Another week at the good 'ol MTC

April 20, 2010

Brother and friends who are taking finals...I hope that they went well. I have been praying for you all.

Sometime this week I should be getting my travel plans! It is very exciting but that makes me very nervous. It's kinda the feeling when you're about to take your final and you don't think you have studied enough for it...and I thought I got out of taking finals on the mission...I guess not. :) Anyway, our district had kind of a rough week. One of our elders has torn a meniscus in his knee from volleyball, and his companion came down with pneumonia. We also had another elder from one of the older districts that is still here after 14 weeks. He has pneumonia too, but hopefully he'll be recovering and on his way soon. The sister from another district that had pneumonia too, got to leave this morning. She was with our district for two weeks until she was cleared to go. (We are the oldest district now in our zone.)

The weather has been so nice out here! I am loving studying outside. My comp and I took one of my flannel sheets and we find a quiet patch of grass and we study that way. It has been so beautiful...we have to soak it up before we find ourselves in the middle of winter again once we get to Osorno.

Well, this week was much like the others, so I decided I'd pull the highlights from my journal this week (since I wrote last):

Tuesday (night): Remember when I told you about the Temple experience, when I could feel such a witness of God's love for us? Well, that night we had a devotional on that very subject! It was given by Elder Glenn. L. Pace of the Seventy. It was probably one of the best talks I have every heard. He talked about how beautiful our Heavenly home is, and what love we will feel when we meet with our Heavenly Parents again. Also he talked about different experiences that people of the church have had that have been during the stage of dying where you're kind of in between this life and the next. He said that multiple people talked of the beauty of the flowers there...beyond imagination. I thought of Grandmother...how much she must love the flowers. It was a really beautiful talk.

Wed: We taught our progressing investigator and we've committed him to baptism! He's excited. We'll teach him again tomorrow, so hopefully that continues to go well. We've been teaching in Spanish so it's been really good practice. Also, the MTC field opened today. Meaning we get to go outside for gym! So nice. Also, on wed. we got to go talk to the native Spanish speakers that are in the MTC....humbling, to say the least. But it got me excited to learn more so I can speak with Chileans...who allegedly speak very fast.

Thurs: The girls in my old R.S. wrote me letters and sent me a package. THANK YOU SO MUCH (for any of you that might be reading this) it completely made my day!!! I love you ladies. Also, today, we went to the Referral Center of the MTC. Where we call and follow up with people that have requested things, or had questions. I called a lady named Faye and got to talk with her for awhile. So neat. She kept trying to figure out how to spell my name...I think I spelled Bertagnole for her about 12 times. Ha! But after we talked for awhile, I asked her if it would be ok if I had missionaries come to teach her, and she said she would like that! YAY!

Fri: My teacher Hno. Rosales wore a Mexican suit...one that is embroidered. Mexican cowboy style. SO GREAT. He let our district try it on and take pictures with it...get excited for that!

Sat: Was a Spanish only day, and it went really well.

Sun: I love Sundays. Enough said. The Devo tonight was great. It was a bunch of Mormon commercials and then he applied all the tag lines to missionary work. Great idea.

Mon: We taught at the TRC, and we understood everything that Sis. Johnson was saying. She's elderly but served in Argentina many years ago. We were both really excited, because the last time we taught her a few weeks ago, we couldn't understand everything, but we can tell that the understanding of Spanish is getting better. Also we have started getting up early (5:45) for the mtc early morning sister's workout. Two workouts a day! Nice.

This week’s talk for the fam to read: Crying with the Saints--Glenn L Pace. Really good.

Well, this is all I have time for. I love you all so much. Thank you for your letters. They mean so much to me, and thank you for all that you've shared with me. It always comes at just the right time. You are the best. I love you so much. Miss you, but I'm happy! LOVE.