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
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