Tuesday, July 15, 2014

One week already!

Sister Lacey and her MTC companion, Sister Mancuso

Hey family!!
I cant believe I have been here for almost a week now!! It was so great hearing from all of you and getting all the dear elder letters. I LOVE THE MTC!!  I guess you can say it is definitely my bread and butter because I like to study so much! On average we spend around 10-12 hours a day studying the gospel and of course portuguese!! Okay and my language is seriously so beautiful!! It is basically spanish with a french accent. So beautiful.
Well, like I said, the MTC is seriously the best place on earth besides the temple!! I could stay here forever!! The spirit is so strong here and every building is dedicated so we are truly on holy ground. The first day here I was the first one in my district to the classroom so it was just my teacher and I going over portuguese. He spoke ZERO english!! And lets just say the gift of tongues is a real thing. I am by far not even close to being fluent but it is amazing how much I already know. I can say very simple prayers in portuguese, I memorized "Your Purpose" (Look it up, so cool) in portugese and english, and the most crazy thing of all is that I have taught 3 lessons to an "investigator" in portuguese... they expect a lot out of you here.
So a little more about teaching the lesson. We taught a lesson on the third day I was here!!  It was to a girl named Sonya; well she actually served a mission in Brazil but she does a really good job acting like she doesn't know the gospel. It feels very real. Can I just say exact obedience brings blessings because I was not supposed to read my letters until 9:30 that night. I got your first letters right after lunch on Friday. Well at 6:30 that night we had our first lesson with Sonya. My companion is fluent in spanish which helps me a lot but she has picked up on the language very quickly. In the lesson they were talking back and forth to each other and I literally understood 2 words.  I said the things I had prepared, but I was so frustrated because I wanted to bare my testimony, but I had no idea how to in portugese. Anyways so I was feeling discouraged for the first time on my mission and I got back to the room and read mom and dads letters and I was crying. Dad, I loved how you said "Don't get to frustrated about the language it will come." "Make sure you focus on the positives." If I would have read the letter right when I got it I would not have needed it like I did then. One thing we always say is (from president Monson) obedience brings blessings but exact obedience brings miracles and the timing of the letter was a miracle.
I love my district and my teacher!! They are seriously so fun!! I start crying everyday in class from laughing so hard. I can totally see why the mission age was changed; the Elders are goofballs but they have pure and strong testimonies. One funny story that happened in class. Elder Gunther, who is just the funniest guy ever, was asking our teacher if he had a girl friend and our teacher was saying ele meaning "he" which sounds like "ellie" doesn't have a girlfriend. Elder Gunther thought he was saying he had a girlfriend named Ellie and Elder Gunther said "Her name is Ellie!!" I was seriously crying I was laughing so hard. So I love my district. Another funny story which is probably not appropriate but they think I smell good. One Elder said I need to tell him what I wear so his future wife can wear it. Haha. And I wasnt even wearing perfume, just the Aussie hairspray. It has actually spread around our whole zone so anyways. They are pretty funny Elders. Haha

Sister Lacey's MTC District
So guess who I missed hearing from the week before I came into the MTC?  Elder Anderson!!  He was the one who spoke to you and the other bishops right dad? Well anyways his grandson was my zone leader and just flew out to Brazil yesterday. But after Elder Anderson spoke at the devotional he came and talked to my zone and pointed to one of the sisters in my district and said that he was the one who assigned her!! So cool right??
The devotional Sunday was amazing. His name is Brother Heaton and he is high up in the MTC. Well, he was blunt and I like that. Haha, He said I hate to break it to you missionaries but this is not your gospel to teach, it is Christ's, so teach with His Spirit.  Don't say what you want to say, but say what he would say to the people you are teaching and feel how he would feel. It was an amazing talk. 

I will never be the same. My mission is going to change me so much. I cannot believe how much more positive and happy I already have become. But how could I not be happy? This is our Saviors work and I get to spend all day learning and growing closer to Him and my Pia Celestial (my Heavenly Father. Isnt that pretty!!) I know that this Church is true and I love you all so much!!! Thank you for everything. LOVE YOU ALL!!!
Love Sister Lacey

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