MTC - WEEK 4 

Hola familia! So, I'm going to try to remember all that has happened this week but they just keep going faster and faster. Can you believe I've been out a month as of the 30th?! So crazy. I'm one eighteenth of the way done and I feel like I haven't even started yet. All of you talked about Thanksgiving! To be honest I almost forgot about it because it is an American holiday and it's not celebrated in Mexico. But they've been playing Christmas music in la tienda for the past two weeks or so. But I hope you all have a wonderful day! Eat a pumpkin pancake and a piece of turkey for me!

I got a bunch of Dear Elders yesterday, thank you so so so much! My district called me Hermana Letters for the rest of the day but it was so worth it to hear from you guys. They take a little longer than expected so PLEASE DON'T SEND ANY DEAR ELDERS OR LETTERS TO MEXICO AFTER TOMORROW because I'm afraid I won't get them in time. Just hold on and send it all to my California address :)

Please keep my companion in your prayers, she found out yesterday that her parents are getting divorced and it is really hard for her. Our branch president told her last night at dinner, just before two lessons, and she started crying and asked for a hug which is so not like her. She is not a hugger. But she is doing better today, I just wish I knew how to console her.

Also, the rash on my wrist is gone, I think I am allergic to the material of my pretty rose gold watch :( But esta bien. I haven't worn it all week and it's almost all the way back to normal.

So Thursday we got done with lunch early so I thought I'd try to write a letter or two before language study. I brought some stuff to the classroom and as soon as our elders saw my stickers they went crazy! There's a tradition to put stickers on the back of your name tag for kids to look at or play with or just for fun. And once I told the elders they could have some you'd think they were 5 years old again fighting over princess and butterfly stickers. It was pretty funny to watch and they even left some for me, such gentlemen. Then we had TRC which is where people volunteer to come in and let the missionaries teach them. 9 times out of 10 they're already members but it's good practice. Well Hermana Baird and I ended up teaching two 14 year old girls who were incredibly shy. And since we had an assigned subject to teach on we couldn't just talk about anything which made the lessons really quiet and awkward and we ended up finishing early. The cool thing is that even though we were bummed about the lessons, the evaluations said we were really spiritual and helped them feel God's love for them, which is SO COOL! Our teacher came up to us afterward and said maybe since we are so used to feeling the Spirit lately, being surrounded by missionaries, no distractions, and talking about the gospel all the time, maybe we might not notice the Spirit very strongly but our investigators or the people we're talking to can feel it which is really the most important.

Friday we had a lesson with Benjamin which was perfect. That morning I was starting to feel discouraged because everyone seemed to be having good lessons and ours were just okay. So before my personal study I asked specifically to be guided by the Spirit and to receive revelation for Benjamin. Well I started just flipping the pages of my scriptures. I came upon 2 Nephi 4 in the Book of Mormon which was hardly marked at all. But for some reason I stopped and read it. Immediately I just thought Benjamin. I showed Hermana Baird and we immediately tossed aside our lesson plan we'd worked on and said we were going to share that. In the lesson while he was talking I started crying because for the first time I didn't feel like it was my teacher making up a story to be an investigator, I felt that his story was real. Maybe not for him but for someone out there who God loves very much. It became so real and meant so much to me that as a representative of Jesus Christ I could tell him that God loves him. Because in that moment I could feel the love that God has for that person and it was just overwhelming. After the lesson, during class, Hermano Muñoz came up to us and said our lesson that day was really good and thanked us for our words. Even though we only shared a bit of the Book of Mormon, I feel like it has been our best lesson yet.

Sunday was awesome as always, so spiritual, so inspiring. Hermana Baird and I had our first leadership meeting, it went well. The elders were kind of confused when they saw there were 2 sisters in their meeting but, what can we say, we're kind of a big deal. That night we had a recorded devotional from Elder Holland, he talked about how much he loves missionaries and how high the expectations are for us to do our best, to do better than our best! And he doesn't apologize for it. We are representatives of Jesus Christ. We want that title, we have to live worthy of it. He also said that when we come home, it's important not to go back. Yes I'm coming back to AZ and yes I'm coming back to school in Logan, but I will hopefully never GO back to the old Stephanie. She was great and everything but this experience should change my life. I feel like it kind of already has and I'm only a month in. But it should change me forever, for the better. It was a wake up call for me that when I put this name tag on, I wasn't putting a mask on just to take it off in 18 months, I made a decision to be someone better, and I am trying everyday to become that much better.

Monday was good, we taught Reinaldo. He kind of half committed to baptism, he said he'd give us a more definite answer next time. Yesterday we taught Benjamin and he has known for a long time that he needs and wants to get baptized so yesterday I committed him and he is excited! We also had a service project, folding sheets. While I picked up my first sheet to fold I felt some bumps in it. Ended up pulling out a pair of garments an elder left in his sheets. Seriously, things like this only happen to me.

We had to move classrooms because they started construction in our old one. But I actually like our new one better because it has small desks instead of tables so we put all our desks in a U shape and we can see each other and it's just the best friendship circle ever!

I can't really think of anything else that has happened that is story worthy. There are a lot of little things that have happened within our district but they are all you-had-to-be-there stories.Well I love you all and hope you all have a fantastic week, a wonderful Thanksgiving and I will write again on Wednesday!

Con amor,

Hermana Granado

These were on our district leader's camera and he sent them to us so here you go! Sometimes we have fun too :) We are district 11 and since Hunger Games just came out I thought it was appropriate to show you our district sign :)