I'll Be... Leavin' on a Jet Plane
March 26, 2012 email
I’m writing a letter that has more stuff and details.
I’m writing a letter that has more stuff and details.
YES, I am SUPER bummed about not singing for General Conference. It has tainted my excitement for leaving tomorrow. Even though I am not going to sing in the MTC choir, invite EVERYONE YOU KNOW to watch General Conference. Tell them I want them there. For my last gym time, I wanted to get on the records board. I didn’t think I could break the bench press record, even though it was 50 pounds, because it was about 150 presses or so. There was NO record for the sisters’ Dips, so I set it! Heheheeee, I am a lazy over-achiever. My name and mission will be up on the board, but I won’t get to see it. I do get a nifty certificate! I tried to break the vertical jump, but I got 22.1 inches, and the record was 24.9 inches. |
I want to share one cool experience I had while in a lesson. We were teaching a lesson about the Plan of Salvation. Elder Clawson was talking about the spirit world after death, and “Bruno” asked where it was in the Bible. I was straight up like BAM, “1 Peter 4:6 and 3:18 and 19.” I got frustrated, though, because I couldn’t find it in the Portuguese Bible. BOTH elders were telling me I had passed it up. Apparently, my finger was marking the page, but I didn’t know it. So I angrily said, “ONDE?? ONDE??” [Where? Where?] and handed it to them. So, cooooool, I can contribute a tiny bit to the lessons. Yea. Hahaha. I am EXCELLENT at asking good questions and bearing my testimony. I just can’t understand what they’re saying, hahaha!!
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Being a solo sister is tough, but I DO have more opportunities to follow (or break) the rules. I have elder escorts for things that are a district activity. Then I go around with my roommates for p-day and GYM and temple times. It was great, though, because today I had “companionship exchange.” My roommates had personal study time in their class (even p-day has class time), so I asked them to drop me off 2 floors down in order to help in Brother Sikahema's class for that hour. As we were walking down the hall, I heard his trademark voice; and I lept with joy. I had been craving some Sikahema uplifting, and he was HERE! I knew last week that he didn't have a district, and I wasn't sure if I'd even run into Brother Sikahema or Brother Crandall. BOTH favorites! Guess what?? He put me to work as a TEACHER! It’s so great that he and Brother Crandall were so fired up by our district and love and trust us SO MUCH. :)
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While getting ready for bed the other night, I gave myself a good look in the mirror. Yep, still have ears, still have chapped lips, still have a tongue (although it hasn’t been loosed yet). I noticed something in my eyes that I didn’t recognize: age. Time has crept up on me more in one month than it has these past three years! Is it lack of sleep? Is it sincere study—more than I have EVER experienced in the years of my college life? I guess it’s okay for me to grow up, but I don’t want to grow old… or perhaps getting old is the hard part. Whatever the case, Old (intentionally capitalized) is growing on me, and I can’t scrape it off. I have been here ONE MONTH! I can’t believe it! My mission is already one month over! And… I am 2 weeks behind in my journal. Oh, the things you sacrifice for the salvation of souls. ANYTHING for the Lord. Anything. |
I’m not traveling alone. There will be another elder or two, for sure, who will be with me; but I think we’ll pick up a lot of missionaries in the 5-HOUR layover in Atlanta. I’ll write the rest in my letter. Thank you for the blessings. I have been fighting a cold, and it’s only by the grace of our Heavenly Father that I haven’t gotten full-blown sick. Heaven knows this place is a cesspool for germs and stress. Stress is a natural response to adjust and adapt to change. It isn’t bad until it becomes distress. After all, how do you build muscles? You stress them. We are constantly under physical stress: atmospheric pressure, gravity. We pay no heed because we live with it daily. I have an increased ability to cope with excess stress, and I know it is making me grow. After all, every seed has to defy gravity to grow. It takes work, and that is what I’m doing. :)
Just Keep Swimming, Sister Nelson |