Week 4 at the MTC

So this week was another great week at the MTC! First off thanks again for all the letters and emails, they make my day here at the MTC! Dad thanks for sending the kettle corn, my district loved it! It is almost all gone! Charles, I still can't believe you know Elder Hodges sister!  It is such a small world!

This week Hermana Read and I had some great experiences teaching lessons to our investigators (our teachers).  One of my teacher's plays an investigator named Jamie.  He is married and has 3 kids and wants to change.  His relationship with his wife is very strained and he drinks and smokes a lot.  He wants to be a better husband and wife.  We taught him about the restoration of the gospel through the prophet Joseph Smith.  I ended up looking at him right in the eye and recited the first vision to him in Spanish.  I wasn't sure if I had it memorized or not but Hermana Read was following along while I recited it and she said I nailed it! It was so awesome! Those words are so powerful but there was something even more special about it saying it in Spanish.  We then taught him another lesson and we talked about the word of wisdom and how he needs to live this commandment in order to be baptized.  We came up with this really good idea to help him overcome his drinking and smoking.  We took a jar and told him that everyday he doesn't drink or smoke that he should put a dollar in the jar and after a couple of weeks he should use that money to do something fun with his family.  This way he can overcome his drinking smoking and it will give him incentive to stop so that his relationship with his family will be stronger.  Explaining that in Spanish was really hard to do but somehow we were able to do it and get the idea across! Our teacher talked to us afterward and told us we did such a great job that he really likes that we are not just teaching lessons but that we are teaching for our investigators and what we think they need and how we can help them. 

Our other teacher plays an investigator named Belgica.  She is 24 and has met with the missionaries before but her dad is very against the church and doesn't want anything to do with it so her relationship with her dad is very strained.  She really likes music so Hermana Read and I thought it would be a good idea to start our lesson with a hymn.  We sang to her I Know my Redeemer Lives.  It was a good way to invite the spirit and then we talked to her about the Attributes of Christ and the example that he sets for us and that we asked her if she would follow the example of Jesus Christ and she said yes! It was such a good lesson. 

Even though we are teaching are teachers playing as investigators they really feel like we are teaching real people.  Hermana Read and I pray together every night on what we should teach them.  We study really hard to try and make our lessons effective and how we can help them.  It has been really great.  As for our Spanish its getter there.  All of our lessons are all in Spanish but a lot of times are grammar isn't the best when we speak but we are able to communicate and understand which is good.  This week we are going to work on more grammar and vocabulary so that we can speak better in general and in our lessons. 

So this week we got a new district and we said goodbye to another district.  We got 6 new Hermanas which was way exciting! We are now the oldest district in our zone which is so weird because it feels like we just got here! I seriously can't believe I have only about 2 weeks left here! It will be a very sad day to say goodbye to my district but it is also very exciting to get out into the mission field! My district is already talking about reuniting after we are done with our missions! O and this week our district signed up to be hosts to the new missionaries that come in on Wednesday! That means we will be by the curb and help them take their luggage, take them to their residence hall, and classroom! It will be interesting to do since I was one of those new missionaries a few weeks ago!

The devotional this past Tuesday was amazing! It was pretty special, it was given by Richard C. Hinckley and it was broadcast to all 15 MTCs around the

world.  One thing that he said that really stood out to me was "The greatest suffering a missionary can experience is regret".  That really hit me because I don't want to regret anything about my mission.  There is a reason why I am here and I want to be the best missionary I can be. 

Also I get to play the violin for sacrament meeting this Sunday! The MTC has instruments that we can play for special musical numbers.  So I am playing the violin and another Hermana in my district, Hermana Derges is playing the flute.  An elder in our zone is playing the piano for us, we are playing an arrangement of As I Have Loved You.  We have already practiced a few times and it sounds really great.  I will let you know how it goes!

I am almost out of time but I would like to close with the first vision:

"Vi una columna de luz, mas brillante que el sol, directamente arriba de mi cabeza, y esta luz gradualmente descendio hasta descansar sobre mi, Al resposar sobre la luz, vi en el aire arriba de mi a dos personajes, cuyo fulgor y gloris no admiten descripcion. Uno de ellos me hable, llamondome por mi nombre, y dijo, senalando al otro: Este es mi Hijo Amado, Escuchalo!

English
"I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which was descended gradually until it fell upon me.  When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air.  One of them spake unto me calling me by name and said, pointing to the other.  This is my beloved son. Hear him!

Again I don't know how to do the accent marks on this computer but hopefully you get the idea.

I love you all and thanks again for all of the support and love.

Love,
Hermana Veronica Garces