Week 5 - Perspective is Everything

written: 2/3/2021

Week 5

It is crazy to think that I am on my last week of at-home MTC, it seems like just yesterday I was stressing out on memorizing Moroni 10:5 in Spanish, which looking back on it I kind of just laugh a little. I have definitely grown a lot, and I am really looking forward to getting out into the field. This past Sunday I had the opportunity to have a short video call with my mission president in Osorno and his wife. Their goal and hope is that I will be among a group of Americans arriving in Chile at the end of next week! The COVID rules in Chile are currently pretty strict, but I would love to be there in any condition. My mission president's goal is to hopefully assign me to a Chilean trainer, which would definitely force me to be all in on Spanish, but thankfully accelerate my language training even more than I am now in the MTC. I am hopeful and ready to go anywhere, I just want to get out there and put my learning into real practice.

As the MTC winds down, our classes are beginning to almost be exclusively grammar and practice lessons with our teachers as investigators. My companion and I at first struggled to get a lesson plan together and felt we were all over the place when we first did these practice lessons. As we have continued to practice, we have grown every single lesson. Recently, we taught both our morning teacher and afternoon teacher the plan of salvation. Both have different "profiles" and we formed the lesson around their needs, but the plan of salvation is such an important lesson. Neither of us wanted to mess it up because we know the power and influence it can have. As we were planning our lesson for the afternoon, I told Elder Peterson we should invite our interested person to be baptized after our lesson. He seemed a little unsure but agreed. After we had taught our lesson and were wrapping up, the Spirit continued to tell me it was the right idea. We extended the invitation and she hesitated and said she didn't know. We both testified of the importance of baptism and told her to ponder and pray about it and we will revisit it next lesson. After we wrapped up and she was back to being our teacher, she told us how powerful it was, and if we had asked her again after we both testified, she would've said yes. The reason I tell this experience is that it was such a joy and I felt so happy to extend a baptismal invitation to my teacher, I can't even begin to imagine how great it will feel when I offer this same baptismal invitation to someone in Chile and they accept. I look forward to teaching these lessons to interested people in Chile and I can't wait to see the lives I touch.

Lastly, I was watching our weekly missionary devotional and the speaker asked "What will you remember 2020 as?" 

I'm sure most can remember how I would've answered that question a few months ago, as I had decided not to serve a mission due to COVID-19 and I would have said 2020 was awful because it prevented me from going on a mission. 

As I am wrapping up at home MTC, my thoughts on 2020 have changed dramatically. I now think about 2020 as one of my favorite years. It allowed me to spend time with family that I otherwise wouldn't have gotten. I was able to find a new passion in sports cards that I know I will love for a very long time. I was able to spend another semester at the end of 2020 at BYU-I, where I grew in so many ways, learned how to cook (thanks Hyrum), and truly found myself. All of this led to the greatest aspect of 2020, my personal decision to serve a mission. I will remember 2020 as a monumental year, one that shaped my life for the better and will positively impact my life for eternity. I am thankful for my changed and eternal perspective. 

I love all of you! I look forward to continuing to share my experiences with all of you. Yo se que Dios es nuestro amoroso padre celestial y el evangelio es verdadero. 

pictures include: My last HURRAH with my great companion, CHIEF! (For those that don't know, my amazing grandpa has taken me to lunch and anywhere I needed to go on my p-days while I have been training! He's the best!; Some of my food creations this week: Sparkling Cider Pound Cake, candied bacon, and Romano chicken with lemon garlic pasta.