¡Hola a todos!
I´ve officially been on a mission for 4 weeks! On Friday the 7th, it will be a whole month! So crazy.
This week was crazy busy, like any other week here at the CCM. As Sister Training Leaders, Hermana Petersen and I taught Relief Society (a church Sunday School class for women), a meeting with all of the Sister Training Leaders, and led a zone discussion. Even though we were the ones teaching, I learned so much from the thoughts and testimonies shared.
Last week on Wednesday after I emailed, my comp and I met our new hermanas in our zone! One is from my ward at BYU! And another one knows my cousins from Utah! They´re all super sweet and awesome sisters.
This week we fasted a lot. From Thursday afternoon to Saturday afternoon, we fasted English. I know, crazy. We did pretty good, but also slipped up quite a bit, haha. I wasn´t perfect at it, but tried my best. We also fasted from food, not eating, Saturday night or Sunday morning. Because fasting is a monthly commandment in my church, I´m used to this, but it´s kind of hard as a missionary when we´re studying so much and need all the energy we can get. I definitely felt God´s support during those hours.
Every afternoon we play a game called ¨Guess the Latino¨ with our teacher, Hermano Salinas, and this week we started playing with our morning teacher, Hermana Hallal, as well. In this game, we as a class choose one of us to be ¨the latino(a)¨, and they can only speak Spanish in class. This week, the score was 2 to 5, us. Our teacher rewarded us with a visit from another CCM instructor who served her mission in Perú Lima Sur! So she gave us a ton of expert advice and answered all our questions.
After that informational conversation, I am both terrified and ecstatic to leave for Perú in a couple weeks! It´s going to be such a crazy awesome adventure. I can´t wait to share the joyful message of the gospel of Jesus Christ with those ready to hear it in Perú.
Some things she shared with us were some common words said in Perú, the climate range, the food, some tips, and other random facts. Luckily, the Spanish in Perú is similar to the Spanish we are learning in Mexico, only much faster. So yikes. I thought Mexicans talked fast.
I´ll give you all a quick description of the big areas with diverse climates. Lima- city (cuidad), Pisco- beach (playa), Ayacucho- mountains (montañas), Ica- (oasis), and Nazca- hot desert. The expanse of my mission, from Lima (north) to Nazca (south) is a 12 hour bus ride. So that was cool, to learn more about the country I´ll be serving in for 17 and 1/2 months by someone whos served there recently.
This Sunday my district and I are going to sing in sacrament meeting. My comp is playing the piano so I´ll be carrying the women´s part by myself as I sing with our 10 elders, haha. Facepalm. It should be fun.
Since this last Sunday was fast Sunday, we had a testimony meeting in church, where we as the congregation voluntary go up and share our thoughts and testimony with everyone. Here´s the thing, it was in sólo Español. It was actually very cool, and that was the strongest I´ve felt the Spirit during sacrament meeting here at the CCM. Everyone sounded like 5 year olds, bearing their testimony of simple doctrinal truths in broken Spanish. Yet it was so powerful. I bore mine as well, simple truths in my simple Spanish, without a script or pre-planned idea. I'm so grateful to be learning Spanish, even though it´s hard right now. So here´s my simple Spanish testimony, (perdón mi Español):
Yo se que este iglesia es verdad. Yo se que estoy en el CCM y es este misión ahora por un razón. Estoy agradecida por mi familia y mis amigos. Yo testifico que Jóse Smith fue un profeta de Dios y él restauradó le iglesia en este tierra. Él tradució El Libro de Mormón, un otro testamento de Cristo y las palabras de Dios. Estoy agradecida por el Plan de Salvación y la oportunidad volver y vivir con Dios, Jesucristo, y mi familia para siempre. Y les amo. Estoy animada servir en Perú en dos semanas (!!!!!). ¨Todo lo puedo en Cristo que me fortalece¨ (Filipenses 4:13).
Have a good week, friends and fam! Love you all!
Hermana Lowe
Español frase de la semana: ¡Solo bromeo! (Just kidding... we use this frequently).
Email Conversation
Deb: Do you know your flight plans yet? What day do you leave for Peru?
Brittany: Not yet! I think I'm supposed to get them this week though. I'll let you know asap.
Deb: Did you get our letters during the week through the MTC service?
Brittany: Yes, I love getting letters from you! Even little updates from anyone would be so good for me, ha ha. Getting mail is hyped up here. SO I found out you can send me pictures through the mail service that you've been sending me letters from, like they're printed out and everything. If it's easy, I'd love more pictures. I've realized how much I rely on them to remember everyones faces and voices. But anyway, pictures would be more than awesome if you can figure that out.
Deb: How is your Spanish coming along?
Brittany: My Spanish is mas o menos! I´m able to teach a lesson in broken Spanish about the restoration or commandments or the gospel of Jesus Cristo or the Plan of Salvación, Still very hard, but memorizing a ton.
On Saturday night, after our zone meeting, our District Leader and his comp made sure to walk by us on our way home so they could tell us (H. Peterson and I) something. He said that during the zone discussion he had a thought that he wanted to share with us. He quoted Doctrine & Covenants 121:34, "...many are called, but few are chosen." He said something like, "I've noticed something about the Hermanas here at the CCM, that I don't see in every Elder here. They all have a light and such a strong testimony about them. They all want to be here, and have all chosen for themselves to serve the Lord. Elders have a priesthood responsibility to be here, Hermanas don't." When he said that a wave of the Spirit overcame me and I was reminded of my reason for being here and I knew that I was meant to be exactly where I am. I'm grateful for this Elder and for his worthiness to be receptive to hear that from the Spirit, and even more grateful that he was bold enough to tell us his thoughts. He's truly an amazing kid and a great District Leader.
On Saturday night, after our zone meeting, our District Leader and his comp made sure to walk by us on our way home so they could tell us (H. Peterson and I) something. He said that during the zone discussion he had a thought that he wanted to share with us. He quoted Doctrine & Covenants 121:34, "...many are called, but few are chosen." He said something like, "I've noticed something about the Hermanas here at the CCM, that I don't see in every Elder here. They all have a light and such a strong testimony about them. They all want to be here, and have all chosen for themselves to serve the Lord. Elders have a priesthood responsibility to be here, Hermanas don't." When he said that a wave of the Spirit overcame me and I was reminded of my reason for being here and I knew that I was meant to be exactly where I am. I'm grateful for this Elder and for his worthiness to be receptive to hear that from the Spirit, and even more grateful that he was bold enough to tell us his thoughts. He's truly an amazing kid and a great District Leader.
Brittany: Mom, I love you so much and I really wish I could just talk to you daily like I did in college and I miss your hugs. But I know that my time spent away from home and my family will only bring us closer together. Love you momma. Until next week at about this time, Hermana Lowe
My buddy from BYU, Elder Chase!!! (middle) and his comp!
My inteligente companion...using her extra magnetic tag as a chip clip. #innovation
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