Dear Family and Friends,
I can't believe I have been in the MTC for a week and a half now! Sometimes the days are long but it also seems like I just got here. Time is weird. Anyway, I have lots to write so here it goes.
First off, Hermana Handy left me Monday to go to the Madrid MTC. I was sad to see her leave, but we hoped to see eachother in the MTC... and she is from Gilbert so I'm sure I'll be able to see her again. I am in a trio now and my new companions are Hermana Tuaira and Hermana Dexter, both from Tahiti. They are amazing and great examples to me. I love them soo much! We have already seen improvement in our companionship and have some great goals for this week as well.
This past week Hermanas Tuaira and Dexter and I taught 3 lessons to our investigator Benjamin and two to our new investigator Hely. Hely is from Guatemala and her Spanish is WAY faster. haha. I'm slowly catching on though. She is so easy to talk with and love and share our messages with. Thursday morning, we taught Benjamin and Hely right in a row. Previous to Thursday, I had basically decided what I wanted to teach in English, translated in to Spanish, wrote it down, and had to halfway read it in lessons. I decided this wasn't very effective and I had enough Spanish now to teach without notes. So I did Thursday, and it was so amazing! I had to simplify what I said but I could tell I was more open to the Spirit and both lessons were amazing. The three of us felt really great about our lessons that day. I can't remember if I mentioned this last week but Hermana Tuaira speaks French, Spanish, English, and a little Tahitian while Hermana Dexter speaks French, Tahitian, a little Spanish, and even less English. So basically our common language is Spanish which is forcing me to learn even more. I've recently changed the way I study and already can tell it will be more effective. At times the language is hard since I feel like I am the worse at it in my class, but as I look back I've already come SO far.
I've had countless spiritual learning experiences this week. That is my favorite part about the MTC. One thing I learned was from the Tuesday night devotional this week by Larry S. Kacher of the Seventy. I learned that consecrated missionaries are there solely to do the will of our Heavenly Father. They don't worry about their inadequcies or compare themselves to other missionaries because they know that Jesus Christ will fill in that gap - no matter how big it is. I know this is true and have worked hard on focusing on my improvement and learning with the goal of being able to effectively teach the gospel and help others come unto Christ.
My favorite scripture of the week is 3 Nephi 5:13 go read it! My district memorized it in Spanish this week. It is a powerful statement for me in my life now.
I now have a second teacher in my class, Hermano Holman. He served in Guatemala. We have only had one class so far but I know he will be an effective teacher in helping us spiritually as well as improve our Spanish. We will now have two 3-hour blocks of studying with a teacher each day.
As far as my visa goes, no word. I could be here another week, I could be here the whole 6 weeks. I do know that I am very grateful I came here first, even though I initially was kinda bummed I wasn't going straight to Madrid. There have been things I needed to hear and learn that I have now. And I've met some amazing people. Whenever I do leave here - whether it's a week or 5 - it will be a sad day for me.
I love you all so much!
Hermana Bingham
1. me, Hermana Handy, Hermana Tuaira, and Hermana Dexter
2. me and my new companions in class - where I spend about 90% of my day :)
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