Week 5- July 19

Hey everyone!!!!! 

This week has been one of the craziest weeks ever!!! So many amazing and fun things have happened, that I'm not even sure what to write about. I think the highlight of the week was Sunday. So every Sunday we have a devotional with all the missionaries that are here in the MTC. We all gathered there, and the meeting started. Usually they have a seventy or someone like that speak. So this week they were like, " We are going to watch the video of the character of Christ take that Elder Bednar gave a long time ago at the MTC." We were all like, "Okay, that's cool. It's one of the most amazing talks I have ever heard, so I was fine with watching it again." My companions and I were kind of just thinking that their speaker cancelled last minute and they weren't able to find anyone, so that's why we were watching it. 

We watched the video and it was amazing as usual (everyone look it up!!!) but then the music started playing for the closing song. We don't usually stand when singing, but everybody started standing up. We were sitting on the side, and so when people were standing we couldn't really tell what was happening in the front. We stood up with everyone else and got ready to start singing. All of a sudden the music stopped playing. So we all kind of just awkwardly stood there. I'm sure most people knew what was going on, but we couldn't see anything. I was super confused, and then all of a sudden everyone started sitting down, so  I did too.

Then the MTC mission president came up to the pulpit. He was like "As you may be able to see we have the privilege of the presence of Elder Bednar and his wife this evening." They always make surprise visits twice a year to the MTC and tonight is the night they decided to come. So we now turn the time over to Elder Bednar, an apostle of Jesus Christ" I like leaned over to my one companion and like grabbed her and shook her because I was so excited. Everyone was practically dying because we were so surprised. Since we have been here, we have had so many false alarms of Apostles coming, that we had pretty much given up hope of one actually coming before we left. But he ended up coming our last Sunday here!!! 

Oh my goodness, Elder Bednar is such an amazing man. He started by talking a abit about why they were here, and then he opened it up for a question and answer session. It was so cool. He would call on someone to ask a question- they would ask, he would answer super powerfully, and then he would follow up with questions. He would ask them if his answer answered the question that they were asking. He would then have them tell him how they understood his answer to make sure that they all understood. It was such an amazing lesson. Afterward, he asked us to tell him what patterns we had noticed. It was mentioned that he answered the questions to the best of his abilities, following the spirit. Next, it was mentioned that he asked a lot of follow up questions, to see if he had truly answered the questions correctly. He asked questions to confirm understanding. And in the end, even though only about 10 people had the opportunity to ask an actual question, he said " Now  I know that I haven't been able to answer a question out loud for all of you, but I bet that most of you have had a question answered in your heart as you have listened to the spirit today." He then laughed and said" I can tell that's true by all the smiles I see now." It was amazing because I had a question answered. It was the coolest thing ever. 

I just want to end by bearing my testimony about how the Lord knows us each so well. Even though we all have different problems going on in our lives, and different struggles, the Lord knows us each individually. I know that He answers our prayers and is watching out for each of us. I know that as we pray to our Heavenly Father, with a sincere heart, He will listen. He will also answer. It may not be in the way we expect, but He will answer. I am so grateful for that knowledge in my life. I am also grateful for the great lesson he taught about teaching. We learned that it's important to have the spirit, so it can testify to the hearts of our investigators. It is also very important to make sure we answer questions according to the needs of the investigators. And also help them to make sure they understand. I know this is the Lord's work, and it is amazing. 

I love you all! :) Let me know how everything is back home!!

Hermana Gittins

Week 4- Family letter

Hello everyone!!!!! 

This week has been crazy and I have so many things to share, but I will try to do it as quickly as possible, seeing as I only have 20 minutes left.  

As a district we have been speaking spanish quite a lot. We decided we need to start speaking more in spanish. So we have been fasting from english on certain days- we can't do it everyday or we will go insane... so we decided for the next two weeks we will do Monday, Thursday and saturday, speaking no english. It's actually pretty fun!!! The past two weeks, the temple has been closed, but today it's open!!!!!!! So I am so excited to be able to go to the House of the Lord :)  

I have been called, along with my companions, as a sister training leader. So we are pretty much in charge of the well being of all the Hermanas in our district. We had 15 besides us until yesterday, when 5 left. But tomorrow we are getting 7 new hermanas and 3 new districts. So we get to welcome them all and give them a tour of the MTC and stuff. We also get to carry around a cell phone all day!! It's so great. Except that we can only call the front desk :) But still it's fun. But strange to have a phone again. I have it in my pocket now. We also have the responsibility of choosing people for relief society lessons, visiting hermanas at night, letting the elders know if anyone needs a blessing. It's not really hard, but a lot of fun so far. We have made a lot of great friends already, and saying goodbye to people yesterday was super sad. 

Last Friday, I had the bright idea to do lunges for exercise. Our elders were playing frisbee outside in the grass and so i went around the circle like 3 times and did lunges the whole time. Then I did some other workouts. But the next day I woke up and could hardly walk....... I don't think I have ever been that sore in my entire life- and that's saying something because I ran a marathon last month.... And I am still sore.... It's ridiculous. But fortunately, I was able to go to the mtc store yesterday. And guess what i found?!?!?! A cardboard tube!!!!! So I am using it as a roller for my legs. I am not entirely sure the intended purpose, but it has been working well for a roller. Also it's nice for hitting elders on the head with. 

We got to teach relief society and district meeting on sunday. We taught about baptism and the holy ghost for district meeting and about recognizing the spirit for rs. They went really well. It helped me to see that it's important to be able to teach in a way that the people will be able to be edified and grow. Also the talk called "Always retain a remission of your sins" by Elder Bednar or something is amazing, so you should definitley read it. 

We taught a lesson with one of our investigators, (who is actually our teacher) yesterday.(He is acting as one of the investigators he taught on his mission) We went in with no lesson plan, planning to ask him if he went to church and to see if he had any questions. He asked about the priesthood. So we talked about the restoration of the priesthood which lead into baptism. We invited him to be baptized. He said he really wanted to but couldn't. We asked him why and he said he just couldn't. So we invited him to pray for forgiveness with us. After we prayed, he opened up to us about why he has been struggling. We testified of the power of the atonement and of repentance. But it was amazing because even though we didn't have a plan, we were able to help him so much because of the Spirit and the goodness of the gospel. I am so grateful for that and I pray for charity as I get ready to go to Kentucky and help others come to Christ. Love you all!!!!

 -Hermana Gittins

Week 4- July 12

Hi Everyone!!!! 

This week has been amazing!!! It has been one of the harder weeks but also one of the most rewarding weeks!! It's been hard because we have been trying to speak Spanish as much as physically possible. And it's really hard to communicate everything you want to, when you can't use English. But there has been an immense improvement since I got here. 

We decided that we are going to have a "ingles ayuno" or English fast every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday from yesterday until we leave the MTC. That means we pray with our district in the morning to start and we don't speak English until 9 pm that night. Those days have been a lot quieter for some reason... ;) But it's really awesome, because once you have been speaking Spanish all day, it's really hard to switch back to English. 

People will come up to us and try to say stuff to us in English, but we have a hard time responding in English because we are so used to Spanish. It's really amazing what you can do with the Lord's help. I know it's through Him that we grow better. 

Through His Atonement and through the Holy Spirit, we can be cleansed and purified, and also sanctified. The purification part is simply erasing your sins and helping you because clean again. "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" After the cleansing, we will always make mistakes which the atonement can fix. Another important part of the atonement is the sanctification part. Once we are purified, we can grow and progress and become better people because of Jesus Christ. Our hearts can be changed and our desires and actions will reflect our hearts. I am so grateful for Christ. He is the reason for everything we do here on the mission. 

Our purpose is " Invitar a las personas a venir a Cristo, al ayudarlas a que reciban el evangelio restaurado mediante la fe en Jesucristo y su expiacion, el arrepentimiento, el bautismo, la recepcion del don del Espiritu Santo, y el perserverar hasta el fin." To invite others to come unto Christ, by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." It's important in all aspects of our lives to remember that purpose. 

It's Heavenly Father's purpose, and we need to do everything in our power to help move His work forward. I am so grateful for these experiences :) Love you all :) Have a great week!!!

-Hermana Gittins

Pictures for week 4

We were matching without even planning it!

My Spanish CTR Ring

I got a haircut!

Suckers from the Doctor!

The bench by the bathroom. It's where we spend a lot of our spare time....

My friend Hermana Casos. She left this week for Kansas.

My Placard with the Angel Moroni

Week 3- July 5th

Happy Day :-)

This week was a blast!!!! We had so so many devotionals and amazing spiritual moments!!!! The spirit is so strong here!!  

On Saturday night we had a devotional for the 4th of July! It was amazing. At first, they had a representative from each country (where the gospel is currently being preached) to carry the country's flag around the gym. Then, there were two speakers that talked about the history of the church starting with Christ's death. It was really cool to see all the things that the Lord has done to prepare a way for His church to come forth again after it was lost in the Great Apostasy. Many people were inspired to do amazing things that allowed America to be a country with religious freedom. 

Columbus was acted on by the spirit to sail, and he even quoted some scriptures in his journal that prophesied of the restoration. Also, the bible was translated into English by William Tyndale and the printing press was invented so that the common man could have access to scriptures. Before that time, the rulers and kings believed that the common man shouldn't have access to those words. Because of that, many people were persecuted and killed for attempting to make scriptures accessible. But thanks to persistent believers, that dream eventually became a reality. And then in the end, of course, Joseph Smith. 

He was born in America, in a land where the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ would occur. He was taught good things by his parents and eventually he began searching for the truth. There were so many churches in the place where he lived. All of them taught different things, and he didn't know which was true. They all had different interpretations of the Bible. 

However, Joseph knew that  the scriptures were the word of God. One day, he read James 1:5, and knew that he must ask God for an answer of which church to join, and where he could find the truth. He did this, and he says of the event: "I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. When the light rested upon me, I saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said, pointing to the other: 'This is my Beloved Son. Hear Him!"  (Vi una columna de luz mas brilliante que el sol, dirrectamente arriba de mi cabeza. Y esta luz gradualmente descendio hasta descansar sobre me. Al reposar sobre me la luz, vi en el aire arriba de me, a dos personajes, cuyo fulgor y gloria, no admitten descripción. Uno de ellos me habló, llamandome por me nombre y dijo, señalondo al otro, "Este es mi Hijo Amado, Escuchalo!")

I have a testimony that this event really did happen. I know that Joseph Smith really did see the Father  and the Son. He knew it, and he knew God knew it, and he could not deny it.  I cannot deny it either, because I have felt the Spirit bearing witness to me of the truthfulness of this gospel. Through Joseph, the whole truth was restored. I know it blesses lives. It has blessed mine so much!!

Love you all!!!

-Con mucho amor,

Hermana Gittins

Week 2, continued.

Hi Everyone!!!!!!

This week we got to eat lots of fast food. Like Subway and Chickfila and taco bell and aloha chicken etc, because there were lots of new mission presidents visiting for the week for a seminar. The seminar was in the building with the cafeteria, so they closed it off to us.  Also the quorum of the 12 have all been here during the week and President Uchtdorf and President Eyring have been here. It would be cool but we haven't actually been allowed to go anywhere near where they could be. They had guards at all the doors and stuff so we wouldn't go in the building during the week. luckily now they are all gone. We were hoping an apostle would speak on Sunday, but they didn't, so we are hopeful for tonight.

This week has been awesome. My companions and I got to leave campus twice to go the BYU pharmacy and get prescriptions. It was super fun and we took pictures of our field trip. Oh we get to have a cool devotional on saturday and we get to watch fireworks!! I don't think i have ever been so excited in my entire life. I can't even wait. It's so weird not being able to do normal stuff like that usaually. I would love emails and letters. Thanks so much for all your support!! Hope you are all doing well. I will send my family a letter with more detailed information if you are interested :) ! Love you all.

Hermana Gittins

Week 2- June 28

*NOTE FROM POSTER*

I'm sorry its taken me soo long to get this all caught up!! I've added Rose to the blog now, so between the two of us, it will never get behind again!

Andria's Letter:

Hola!!! Como estan??? Yo estoy super bien!!! Super Super Bien!!! It has been a great week this week!!! 

Nothing out of the ordinary really happened this week, but I have had a great time. On Sunday, we had a district meeting and we had a lesson from an Elder in our district. He taught us about the importance of recognizing the spirit and about how we can help our investigators recognize that they are feeling the spirit. 

As we talked, the spirit testified of the truthfulness of his words. Really, the most important thing in missionary work is the spirit. Without the help of the spirit, we would be nowhere. The spirit is the real teacher and is the one who helps our investigators become truly converted. 

It's quite amazing actually. Because even if you aren't that fabulous at speaking Spanish and if you don't really know how to explain something using the words you know, as you do your best and testify of those things that you know are true, the message will be felt in the hearts of those you teach. Because really, having learned Spanish for all of 13 days, it's amazing that anyone is able to understand what we say. 

Since last week, we have taught 5 lessons in Spanish and one in English. And we have 3 tomorrow in Spanish. Another thing I have learned this week is that I am not hastening the Lord's work. The Lord is hastening His own work. The work will go forward whether I am helping or not. But I am so glad to be a part of it, and to help God's children find Him. 

I am so happy to be here in the MTC!!! It really is, as Elder Holland said, "a rare-ified experience". Seeing so many people who are my age, willing to give up a year and a half or two years of their life to the Lord, is amazing. I love you all!! Have a great week!!!