Week 5 LAST WEEK WHATT

     I’m honestly kind of blown away that the CCM (MTC) is ending this week! I head out bright and early Tuesday morning and it doesn’t feel real! Although I’m really sad and honestly terrified to leave haha I’m also SO excited and ready to go! (well as ready as I’m going to be;) Saying goodbye to my district, companion, friends, and family is going to be tough, but nothing good ever comes easy. I know I need to TRUST in Jesus Christ, and remember my missionary purpose to invite others to come to him, and I’ll be just fine! If I can do this I know I can feel the JOY that comes from following Christ. Two talks I read this week that I would recommend reading are “Joy and Spiritual Survival” by President Nelson, and “Fear Not to Do Good” by Eyring! They both helped me this week getting ready to go!!

    This week was probably the best week of CCM so far! I learned a TON, felt the spirit SO strong, and had a lot of fun! There was SO much that happened this week so hopefully this email isn’t too long haha. I had the awesome opportunity this week to go to my bestie Marissa's wedding!! Originally when I got my call to the Mexico MTC I was so excited but super sad because I was going to miss her wedding, so when I found out I’d be doing online MTC, her wedding was something that made me happy to be home to be a part of it! Marissa really helped me get through some hard times in my life, so I’m so glad I could support her on her special day! I’m SO excited for you Marcie and Scott! It was great being in the temple again, and the spirit was really strong! I’m so grateful for the temple and the opportunity God gives to every worthy person to make covenants with him! So cool!

Another great thing this week was I GOT TO MEET HERMANA JOYNER IN PERSON! It was SO fun!! We both went to an elder in our district's farewell, and I got to hangout with her the whole day almost! We got to do companion study and just talk in person and it was so nice! She is exactly how I thought she would be, which is comforting to know that just because something is over zoom (whether it's a relationship with your comp, or the spirit you feel) it's not artificial just because it’s online, it's REAL! It was so fun laughing and hanging with her, and I’m SO blessed to have her as my companion! She has been exactly what I needed, and is honestly one of my best friends now! After hanging with just her it was fun because we met up at one of the elders houses in our district, and got to hangout with 4 of us from the district and some other family and friends and eat the best homemade pizza I’ve ever had (elder walls dad served in Italy and learned how to make it, so it was sooo good)! It was so fun to hangout with them, and hermana joyner and I only missed the exit going to his house 3 times, so it was a successful trip, and a funny memory;)

` Last thing that was awesome this week was a super cool spiritual experience, one of the most spiritual ones I’ve ever had! So yesterday was my last workshop of the MTC and it was SO good. It was about transitioning from the MTC to the mission field, and they asked us to all think of a question that we were worried about going into the field. Right away I knew my question because the last couple of days I have felt inadequate and a little overwhelmed with everything I have to do. I said a little prayer that I would be able to feel an answer to this question whether we got to it or not. So I wrote “what do I do when I feel overwhelmed and like I’m not good enough.” For the remainder of the workshop the 2 teachers went through a couple of the questions that stood out to them and it was a really good meeting. The meeting was about to come to a close because we were over on time, and one of the teachers said Hermana Stone can you stay after class for a minute, I loved your question and want to answer it (keep in mind he said this in Spanish so I was just hoping I heard it right haha) anyways, he closed the meeting and I stayed on the zoom call as over a hundred people left the zoom until soon it was just me and the 2 teachers. They started talking to me for a minute and then the teacher said this. “Hermana, when I saw that question the spirit spoke SO strongly to me that I needed to tell you and that God needed to tell you that you are good enough, and that you need to not fear.” he said “I don’t know what you're feeling right now, but God does and he needs you to know that you can do this, and to have no doubt about being able to do this.” He said a couple other things and as you can probably guess I was BAWLING when he was telling me this because this was an answer to prayer. I was feeling very inadequate and for this man that I had never met to act on a prompting to tell me and know exactly what I needed to hear, I know it wasn’t a coincidence at all. I’ve never had a prayer answered so quickly, and in a way that was SO powerful. I know that God is aware of each and EVERY one of you. He knows you. He loves you. He knows that you are good enough. You might not always receive an answer or feeling of love as quickly as this, but I know you always will receive an answer and his love if you turn to him, because his love is always there, and he is always listening!

I hope you are all doing SO good, and if you're not doing super good right now, know that your suffering is not forever and that you can find JOY in Christ if you turn to him. I guess the next time you hear from me I’ll be in Mexico, so hopefully I’ll start looking more and more tan the next couple weeks ;) Have a good one!

-Hermana Stone

Pictures this week-

Marissa’s wedding

Hanging w Joyner, Wall, and Jacobsen

Trying to study when Saylor wants to play

Week 4

 4/6 weeks down!

I’m going to sound like a broken record, but seriously time is FLYING by! Not much to say this week, but things are going good! I fly to Mexico in less than 2 weeks which is crazy and stressful but I’m so excited to go do the work! Hope you are all hanging in there! Love you all!

One of my friends shared this video this week, and I found a lot of peace in it so I thought I’d share! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6FKiNVbw3Y 

Sorry it was so short this week! Let me know if any of you need anything! Also, good luck to all of my friends starting school again!

-Hermana Stone

Pictures-

Saying bye to my friend Elder Farr (he and my friend Elder Madsen left for the same mission this week! It's fun to see so many of my friends heading out too!)

Pickleball in the rain (we got caught in a storm but it was so fun!)

MY DISTRICT (I’m going to be so sad when I have to leave them)

All the “hermanas” in our district

Watching the rain POUR w saylor

Week 3

 Another day… I mean WEEK down!

HOW AM I HALFWAY DONE WITH MTC?? I seriously don’t know how its been another FULL WEEK, but I guess it has been haha. Time is FLYING by and its kinda freaking me out!! Some exciting news, I got my visa last week and flight plans for Mexico today so leaving is feeling wayyy more real! I still have SO much to learn which kind of freaks me out, but I’ve come to terms with the fact I’m probably not going to understand like anything when I first get to Mexico, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out from there haha

This week, like I said, flew by so I can’t think of too many specific moments that stood out to me, but it was a good one! I love getting to feel the spirit so strong every day and learn more and more about the gospel! I’m also learning a lot of spanish, but its tough because every time I think that I am progressing and learning more, I try to talk and really struggle to say what I’m trying to say, (so it can be discouraging) but I’m noticing small improvements. 

This week something that stood out to me in my personal study was a talk called “Waiting on the Lord” by Elder Holland. If you haven’t read this talk I would read it… and if you have read it, you should read it again! This talk hit me so hard this week because I was thinking about trials and hard things in life (more specifically a mission and learning a language) and Holland said something that really stuck with me. He said- 

“With apologies to Elder Neal A. Maxwell for daring to modify and enlarge something he once said, I too suggest that “one’s life … cannot be both faith-filled and stress-free.” It simply will not work “to glide naively through life,” saying as we sip another glass of lemonade, “Lord, give me all thy choicest virtues, but be certain not to give me grief, nor sorrow, nor pain, nor opposition. Please do not let anyone dislike me or betray me, and above all, do not ever let me feel forsaken by Thee or those I love. In fact, Lord, be careful to keep me from all the experiences that made Thee divine. And then, when the rough sledding by everyone else is over, please let me come and dwell with Thee, where I can boast about how similar our strengths and our characters are as I float along on my cloud of comfortable Christianity.”12 My beloved brothers and sisters, Christianity is comforting, but it is often not comfortable. The path to holiness and happiness here and hereafter is a long and sometimes rocky one. It takes time and tenacity to walk it. But, of course, the reward for doing so is monumental.”

Ah man I love Holland (and Maxwell). This made me think about how yes, I might struggle with things (we all WILL and probably ARE struggling with things) but not because god has forgotten us… but because he truly loves us and wants us to become more like him. If you're struggling with something, turn to him and ask him to help you through it. He won’t give you a trial that you can’t handle!

Best moments of the week:

-Trying to set up our teachers… I’ll just leave it at that but definitely a highlight of my week

-Playing Kahoot… The Kahoot song hits *different* when you don’t listen to normal music, and the competitive part in me loves this game!

-Hermano Mercado showing us his turtle. It was literally just running around his house and he picked it up and said it was angry… SO random

-Pinning Hermana Albas screen when someone is telling any weird story… her facial expressions are SO funny

-Getting to know my district and Hermana Joyner more and more! I feel like some of them are exactly like me sometimes and its hilarious! 

  

A hike straight up the mountain but beautiful

A happy doggo

Hermano Mercado showing us his turtle

Demolition derby w family friends and cousins

Pinning Hmna Albas screen

Week 2

 How has it been another full week??

Missionary life is in full swing and it feels pretty normal now! I’m learning more and more every day and its going great for the most part! I do have to say, the MTC is like a rollercoaster with lots of ups and downs, but the ups make it all worth it! One of the ups is the awesome people I get to talk to every day! This week I feel like I’ve gotten to know my district, teachers, and comp way better, and I LOVE THEM ALL! They make me laugh so hard one minute and feel the spirit super strong the next! They're amazing, and they definitely get me through the hard days :)

I feel like I’m understanding more spanish as I hear it daily, and read it, but actually being able to speak is a slow, hard process, but I know I’ll get there! Sometimes I start feeling really overwhelmed or discouraged about learning the language, and then I’ll feel a sense of peace wash over me. I know that peace is the spirit telling me to be patient with myself, and that I’ll get it, and I know I will! I just need to keep working at it!

Last thing I want to share this week is the power of personal study in the scriptures. We learned earlier this week that to teach with power about the Book of Mormon we need to study it daily ourselves, and that the spirit can’t help you remember something to say or teach if you haven’t studied about it yourself- which is SO true! You can’t not study for a test and ask the spirit to help you remember the answers… it just doesn’t work like that! This has made me realize how important reading scriptures daily is! To be honest, before my mission I probably read my scriptures 2-3 times a week, and sometimes I just did it to check a box… but now as a missionary I have an awesome opportunity to study the scriptures and the gospel for an hour in personal study, an hour in companion study, and a little bit throughout the day (which sounds like a lot)… but its been AWESOME! I know it has helped bring the spirit into my life! I have felt the spirit more and more and not only that, I feel like the spirit is telling me what to study, what people are saying in spanish, and also helping me receive personal revelation too.

 A while back I heard the quote “If you want to talk to God pray. If you want God to talk to you, read the scriptures!” and I just love that, and I know it's true! I challenge you this week to try and read your scriptures every day! Even if it starts out as reading a couple verses a day, or even if it’s just a box to check off, I know the more you read them and truly study them the more you'll want to read them, and learn to LOVE them! 

Funny moments this week

-Elder Russel always sounding like a robot bc his wifi is bad haha

-Teaching Hermano Mercado “English Slang” words… I’ve never laughed so hard at someone saying “lit,” “cap,” “bet,” etc… it was SO funny, and then when he started teaching us some slang in spanish he stopped mid sentence and said “wait I’m your teacher… I forgot! I can’t teach you this!” and we all cracked up!

-Hermana Alba roasting us all, and honestly just roasting each other… its a good time!

I love you all SO much and I hope you’re all hanging in there! Let me know if I can do anything for you, even if it’s just praying for you!

-Hermana Stone

Pictures:

-AJ being a good sport in my spanish cooking video… and a guest appearance from Dora.

-another early morning hike w my doggo

-rainy jam session with AJ

-Zoom picture glitch w my comp- we got a good laugh from it!

-dropping by my friend's bridal shower! Congrats Marcie!