IF THERE WAS ANY WAY TO DESCRIBE THIS PAST WEEK... I would say that it is a ROLLERCOASTER. Everyone says that the MTC is full of highs and lows and it is SO TRUE! There are times that I have felt rock bottom discouraged and so homesick. Sometimes I miss my old life sooo much. It really is hard to describe as those feelings are natural. At the same time there are also time that I have NEVER felt better! I have felt the power of the holy ghost and the power of being a missionary in ways that I have NEVER felt before. Devotionals or firesides and Sundays are such excting things! I have felt my testimony grown in 100 ways already and I know it will continue to grow. I have learned so much. I am becoming a changed person and I am happy. It is so crazy how high and extreme different emotions are here. The highs and lows are REAL! It is what makes this experience so amazing! This is the hardest thing that I have ever had to do but I am SO happy! I just lay in bed at night just so excited for this work and for the spirit and for what I have learned... sometimes I CAN´T SLEEP! Especially after SUNDAY. Sunday was one of the best days of my life. We had the most amazing the most amazing testimonies and devotionals that day. Church was amazing. Also, Elder Reina came and gave the BEST FIRESIDE. It was such an answer to my prayers. There have been times that I have felt completely overwhelmed with the spirit testifying to me the importance of being a missionary. It is often hard to describe these experiences, but they 100% make up for the hard lows.
First of all, THE PLANE RIDE! The plane ride actually wasn´t as bad as I imagined it would be! All of the missionaries were just so excited to be there and nervous with a HUGE mixture of emotions. It was a weeeird feeling flying over. SO much to think about, and so much to expect. I had so many letters from friends and family to read so that took up a lot the time. I sat next to Hermana Fowers, who is actually my campanion right NOW! She will probably be my companion for the rest of the MTC. Anyways, so the plane went well. Haha some guy in front of me on the plane was talking on the phone and was like, "There are so many Mormon missionaries surrounding me right now.." I was just thinking TRUE THAT! Haha it was great to not have to fly all of the way to Madrid by myself.
NOW.
Here comes the weirdness of the mtc and the weirdness of Spain.
MOTHS. There are HUGE moths here. Literally like these huge 3 inch brown moths everywhere. I made my bed this morning and as I pulled up the blanket, what flew out?? Yeah, a moth. Haha just a fun fact.
SPAIN IS BEAUTIFUL!! Seriously so pretty! It is really green and the trees are beautiful. There are tall red brick buildings everywhere! It is such a fun culture. The people are so nice. The most beautiful part that I have seen though is the TEMPLE!! Which includes the MTC! I took some great pictures the first day of arriving at the MTC. Hopefully they will come through with this email. But it seriously is sooo beautiful. The MTC, or CCM (spanish) is so small! There are probably only 50 missionaries here right now. It is great because you pretty much get to know all of them so well. Although I would have loved more people. But it is such an awesome experience to be able to learn to be a missionary and learn ESPAÑOL in Spain. I absolutley LOVE my teachers and LOVE the CCM mission presidents. The President´s name is President Sitterud and he is just THE GREATEST! It is so nice being able to get such personal one on one attention from Him. That is one of the blessings of being here in this MTC. He is awesome. Haha looks, sounds, and acts like a mix between President Uchtdorf and President MONSON! He is a powerful guy.
FOOD
Seeing that I am such a picky eater (dumb) I was SO worried for the food here. So many people would tell me that I am so lucky to get to eat the food in Spain, but it was really like my biggest fear. Haha I know DUMB! Well this is all I have to say about the food...
STUFFED TOMATOES!
In Spain they stuff food. I guess it is just their thing. The other day they gave us stuffed fish and stuffed tomatoes. Tuna salad was the inside of both. SHOUTOUT to Sarah Stringham.. she loves this stuff..Good new though is that the food is getting better. OH the fruit here is AMAZING! They have tons of it and I have yet some that I didn´t love. It is really all I eat. But its great because it is DELICIOUS. Oh also. They serve some sort of potatoes everyday... every meal.. most days. A lot of the time they are french fries. I don´t know if they are serving them so much because it is part of their culture, or if it just because we are American. Also a popular drink here is basically tomatoes blended with garlic. I know. I grabbed it the first day thinking that it was some smoothie.. bad idea haha. Hermana Chance chugged it the other day and I think it was the grossest thing I have ever watched. I like wanted to throw up just thinking about it.
LANGUAGE
Everything that I ever heard was that a mission would not be easy. I am here to tell you that that is THE TRUTH. I came here knowing that it would be hard.. still not sure what to expect. It. is. so. hard. The first couple of days I wondered how am I going to be able to do this with no stopping for the next year and a half. What makes it especially hard is the language. I knew that learning the language would in no way be easy, but I never exected it to be this hard! Holy cow it is such a weird thing to think about. I didn´t even think about it. It is so easy to feel discouraged so often. But I know that if I can just do my hardest and just endure that the language will come with time.
TEACHING
I have learned that having a testimony, and being able to teach something.. are two very different things. And is especially hard when you are learing to do it in a language that you can´t speak yet. Immediately we started teaching investigators! (Pretend role playing.) It is SO hard but so rewarding. Lessons are coming easier and easier as the language is coming. The teachers here say this all of the time. They say poco a poco a poco. That just means little by little by little. The MTC is such and amazing place because it is such a struggle.
SATURDAY!
On Saturday we went to the park for and PROSELYTED in Spanish for the first time ever. Riding the metro to the park was quite the experience I just couldn´t stop laughing! I could not believe what I was doing. It was scary. It was nerve racking. It was thrilling. Trying to talk to someone in Spanish and get referrals, and place Book of Mormons, and bear my testimony was AWESOME. It made me so excited to actually get in the field! It also gave me great motivation to try my hardest and consecrate everything that I have to Lord so that I can get to that point. What a journey it has been this far.
This is definitely the hardest thing. I can´t believe how hard it is! But it is SO rewarding. I wish I had more time to write because I could go on and on.
Find Joy In the Journey
Loose Yourself In The Work
Press Forward
Those are things that I tell myself constantly when I feel like I want to cry. His work is hastening on.
I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! You are in my prayers.
Hermana Nydegger
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