited to be going to Spain, although we LOVE our district.  We are all really close, and so it's really sad that half of us will be transferred to the Spain MTC.  But SPAIN!  You can't beat that!

We go on Wednesday to the consulate to get our visas, and then to the airport on Thursday to fly over there.  We just barely found out.  It's crazy!

I get to call home for 5 minutes today to share my itinerary and everything with you!  So be waiting for that.  It'll probably be around 5-6 your time.

Before I get too distracted, I need to thank Janece for her package and dearelder.  I didn't get the package until Tuesday, but it arrived safe and sound!  And thanks to Laurie and Grandma for the dearelders as well!  It's so good to hear from you!  Too bad those won't be free once I get to Spain. :(

I sent a letter to Jared on Saturday and one to Miriam and to Emma today.  So those should be arriving pretty soon.

I loved Conference so much!  So many questions I had, especially for other people, were answered.  My Hnas. and I had planned a lesson to teach one of our investigators about peace and had looked up a bunch of scriptures that we wanted to share, then we didn't have time to teach it to him.  We told both of our investigators to watch conference, and then Elder Cook spoke, and his entire talk was almost exactly the lesson we had prepared.  Every scripture he quoted was one of the ones we had planned to share.  That was pretty funny.  We've been trying to figure out how he spied on our companionship study. :)  One of our teachers was in the BYU choir as well.  He didn't even tell us.  We were all watching and suddenly one of the elders said, "Hey, isn't that Brother B?" and it was! 

I felt a lot of peace and personal guidance from all the talks.  They were fantastic.  I love that we have prophets on the earth today and that they listen to the Lord and guide us.  It's awesome!  I felt, as always, the love of the Lord for me and His knowledge of what I'm going through.  My very favorites were probably Elder Cardon, Pres. Eyring, Pres. Uchtdorf, Elder Anderson, and Elder Holland. (When they announced that Elder Holland would be the next speaker, everyone in the room hissed "YESSSSSS!!!!" in unison.)

Man, so much has happened lately that I can't remember what's been going on since last Monday.   What even happened before conference? 

I don't remember if I told you or not, but last Saturday we moved into a new classroom on the 5th floor.  It has a gorgeous view of the mountains, but we also have to walk up 4 flights of stairs almost 10 times a day.  There is an elevator, but it's only for missionaries who are sick or injured.  Let's just say I won't miss those silly stairs.

On Wednesday we got 2 new sisters in our room, Sister K (going to Honolulu Hawaii) and Sister B (going to Auckland, New Zealand).  They're super nice, although it's a little harder to have 5 girls in our room than it is to have 3.

Thursday was one of the best days of my whole life.  We were practicing teaching in English and I sort of off-handedly expressed my frustration that I wasn't nearly as good a teacher in Spanish as in English because the way I like to teach is by asking questions and in Spanish, I can't always understand what the person is saying as an answer to my question.  Hno. B heard what I was saying and offered to get some of the extra teachers who don't have districts right now to come and help me personally.  So Hna. M and Hno. V (who are two of my favorite teachers we've had) came in and talked to me, just one-on-one, doing a role-play teaching scenario in Spanish.  I learned so many things I didn't even know I needed to learn, not about Spanish, but about teaching the gospel.  And I also gained the confidence I needed to be able to be able to teach in Spanish.  I could understand everything they said (and Hna. M talks SUPER fast) and I could respond to them by sharing personal experiences and testifying of how the gospel had blessed my life.  I gained the testimony I had been seeking that I have the knowledge and the mental capability to speak Spanish, and to speak it by the Spirit.  I gained the confidence I had lacked to be bold and direct, to show to everyone I teach that I am a true messenger sent from my Father in Heaven to share His gospel, and to bless their lives abundantly with it. 

Later that night, Hna. M and Hno. R did a workshop on how the Atonement changes us and how we need to make sure out investigators have not only a testimony but a changed heart.  If they don't want to work and to dedicate themselves to the gospel, it's not going to do anything for them.  It reminded me of something C. S. Lewis said in Mere Christianity: 

          "You are embarking on something that will take the whole of you."  

Unless you put something into the gospel, you aren't going to get anything out of it! 

I've been loving my study of grace in the Book of Mormon.  It's seriously amazing.  How great a force the Atonement is.  I loved to hear all the speakers in General Conference bear testimony of Christ and the power of His Atonement.  They know so certainly.  I want to know it that strongly.  And I'm definitely getting there.  My testimony grows by leaps and bounds every day.

Vocal Point came to do our devotional last night.  They sounded amazing and I felt the Spirit SO strongly.  It was their first time ever coming to the MTC.  I'm so glad I got to be there!

Last night we got to watch an old devotional from Elder Holland.  It was HILARIOUS at some parts.  I have never seen him be so funny. My Hnas. and I were cracking up at some points. But he spoke with such power and certainty. He said so many good things about how we should serve as missionaries.  He used examples from the scriptures where numerous missionaries (Alma, Nephi and Lehi, Ammon) taught with power and authority to astonish people.  He said that as missionaries we should work to astonish people every day.  He shared a poem that I absolutely loved.  Translated from French, it says roughly:

"Go to the edge," He said.

"No! We'll fall!"

"Go to the edge," He said.

"No! We'll fall!:

"GO TO THE EDGE," He said.

So we went to the edge, and He pushed us--and we flew.

That is how missionary work is.  We have to put ourselves out there, where it's dangerous and scary and uncomfortable and we're going to be rejected and hated, but if we put ourselves out there, that's when the miracles come.

I'm so excited to start working miracles in Spain!  I don't know if my P-day will be the same over there, so don't freak out if I don't email you for a while. :)

Best word in Spanish we learned this week:

aguafiesta: killjoy

It literally translates to "water party."  We figured it's probably some version of "rain on your parade."  Pretty funny.

Que les vayan bien, todos! 

Con amor,

Hermana Lara Schaumann

The Universal Atonement, Confessing our fish (?) and Shower Sloths

Our Easter was fantastic.  Man there is so much I want to tell you and I don't even know where to start.

The language hasn't been too much of a challenge so far.  We had a new teacher (we have SO many teachers, it's insane.  Usually while you're in the MTC you have only 2 teachers, but we counted yesterday and we've had 11. but anyway,) usually our teachers teach the spiritual parts of the lessons in English just so we can understand and communicate better, but our new teacher did the whole thing in Spanish and we could all communicate with him just fine and we understood everything he was saying. In fact, the lesson was so good that I started crying, not just a little bit, but enough that the teacher noticed and put the box of tissues on my desk.  That was a little embarrassing.

We all get along really well and we have a ton of fun with each other.  Basically we're laughing most of the day.  That's with our district too.  Since we're such a small group we're all really comfortable around each other which makes it easy to laugh and also really easy to feel the Spirit. It makes me sad that none of them are going to my same mission so I won't be able to see them after I leave the MTC.  I'm sure we'll have a reunion though.

My companions and I were laughing the other night about how every time we go to write in our journal, we end up saying the exact same thing.  "I understand the gospel so much better.  No really. So much better than I did yesterday."  And we were talking about how before you understand what missionary work is, it's really scary and you don't want to do it.  But once you realize that what you're doing is teaching people how to use the Atonement and inviting them to do so, it's not scary at all.  I used to doubt how one gospel could be right for EVERY person on the earth.  But it is, and it is because of the Atonement.  The gospel is personally made for your life because all it is is how to understand and apply the Atonement, which is the most personal thing in the whole world. Bishop Causse talked yesterday about how the Atonement is love.  It fills our lives and hearts and minds with love for our Savior and for our fellow men.  He quoted Les Miserables: "Love is a celestial respiration of the air of paradise."  How beautiful is that?  We have been talking about how sharing the gospel is just sharing your love and the Savior's love with those who need it.  And everyone needs it.

Sheri Dew also came last night for a devotional and she talked about how Satan's biggest strategy is confusing us about who the Savior is.  And so many people don't understand what the Atonement is for.  It's already happened, and we just have to claim its power and use it every time our own strength and abilities are not enough.

I got a Book of Mormon for Elder Bednar's challenge and I'm doing a study on grace.  I'm only to 1 Nephi 10, I think, but the ways that Nephi and Lehi and Sam and Sariah have understood the Atonement and laid claim on the Savior's grace are overwhelming.  It has been an incredibly rewarding study for me.  I love learning about how I can become more like my Savior and how I can use His grace to overcome my weaknesses.  We watched a devotional from Elder Uchtdorf yesterday and he said that as you put all your heart and soul into serving as an ambassador of Christ, He will give you a new heart and you will become a new person.  I absolutely know that is true.  I've already seen my heart changing incredibly in the 12 days I've been here.

I'll finish up with a couple funny things.  There are lots, so I narrowed it down to these two.

First, we were doing an exercise in our grammar book.  The sentence said "Jesucristo nunca tuvo ningun pecado."  (Jesus didn't have any sin.)  Hermana Thompson read it and said "Jesus didn't have any fish." (pecado=sin, pescado=fish.)  Hermana Johnson and I laughed almost until we cried.  Then we were practicing for a lesson and we were giving each other sentences to translate.  "Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can be freed from our sins."  was translated as "A traves de la Expiacion de Jesucristo, podemos ser liberados de nuestros pescados."  (Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can be freed from our fish.)  Now we make jokes in our district all the time about it.  "We cannot enter the kingdom of God if we have any fish.  We first must repent of those fish.  We have to confess our fish before God and forsake them."  At least we didn't say it in an actual lesson!

The second funny thing is the shower sloth.  An elder started it before we got here, but our ZL kept the tradition going for the elders. The way the showers are set up here is that there's one big shower pipe in the middle and three separate shower heads in separate stalls.  So the way the shower sloth works is that while you're in the shower, you reach over the partition and take three fingers (like a three-toed sloth) and just sort of inch forward on the other person's head with them.  The elders told us, so my companions and I always try to get showers next to each other and do it.  We don't do it to strangers, but...we're getting 2 new sisters in our room on Wednesday, and we figured that might be a pretty good initiation.  :)

Again, I would really love some DearElders, so send them! 

Buena suerte, todos!  Espero que su semana vaya muy bien!  Dios los ama y el Evangelio es la verdad!  Jesucristo vive y es la respuesta a todas nuestras preguntas!

Con amor,

Hermana Lara Schaumann