Provo MTC Week 4

Mi Familia!!

Shout-Outs. Grant-nice artwork buddy! My hermanas really appreciated the letter you wrote back too:) Mom-thanks for sending the small pocket-sized calendars. Much appreciated! I shared the other 4 with some missionaries in my district. Also I saw Sis.Megan Livingston on her 2nd day here!! I met her DL while I was waiting at the copy center too. Korean will be hard, but I know she'll do GREAT!!! Also she said that Sis.Doolittle made a cardboard cut-out blown up picture of me with a BoM and its in some of the jumping pictures at Courtney's wedding! haha I wanna see some:) Classic.

Tuesday Devotional. The Zwicks spoke with us for devotional. His construction company built the Portland temple!! So cool, he showed us some great pictures of the beginning stages of building and the original plans and such. Thought of you tons Hunter!!! Such a beautiful temple:) Some notes that I took:

-The Savior gives us the ability and strength to do all assignments.

-We can do it with His strength!! Don't let our circumstances define who you are!!

-Have unwavering faith.

-The Lord answers our prayers often through one of His servants. I've especially seen this to be true all through my life and now with the people in my district and zone. So grateful for all of the wonderful examples I have in my life!! Shout-out to the Copans and my Jacob lake family:)

-Study the Savior's life and strive to develop those attributes

-Quorum of 12 REALLY involved in ALL the details of missionary work. How incredible! I know my call is one of God and was divine revelation.

-Rather than giving into fears of being homesick/overwhelmed/scared/out of one's comfort zone--build and deepen faith in Jesus Christ!! OVERCOME.

5 things to succeed as a missionary:

1-Come unto Christ

2-Partake

3-Offer your whole Soul

4-Fast & Pray!

5-Endure to the end

Also Bro.Z talked about a few things to become more Christ-like, that he made an analogy with the construction of the Portland temple:

1-Start with the end in mind

2-Strong desire and commitment

3-Willingness & Discipline to work HARD

4-Prepare for challenges\

5-Structural and spiritual integrity

6-total dedication to the Lord

Teaching. My companion and I are still regularly teaching Moises Y Santiago. Lately we've been learning about and working on practicing giving a more personal testimony and explanation of the Book of Mormon. And explain how/why it will be important to their life. Personalizing the gospel to the person's needs!! And simplifying the atonement. TRC this week was wonderful!! We spoke with 2 member volunteers and had a great conversation about how to feel and recognize the Holy Ghost's influence more in our life and what we can do to invite it more with our activities and decisions. And how to receive answers to questions with earnest prayers. LIMITING DISTRACTIONS and such. The spirit was there really strong and it was fun to read the feedback that they wrote after we left. TRC's are probably my absolute favorite aspect of teaching. Because all members need to be strengthened and reminders of what really matters most:)

Language. We took a short language assessment last week and I read the feedback that one of the teachers provided. It was kinda funny realizing how my sentences didn't really make any sense with how I conjugated the verb...Trying to roll my "r" so that the word has the correct meaning. My comp made a song/melody to memorize the 1st vision which was really helpful! Except its HILARIOUS cause in one of our lessons I was quoting it, but started to kind of sing it, to remember the phrases/sentences. Too good! I've got the baptismal invitation down and now wanna work on memorizing D Y C 4 and my purpose as a missionary (PMG). At the end of every class with Hermano Roden, we always read from El Libro de Mormon and try to translate what its saying, then double-check it with the English BoM. Its surprising how much we're now able to translate. And I'm really glad that the Hermanas Y Yo have already been reading out of it each night in our room, it really has been helpful:) Also singing himnos is quite an adventure! It's usually the same melody/rhythm as the hymn in English-except it doesn't sound too fantastic when we sing it since we're trying to get the pronunciation right. jaja. I usually end up singing it just a tad faster than everyone else too...its esp. entertaining at church since all but one members of the branch presidency doesn't know Spanish. 

VISA. Yeah..so 99.9% sure that it won't come in time, which is fine. I'll find out my temporary re-assignment (state side) soon and will be able to call home to let you all know! I'm excited to find out where and get the travel plans for it. Any guesses? I hope CA! actually anywhere.

Zone. This week on Wednesday, we got a new district of 4 Hermanas Y 4 Elders. They're great and most are from UT. Our Branch President is really nice and welcoming. Its really funny to read what he emails us back each week tho, all of us get the same paragraph about something. His wife, Sis. Wing is really nice and laughs at my silly jokes-so that’s sweet:) She told us this week that he's a roller-blader.jajaja. Yesterday, in our fast & testimony meeting, I bore mine in mostly spanish! I was surprised with how much I was able to say-even used a phrase in the imperfect from HS. Fought back the tears when I expressed my gratitude and love for my family! Phew.

Missionary work in general. One of our teachers-Hermano Henderson-gave us a really good thought to keep in mind. What if the ZL/DL/AP/MP/Member of the 12 came with us while we were tracting and proselyting one day? What difference would it make with our decisions/behavior/studies/interacting with people? We need to realize and remember that Jesus Christ HAS promised to always be with us, so we already SHOULD be acting and being our absolute BEST! Good to keep in mind:) when we do our absolute BEST, He will bless us greatly. Be obedient to what you do & why you do it. Have REAL intent, pure heart, and do it for the right reasons (whole heart & mind). I'll cast my burdens at His feet, He'll renew my strength to be able to accomplish what is asked of me. "Tsunami of sisters" we have 1,254 right now! Can't remember if I already said that from last week...Daily determination and diligence!! This should be a pure & unselfish service-Alma 26:12. Picture the end goal/person that you want to become and all of your decisions after that will either move you closer to that goal of further away. From Hno. Roden-You are confined to the boundaries that you set for yourself. Never thing that anything is impossible, but rather have the faith and work hard so that Heavenly Father will bless you will the ability for it to be accomplished.

Current Goals for the week:

-Memorize D Y C 4 and my purpose as a missionary en espanol

-Develop more Christ-like attributes

-Speak more spanish!! (Meal times, class, etc.)

-Use less notes for lessons with the investigators, more planning as a companionship

-Expand vocab/ability to use more phrases with what I want to say and communicate with prayers and bearing testimony in spanish

-Memorize the order to the lessons in PMG

-Stay more awake in class and with planning the lessons.jaja.

Current Favorite Scriptures:

-Alma 26:12

-D&C 136:28

-Omni 1:26

-D&C 50: 13-14, 42:6

-2 Nephi 31:20

-D&C 133: 44-53 

Randoms.

-An Elder in my district got a package with mangoes, and naturally, I was really excited about some real fresh fruit! Except I cut it really weird and got it ALL over my hands and face. Everyone was dying laughing and Elder Endicott, our ZL, took a photo. Slightly embarrassing, but so delicious! Small sacrifices.

-My comp and I noticed that a few of the toilets in our residence had started to overflow and the water was getting ALL over the floor. So I called the main info desk and after describing it, he said someone from security would come (what help would that be?), then maintenance if needed. It was really funny for some reason. Esp. when there was a PA system announcement saying that a male would be entering the residence and all sisters should be dressed appropriately...jaja.

-I've been here for almost a month and have only lost 2 of my things! For me, that’s pretty good:)

-Yesterday at mission conference, sis.Nally (president of MTC's wife) spoke of how she has attended many humble setting sacrament meetings-one of which she described as being near the North Rim and that everyone was in uniforms. Sounded like Jacob Lake!!! Woah I miss that place. And the Grand Canyon!! I'm really excited for the next time that I'll hike rim2rim!!

-For a few nights last week, I couldn't sleep..but now I'm out within a few minutes!

-Its weird not hearing my first name. I miss it! But I guess "Boody" will always serve me as a nice ice-breaker. EVERYONE has a clever joke they want to share...haha.

I'm extremely grateful and feel very blessed to be here right now, preparing to teach the gospel to the people of Peru. Being a missionary is quite different from what I had always thought it would be/imagined. But in a good way!! I've never felt so close to my Savior and understood the Atonement in such a depth. Everyday-I desperately NEED the guidance of the Holy Ghost and its incredible to have that influence daily. Yo se que Jesucristo es mi Salvador Y Redentor. Yo se que Dios es mi amoroso Padre Celestial. Yo se que Jose Smith resturado la iglesia en este tierra Y es un profeta verdad. Yo se que este iglesia es verdad Y la iglesia de Jesucristo. Yo se que El Libro de Mormon es verdad Y Yo siento el Espiritu Santo cuando leer los paginas. Yo se que mi familia es eternal. Yo estoy muy agradecido por todos mis bendiciones. En el nombre de Jesucristo amen.

Con Mucho Amor siempre

Hermana Rachel Anne Boody