Grab Your Crocs, We’re Going Ice Skating!!

Hola a todos :))) 

 

 

Wow, this first week has gone by SO FAST!! And it has been one heck of a journey, so buckle your seatbelts. 

 

 

Monday was my first day of home MTC (Missionary Training Center) (but in spanish, the acronym is CCM)! It was awesome!! I met my companion, district, and teachers- and all I’ve gotta say is I’m one lucky gal. :) I won’t lie, it was pretty difficult for me to connect with my companion, Hermana Anderson at first, but these last five days have helped me gradually get to know her more. She’s super sweet. I LOVE MY DISTRICT!! Everyone is so kind and SUPER knowledgeable in the Spanish language. (Which I’m so grateful for because sometimes my Spanish is not the greatest). I’m so ready to meet them in person and to get to know them better! The Lord knew exactly who needed to be in District 7B, I’ve felt it as I’ve met all of my new friends. 

 

 

Tuesday I felt super weighed down by a lot of things, but mainly my heart longed to be able to connect with my companion better. So I prayed to know what I should do during my personal study that morning. I did my best to follow the tiny promptings I got throughout the day, but nothing I did seemed to be working, and to top it all off, my companion informed me that she would be doing all of her CCM experience online. (Which is totally fine, I want her to do whatever she is comfortable with in her CCM experience). But this broke my heart because this whole time I kept thinking, “oh, it’ll get better when we meet in person”. Welp, unfortunately, we won’t have the chance to meet in person, but I know I needed to try and make the most of the online experience we'll have together. After a few tears, and heartfelt prayers, Heavenly Father helped me come to terms with this. Later that night though, Hermana Anderson and I found out that she’s going to be transferred to another district when I get to the Mexico MTC, and I’ll likely be put into a trio with other Hermanas in my current district. So all I’ve gotta say is that Tuesday was an emotional rollercoaster, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to get up and do it all again the next day.  But I’ve felt so much love and reassurance from Heavenly Father. It’s crazy, I don’t think I’ve ever felt the spirit more in my life. I know He’s with me always. And I know He needs me to help in His work. 

 

 

Wednesday I learned a lot about the Gift of Tongues! I’m pretty fortunate to have a twin sister who speaks Spanish with me regularly, so I can understand just about everything my teachers say in class (even when they talk super fast and they think none of us can understand them), and I can speak fairly well! But when it comes to saying gospel related terms- that’s a whole other story. It’s quite the mouthful to say “el evangelio restaurado” (the restored gospel) or, this one’s a killer, “arrepentimiento” (repentance). But I’m praying every day for the ability to speak Spanish better and to say what the Lord would have me share. Also, on this day in Hermano Robles class, we set a goal as a district to memorize our missionary purpose… in spanish…. by class on Friday. And all I can tell you is that I know me memorizing all of it in spanish by Friday was a miracle from the Lord! Hermano Robles let us out of class early, and when I walked upstairs, Malorie told me to “grab my crocs, because we’re going ice skating”. (It had started to sleet that afternoon, and snowed later that night, can you believe it?!). So I dun grabbed my crocs, and despite having watched the missionary safety videos that day, I went “ice skating” with Malorie in our driveway… well ice skating is generous because there wasn’t much ice on the ground at all and we sorta shuffled our feet on some barely sleet covered cement. But it was fun because it was with Malorie. :) 

 

 

Thursday was so fun because most of our lessons that day were about meeting and truly connecting with others- which basically meant that most of the day was spent getting to know the other people in my district (YAY). SO MUCH FUN. I can tell that our personalities are going to mesh really well together :) Thursday was also Malorie’s 18th birthday, and Madi and her family came over for Malorie’s birthday dinner… which I sorta got to take part in in about 5-minute increments when Hermano Robles gave us breaks during our afternoon/evening class. I’m just grateful I got to be up there to sing happy birthday to her and see her blow out her fancy candles that shot out edible confetti all over her cake after they lit the fuse. (It was so cute, I want those candles on all my birthday cakes for the rest of my life.) Ooooh also, I went to a workshop (sort of like a devotional meeting) where we talked about “Becoming Disciples of Jesus Christ” and the cool thing about it was that there’s a translator in the zoom calls that translates for the native English speaking missionaries and the native Spanish speaking missionaries so that everyone can understand. But when they put us in breakout rooms to discuss the things we had learned, THEY PUT ME AND HERMANA ANDERSON IN A ROOM WITH TWO NATIVE SPANISH SPEAKERS THAT ARE LEARNING ENGLISH!!! Which was sooooooooo intimidating. I’m sure you can all imagine the “deer in headlights” look we all had on our faces when we realized that we couldn’t get away with speaking in our native languages, haha. But it was so cool because even if we didn’t say everything perfectly, we still understood each other. It was awesome. 

 

 

Friday was hard because I WAS SO TIRED. Following this whole missionary schedule thing is HARD. (And I don’t think I’ll ever get used to waking up at 6:30, haha, but it’s getting a little easier). I finally got the hang of praying in Spanish and learned a little more about this whole missionary thang. But it was a pretty normal and laid-back day. 

 

 

And now here I am writing this email :) I think I should make a shirt that says “I survived week one of home MTC” haha! This was a big accomplishment in my book! This week has been one of the most exciting and exhausting weeks EVER!! But I wouldn’t have it any other way because I know this is exactly what Heavenly Father wants me to be doing right now. He loves you!! I know and believe that with my whole heart! I can’t help but feel His love for you!! This work is so exciting, and I’m so grateful for this opportunity I’ve been given. 

 

 

I love you all!! Please email me about anything, I still wanna keep up with all of you! (Encouragement may be needed as I prepare to teach my first lesson entirely in Spanish next week! Pray for me, haha.) 

 

 

Con todo el amor del mundo, 

Hermana Grimm :) 

 

 

2 Nefi 25: 26 

“Y hablamos de Cristo, nos regocijamos en Cristo, predicamos de Cristo, profetizamos de Cristo y escribimos según nuestros profecías, para que nuestros hijos sepan a qué fuente han de acudir para la remisión de sus pecados.”

 

 

2 Nephi 25: 26 

“And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” 

 

 

(Here are some fun pictures, I put a lot bc I know this is one of my favorite parts about missionary emails).