Well, I can´t believe I only have a week left before I am in the field. I have been trying to only speak portuguese every day, but at times, I mess up or get frustrated because I don´t know enough, and then I remember that I can´t be perfect right now and that, with Heavenly Father´s help, I can speak the language better.
Funny things that happened to me in the CTM so far:
I told an investigator that babies don´t have agency when I was really trying to find the word in
portuguese for accountability.... At the beginning of a lesson on a SATURDAY, I asked an investigator: Como foi Igreja ontem? (How was church yesterday), and I honestly couldn´t remember what day it was for the life of me until I asked him if he was going
to go to church tomorrow (Sunday) at the end of a lesson... FAIL....
This past week I was trying to do everything perfectly well, and trying to only
speak portuguese because that´s usually how I speak better in lessons
(when I speak portuguese 24/7). I was beginning to get a bit
overwhelmed, however, because my district wouldn´t speak portuguese
24/7 which caused me to break my english fast as well, and I was just
trying to be as perfect as possible. Well, yesterday, I broke down a
little bit, and realized the Lord is on my side. I was thinking about
everything that I needed to get done in preparation for two
investigators´ baptisms soon before the field, and I was thinking
about everything that I was doing wrong as well. Needless to say, I
hit my wall yesterday. My companion stopped me when we were preparing
for a lesson, and asked me what I thought about what we should teach
this investigator, and I just broke into tears. I expressed my
feelings that the work is hard, and that I don´t want to have to speak
Portuguese all the time, and how I felt like I was being so prideful
because I wanted everyone to be exactly obedient to the schedule, and
to be quiet during their studies because it was affecting my work, and
my companion, Sister Hunsaker stopped me and told me lovingly that
Heavenly Father loved me, and was so proud of how hard I was trying to
do His work. She asked me if I know that Jesus Christ loves me with
all my heart, and I responded yes, in tears of course, and then she
encouraged me that with Jesus Christ, the work is possible. I really
needed to hear those words from her, especially because she is a
representative of Christ, and I have gotten so close to her recently.
After this talk, I taught a lesson to Wesley one of our investigators,
and I spoke with the best portuguese I have ever spoken.
The Lord is MINDFUL OF US!!!!
Love,
SISTER HARRIS
No comments:
Post a Comment