I'm Even Going to Miss the Chef

Temple President & Matron

We went on splits this week with real life missionaries and had our first experience in the field. I have become too comfortable at the CCM the past few weeks and the experience in the field was a reminder of how I need to continue to push and how I have much to learn. "There is no comfort in the growth zone and no growth in the comfort zone." The hermana I went with is from Costa Rica but moved to Nevada at a young age; she's fluent in Spanish and English. I was intimidated at first but she was very kind and an amazing missionary. When she asked me to begin one of the lessons I froze and I have no recollection of what I even said; words were just coming out. I am sure I didn’t make any sense. A couple of hermanas in the field expressed that they had been concerned with all these young girls coming out but they said they know we can handle it.

My big challenge right now is not letting my fear be greater than my faith. When I focus on what’s ahead and how unprepared I feel regarding the language, it can be a little daunting. But focusing on the unknown is hindering. On Sunday, we watched an MTC devotional given by Elder Holland in January. He said the following, "We know you're young. We know it’s hard. We are not going to apologize for that. Even at your tender ages - grow up overnight if you have to - but we expect you to be bold, powerful teachers. The Lord has always trusted young people." His whole talk had a 'rallying the troops' feel. It was great.

 

I leave the safety of the CCM walls in five days. I wish I could say I've mastered Spanish but that is still a work in progress. I am going to miss the people I have met here. My teachers are incredible people. You get to know everyone really well because it is so small. I’m even going to miss the CCM chef who tries to get me to eat meat every day. I am going to miss my companion - who has a beautiful voice; I make her sing for me every night. But it’s time to move on. Let the adventure begin!

"What is the source of fear? I think it is rooted in the assumption that I must solve all my problems and face my challenges alone, using my own resources. That is frightening, because deep in my heart I know how limited those resources are. So when I am fearful, I am hopeless. And without hope, I find myself paralyzed. Knowing that I am not capable of changing myself or my circumstances for the better, I stand frozen in fear." - Gregory Clark

 

I know I am not doing it alone. I have never felt closer to the Lord. I am so grateful to be here and so grateful for this gospel. We have so many reasons to be faithful and so much to hope in.

 

Les extrano,

 

Hermana Meg

 

Are We Done Studying Yet?

 

Making A Run for It

There were two days in a row this week that I didn’t go outside - at all. I temporarily went insane. The following day my comp and I were so stir-crazy, during our ten minute break we ran down four flights of stairs, outside, and across the parking lot. The president's wife later said she saw two Hermanas out her window that looked like they were making a run for it. I have started running. It has been a terrific outlet for me. I run around the temple lawn; it probably takes 10+ laps for a mile but it is a great outlet. Its a great way to clear my head after being in a classroom all day.

 

We made it to the University this week. It was very crowded. It's good to practice being bold. It can be intimidating approaching someone and striking up a conversation using my broken Spanish. But for the most part everyone is very kind and loves to try and help. They are a very social people and enjoy talking. Tomorrow we are all splitting up and going into the field with missionaries. I'm nervous but it will be a great opportunity to taste what it’s going to be like.

I LOVE my teachers. LOVE LOVE! They are the neatest people and are all hilarious. And I have learned so much here! So much. And I am so glad that I have a good gospel foundation and knew some Spanish coming in.

 

 

All the missionaries that have been here with us left for their assignments this week. When you are around the same people all day long you get close and it’s sad to see them go. Our district was alone in the CCM for a couple of days but today a huge group arrived. There are around forty new missionaries and the majority of these are sisters. There is another big group coming when we leave. The sisters are going to have to change sides of the building with the Elders, where there is more room. It is so fun to be a missionary at this time; there is so much energy with all the changes. Because there are not that many Hermanas currently in the field and so many are coming, we have been told we are going to be training very quickly. EEK! I am going to have to step it up with the Spanish seeing I won’t get to rely on a senior companion for very long.

I am grateful for the things that have challenged me in my life: soccer, school, the Romney campaign, and my jobs because those hard times are helping me now get comfortable feeling uncomfortable.

It’s warm and beautiful here. Life is good.

Love,

 

Meg

 

You will either step forward into growth or you will step back into safety

- Abraham Lincoln

 

Things I Never Knew I Never Knew

Hola

 

We were supposed to go to the University last Friday to talk to the students on campus. However, there have been riots going on at the University but they said it’s only dangerous if you don’t join in with the rioters. And for some reason they didn’t want us to do that. Instead we went to a park to practice. Everyone I spoke with was so kind and patient with my Spanish. I may have mixed up 'where are you from' and 'where are we' because everyone I asked pointed to the ground and said “El parquet." I hope I wasn’t getting that wrong because 1) that would have been a really silly question and 2) I learned how to ask that on day one. Perhaps they were all just park residents.

 

One of my teachers said not to worry when we get things wrong. One of her companions was giving a talk in sacrament meeting and was trying to say she was embarrassed up there and it was the bishops fault but. But she used the word "émbarazada"' for embarrassed, which incidentally means pregnant.

 

The following are the highlights of the week... We have weekly doctrine classes with President Freestone. He is so wise and my understanding of the gospel is growing more than ever. To quote the wise words of Pocahontas: “I’m learning things I never knew I never knew.” Thursday mornings we are able to go to the temple which we all look forward to. Another highlight is the daily volleyball games we have during fitness. Almost all the missionaries participate. The phrase "'en tu cara'" (in your face), has caught on and at least one person says it after every point scored.

 

The Spanish learning has hit a bit of a plateau. I have to remind myself it’s ok to be progressing at a slower rate as long as I am growing. I am amazed at the capacity our minds do have. I am still working on utilizing my mind more and expanding my rate of retention.

 

Something I have found to be tricky is learning to simplify the gospel. With all its complexities and depth, it’s challenging to know how deeply to dive in. But there is also a beautiful simplicity about the gospel of Jesus Christ. The key principles being, God loves his children and wants us to progress. We can’t stress that enough when teaching. A scripture that was shared with me this week was Romans 8: 35, 38-39:

 

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?... For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Te amo,

Meg

 

Week 2

I have lost perspective of time. This week flew by but at the same time - I feel like I have been here forever. I've settled in well and I am really enjoying the CCM. They give us quite a bit of freedom here. A big portion of the day is for the companionships to do what they need to do - whether that is plan lessons or study espanol.

We've been 'teaching' the Bair’s; they are the Temple President (Patron and Matron). He was also a Mission President in the D.R. about ten years ago. I believe they are originally from the West Coast but that portion of the conversation was in Spanish so I may be way off. It has been eye opening for me to see how many people it takes to run the church. Anyways, they were saying how uniquely receptive the people in the DR are. He said that he had companionships of sister missionaries that were able to get into every door they knocked on. And Sister Bair said we need to be careful because if you compliment the people on something like their shirt or perfume, they will give it to you; that is how kind and generous they are.

We were able to take a trip to the store this week. It was exciting to leave the temple grounds for the first time. It has been strange being in the country but not really experiencing the country yet. The store was fun. I have discovered that I am feeling much more confident with speaking but I am at a total loss when people respond to me. I have mastered the smile and nod.

The Haitian missionaries left. We were so sad to see them go. However, it may be beneficial in that I was picking up a strange mixture of Spanish and French/Creole and that left me confused. They were replaced by a large group of Hispanic missionaries that come from a variety of places. These missionaries are only going to be here for two weeks and then head to Santiago, DR.

In other news, I cut my hair. Actually, I didn’t cut it. It was a district effort. No one had any haircutting experience but I think it looks alright; one of my teachers said it wasn’t a total disaster which was very reassuring. Oh well, YOMO (You're Only a Missionary Once).

All in all, I am doing very well. I can feel myself getting a little better at Spanish everyday and I am starting to understand effective teaching patterns. I can also see myself gaining a better perspective; it is a wonderful experience to take a step away from my comfortable life and re-evaluate.

Much love,

Meg

Centro de Capacitacion Misional

 

Greetings!

One week down in the CCM (Centro de Capacitacion Misional). I cannot believe it has only been a week; I’ve learned so much and experienced so much change in one week's time. The first three days were definitely the most challenging. I think I was expecting to be eased into the Spanish portion of our training - however that was not the case. By the second day we were planning lessons in Espanol and by the third we were teaching to 'investigators'; we have been teaching lessons every night since. A lot of us came here only knowing the basics in Spanish so it has been a real challenge. We are only the second district to come straight to the CCM- before missionaries would spend three weeks in Provo and then were sent here. I’m not sure if they are used to getting missionaries that are more trained or if that is the standard language learning program for everyone. Nonetheless, they are really pushing us. I think it is very effective because we are learning so much, learning to work hard and be focused, and I think we've all been humbled.

One catalyst for this new found humility is the embarrassment that comes from learning a new language. On Saturday morning we walked to the temple, which is right next to us to converse with Dominican members. We were instructed to introduce ourselves and bear our testimonies. One group of teenage girls we talked to were so patient with us but they did get much amusement from our broken Spanish; one of the girls was trying so hard not to laugh that she couldn’t look at us. Another embarrassing experience was in sacrament meeting; I said the opening prayer. I practiced it over and over but when I said it, I mixed up so many words; I ended up finishing the prayer in English. I am still learning to laugh at myself when I make mistakes. Mistakes are of course inevitable but it does get a little discouraging when you are devoting all our time to it and you mess-up.

I can already tell I am going to love the Dominican people. Our teachers are wonderful. They are so kind and would do anything to help us learn - but they are also full of attitude and are hilarious. I think we are so lucky to be trained here and have Dominicans teaching us. They provide us with insight about how to be effective with the people we will be teaching.

As I said in my last letter, half the missionaries are Haitian. They were able to go through the temple this past week for the first time and are wearing garments for the first time. They love to play basketball with us during fitness and they try to teach us french/creole at lunch (I don’t absorb any of it because there is only room for Spanish in my brain right now). We have had three members of the Seventy come through and all of them seem pretty excited about the Haitian missionaries and the work that is going on there.

 

I love my companion! Hermana Coe is from Mission Viejo, California and is 21. Our Haitian roommates think it is so funny that she is older and so much shorter than I am. I have really connected with her and it feels like we are a team. It’s wonderful to have that support and a friend through this whole experience. Although there are a lot of moments of stress, there are just as many moments of fun and laughter. We are always laughing.

The food here is pretty good. We always have beans and rice for lunch and I enjoy that. There is also always a cart full of bananas at every meal, which I definitely take advantage of. The chefs are partial to banana flavoring I believe. One day we had banana pancakes, banana bread, and for dinner a dish called Pastelon de Platano - basically its banana lasagna. All in all it has been good.

Although it is challenging, I am so thankful for the humility it has given me. I already feel like I have a better perspective on life and have learned so much about who I am. It’s easy to get caught up in the failures and how much there is to learn but then there are moments where I remember why I am here. I am grateful for those moments. I am so grateful to be here. I honestly wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I’m so glad Spence got off safe and can’t wait to hear about his first week!

LOVE YOU

Meg

 

1st Day

We arrived at midnight last night and President Freestone and his wife picked us up and brought us to the MTC. From that twenty minute car ride it was clear that driving is a little different here; red lights don't mean stop and there are no lanes.

There are thirty missionaries in the Santo Domingo MTC. A handful of those are Puerto Rican missionaries and half are Haitians. The Haitians are here for two weeks and then go back to Haiti. They no longer send Americans to Haiti; too dangerous. The Haitian missionaries are very humble and kind. Our hymns are all sung in Creole, English and Spanish.

Elder Rasband and President Anderson (President of the Carribbean area) spent the morning speaking to us. He talked about the importance of missionary work and how each of us need to resolve to be our own best convert. He is a powerful speaker and very motivating.
I love wearing my name tag. I felt so proud walking around the airport as a Hermana. In the Salt Lake airport I received quite a few hugs and people were asking me where I am going; even had a few ladies cry and tell me where there sons were serving. It was a different story in LAX and Miami airport.  All the same, I love wearing the badge.

love you!!!!

Hermana meg

Ran Into Elder & Sister Rasband in Miami Airport

Meg is On Her Way

The D.R. Hermana's

The Cousins

Meg's Cousin Adelide Put this Together