Week 3: ¿Feliz Navidad?

Hola everyone! This week has been the craziest of weeks, so I'm just going to get right into it:

• Monday night the fire alarm went off in the sister's building late at night and literally all the sisters had to stand around in their pajamas. Hermana Hindmarsh and Hermana Smith were both in the shower when the alarm went off and were both contemplating just walking out with no clothes on lol. All the sisters were singing hymns while we had to stand around and wait to go back inside; it was very angelic 
• Elder Cook came on Tuesday and spoke to us for our devotional! He talked to us about the 4 types of love we should develop on our missions: love for your companion, love for your mission president, love for the people, and most importantly, love for the Savior. He said that the greatest way we show the Savior we love Him is by being missionaries and going throughout the entire world and sharing His gospel; "if ye love me, feed my sheep". Since I was in choir we got the good seats so I was only about 100 feet away from a literal apostle of God. Woah. 
• Sisters and Elders are only allowed to shake hands, not even high five, so there have been many times this week where 1. our district was playing spikeball during exercise time, 2. someone made a good shot, 3. a high five had to turn into an awkward handshake last second

Literally the greatest district you will ever meet 

• My Spanish has been going pretty well. While teaching our brand new "investigator" (at the MTC we call them TRC's) , we gave her a Book of Mormon, and when she opened it she opened it to a picture of Jesus and I just immediately pointed and said "Jesucristo!" and it made her laugh SO HARD, she spent the rest of the lesson talking about how cute I was, it was both flattering and embarrassing. She did say that if she found out that the church was true she would get baptized, so that's pretty neat. 
• I got to host the new missionaries this week! Unlike literally everyone else who comes to the MTC, I had no desire to host the new missionaries, but it was actually a lot of fun! I just felt so much love for all these new missionaries and the work they are going to be doing
• Our old teacher Hermano Nash came back to visit us! It was so exciting to walk out of my TRC and just see him standing there in the hall. He explained his internship to us (we didn't embarrass him about not having a girlfriend after all) and how even though it will be really exciting and important to his career, he said he missed all of us a lot and knew that we were all going to be good missionaries in the 2 weeks he knew us. our whole district has agreed that here at the MTC he pretty much is like our dad lol 
• It has gotten very chilly here in Provo these last couple days; I've had to break out some of the more wintry stuff I was saving for Idaho. They have also started putting up all the Christmas lights here which is so exciting!  Last night an elder in our branch ran by our classroom and was like "guys watch this" and ran outside to turn on the lights on one of the trees; it was very magical to come out in the dark and just see this tree all lit up. 

The tree in all its glory

• During class last night one of the lightbulbs in our room exploded? 
• Everyone in our branch calls our district "the party district" because we are always loud and jokey, and we all just get along really well. Some of the other sisters in our branch said their elders don't even hang out with them after class? 
• Since Hermana Perez is from Chile she will need help with her English occasionally, and there will be this cool symbiotic relationship flowing throughout our classroom. Also her American accent is the FUNNIEST thing I have ever heard  

Those are just some of the crazy things that have happened this week. Spanish is awesome and I get to drink chocolate milk every day; life is so so so good. I love you all and I love being a missionary! Have a good week everyone! 

-Hermana Peterson 

Me and the amazing Soeur Battezzato

Hermana Davis's selfie game is so on point

Week 2: Frespañol

Hola Everyone!

 Squaw Peak ft. my name tag

Every day at the MTC just gets better and better; I just love being a missionary so much. This week we had this cool devotional by Chad Lewis, the famous football player(?? what is football). He talked all about his mission and how missions are all about forgetting yourself and serving the people you are surrounded by. Not just your potential investigators, but your companion, your mission president, your district leaders, etc. It was a very simple talk but it was so powerful, I might have cried a little bit. After that we watched Elder Bednar's talk called Character of Christ, and man that was a HUGE eye-opener. If you all can somehow get access to it, I strongly urge you to watch it. It felt like Elder Bednar was directly talking to me and was saying "Hannah these are all the things you are doing wrong and these are all the things you need to be doing as a missionary" it was SO inspiring. It was also basically about forgetting yourself, and turning outwards just like the Savior did when He was on the Earth. A mission is not about you, it's not about where you go, it's not even about the language you speak; a mission is about the people you are serving and teaching the gospel to. 

The coolest painting of Moses parting the Red Sea that I've ever seen

Spanish has been going pretty good so far. I understand most of what my teachers are saying in class, I understand most of the scriptures and things we read in class and in our studies, and I say most of my prayers in Spanish now.I do still say a lot of things in French though (which is why this email is titled as such). So yesterday, we all walk into class, and our teacher is Claudia, our fake investigator! Her real name is Hermana Perez, and she actually based Claudia off of a real investigator she had on her mission in Argentina. So when we were teaching "Claudia", she had a lot of faith and believed everything we taught her, but her husband did not like church and she did not want to get baptized without her husband, even though all her children went to church and were already members. So, the REAL Claudia, this was the same problem for her, so Hermana Perez worked really hard to try and teach Claudia's husband too. He eventually stated to listen, and then they both got baptized, and now their whole family is sealed in the temple, and most of Claudia's kids have also been on missions! When Hermana Perez was telling us this story, I could just feel so much love that she had for Claudia and her family. Hermana Perez is so patient with us and is excellent at Spanish (she's actually from Chile so it's her first language!). This week in class we've been talking a lot about el don de languas (the gift of tongues) and I came up with the perfect analogy for it. We tend to think of the gift of tongues as being like that scene in Harry Potter: Chamber of Secrets, where Harry is talking to the snake and then is like "wait I spoke a different language?", but that's not what the gift of tongue is like at all. It's being able to bring the things you've learned and studied back to your remembrance (with the help of the Holy Ghost, of course). It's only if you study and try to learn though; it's also kind of like when you don't study for a test, pray to do well on the test, and then be upset when you didn't actually do well on the test. 

This week our Spanish teacher who teaches us in the evening, Hermano Nash, had to leave because he's starting a very important internship and he can't do that and be our teacher at the same time. On his last day (which we didn't even know was his last day because he didn't say goodbye), he had to step out to take a call, and when he came back in, we all teased him about it being a girlfriend, which he just laughed off and said "haha no I wish". But then my dear, sweet companion, says "that's so sad! you deserve to be happy" and Hermano Nash got so embarrassed, he kept dropping his pens on the ground and stumbling over his words, we all felt so bad for him. So now that he's gone we keep joking that he was too embarrassed by us to be our teacher anymore, and that's why he REALLY left. Our new teacher, Hermana Jolley, is actually so good and nice, and she served her mission in Brazil so she knows Portuguese and Spanish (my new, 2-day long dream of being a French and Spanish teacher at the MTC is now more possible). 

Provo Temple

highlights from this week:

• instead of journaling, Hermana Davis (the other one, not my companion) likes to write down miracles and funny things that people say, and apparently it's just full of all the funny things I have said in this past week 
• I met a sister who is going to Seattle, Russian speaking, and my stl (sister trainer leader) said she knows someone who went to Iowa, Marshallese speaking? america is so cool you guys 
• no districts left, but we got a new district and they are all so cute and tiny! did people really think about me like that a week ago 
• at the gym me and Hermana Lazelle have been doing a lot of arm and ab workouts and our dream by the end of the mtc is to be so ripped that we can rip a log in half like Captain America did in Avengers 2

That's about it for this week! I love you all and I love being a missionary! 

-Hermana Peterson 

My family sent me cookies; they are literally the best ever 

 The language of heaven (Español) being pumped right into my ears 

 It was a GRAY-y day 

Week 1: Back in Good ol' P-Town

Hola everyone! I've only been at the MTC for a few days, but it's been so amazing so far! The few days before I entered the MTC I was SO nervous, I thought that maybe being a missionary was something that I couldn't actually do and I had somehow made a serious life mistake. But the morning I had to leave, I felt so calm and so peaceful, I was no longer nervous or scared. I knew that that was confirmation from Heavenly Father that a mission was really where I needed to be right now. I was so excited to get back to Provo; when my aunt was driving me up the hill I saw the Y on the mountain and thought "my home! there it is!!!" I don't even remember the lady putting on my name tag when I arrived, I was just so in awe and was so happy to be in such an amazing place. 

I have the best district! So Hermana Lazelle and Hermana Davis are going to L.A., Hermana Smith is going to Calgary, Hermana Heindmarsh is going to Vancouver, Washington, and my companion, Hermana Davis (we have 2 of them lol) is going to the Idaho Falls Visitor's Center! The elders in my district are all going to L.A. as well, and everyone in our branch is going to Argentina (besides 4 missionaries going to Spain). I absolutely love being surrounded by other people my age who have such strong testimonies and are so devoted to the gospel, it's just the best. 

My district at the Provo Temple

It is not a joke when people tell you they start speaking to you in your mission language right away; literally as soon as I walked into my classroom someone was trying to ask me all these questions and I had no idea what they were saying. I think my brain has been permanently wired to speak French because every time I try to think of a word to say or a question to ask my teacher I just automatically think of it in French instead of Spanish. I also keep saying "oui" instead of "si",  "je" instead of "yo" and forgetting to pronounce the s on the end of words since we don't so that in French. My poor companion, Hermana Davis, is so patient with me and is always correcting me when I pronounce something wrong and always has to help me with my sentence structure. However, she said that for someone who has never learned Spanish before I'm doing very well, so that is reassuring lol. Also Hermana Lazelle speaks German so we'll lean over to each other in class and be like "do you know how to say this" " no but I know it in German" "no but I know it in French", so that is reassuring as well that I am not the only one struggling haha. Before my mission I was actually so upset and mad that I was speaking Spanish; I never had a desire to learn it and I'd much rather teach the gospel in French or English or another language that I find appealing. But now that I am here I know that Spanish is the language that Heavenly Father wants me to preach in, even if I'm not that good yet lol. It was so embarrassing the other day because we were teaching our "investigator", Claudia, and other than saying the opening prayer and reading a scripture, I did not say a WORD that whole lesson. There were so many things I wanted to say and so many questions I wanted to ask, but I didn't know how to say them. I did ask her to read something out of the Book of Mormon, and then proceeded to tell us that she COULD'T READ. yeah. thank goodness for Hemana Davis who actually knows spanish or that whole lesson would have been an absolute train wreck. we have another appointment with her on Monday so hopefully I'll be able to open my mouth and say what I need to say. oh yeah also! yesterday I was in spanish class for 6 hours (3 in the morning and 3 in the evening), and for most of that time i had no idea of what my teachers were saying. I was becoming discouraged and wanted to just leave, but in the last hour I had the impression to suggest to everyone that we should sing a hymn before we start class again. Everyone thought that was a great idea so we opened our hymn books to Senor, te necesito ( I don't know how to add the enye, sorry guys), and after we sang, i was much more in tune with the Spirit and was able to understand a lot of what was being taught finally. 

Even though none of my classes are in the new MTC building, I still really like to go there to study. There are these beautiful paintings that are exclusive to the MTC, and one of my favorites is this one of Nephi heading into Jerusalem to obtain the brass plates. Besides the painting there is a a plaque that has 1 Nephi 4:6 on it, which reads "And I was lead by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do." Right now is a time in my life where I really actually have no idea what I'm doing (especially in spanish class), but I know that when I am led by the spirit I will never be led down the wrong path. 

Sweet painting of Nephi

My favorite place to study

Some Highlights from this week: 

• I saw so many of my friends from BYU!! hola amigos! 
• on the first day when an investigator asked why mormon's get married so young, an elder told her that since we all have similar values, we all just go really well together, and then said that he could probably marry any sister who was in the room. haha okay elder if you say so 
• in the MTC store I was looking at a french hymn book and an elder came over and asked if I could sing anything in french. I proceeded to sing a little bit of I Am A Child of God, and when he was like "oh you're going to France right?" and when i said no I'm going to Idaho the smile left his face and he immediately walked away 
• I met a sister who is going to Arizona and speaking french? and some elders who are going to Germany but speaking japanese? so cool?
• i hung up a bunch of pictures, but they all fell down on top of me while i was sleeping, and they all stuck together and all the ink came off of them whoops 

Sister Liang and her companion

Sister Morey

So i have an iPad while I am here in the MTC so if you guys want to email me I can read it whenever! I can only respond on saturday though. I hope everyone has a good week! i love you all and I love being a missionary! 

-Hermana Peterson