Hola familia y amigos,
Well, I'm at the beginning of week 3. Although the days are so long they're so similar that it's very hard to make any distinctions between everything that happens. So, on Wed. E. White and I taught our last "lesson" to Ariana, our "Investigator". Then on Thursday evening she came to class and became our teacher, Hermana Bryan. Starting tomorrow she'll be another "investigator," Julia, and Hemano Osuna will become "Carlos". That way both our teachers will also be our investigators so that they can better know how we can improve our teaching abilities.
Good news! I had a dream that contained some Spanish! I don't remember much of it I just know I was dreaming about being taught Spanish. This pretty much reflects how I feel I am in my knowledge of Spanish. I feel like I know enough Spanish to eek out what I want to communicate, at least in a semi-comprehensible manner. It's hard because I could know Spanish a lot better if I spent more time with it, and it feels like if I just knew more Spanish everything would be easier. But I have to keep telling myself that that's not the case. More important than the Spanish is the Spirit, and my knowledge of the Gospel for the Spirit to draw on.
Speaking of knowledge of the Gospel, I'd like to share what I've been learning this week. It started on Tues. when Elder Ballard came and spoke at the devotional. He talked about the fact that we've gone to Primary, Sunday School, Seminary, and all the other Church programs for most of our lives and we know the Gospel already. He said we just need to turn to Christ, and specifically His Atonement, to help us live it and teach it. Then, in the week Hermano Frey (who's a receiver on the BYU football team, Dad) talked to us about the Atonement and how it applies to everything we do. He showed a very good video clip called "Missionary Work and the Atonement" that I suggest y'all look up on YouTube. And the talk of the Atonement just continued on Sunday in our District Meeting (like Sunday School) discussion, in the Mission Fireside, and the Sunday evening Devotional. And because of all this external talk of the Atonement it has made me ponder it a lot lately. In Ether 12:25 it says that Christ will show us our weaknesses if we come to him, which sounds like it's horrible, but just like the Nephites when King Benjamin talked to them, it is only when we recognize our nothingness do we truly see the goodness of God (see Mosiah 4). I've been really humbled and shown my weaknesses lately, but I've also more fully been able to see the goodness of God in my life. Another thought that I'd like to leave you with is this: in 2 Nephi 2:25-27 it talks of the Atonement and how through it all men are free. It says we are free to choose between Eternal Life or Eternal Misery. Why are we free to choose? Because of the Atonement. No matter what you have done wrong in the past if you choose now to work toward Eternal Life, the Atonement covers it, but no matter what good you have done in your life if you choose to turn away from Eternal Life there is no way to obtain it, period. The Atonement guarrantees a spot for you if only you make that choice. Please, turn to Christ. Let him heal you. Quit "hid[ing] as it were [your] faces from Him" (Isaiah 53:3-5). Look to Him; Go to Him. He's there; He knows. Make that one small, yet eternally significant choice.
-Elder Whitake
Well, I'm at the beginning of week 3. Although the days are so long they're so similar that it's very hard to make any distinctions between everything that happens. So, on Wed. E. White and I taught our last "lesson" to Ariana, our "Investigator". Then on Thursday evening she came to class and became our teacher, Hermana Bryan. Starting tomorrow she'll be another "investigator," Julia, and Hemano Osuna will become "Carlos". That way both our teachers will also be our investigators so that they can better know how we can improve our teaching abilities.
Good news! I had a dream that contained some Spanish! I don't remember much of it I just know I was dreaming about being taught Spanish. This pretty much reflects how I feel I am in my knowledge of Spanish. I feel like I know enough Spanish to eek out what I want to communicate, at least in a semi-comprehensible manner. It's hard because I could know Spanish a lot better if I spent more time with it, and it feels like if I just knew more Spanish everything would be easier. But I have to keep telling myself that that's not the case. More important than the Spanish is the Spirit, and my knowledge of the Gospel for the Spirit to draw on.
Speaking of knowledge of the Gospel, I'd like to share what I've been learning this week. It started on Tues. when Elder Ballard came and spoke at the devotional. He talked about the fact that we've gone to Primary, Sunday School, Seminary, and all the other Church programs for most of our lives and we know the Gospel already. He said we just need to turn to Christ, and specifically His Atonement, to help us live it and teach it. Then, in the week Hermano Frey (who's a receiver on the BYU football team, Dad) talked to us about the Atonement and how it applies to everything we do. He showed a very good video clip called "Missionary Work and the Atonement" that I suggest y'all look up on YouTube. And the talk of the Atonement just continued on Sunday in our District Meeting (like Sunday School) discussion, in the Mission Fireside, and the Sunday evening Devotional. And because of all this external talk of the Atonement it has made me ponder it a lot lately. In Ether 12:25 it says that Christ will show us our weaknesses if we come to him, which sounds like it's horrible, but just like the Nephites when King Benjamin talked to them, it is only when we recognize our nothingness do we truly see the goodness of God (see Mosiah 4). I've been really humbled and shown my weaknesses lately, but I've also more fully been able to see the goodness of God in my life. Another thought that I'd like to leave you with is this: in 2 Nephi 2:25-27 it talks of the Atonement and how through it all men are free. It says we are free to choose between Eternal Life or Eternal Misery. Why are we free to choose? Because of the Atonement. No matter what you have done wrong in the past if you choose now to work toward Eternal Life, the Atonement covers it, but no matter what good you have done in your life if you choose to turn away from Eternal Life there is no way to obtain it, period. The Atonement guarrantees a spot for you if only you make that choice. Please, turn to Christ. Let him heal you. Quit "hid[ing] as it were [your] faces from Him" (Isaiah 53:3-5). Look to Him; Go to Him. He's there; He knows. Make that one small, yet eternally significant choice.
-Elder Whitake