Spring at the MTC

So life here is amazing.  Spring is here and I love it so much because my Hna. Andreason and I spend as much time outside as possible: personal study, language study.  It's the best.  Outside of class, I've been pretty busy with choir practices for General Conference and memorizing music.  Oh and speaking of that, we're singing in the Saturday afternoon session, I'll be wearing a turquoise shirt, and knowing me I'll probably be on the back row. :)  I am so excited for this opportunity and just for General Conference in general when we get to listen to a prophet's voice!  I'm also really busy with this piano accompanying thing! At every MTC devotional and fireside on Tuesdays and Sundays there's a special musical number and missionaries audition to perform for the numbers.  Lately I've been having a lot of singers who need an accompanist, so it can be kind of overwhelming but once again, Heavenly Father blesses me to be able to play without much practice so it all works out!  And plus I LOVE that my life is just filled with music!  It's such a blessing. 

Learning the language has been going really well. Our district continues to have "Speak Your Language" days, and we're all getting better and better!  The other day we had TRC (which is different from when we teach our two normal investigators, Elias and Arturo.  TRC is when you just go once a week and teach volunteers who aren't acting as anyone else.  They're just themselves, nice little BYU Mormons. But of course, you teach in Spanish, usually to returned missionaries.)  Anyways, Hna. Andreason and I were so blessed because we got to teach two girls FROM Buenos Aires! When we first walked in, we had some introductions, and I just assumed they were two girls from Utah attending BYU.  They both looked completely American/ European, tall TALL, slender, beautiful girls.  But then they found out where we were going on our mission, they got really excited.  I assumed they had served their missions in Buenos Aires, but then they repeated themselves in Spanish, and I was like, "Oh my gosh!  You're FROM there!"  They were so helpful with our Spanish, and it was crazy to hear a real Argentine accent.  Unlike anything I've ever heard in my life.  I'm so so excited to get to Argentina so I can meet more wonderful people like them, beautiful people inside and out.

I am learning so much about teaching here, and how important it is to have the Spirit.  But I also learned a really wonderful thing about what that really means, "having the Spirit."  It's easy to get a little overwhelmed here becuase you hear day in and day out, "TEACH BY THE SPIRIT, TEACH BY THE SPIRIT." And some times you want to yell out, "What does that even mean?!"  And then you hear all these stories about how these two missionaries were teaching and the Spirit just hit them like lightning and told them to share this story or make this invitation.  And you think to yourself, "Why hasn't that happened to me?" I was really struggling with this the other day when one of the ZRTs (they're like wandering teachers who just go around and help all of the missionaries in one zone with their teaching and Spanish.  That's another thing I love about the MTC, there are SO many people here to help you learn and grow.  They definitely don't hold back on employees here, missionaries are blessed with so many wonderful resources because this work is so important.) 

Anyways, he sat down to see how things were going, and I told him my concerns that I wasn't having these huge, intense moments where the Spirit was like slapping me in the face.  He sat for a long time thinking, and then he gave me the most beautiful advice.  He said, "Hermana Leavitt, the Spirit very rarely works that way.  You hear those stories because they're rare.  Do you think you have you felt the Spirit before?" I responded of course. He asked me what it felt like, and I said I felt peaceful and happy. Then he taught me. "Well, if that's what the Spirit feels like, then what's happening when you feel peaceful and happy during a lesson? Because I'm sure you've felt that way at times during your lessons."  And thus I learned that the Spirit truly does speak with a still, small voice, I just need to practice recognizing that voice when it comes.  I think if we all did that, we would realize that Heavenly Father sends us His spirit to teach us and comfort us much more often than we ever realize.  That was ONE of the many lessons I learned this week. :)

Anyways, I'm really out of time, so I've got to run.  But I love you all so SO much and I'm so grateful for your support!  I love being a missionary for Jesus Christ more than anything in the world! Love you!