VERDE!! ARRGGGGHH!

Date: Thursday, Sep 8, 2011

Hola Amigos!
I hope you are all doing maravilloso. The MTC sure has it´s ups and downs, but I am happy as a clam.

First off, let me explain the subject line. There is an Elder in my district, Elder Doolhoff (or Duljaf en español) who has been trying really hard to learn Spanish but has a hard time remembering things. He and his companion have twice had Spanish only days where they spit out about four words and we all play charades to figure out what they are saying. Yesterday, Elder Doolhoff realized he had forgotten to do something and wanted to express his anger, but in his limited Spanish, all he could to was point to his skin and say ¨Verde! Arrgghh!¨ It was super funny as he pretended to become huge [and green, as in Green Hulk] and throw things around. Our teacher couldn´t stop laughing. That was probably the third time we had all stopped what we were doing to laugh for 5 minutes. It was great.

Last Friday we also had Verde Viernes (green Friday) where we all wore green. Don´t worry, we took pictures. We´re doing it again tomorrow, also.

Our devotional speaker this week was Jay E. Jensen. He gave a nice talk about the history of the missionary training program. He also talked about music (which was funny because right before he started I found my notes from conference 2007 when he gave a talk on Hymns). He went with the Tab Choir on their tour in June so he talked about how they are not a choir of soloists: they work together, under the direction of their leader, to sing in harmony. He counseled us to do the same. He explained that we need to be sumbissive vertically (in similtude to the will of the Father) and then we will be in Harmony horizontally (with our companions, investigators, and the spirit).
His whole talk was a little more cerebral than we are used to at the MTC, but I love history, so it was awesome for me.

Fast Sunday was. . . long. Being up early, not having every moment planned, walking up to the temple, and not eating for 24 hours was a lot to handle. Walking up a hill in the sun without hydration is probably not the best idea. After the fireside (which was given by the administrative director of the MTC Richard Heaton - he told funny stories), we had an "hermanas fiesta" and watched the Restoration on LDS.org on the giant tv in our room while eating popcorn and cinnimon rolls Hna. Carnes got from Dear Elder. The Hermanas from our zone joined us. We could have watched "Mountain of the Lord" like the Elders did, but we quoted it enough this week that I didn't feel the need. (There's enough poweder in there to blow us all to kingdom come.)


We have been teaching two investigators for a while now, but we actually committed one to baptism! At least I think we did, everything is in Spanish so I hardly know what I'm saying, let alone what the investigators are. We keep learning things in class and in the workshops that tell us what we are doing is not the best way to go about things, so we have to learn new things all the time, but that is why we are here. To learn and grow and become better followers of the spirit, but mostly to help investigators. We taught some members (in Spanish) in the TRC this week for the first time. It was super hard and we had no idea what to say. My Spanish vocabulary only covers the words in the first lesson, not conversational Spanish or words to teach members, but I guess I'll learn because we are teaching members every Friday for the rest of the time we are here.

I hope you all know how important the gospel is and how much you need it in your life. Do everything you can to be close to the spirit. Pray. Everyday. Always, Constantly. The Lord loves you and wants to bless you. Just ask Him.

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week! I'm on to week 4! Crazy.

Adios,
Hermana Anna Sheffield

P.S. As Elder Larsen said "THis place is like a Golden Corral. Only bigger and you can never leave."