Holy smokes I just love being a missionary!! I know I say that a ridiculous amount, but every day I just understand more and more about this Gospel and about my calling. Also, where the heck does the time go?? I'm leaving (at 4 AM) for Louisiana in 5 days. I cannot believe how fast my time at the CCM has gone. Next time I email you all (besides probably a quick one on Tuesday to say that I made it) will be in the grand Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission!!! I have absolutely loved my time here (and I'll explain why in a little bit) but I have been dreaming of Louisiana for almost 6 months now and I am just so insanely excited to finally be there and meet my mission president and my new companion and get this show on the road!!
Okay on to more Spiritual things. So every Saturday we have TRC where we teach real investigators, members, or less actives, and it's seriously our favorite thing ever. This last Saturday we taught three different times, and they were all the best! The first group was two 18 year old girls who are going to go on missions in a year and they were just the sweetest ever. Then we taught two 12 year old boys and oh man I just love them!! It was so cool to teach someone that's not generally our age, and especially kids. They're both new deacons, and it was awesome talking to them about the Priesthood. Their testimonies are so strong and they want to go on missions when they're older and oh man. Good stuff. Then we taught two cousins, and they were both around our age I think, and for the first time here, even though my Spanish is pretty decent, I literally did not even have to think about my Spanish. It was incredible! I don't know why that lesson of all lessons, but I felt the Spirit SO STRONGLY and I felt like I could communicate everything I wanted to, and even though my conjugations may not have been exactly perfect, I felt so good. TRC is the best!
So then that night, we taught our investigator Cristian (who is actually one of our teachers) and once again, the Spanish was just coming like it never has before. The gift of tongues is real. Anyways, one thing we've been working on this week is commitments, and how we shouldn't be afraid to promise blessings. So during our lesson, I promised Cristian that he would be able to find more work if we would pay a full tithe, and let me tell you, those words were not mine. Even though he's not a real investigator, I really felt the power of my calling and the power of the Holy Ghost in that moment, because truly if we feel like we should promise something, Heavenly Father will come through, and we just have to have faith that it will happen. AH I love being a missionary!
Okay one more story and then I'm done I promise. So be careful what you wish for, because last week I was missing piano a lot and I just wanted to play all the time, and oh man did I get my wish on Tuesday. So I accompany the choir and I was at practice right before the devotional which was super fun. Then I practiced with four hermanas who are singing a quartet on Sunday, then I get back, and Hermana Gill (the music lady) asks if I'm ready to play, and I was like yeah always. And then it hit me that she meant ready to play A SOLO! Which, I didn't have my music for at all. But you all know how bad I am at saying no. So thank heavens I still have A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief memorized because I ended up playing that and it actually wasn't too bad. And then I played prelude/postlude/opening/closing songs like normal. So the choir song this week was the EFY MEDLEY!!! You think it's powerful? Try hearing 100 real live missionaries singing it IN SPANISH! Holy smokes the chills were so real. We are no longer AS the Army of Helaman, we ARE the Army of Helaman!! So yeah, that was a pretty cool moment.
Alrighty folks, I think that's all from the CCM. Next email will be from LOUISIANA!! WOO!!!!! I have loved every minute of the CCM, but I am beyond ready to get to the field. I love you all so so so much!
¡Que tengan un EXCELENTE día!
XOXO
Hermana Sorensen