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| Micaela with the new hermanas in her branch. |
¡Hola! I hope you are all doing well, and I hope that you
know how much I love you all!
I have four days left here at the MTC and I'm really
excited!!! And really nervous... Lots of emotions are rolling around, but it's
good. I've had such a great experience here at the MTC and I love what I'm
doing. I know that this is the Lord's work. I know that this is what I am
supposed to be doing.
This week has just flown by. Let's see if I can get my
thoughts in order.
Last Wednesday, after emailing, we tried to find Mercedes to
teach her for the last time, but she wasn't there. So we set up a time to teach
her on Thursday (meaning tomorrow). I really hope that we get to see her again,
because I absolutely love her!!! That night, we met the new district. There are
five hermanas and six elders. They are great! We had a get to know you meeting
and then took them on a quick tour of campus and then shared our testimonies in
Spanish. The first day is extremely overwhelming, so we tried to be really
understanding and comforting to the new sisters. They were a bit quiet at
first, but they've become more comfortable. They still don't understand how
much contact you have with the zone (i.e. you go to meals together, gym
together, the temple together, and you wait for one another), but they'll get
it.
On Friday, for gym, Hermana Pula and I did yoga, meaning we
did the corpse pose, and talked. We were making up all sorts of silly stories,
it was fantastic! We laughed for almost all of gym time. So we had a good ab
workout. :) During class, I was really struggling and so after class, Hermana
Savage pulled me out to talk. Once outside the door, I started to bawl. I had
been feeling like I couldn't be myself. Like being me wasn't good enough.
Wouldn't be acceptable. I tried to remember what a friend told me, "God
called you. If you weren't ready, He wouldn't have called you. He also didn't
call you to be someone else. He called you as you. As Micaela Wilson. And
Micaela Wilson is good enough." But it was hard to always keep that focus.
Hermana Savage was so sweet and listened. Which is one of the greatest gifts
anyone can give. That's all I really needed. I just needed to talk it out. Get
it out into the open so I could work through it. She also helped me look at the
situation from a new perspective. I love her!
That evening, we had class with Hermana Boyce. She gets so
animated when she talks about her mission (to Bolivia) that it makes me so
excited to go myself! She shared some mission experiences with us and it was
fantastic!
On Saturday, we were on our way to lunch when we ran into a
gold tag (they're investigators that come to the MTC to be taught). We asked if
he was lost and he said that he was fine. We started talking to him (his name
was Bobby, by the way) and then he asked us a spiritual question. I can't
remember exactly what the question was or exactly what we said. But the Spirit
was there and it was so amazing! We were able to teach him, and in English for
the first time, and hopefully what we said helped him in some way. He said that
he liked what we said and would think about it and try to apply it into his
life. It was amazing!
So, my district was kind of struggling with each other this
past week. You could feel the tension building in the classroom. We, the
hermanas, had no idea why or what had caused it. On Saturday, Hermana Nordfelt
and I had left for the residence when the elders held the other two hermanas
back and talked to them. They told the hermanas that they'd been struggling
with how we, Hermana Nordfelt and I, were too happy about teaching. They said
that not every lesson is going to go well. But then they said that while we
were teaching, we aren't happy enough. They said, "This is a happy gospel!
You need to be happy about what you're teaching about." Also, they said
that they hated it when I cry. Like when I share my testimony, I get emotional
at times. So basically, they told the hermanas that they are uncomfortable with
my personality. Great, right? So, on Monday, we had a district inventory where
we, all together this time, talked about what we were struggling with. We
started out with our strengths as a district and then we went into the things
that we were struggling with. It was really good, actually. The elders said
that they had prayed and the whole too emotional thing was really fine. They
understand that we're girls and tend to be more emotional. We also addressed
them being a little too rowdy at times. Like we understand that they're elders
and they enjoy being rowdy, but there is a time and a place. It was done in a
really good way, and I feel much better now. The tension is gone and we are
able to focus on our last week here at the MTC.
Ok, investigators. We are no longer teaching Daniela so
that's pretty sad. We're not teaching Mercedes either. We have been teaching
each other more, but it's different. Today we start teaching each other as
ourselves. That'll be nice. No one is pretending. No one is faking. We are just
teaching and being taught as ourselves.
Jimena though, she is doing really well. We had a lesson on
the Fall and why it was necessary. She had a hard time understanding that the
Fall was part of the Plan, but we were able to explain it to her and she's
doing well with it now. We also taught her about the Word of Wisdom. She says
that she, personally, doesn't have a problem, but her family likes to drink
alcohol at parties and it's extremely offensive not to drink too. She wants to
be obedient, but she doesn't want to offend. We told her that we understood
that this is really hard, but that with God's help, she can do it. She
committed to living the Word of Wisdom. She is amazing!
Today, we had to host the new missionaries. It's our P-day
and would normally be spent packing. So we're a bit stressed today. But
hosting was great! I hosted three sisters! They looked a little shell shocked,
but they'll be fine. :)
My mom asked be to clarify what I do as a Sister Training
Leader since it is such a new position for missionaries. Basically, we are to
look after the sisters in our zone. We conduct interviews every Saturday with
the senior companions. These interviews are about their companionship
inventory. So we ask them about their goals, struggles, health issues, any
questions they have, companion hardships, or really anything they need. We then
tell the Branch Presidency. We also are there for all of the meetings like
Leadership Counsel. It's really great! I remember that it was really great to
have Sister Training Leaders when I was first here, because there was no way
that I was going to go to the Zone Leaders and ask for help with some things.
It was nice to have sisters that you knew were there to help you.
I want you all to know how much I love you! I know that the
Lord loves you and is with you! I know that this is a great work! I love you,
and I hope you have a fantastic week!
Love from,
Hermana Micaela Wilson
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