Week THREE!

4th Letter from Whitney - Yipee!! :)

Hola! Sorry I didn't get a chance to tell you my Pday this week is Wednesday. I guess they switch it up every so often. Interesante.

Anyway.

This week is fairly the same as last. Not much of a difference aside from how I feel about the language. My accent needs work, but I'm remembering my vocabulary and I'm able to speak and communicate. We had our first lesson with an investigator named Daniel a few nights ago and Montalban banned us from English. If we spoke any english we wouldn't be able to teach Daniel and he's a golden investigator. So. No pressure. But it went really well. We talked briefly about Vida Eterna, Eternal Life. The spirit was there and our lesson only lasted for 10 minutes, but it was really powerful.

Also, Ceballos (our first teacher) is our other investigator. His name is Patricio and our lessons previously were about prayer. We commited him to praying before we left and when we came back he had prayed. He told us he felt paz y consuelo, which we had been praying for. And then in our third lesson we invited him to church with us on Sunday. It was really powerful because it was in Spanish and I understood what the spirit was prompting me to tell him.

Here in the CCM, we've decided we live in a place similar to a prison compound. There is a fortress surrounding it, it's made solidly of cement, the walls inside are painted white, and we're not allowed off the premisis until Pday or to leave for Alcántara. We're in the CCM for 16 hours, eat cafeteria food, and then we're bussed back to Alcántara to be put under house arrest. Oh, and we sleep in bunkbeds like the inmates. But it's all fine and good.

I don't think I'll ever like wearing a skirt. I knew from the beginning that wearing skirts every moment of every day would be one of the hardest things about my mission and, thus far, I'm correct in my assumtions. I don't know if that will change, but I highly doubt it.

I'm teaching Relief Society on Sunday. It's so not what I want to do because I have to concentrate on my studies during the week. But I will work it out. I will pray and hope that I can fit it all in along with the things my teachers think I have time to do.

So far Sundays are the best days of the week. Calm and I get to sleep in for 30 minutes and I don't have to teach my investigators. Not that I don't like my investigators. They just drive my crazy at times with their lack of commitment.

Hmm. I'm learning lots of words. I've filled up two of the three small notebooks we bought at Target already. I don't know if there's anything specific I've learned this week, but I keep memorizing and shoving the verbs i've already learned into my head. Here's an example. There's some verbs in Spanish that aren't conjugated like the normal ones. Just to name a few, there are stem changing verbs such as 'poder, recordar, sentir, vertirse' and the middle parts of the verbs change along with the ends of the verbs. And then there's irregular. Which are extremely frustrating. Because a lot of them are verbs we use fairly often. 'Estar, decir, tener, saber, caer'. Those words mean in order 'to be, to say, to have, to know and to fall'. They don't conjugate like any of the others and there isn't a way to just know they're irregular. I have to memorize them. Which is so fun.

I'm going to type some things in Spanish and quizas Dad can traducir them for me.

"Todos cometemos errores en la vida, los cuales crean sentimientos de culpabilidad, que no se pueden aliviar sin el arrepentimiento y el perdón. Esos sentimientos pueden saner completamente mediante la Expiación de Cristo. TRANSLATION: We all make mistakes in life, which create feelings of guilt, which can not be relieved without repentance and forgiveness. Such feelings can be completely cleaned through the Atonement of Christ

Here's the Baptism Invitation: ¿Seguirá el ejemplo de Jesucristo al ser bautizado por alguien que posea la autoridad del Sacerdocio de Dios? TRANSLATION: Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God?

And the Missionary Objective is: Invitar a las personas a venir a Cristo al ayudarlas a que reciban el Evangelio de Jesucristo y Su Expiación, el arrepentimiento, el bautismo, la recepción del don del Espíritu Santo y el perserverar hasta el fin." TRANSLATION:  Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the gospel of Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit and persevere to the end 

Here's a cool thought I had a few weeks ago. Patriarchal blessings are part of the interview we had with Padre Celestial in heaven before coming to earth. Random tidbit.

Most people in mi Distrito are from Utah, but we've got one from Wyoming and another from Idaho. They're all great people and I've come to appreciate their personalities and obnoxious other traits. I look up to the Elders especially. I watched them perform a Priesthood blessing when another elder was sick and I gained so much respect for them.

My comp and I are becoming really close. It's harder some days than others because that's how life works, but most of the time we get along. At least in my mind. She is like me in some ways, but completely opposite in others. It's funny to think we haven't left one another side in almost a month. We were separated a few days ago to ride in different buses and it felt strange not to have her there.

The temple is beautiful. We're going later this afternoon. Quite exciting. We get to go another time in two weeks and I went two weeks ago as well. It's right across from the CCM and when we get breaks between classes we take walks around the grounds. It's beautiful in its simplicity. There are really odd flowers that are growing in front of it. They look like cabbage and they smell like cabbage, but the gardeners told us they are just flowers. I'll send pictures hopefully next week if I have time. I'll have more time to write in the field.

The landscape reminds me so much of home. The mountains are HUGE, but I feel like I haven't left until I realize I'm in a different country. It's great. It reminds me so much of Salt Lake in the center of Santiago. The streets and rushed people and noises and smells.

The weather has been beautiful. Winter is just starting to end and it feels like springtime in Utah. It only rained once the first week and it poured, but I wish it would rain more. It was beautiful. Sunny and crisp all week thus far.

Funny things happen, but I think it's just in the moment and wouldn't make sense to anyone else. We get so out of it with exhaustion that the silliest things seem funny. Looking back, this morning we were running around the city for exercise and one of the other companionships, Hermana Vincent, nearly tripped over a pole sticking out of the ground for decoration. It was funny to hear her hit it a squeal in surprise.

I've been in the CCM 3 weeks today. Weird, huh? So I've got three more weeks. It's gone by so fast, but at the same time I feel like I've been here for 3 months. The days pass like weeks and the weeks pass like days.

Hermana Cook and I don't really talk because we're in separate Districts, but we are really good friends. We had a good relationship from the beginning. She's a great, bright, beautiful sister.

I'm feeling better. I have a nasty cough, but it doesn't hurt.... I'm out of time. I really hope you all are doing well and I pray for you EVERY moment of every day. I love you all sosoososososososoooo much. I miss you!

You are all beautiful people.

Hermana Castleton

Pray hard. Work hard. Love the people.