Week 3

Querido Familia,

I am so grateful that I still feel so connected to all of you even when I don't see you. I appreciate all of your support and love! I am excited for Nonni and Grandpa's new calling!! That will be awesome!!

I am into my third week at the MTC now. I have less than a month until my district departs on March 18! Then I have until Aug. 4, 2014!

This week my companion Hermana Larsen and I taught in "TRC" meetings for the first time. People from the area, almost all Church members, volunteer to come into the MTC and hear our broken Spanish in hopes of having an uplifting experience. We are not only supposed to practice teaching, but to try to help them come closer to Christ in some way as well. We could feel the Spirit very strongly in our two short lessons. We sang "Soy un Hijo de Dios" for them, talked about hymns, the Book of Mormon and other topics, and bore testimony to them.

One of our teachers was pretty bold with us last night and told us that we need to be speaking Spanish more- not only in the classroom, but outside when we are eating in the cafeteria or in the "residence," during certain times during the day that we set ourselves or however much we can. I am excited to become more fluent in the language. The district above us is leaving on Monday with a bunch of sisters going to Canada. They are all inspiring and we will miss them! You make friends pretty fast here. It is fun to see all of the new missionaries come in with the little orange dots on their nametags for their first day.

It is so great to be able to soak up this knowledge about the gospel, teaching, connecting with people, and speaking the language. We now have two "investigators" that our teachers role play with us. As a companionship we prepare for our lessons and work on trying to convey what the Lord would have them know specifically related to their needs. We invited one of our investigators to be baptized on our second visit with him yesterday. He said if he receives an answer to his prayer that it is right, he will do it. It's a little scary going into lessons trying to speak in Spanish sometimes, but I was taught to have the mindset of not "What do we think we should teach him/her?" but "What does God want him/her to know?" and in our last discussion I think that blessed me to have a better mindset, work with my companion even better, and have a more effective lesson.

The days are kind of a strange cycle, and it feels like I was just barely in the cafeteria, or getting ready for bed whenever it's time for it again. But it is so neat to have this chance to just be taken care of and really analyze myself and what I want for myself and other people. And do focus on the Lord and his son, Jesus Christ.

I love you all so much. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. I'm praying for you!

Mucho amor,
Hermana Martin


Mom- I am so grateful to have those sheets and my pillow and blankets you told me to bring. The sheets and pillows here are a wee bit nasty. I'm also using my cute wardrobe and coat and boots. Thanks so much for sneaking in those cinamon hearts and popcorn and such. :) I love you! I also love getting letters from all of you, so tell mis hermanas that I want to hear from them. Recent pictures are good too. Is there anything I can do for you? What do you want to hear about? Tell the bishopbric and stake presidency if you see them and the ward members that they are all amazing and I am grateful for their support.

I just got back from going to the temple with some sisters on our P Day and doing initiatories. We ate breakfast in the cafeteria afterwards. I would recommend the waffles and omelets in the Provo Temple if you get a chance. I LOVE YOU!! My official release date is Aug. 4, 2014, just FYI.

Love,
Hermana Martin

Week 2

Familia!

I love you and miss you tons. I am learning a lot in the MTC and have already made a lot of friends. The elders and the hermanas in our district are great. We finished our practice lessons with our role-play investigater, "Rafael," who is going to be one of our teachers from now on! I am more confident know with bearing testimony and speaking in Spanish and we have been promised that if we rely on the Lord, great blessings will come and we can learn as fast as we want to! Our teachers here are really inspiring and have made it more clear to me that our purpose is to "invite others to come unto Christ" through the steps that I have been blessed to know all my life! 

I was thankful to receive some Valentine's packages and letters this week! I spread some Valentine's Day cheer by putting up some of the sparkly heart decorations that Mom gave me in our classroom and the glitter got on the elders and it was pretty funny... I also shared with them some heart brownies that the Makins sent me!

Here is a sample schedule of the day: wake up at 6:30; go to the gym or the fitness center for about an hour; get dressed up; personal study; eat; language study; classroom instruction for 3 hrs; eat; additional study; eat; lights out at 10:30pm... haha Yep, we're busy but it's awesome! :)

There are plenty of options at the cafeteria... sometimes that's not a good thing for me... especially when they have BYU Creamery ice cream, but I like it! ;)

I am doing well. It is great to hear from you all in letters. I love you all so much! It is neat to think that all the RM's I know once walked these halls! I have run into a lot of sisters and elders I know from St. George and BYU-Hawaii. 

I have recently been reading 3 Nephi and it is amazing. I love reading about Christ's ministry among the Nephites. You are the best! Keep in touch! I love you!

Mucho Amor,
Hermana Martin

The missionaries who have gone to BYU- Hawaii all got together for a picture last Sunday! I knew a couple of the elders from school and it was really fun to see them again!

A member of our branch presidency and his wife. Hermana Bradford is from Germany and knitted a heart "smitten" for Valentine's Day so they could hold hands in the cold! So cute!!

First Email!

Hola Familia!

This is my fourth day in the MTC! There are so many missionaries and they keep us all very busy and everything is very organized! Thank you so much for all of your support getting me out here. I love you all very much. My companion is AWESOME! Her name is Hermana Larsen (we are still getting used to the "hermana"/ "elder" thing, but it is great). She is very kind and easygoing. She loves biking and skiing- and she was in Dad's singles ward in St. George when she was going to DSC for two semesters! Our entire district is going to the New Jersey (Nueva Jersey) Morristown Mission, Spanish-speaking! That is pretty unique for a whole district to be going to the same place. We are also all from Utah, except one elder, who is our district leader, from California and his companion from Nevada. 

I have connections to the other sisters as well! Hermana Daniels is great friends with my second cousins, the Goaslinds, and Noni told me about her before. She is very fun. And Hermana Soloman dated Jordan Bozarth from Snow Canyon. I admire all of them and we get along very well. We share a room with two other sisters who are in a different district. They are all amazing missionaries and I love them already.

It is a blessing to be in the MTC. We are constantly going and going, and we are learning Spanish rapidly and we already practiced giving our first lessons as companionship- in Spanish- on our third  day in the MTC! It was a good experience. We are also asked to prepare a 3-5 minute talk in Spanish before each Sunday and we might be called on to speak! We are practicing how to pray and bear testimonies in Spanish. We are also learning how to individualize discussions and try to have a genuine love for our investigators. I definitely have an advantage by having taken 3.5 years of Spanish and practicing some online, so I am not at all too overwhelmed with the language right now in the beginning group. But I still have lots and lots to learn. We go to gym, go to the cafeteria, go to class for language study, personal study, and class instruction, and have an hour or so of personal time from 9:30-10:30pm which goes by really fast! It is great to be surrounded by missionaries with such strong testimonies who want to share the gospel with the world. This work is amazing. I am excited. Just taking it one step at a time. Thank you again for all of your support and prayers! I love you! Keep in touch! (I love letters as well. :)

Sus Misionara Amorosa,
Hermana Martin



p.s. Mom and Dad- I did not bring my patriarchal blessing. I know I have 3 copies but I don't know where they are at home right now. Maybe in the blue bag of papers I had from BYUH and put in a gray bin or something in the garage? If you have an idea where one might be, could you send it to me? Or I can ask my branch president to request one for me. Muchas gracias!