Familia! The enter button is not working so sorry about it. Thanks so
much for everyone´s letters. They truly are so inspiring and
motivating. I have been richly blessed with such incredible family and
friends. I thank the Lord for that every night. So... while traveling
here I placed my first two copies of the Book of Mormon. It was
awesome. One in spanish to a man and his family at the LA airport, and
the other to an Asian man going to Guatemala for business. I could
already feel the happiness and blessing that come from participating
in the Lord´s work. The MTC is full of natives and it is SO helpful in
learning the language. We are in the heart of the city right next to
the temple. We are surrounded by huge fences and guards everywhere. It
doees feel slightly like a jail, but the spirit is abundant! My
companion is a gem! We are the perfect balance for each other. She
keeps me in line and I make her laugh so so so hard. haha I love it.
She is brilliant and helps me with the language. We have incredible
companionship studies. She is from Vegas and went to BYU before her
mission. She is kind and gentle and udnerstands me. She looked at me
one day and said you know I didn´t think I´d ever have this much fun
on my mission. I smiled and said, "the best is yet to be baby!" oh man I
love this work. We work so hard. so hard. SO hard. I can´t even
believe how hard it is to learn this language but I love it. I love
studying because I feel the power of God working inside of me to open
my heart and mind to the truths and principles of the gospel that I
might open my mouth to others. Deportes (sports time) is probably the
best thing in the whole world. Hermana Richards goes and does work out
things with the Hermanas in the gym room and I go play basketball and
volleyball with hermama wagner and Hermana Amone. Wagner (or swagner
as I call her) is my little sunshine. We are very similar. She is
basically Carly Davis. We laugh so hard and have wodnerful discussions
about everything. Amone is from Austrailia and is 28. She is the most
kind, pure, charitable human I know. Basically I love being outside even though it´s either raining or feels like 800 degrees. Things are going SO well!
Our main teacher, Hermano Valdez, is wonderful. I am so grateful for
him. He is native Guatemalan and is so so patient and helpful. He
pulled Hermana Richards and I aside yesterday and asked us how we were
doing with the lanuage and adjusting and everything. He then asked if
we could set some goals with him on how we can be examples to the
district. A lot of the kids in our district are young, struggling with
homesickness, the lanugage, companions... he said they look up to us
and if we can set an exmple it will really help them. We have been
working hard to be studious, to speak spanish, to seek opportunities
to serve, to laugh, to sing, and to pray together. haha I love it :) so grateful for the opportunity to serve. I am happy. I am exhausted. I am eating weird things. I am studying the scriptures like never before. I am hotter than an oven. and I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is real. Jesu Cristo es mi Salvador. I cannot tell you how many times I have
said that sentence and I cannot convey the Spirit and feeling that
comes over me each time I say it. My spanish is... coming. hahahahaha
I love it! I have no idea what´s going on half of the time but we are
learning and progressing quickly. I decided that Heavenly Father sent
me Spanish speaking because He needed me to be humbled and I needed to
learn how to rely on Him. Completely. We are teaching legitimate
investigators and they are all native Guatemalans. We taught the first lesson the
second day we were here. I knew maybe 6 words. Every single time I
open my mouth to read a scripture, to explain a principle, or to bear
testimony I say a little prayer and tell my Father in Heaven that I
will say any word that comes to my mind so please put one there. He
always does. And somehow, by the power of God, I am able to bear a
simple testimony and share this beautiful, powerful, life changing
message with them. Candy is our investigator. She is from Guatemala
and she is DARLING. She is in her 20s, has twin boys that are 2, and
is living with a dude that she started dating after her divorce.
Obviously she has a lot to change in order to get her life in line
with the gospel but she is coming so far. She works in the kitchen of
the MTC so we teach her every night after dinner. 2 nights ago we
committed her to baptism on June 25. We are working on the law of
chastity now and preparing her to be ready for that date. She loves
the scriptures. She reads the Book of Mormon and cannot get over the
fact that Jesus Christ would visit her people in America. It truly is
an unbelievable experience to teach these people that their ancestors
welcomed the Savior into this land. The focus of the MTC is that we
are representatives of Jesus Christ. Literally. The power in that
statement becomes so real as we act in His name to learn and teach the
gospel. I was sitting in my room, looking out the window in the
morning, thinking about all that lay ahead.... the sun was pouring in
through the beautiful Guatemalan trees and I stared straight into it.
It was as if each ray of light was a portion of the Savior´s love
resting upon my face and filling my soul. I am honored by the call to
represent Him here. Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and how grateful
I am for the sacrifice of that man. The Book of Mormon is true. It is
the word of God. Feast upon it. Miracles are real. I see them every
single day, inside my heart and all around me. I love you all so much. I thank Heavenly Father for your support, your examples, and all you have taught me every day. We are doing this together. All my love and prayers. Hermana McGill.
