Tuesday, November 4, 2008

6 weeks to go! The Spanish is kickin her butt....

Hey, what's up?

Well, for some I reason don't really know what to say... But things are going well! I have decided that Mondays are my favorite day of the week (except for P-day and Sundays of course). Mondays are the days that we do most of our teaching. We teach at the TRC, which for me is very muy scary (it's still in english though!), because the people we are teaching aren't missionaries, but REAL people volunteering (which still shouldn't be scary because I volunteered myself at the TRC once, and I'm no one to be scared of). But the last couple times that we've taught I have come away feeling so incredible inside. It's even kind of fun. Kind of. But I am definitely not saying that to myself right before we go in to teach. I think I nearly wet my pants the first time.

Right now I'm super worried about Spanish. Oh man, I don't even want to think of where I am with my Spanish, it will make me throw up probably.... Yesterday was the last day of being the guinea pigs by experimental teaching methods and we received our grammar books. I really hope the language can go smoother from here on out. Last night after our "teaching appointment" we had another opportunity to practice teaching the natives, or missionaries who speak Spanish. We stumbled through the first lesson, not hardly coherent I'm sure, and it only lasted maybe 10 minutes because of how little we know. Then the Spanish Elders practiced teaching us in Spanish. They were from Argentina and Peru. Boy, I didn't hardly understand a word they were saying (especially the Argentine, he spoke so fast!), but I picked up a few pieces from the Elder from Peru. And even though I couldn't understand it all, it was so powerful. Listening to this elder testify made me want to get baptized all over again. I think this experience will go with me to Chile.

It's such an important thing to realize how important a testimony can be. I know this IS the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, I know we have a prophet on the earth today and I know that through the love of Jesus Christ, everything in our lives can be made right. I love that I'm on a mission. After the lesson was taught by the elders, the Peruvian said (in broken english) "I feel something so special right now, I don't want to be here in the MTC, I just want to go out and teach!" I feel the same way, I am so excited, I just haveta drill the language down my throat for the next 6 weeks...

Lots of other stuff happens all the time too... The food's good. The days are really hard still. I still have my moments where I have really hard times, but it will all be worth it. I can't believe how fast time has gone by, but at the same time it feels like I've been here forever!

Geoff, one of my teachers Devin Harrison was in your mission I think... He says he remembers you at least.

Okay, I sent a letter today with some pics, you'll get it soon hopefully. I love you and miss you and hope you're doing well.

Write me letters, okay? dearelder.com's are good. Do it, I dare you. Please?

Hermana Jones

(NOTE: If you'd like to leave a comment, Al's lovely mother will be happy to copy and paste it in her next e-mail to her. I'm sure she would love to read any and every comment on her blog. Thanks!)

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Alison, Just know that everyone that has been through that place has hard days too! You are such a great girl and an example to me and my family
. Jeni's baby Sawyer is 4 months old on Sunday, I can't believe it. We sure are having fun with him!
Good luck, good bless. We pray for you every night. Lorraine Carter