Week Three - Bogotá Columbia MTC

Hola mi familia! 

It feels as if it’s been an eternity since my last p-day, but at the same time, I don’t know where the time has gone.  I’m already halfway done here at the CCM.  It’s been a rollercoaster ride.  I absolutely love it here.  Ecuador still feels like a dream, but I know it’s going to come sooner than later.  And I can’t wait!  I’m feeling a little cabin fever coming on.  We got to go outside the fence this morning for our trip to the temple, but it’s still not the same as being able to walk around and talk with a bunch of strangers about the gospel and how awesome it is.  We’ve only done that once and it was only for an hour, but it was the best/most nerve-racking hour of my life.  Tomorrow we go out for three hours and I can’t wait.   Especially since I know like 3x the amount of Spanish than I did last time. 

Speaking of Spanish, the gift of tongues is so real.  I’m pretty sure I’ve said that already but I had an amazing experience with it earlier in the week.  We were having a devotional about receiving revelation through prayer.  I was having somewhat of a rough day.  Our lessons didn’t go as well as we hoped, the Spanish was particularly foreign, and all I wanted to do was go to my room and pray.  So we’re in this devotional and our maestro (teacher), who speaks zero English, asked me to come up and do the demonstration with him.  (He was showing how to teach someone how to receive revelation through prayer).  What I thought was going to be a tutorial turned into a very real and spiritual experience for me and for everyone in the room.  He began speaking to me; using words I had never heard/learned before.  Half way through, I realized that I understood every single thing he was telling me, even if I couldn’t translate it to English.

Not only did I understand everything he was saying, but also everything he was saying was so inspired.  He had no idea that I had a rough day, but the words he shared spoke directly to my heart.  The sprit in the room was tangible.  He then invited me to pray on my knees, and express my sincere feeling and desires to my Heavenly Father.  I was really nervous because he was asking me to sincerely pray in Spanish in front of 15 nortes, including Presidente Duvall, while I was crying.  But I did it, and it was the most powerful and spiritual thing I’ve ever experienced in my life.  I got to testify to all of those missionaries of the reality and power of the gift of tongues.  And there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.  This was a very personal experience for us, but I’m sharing it with all of you to remind you that you have a loving Heavenly Father, who wants nothing more than anything for you to pray to Him and to share with Him what you’re going through.  Prayer is not a one-way communication with God.  It is and always has been a two-way communication, we just sometimes forget to have patience to receive and feel an answer or feeling from God.  So I invite you all next time you pray with sincerity, and once you finish your prayer, pause for 30 seconds, and listen to the promptings from the Holy Ghost.  And if you haven’t prayed in awhile or don’t pray at all, I challenge you to do so.  I know that if you pray with a sincere heart and real intent you will feel the love of your Heavenly Father.  We are His children and He loves us more than we can comprehend.

Satan doesn’t want us to pray.  And I’ve also known in my time here that Satan really doesn’t want me here.  He’s tried to discourage me on multiple occasions whether it’s having a head cold for two weeks, or several paper cuts from my Preach My Gospel, or my investigator that he could receive a remission from his fish.  Satan works his hardest right before something great is going to happen.  So, if you’re feeling or facing a trial in your life, don’t give up.  Keep praying, keep striving to do good, and by all means kick Satan out of your life.  We have an amazing occasion just this weekend during General Conference. 

I hope you’re all as excited as I am!  I can’t wait!  I challenge you all to write down your life/gospel related questions and take them to conference.  I know you’ll receive an answer.  That’s why I’m on a mission today.  Last October I took my question to whether or not I should serve a mission and I received an answer and here I am!  In South America!  I’m loving the CCM and I’m loving being a missionary.  Thank you for all of your prayers and support.  I love each and every one of  you so much!  Don’t forget that faith is an action word.  Practice a little more faith today than you did yesterday and you’ll be happier for it.

Much Love,

Hermana B

P.S. We are taking a tour next week and I get to ride a llama!  So stay tuned for that!

Hola!

Companions :)

Hermanas in our group

Ammon District

An awkward family moment of the Ammon District

Another awkward district moment

Latinas at the CCM for 2 weeks