Monday, November 16, 2015

November 16, 2015 - Training Week 1

                                                    The Lagarto District Before Transfers


hey party people!

SO, week one of training was a week where i got to learn that you just do your best and the lord is there every step of the way to fill in the cracks. (julia no more jokes, please). im really doing this, im training!! my new companion is sister marques from Espirito Santo, just a little south of our mission. she is really great. a little quiet, but any new missionary would be! shes very prepared, just like sydney told me she would be. shes really smart and is good at speaking up in lessons and talking to people on the street already! and our other companion is sister davis from northern california who is a bright peppy little redhead. we are kind of an odd group now that i think about it, all with very different strengths and weaknesses, trying to forge our way in this big city all to ourselves now, but somehow we´re doing it. 

 it is just so amazing because this week i honestly just felt a big ability placed on my shoulders, like a strange surge of confidence and potential and optimism. it was one part of me just trying to put on a brave face and make it til i make it, but 99 parts the lord was answering my very fervent prayers this week to be able to lead 2 somewhat noobie sisters when i just got out of training. the spirit really led me to know who we needed to visit and what to teach them, and how to use our time. thats what i was most worried about, that i wouldnt do the work the ´´right´´ way, but really the only right way is through the spirit and doing the Lords work. i had lots of great experiences this week where i would plan to teach someone something, and when we got there, feel like we needed to teach something else that i hadn’t prepared, and id just start talking and the spirit would always give me words i needed to say, even if i didnt have the vocabulary before. and everytime i did that, even if i was scared or nervous, id feel Him testifying to me as i spoke that i had made the right choice. 

mostly this week was just really hurried. i went to maceio for training (which was like 10 minutes of ´´you are a trainer and need to treat them nicely and teach them things- go and do it´´ cool thanks...) and to pick up sister marques. its cool because i got to know a lot of the other sisters in the mission and some of the elders, when before i felt like a big dope because i only knew 3 sisters in the whole mission. the new american sisters that arrived were scared stiffless let me tell you. i hope i didnt look like that when i got here... but i probs did. when they got to the chapel sister gomes came looking for me and said ´´please speak english to them, they’re really freaked out´´ haha poor things.  the weird thing was that i spoke in english to them but it felt so forced... like it wasn’t really my voice or me talking.. idk it was weird. then at the end of the meeting all together presidente asked me to say the prayer and i think he did that to show the american sisters that they really can do this and speak portugeuse. some of the elders who had been too cool to talk to me came up to me after and were asking ´´wait how long have you been out on the mission??´´ and i said 4 months and then i earned a lot of street cred in those moments. 

we had a lesson this week with marcio who bailed on his baptism and we brought a member to try and help him feel more integrated in the branch. but boy did we pick the wrong member. he has more time in the church and more wisdom, and for some reason he thought it was appropriate to take control of the entire lesson and start talking about the premotal existence, the war in heaven, lucifer vs christs plan, the expiatory blood of christ, and lots of other things. the topic of the lesson was qualifications for baptism. i wanted to reach over and flick him in the head the whole 20 minutes he was talking. i sat on my hands. 

anyways dont worry about me too much, the lord sure is taking good care of me!! it sure is hot and sweaty here. everyday i think ´´okay, it cant be any hotter than yesterday. i can do this´´ but everyday i am surprised again. but all that doesnt really matter when you go into a house and get to teach someone that christ loves them and is their savior and is aware of what they’re going through in that exact moment. that feeling makes it all worth it. i hope you guys have a great week. i love you so much!!


sister walker

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