Week: 5

Date: Sat, Aug 3, 2013 at 9:58 AM
Subject: Week 5!!!!!


" OH MY GOSH!!!! This week has definitely been pretty crazy, which means that next week...which is my last week here at the MTC, will be even crazier!

 

Sunday:

Pretty great. Sundays are my favorite days here at the MTC, other than Tuesday (we have devotionals on Tuesday which are at the Marriot Center...so we all take this huge field trip to get out of the MTC). Anyways, Sunday just always prepares me for the next week and even though we sit way more than we do on any other day, I seem to always be rejuvenated....did I spell that word right?

All day I focused on the topic of Obedience, Fortified Faith and Bold Testimonies. Again, I was reminded how beautiful the Gospel is and how it causes me to be so excited for the Philippines!!!

Pretty Awesome quotes that stuck out to me:

 

1. "Life is not about accumulation; it is about contribution." - Steven R. Covey

2. "When we obey they commandments and serve unselfishly, we will receive power." - Richard G. Scott

3. "Obedience is a hallmark of prophets." - Thomas S. Monson

4. "I have not seen, but I believe." - Sister _______ Penfield (I forgot to write down her first name! SORRY!)

and then this one from last week which I thought about this whole week.

5. "Remain rescuers until our rescuer, Jesus Christ, comes." - Sister Jolene Allphin

Also, this Sunday was the last Sunday for two of our awesome districts. We all walked to the Temple and took a seriously large amount of pictures...which I will send to my momma.

The new zone leaders are two elders from my district, which we totally knew was going to happen and our two new Sister Training Leaders are the two sisters who laugh the loudest in our zone. IT'S HILARIOUS!

The four of them will work wonders (: 

 

Monday-Wednesday:

My hair is getting really long...but I shall not cut it!!!! At least not yet, maybe next week (:

I have been playing volleyball for every single Gym Time. I have been getting pretty good. We are not allowed to dive for the ball, which gets me upset sometimes because I want to dive so bad, but I don't. Also, try to picture this amazing moment which will probably never ever ever happen again:

I served the ball to the other side, the ball was hit back onto my side,  one of the Elders on my team had set it for me in the air, I jumped super super high...spiked the ball...and it hit another Elder in the face. IT WAS THE FUNNIEST THING!!!!! I didn't realize how high I had jumped, until I stood right next to the Elder...he is 6 feet tall. I've always known that I had some type of awesome grasshopper super power in my legs...but, it was also really scary. I jumped so high that I freaked out when I came back down and nearly landed on my face. So those of you who play volleyball, I have so much respect for your awesomeness and when I return....it will seriously go down!!!! (:

Now for the spiritual... These first three days of class really turned into a struggle for me. We nearly finished learning all of the grammar principles and sentence structures are making much more sense now. However, I struggled greatly during our "investigator appointments". Also, I had set a goal to learn the following in Tagalog:

 

1. Missionary Purpose

2. Joseph Smith's First Vision (...starting at "I saw a pillar of light...")

3. Moroni 10: 4-5

We also received around 20-30 new missionaries in our zone!!!!! OH MY GOSH!

 

Thursday:

This was my hardest day. This was the first day I hit a huge wall, spiritually and emotionally. Mga kasama ko (My companions) and I had a lesson on Our life on Earth and the Atonement. I studied what I felt impressed to study and I was feeling perfectly fine, until we began to teach. It was the strangest and most terrifying feeling. I did not understand a lick of Tagalog that was being spoken. I sat there in the corner trying to figure out what was going on. I knew what I wanted to say in English, but out of nowhere, it felt like this day was my very first day at the MTC and that I had no idea what Tagalog even was. There was a point during the lesson, where it seemed like I was hallucinating. Right next to our investigator, I saw two people from my family...clear as day. They were staring at me, looking extremely disappointed and I freaked out. My companions noticed my struggle and we talked about it. They reminded me of the power of the adversary. They reminded me that my decision to be here is something that he absolutely despises and that he will do his very best to throw things into my path that will cause me to fail. I know that my call is inspired. I know that there are people sa Pilipinas who have been prepared by Heavenly Father, for me to meet. I would not have been called to the Philippines to speak Tagalog if Heavenly Father did not think I could do it. I felt so much better the rest of day. Later in the evening, I was brushing my teeth and noticed one of the new sisters looking very discouraged. So I felt impressed to talk to her and listen to her concerns. I felt so much joy in telling her that she has a beautiful purpose as a missionary during these next 18mon. We talked for a while and she felt much better. I thanked mga kasama ko for the confidence and reminder they had given to me, for without it, I would not have been able to understand how the new sister was feeling.

 

Friday:

So, it was my idea to have our whole zone play kickball for Gym Time. Not all of them got the memo, pero we still had a large amount of people. This game was literally my kickball redemption. The first time I played Kickball with our old zone, I dropped the ball twice and kicked the ball at a Sister's face -______-. I was so pumped for this game and to play with MY district...until I found out that they threw me with the newbies -___- haha. It's totally fine because we dominated (even though we don't keep score)!!!!!!!!! I caught every single ball (which was kicked 100 feet in the air...probably not but it was pretty high!) that was kicked my way, I scored three "home-runs", and ....I dove for two balls..which I caught...which is totally not allowed...and I repented soon after (:

I also did my best to give the newbies a fun game. Every single time we had a home-run, we had that "tunnel thing" that people do...? I don't know. They all had a good time and we all bonded pretty well. My District began to laugh by saying that they should have kept me on their team. By the way, I was the shortest out of everyone playing kickball. Hilarious!

And...drum roll please....I RECEIVED MY FLIGHT PLANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you would like to know that information, ask my parentals (:

My heart pounded as I read my packet!!!!! AHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IS THIS REAL LIFE!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!

 

I just wanted to, once again...as always, say thank you!!!!!!! I love all of you so very much and I miss you dearly...and I definitely know that you miss me. WHO DOESN'T MISS AN ESCOBAR!? (:

I am growing so much here at the MTC, as a missionary, as a student, as representative of the Jesus Christ and as a daughter of my Heavenly Father. I know what I am doing is right.

Alam ko po na mahalaga po ang Pagbabayad-sala ni Jesucristo. Alam ko po na mahalaga at totoo po ang Aklat ni Mormon. Alam ko po na totoo ito sa pamamagitan panalangin at ng Espiritu Santo. Nagpapasalamat po ako para sa pamilya ko at mga kaibigan ko. Alam ko po na magiging masaya sa pamamagitan kay Jesucristo. Sa pangalan ni Jesucristo, Amen.

 

If anyone plans to send me any letters, the last day to send it would either need to be today or tomorrow.

Feel free to DearElder.com me!!!! Those are always fun (:

 

Sincerely, Sister Tatiana Escobar

p.s. A huge thank you to the Escobar Family (D3) for their awesome package!!!!! I might eat everything tonight, because tomorrow is Fast Sunday for us...but then I might throw up, so I shall see what happens. But thank you so much! IT IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, I ate all of the lychee...literally 10min after I opened it (: "