Friday, May 18, 2012

El Don de Lenguas (Gift of Tongues)




Hey guys!
It has been so great to hear from you guys in your letters! My district can get frustrated with me because I have received 14 letters since coming to the MTC... I am very grateful for such great family and friends. Oh before I forget, mom I'm sending you a letter today because I am a terrible son and didn't say anything last Saturday about Mother's day. I'm so sorry! Also tell Grandma and Grandpa Greene or Tyler that my service leader guy is Brandon Benally, he knows them.
So this week has been soo much better than the first couple days. The first couple days you have no idea what's going on, your Spanish is poor and the schedule is intense. But once Sunday came around, everything changes. Sundays are packed with spiritual meetings and studying but it is such a great day. Honestly the Spirit is so amazing here, it is so constant it is incredible. Sounds like we had a tough loss last Thursday, sorry bro. All I can say is that after high school, none of that matters, especially on the mission. I am so sorry that Jared has to get surgery. I can't believe it will take that long for recovery... But at the same time when I read mom's letter I was comforted and I knew things would work out. I'll keep praying for you Jared! Mom your scripture of the week was great, that verse for a long time has been my favorite scripture verse. A verse I like that's along those same lines is 2 Corinthians 12:10. Oh and for my missionary verse I decided to use Alma 29:9. I feel like it's just an inspiring scripture for missionaries.
So back to this week. We have been studying our butts off. But seriously, we go to bed at night and we all agree that Spanish runs through your head non stop and when you wake up, more Spanish runs through. It's the craziest thing but I believe it is a sign of the Gift of Tongues or el don de lenguas. We all pray for this gift in our prayers and it is really starting to show. Our teacher, Hermano Taylor, says that we are by far the most adept at Spanish district he's ever had. Which doesn't mean we get to slack off, it means we get to progress our Spanish farther! So we have been using our newfound Espanol to teach a volunteer investigator, Santiago. We have met with him four times and me and my companions helped him to commit to baptism last night. I say help because in the end, missionaries aren't the ones telling them it's true, the Holy Ghost is. Even though it's not a real investigator it's an amazing thing to watch the progress someone from unbelief to preparing for baptism. But I think last night was our last night with him so we will get two new investigators next week.
Dad thanks so much for the letter, by the way my Elder Wright is from Virginia and Elder Ziegner is from Oregon. Their assignments are Anaheim and Long Beach respectively. I am learning to love them more and more. My district is starting to become some of my closest friends. I honestly can say that I will miss all of them when the time comes to leave the MTC.
I saw Elder Alex McBride on Wednesday! He looked good, better than his companion anyway, hahah. His companion looked a little deer in the headlights. But it was almost not believable that it had only been a week since I had come to the MTC. You learn so much, you feel like you've been here for a month. but the days are fast and it feels like I was just writing you yesterday. We get to have gym time here and although my companions don't usually want to go to the gym, I am trying to stay in shape. The food here is like BYUs but worse for you. Most of the time I play basketball. Although sometimes I’ll grab a volleyball if there’s an open court and just toss a ball to myself to get some hits in.
Lately my favorite part of the day has been personal study time. I feel like as a missionary you have this clarity when you learn, study, pray, etc. So now when I read my scriptures I can understand so much more. I am reading the Book of Mormon to better understand some things as well as to find scriptures for the Preach my Gospel lessons, then I switch to my Spanish scriptures and mark them for future use. I am really excited about it! I am so grateful to be a missionary and I know the people of Maryland need to hear the message Jesus Christ has for them.
Love you all!
ElderGreene

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