I can't believe it has been another week! Halfway done at the MTC! Crazy, right? So I'm sorry that I'm terrible at writing emails and I'm sure that like nobody reads these anyways. But I'll try to make this one less scattered. I gave myself more time to type so hopefully it'll be better :)
Hmm so I guess I'll just lay out the week...
Tuesday (last P day): We had a devotional from Larry R. Lawrence of the Seventy and his wife which was awesome. He talked about how we can protect ourselves from the adversary and how we should try to avoid being discouraged. It was great.
Wednesday: So Sis Richards seriously has had something go wrong like every day at the MTC. She was sick the whole first week, she kept getting random cuts and bruises and bug bites everywhere, her hair was falling out, and she was having some stomach problems. I have no idea how I haven't gotten sick yet...So we've been to the clinic a few times and she finally had a follow up appointment for some blood tests and we found out that her body was just stressed and she was just adjusting to everything I guess, but we're pretty sure she's all good now.
Oh, we also got to host! It was awesome! Especially since I didn't have a host when I arrived because of my insane flight delay that made me miss all the fun. I got to host 4 new sisters! It was exhausting but so fun! I was pretty much carrying heavy suitcases around and up/down stairs for two hours straight but it was the best!
Thursday: Oh cool story! So we have a few people (2 sisters and 1 elder I think) in our zone who are going to Mozambique and I guess there were people from South Africa who were curious about the MTC and the missionaries and we're trying to get more missionaries in other areas there so the consulate general of Angola came to visit and observe the other district in our zone for like an hour and it was crazy and a huge deal. And we heard he was impressed with how much Potuguês everyone knew after only being here for two weeks.
Oh, funny story. We were practicing contacting outside and I got paired up with Sis Berg and we were supposed to teach about O Livro de Mórmon so I was trying to explain (em Potuguês of course) that it is another testamento de Jesus Cristo and I tried to say that Jesus is the son of God, but I accidentally said to Sis Berg "Jesus Cristo é teu filho (your son)" instead of "Jesus Cristo é seu filho (His son)." So that was an awesome mixup. Sister Berg could not stop laughing so that lesson ended quickly haha No big deal, I'm just gonna tell my future investigators that Jesus Christ is their son haha
Oh, also Sis Richards got hit in the head with a volleyball during gym time so that was the best day ever. That sounded so mean haha but she was totally fine and she was laughing about it :)
Friday: TRC (Teaching Resource Center)! We got to teach a lesson to members so we prepared a lesson on temples. It was awesome and it totally boosted our confidence since they didn't ask us hard questions that we couldn't answer in Portuguese. It was amazing and the Spirit was definitely felt.
Saturday: Most beautiful day ever! There were huge piles of leaves everywhere and we studied outside a lot. Irmã Nielson was still sick :( So we had a sub Irmão Nothum. He was awesome and really energetic and we talked about how we can help our investigators know that Jesus is the Christ. Good stuff.
Sunday: I got called to give my talk! It's kinda horrible because they don't tell you before so we all have to have talks prepared and then like a minute before we have to go up, they announce who they'd like to hear from. So I thought I was safe since Sis Richards got called last week but NOPE. It was cool tho. I gave a 3 minute talk em Potuguês sobre O Livro de Mórmon y fé. Also, Chad Lewis (he played BYU football and for the Philadelphia Eagles) spoke at the Devotional and it was awesome. He was so funny and had so many great stories. And we also got to watch a movie called the Legacy in Portuguese! They usually don't play it in Portuguese so that was cool.
Monday: Best day ever in the MTC! It was just awesome! And some worker in the cafeteria did something really nice for me even though I had barely said anything to her! They had run out of something that Sis Richards and I really like having for breakfast so I just said okay and walked back to where we usually sit and then like 5 min later I saw her walking up and she brought us some! It was so random and nice and I don't even know how she found us in the crazy cafeteria! Made my day! Oh and Irmã Nielson was finally back (she had been sick all week).
Anyways, besides all that, Sis Richards and I have been working hard with the language and we're trying our best to improve on our teaching skills every day. One particular thing that we were struggling with was figuring out what exactly each investigator needed to hear and what message would be best to share with them every time we met. We've gotten better at committing our investigators to faithfully do things for themselves though which is awesome. And one of our investigators came to church!
Also, I wanted to share a quote that has really helped me the past couple of weeks. I've found that the MTC can get kind of stressful and frustrating so it is very important to stay positive no matter what. At this past women's conference, Dieter F. Uchtdorf said, "Heavenly Father is constantly raining blessings upon us, but it is our fear, doubt, and sin that, like an umbrella, block these blessings from reaching us." We can't let our fears, insecurities, or doubts get in our way. I've definitely learned that here at the MTC. I just have to be positive, speak whenever I can in whatever Portuguese I do know, and just keep moving forward :)
Sorry that was like the longest email ever
Eu amo vocês!
Sister Alia Earls
Moroni 10:32
Sister Richards and me aka the best companionship ever
This picture looks really pathetic but I promise our whole classroom is decorated. I was just too lazy and forgot to take more pictures. Sister Esplin got a bunch of decorations and Halloween toys in a package so we went a little crazy.
Saturday was such and awesome and beautiful day so of course, we had to have a photo shoot in the leaves!
Sister Richards and I got to host last Wednesday! This was how we felt after...Haha carrying heavy luggage around for two hours is just a little tiring, but it was so so fun!
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