My MTC District!
The first day I met my companion and her name is Hermana Read. She is from Houston, Texas and she's 19 just like me! She is amazing, I admire her so much for serving a mission. Her family is very inactive so she doesn't really have much support. She has such a positive attitude on everything. We have a lot of fun together and work so well together. We met out district on the first day as well. We have 4 Hermanas and 4 Elders so it is a nice size group. 3 of the Elders are going to Fortworth Texas, Spanish speaking, and 1 Elder and the rest of us Hermanas are going to Provo Utah, Spanish speaking. The first day was super intimidating because our teacher was only talking in Spanish to us, they really weren't kidding about being fully immersed in the language haha. Our teacher is super awesome though, he just got back from his mission in September and he served in Mexico. His Spanish is amazing, he is a super fun teacher but also a super effective teacher. I have learned so much from him these past 5 days. A few of the Elders in our district have a little bit of background with Spanish but Hermana Read and I know nothing haha. We have seriously come a long way with just 5 days being here. So far I have the purpose in Preach My Gospel memorized in Spanish, I can have a basic conversation with someone in Spanish, I can say a basic prayer and testimony in Spanish. Oh, and the second day we met our Zone leaders, Sister training leader, and Branch Presidency. They went over the rules that are expected at the MTC and had us introduce ourselves and the Branch President interviewed each of us to get to know us better.
Hermanas in my District
Hermana Read and I before a workout
Hermana Read and I in front of the Provo Temple!
Our Branch President's name is President Wing, He's awesome! The whole presidency is amazing. Their wives are so nice and loving. They are like our Moms away from home. Lets see...on the third day we were here we had to teach our first lesson to an investigator. We were all super scared about it but we were allowed to bring notes with us and it went okay. Hermana Read and I only talked for like 10 minutes and we didn't really understand what our investigator was asking in Spanish. It was really frustrating but then again it was only the third day. The next day we had to teach the same investigator again and it went so much better. Hermana Read and I talked to him for 27 minutes!! We understood what he was saying for the most part and it just went so well. It wasn't perfect and we still have a lot of work to do with our Spanish but it was amazing we were able to get through it and understand most of it. We have seriously been blessed with the gift of tongues here at the MTC . It is so amazing how much Spanish I have learned in just 5 days. It has been a lot of hard work. Our district has been working so hard at Spanish and Hermana Read and I have been nonstop studying Spanish. It has been super fun though! There are 8 Hermanas and like 20 something elders in my zone. The Elders are crazy and so much fun but I guess those are Elders for you haha. I have seen Diana Tanner a few times since I have been here! I have also seen Katherine Weigl a few times! It is so nice seeing people I know here! So Sunday was amazing! Before Relief Society they broadcast Music in the Spoken Word and it was a Patriotic program this week which was amazing! For Relief Society we have a speaker come talk to us every week and this week it was Sheri Dew!! Her talk was amazing! One thing that stuck out to me that she said was "Obedience brings blessings but Exact obedience brings miracles". I have noticed that here at the MTC that being obedient is so important especially exact obedience. Hermana Read and I have been working on being really obedient and trying really hard and we have seen the blessings and miracles. We are learning Spanish so quickly and it wouldn't be happening if we weren't obedient and diligent in our studies. We have sacrament meeting with our zone and they pick two speakers each week and you don't know who it will be until sacrament meeting. So each week we have to prepare a 3 to 5 minute talk on the assigned topic and the first 2 weeks we can do it in English but then after that we have to do it in Spanish. Its kind of scary but its also good though because once we are out in the mission field we will have to give talks like all the time. After sacrament we went on a temple walk and took a lot of pictures with our district and zone. It was such a nice day! And then we went to choir. Choir at the MTC is so awesome! We are singing Faith of Our Fathers for the devotional on Tuesday at the Marriott Center. And then we had a devotional. It was really good, it was by Robert P. Swensen. He talked about how we need to establish a vision of what we want our mission to be and that our mission will give us direction in life, it will teach us obedience, service and sacrifice. It was so good and Sundays are nice because we get to watch a film after devotional and this week we watched Characters of Christ, it was a Christmas devotional given by Elder Bednar. It was amazing.
I saw Diana!
So I don't have much time but thanks to everyone who have sent me letters. Keep them coming, getting mail here at the MTC is the best! I will try to send pictures after I finish this email! I love you all and thanks for all the support you have given me!
Hermana Veronica Garces
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