Thursday, March 12, 2015

First Week in the Mission Field

Hello everyone!

Wow, this has been a really really crazy week. I have loved it! 

First of all, I love Atlanta. It's pretty beautiful here and the people are quite friendly. So far, my hair hasn't misbehaved from the humidity, which is definitely a blessing. 

So there are only 4 Spanish speaking sisters in the whole mission!!!! It's truly a blessing to have this specific assignment. There is a large need for Spanish speaking missionaries, specifically sisters. We have two areas with hermanas right now: Buford and Roswell. We are in Roswell and we will be here for 3 months at least! We cover Roswell, John's Creek, Milton, some of Sandy Springs, and sometimes Norcross. If you don't know where that is, I understand. At least you all have Google so you can find out! I don't! 

I love my trainer, Hermana Martinez. She is such a blessing. She pushes me everyday but she does it lovingly. She treats me like an equal and believes I have every right to revelation in this area as she does. She trusts me and she listens to my ideas. I love it. We work really well together. I am blessed beyond compare to have her as my first companion in the field. 

This week I have learned a lot about how blessed I am. We had appointments with a few different people. While I was sitting in their homes, I was wondering why it was so dark and cold there. Then I realized that they were using flashlights because their electricity had been turned off and they didn't have heat so they just wore a lot of layers. Some didn't have cars. Here I am, sitting in my nice clothes with my nice purse with a nice car outside, feeling so overwhelmed with confusion. There is one investigator that we have who wants to be independent. She is 23 and living with her family. She can't pay for school so she needs a job. She can't get a job because she doesn't speak English. Until now, I never really understood how absolutely blessed I am to speak the language of my country and to have so many advantages in life. Even in the United States, there are so many people struggling for basic things that I never even recognized as a blessing. I am truly touched by the advantages my Father in Heaven has given me. 

We don't have a lot of people to teach because everybody already got baptized! It's pretty crazy. But we do have a family of two girls and one mother, a family of three children, one mother, and a single woman all progressing and meeting with us. We have to teach each family and person in a different way. 

Until being out here, I never realized how much I thought of myself. The mission is so tiring because not only are you physically working for 16 hours, but you are giving every single part of yourself to the work. It's quite exhausting. But it's wonderful to know that each time you work, you are blessed and sustained. 

Spanish is honestly hard. For those of you who have seen The Best Two Years, remember when Elder Calhoun says, "That ain't the language they taught me in the MTC"?? That's how I feel out here. The Spanish I learned isn't quite the same out here, simply because it's real life! That has caused me to be so frustrated in lessons because I want to contribute, but I have nooo clue what's going on during certain parts. But this frustration is different than any other frustration I've had. Instead of feeling sad and depressed and feeling stupid, I am simply motivated to do something. I'm not concerned with how bad I am, instead I'm concerned about improving. 

Heavenly Father shows us our weaknesses so that we can improve. When we feel that motivation to be better, it's from God. When we feel stupid and we feel inadequate and we feel useless, that's from Satan. Satan wants us to be miserable in our weaknesses. Heavenly Father wants us to be progressing as we notice our weaknesses. 

I love this gospel. I am ridiculously excited to start a new week out here in Roswell. I have already seen tender mercies and miracles that I wish I could explain. 

I love you all (y'all haha). Thank you for your emails! I love hearing from you! 

Until next week! 

Hermana Abram 

P.S. If you send DearElders to me, I won't get them anymore!!! 
Other P.S. Don't send mail to the address listed on my blog, because I won't get it until we have big meetings every once in a while! Send it to this address: 

515 Hemingway Lane
Roswell, GA
30075

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