Sorry in advance if my thoughts are all over the place!!
So this week...it´s been pretty consistent! Study and study and eat and teach and study and teach and study and study and eat and study and sleep and repeat. Love it!
So...things that happened this week...
Sunday was great! They always are--full of meetings and devotionals. It´s always good to be spiritually invigorated each Sunday! It was crazy this Sunday because the congregation in our branch consisted of 5 hermanas (my district). One of the branch presidency´s sons and another young man came to bless and administer the sacrament. It was really a neat experience. There were more leaders and visitors in our meeting than missionaries. And since there are only 5 of us, we get to all speak in church each week. Wahooooo!!! Crazy! I am especially grateful, though, for inspired leaders. It´s been a rocky week for out district and everyone was feeling a little down. Our branch president, no doubt led my the Spirit, changed his intended remarks to fit exactly what our district needed without even knowing. He spoke on 2 main things: faith and humility. It was fantastic and just what we needed. He spoke about how we needed faith to learn the language even when it´s hard and faith to have to words put in our mouths when we need them. The second part he talked about, humility, is what struck me most. Let me just share something he said that I have been working on this week.
´´Don´t confuse humility with lack of confidence. Do you know what the difference between humility and a lack of confidence is? When you lack confidence, you only focus on your WEAKNESSES. When you are humble, you focus on your strengths AND your weaknesses. You must use what your Father in Heaven has given you first, have faith, then your weaknesses can be made great.´´
Maybe that is simple, but it was so profound to me and was something I needed desperately this week. So this is my challenge this week:
Make a list of your strengths and your weaknesses. Don´t focus on what you can´t do; focus on what you CAN. As you utilize your strengths and have faith, the Lord WILL strengthen your weaknesses as you strive to achieve your goals. I KNOW this is true because it has made all the difference in my week this week. Be humble. Use your strengths AND weaknesses to your advantage.
Oh. Well. Back up to Saturday...we had out first TRC...which was an adventure. The lady was a bit hard to understand at first, but it got better...for me anyway. My companions were freaking out because they had no idea what was going on. The lady kept looking and talking to me because I was the only one who would respond. It was interesting. We were there to teach her, but she definitely was the one teaching us. Needless to say...we hope this Saturday will be better....
So we do service projects each Saturday and for the past 2 weeks we have cleaned the gym and bleachers..way fun especially when you get eaten by hormegas (ants).
Hmmmm...what else....OH. We leave the windows in the classroom open because there´s no AC and it gets hot...and a bird flew into the classroom and was flying into walls and all over and we were all trying to dodge it...after about 5 minutes it made a grand exit...you had to be there...crazy.
Oh. And exercise time each week...Hermana Siler and Hermana Hicks like to do crossfit and deathly killer runs...yeah...killer not fun...plus now that we are in week 4 of the CCM that means ZERO ENGLISH...so for each english word we speak, we get one mark...each mark means you have to do:
-1 minute wall sit
-5 pushups
-5 squats
Lets just say we will be buff by the time we leave here...
Other miscellaneous things...
-We got locked out of our casa right after gym time (the electronic lock on the door died and had to be fixed)
-the weath for the past few days has been just like my mission´s...so that has made my excited!!!
-the latinas in our casa left on Monday and we got new ones on Tuesday! Most are from the Dominican Republic!
Funny story...we were going to teach our investigator about agency and Hermana Puliot got the wrong reference for agency...instead of Helaman 14:30, she had Helaman 4:13 which reads:
And because of this their great wickedness, and their boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength; therefore they did not prosper, but were afflicted and smitten, and driven before the Lamanites, until they had lost possession of almost all their lands.
Yeah..that the effects of using your agency the wrong way...but thats not what we were going for...awkward. Good thing we aren´t really in charge of people´s salvation yet...
And finally, here´s some news:
I will be moving into a latina district for the next 2 weeks starting tomorrow. My teachers don´t think I am ´´achieving my potential.´´ I really think they just wanted to get rid of me.... (kidding), but that´ll be an adventure. I am a little scared, but excited too! Prayers are always appreciated!!
I love you all! I love this work and I love my Savior. Seeing people progress and feel peace and joy in their lives is just incredible!
Until next week,
Hermana Clark