Week 2 - A Real Live Actual Full Week

Bonjour mes amies et ma famille! Je vous manque!

I am learning so much out here. I mean, since every experience is a learning experience, I literally can't stop learning! It's kind of amazing.

We've memorized so much french that I feel like I should be fluent, but am anything but. Every prayer I say is in french, because I HAVE to learn how to do that (It's one of the most important skills). I've gotten pretty decent at it, though my prayers aren't poetry at all - but they're not scripted anymore either, which is really nice. Challenging, but nice. I can tell people I'm a missionary, I can share a scripture with them, I can invite them to be baptized, and I can ask if I can help, plus tons of other stuff. (ALL of that information is in my head. Do you understand what I mean now?) We're supposed to memorize Joseph Smith's first vision... So, all prayers are appreciated.

There's a cat on campus named Frank - he's our mascot around here. I've only seen him once or twice, but I really want to see him more often! So, prayers for that are good too :)

In all seriousness, most of what I'm doing out here is learning, whether it be the language or the gospel. So, I'm going to share a few of my spiritual thoughts to help fill out this email.

One of the beautiful things about being out here is that every time I look out a window, I can see the mountains (I think I mentioned this before, but there's new stuff coming, I promise). So, as one of my first studies, I took a look at the word mountain in the scriptures and read different times where it was mentioned. If you have mountains around you and you appreciate them as much as I do, do this! I really felt the Spirit manifest to me of the beauty and power of God through his creations, and learned a lot about my purpose as a member of the church and missionary. [Good scriptures are 1 Nephi 18:3, Jacob 4:6, and Mosiah 15:15-20. 

One of my main goals for this past week was to "fear not", because (Moroni 8:16) "perfect love casteth out all fear". I'm not necessarily afraid, but my nervousness and worries like to get the best of me sometimes - and I think we could all fear a little less. We're pretty well taken care of, after all - we have a prophet receiving revelation for us, we have families backing us up, and a Heavenly Father and Savior who want nothing more than for us to be able to see them again. So fear? Fear is a little bit impractical :)

I've also learned that humility is such an important thing for a missionary to have. I wouldn't say I'm particularly prideful, but I'm not as humble as I should be either. On Tuesday, we had a devotional by Elder Ochoa of the Seventy, and he told us we must be "humbled to the dust" to bring others to Christ. Otherwise, our efforts aren't for God, they're for ourselves... and missionaries are so much more effective when they work for God because they love Him, and give Him the glory.

In other news, I went to choir twice this week and sang a beautiful rendition with about 600 other missionaries of Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer. The Spirit was so strong, and the conductor was really funny and shared a few amazing spiritual experiences with us that definitely helped strengthen the spirit in the room. (Not as good as Mr. Hicks, of course... But good. Turns out Terry Hicks isn't the only good choir teacher in the world... Who knew?)

Sunday was fast and testimony meeting, and it was inspiring to hear from a mix of only missionaries — some on the verge of leaving, some here for a few days, some right in the middle where they need to be. I felt the Spirit so strong, and there was a point where the branch president finally asked people to stop coming up and keep their testimonies to about a minute each because there were about thirteen people in line. 

I also got to go and finalize some papers for the VISA a few days ago in LA! There's so many people in our District that they split us up and half went to LA and half went to San Francisco. This was a really fun opportunity because we all got to fly on a plane together at 7 AM with no supervision, and after we finished with our responsibilities, we could have a little day off in LA.

It wasn't that simple, I guess, because the phones they gave didn't connect to the internet after a while, so there came a time when we were just stranded in LA after getting lunch at an In-N-Out (the burgers are wayyyyy better in California. I didn't realize what I'd been missing). After some very stressful phone calls, we found our way back to the airport and decided to spend our time there... And, somewhere in between all of that, we accidentally ended up on the Walk of Fame, almost went to Zara, and got some really cool pictures of palm trees and street signs.

That summary sounds fuzzy and airheaded? That's exactly how the day was. My sympathy is with the missionaries serving in LA. Here are a few pictures that probably wont help clarify:

On the plane to LAX

Half a district in one shot! LA, here we come!

Palm Trees

If you want names, start with me in the top right of the last picture and go clockwise. Me, Elder Trescziak, Sœur Allen, Sœur Boseman, Elder Randall, Elder Quarndberg, Elder Ermatinger, Elder Jensen, Elder Roberts, and a sister who isn't in our district but came with us (Sœur Wetzel). 

It was crazy to leave the MTC for a full day (3:30 AM to 11 PM) and have to experience what it feels like when you DON'T have the Spirit of God everywhere all the time. The Spirit is so strong at the MTC, and even though it's only been a week, it's like I've found what I love so much that it's almost painful to leave it behind for any reason. I'm so grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost to keep me safe and comforted. I wouldn't have made it this far without it.

All is well out here - I've taken to eating cheese bagels and life cereal, and am meeting more people and feeling more love than ever before. Thank you for every prayer and kind word! They are appreciated, without a doubt.

A bientot!

Soeur Sperry