Week 6

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Dear Family,

This has definitely been the best week so far at the MTC but also it has had some of the hardest points. As the Fins were preparing to leave it felt like nover and I should be leaving with them. They were are district (side note, because our district left nover and I now get to go pick up our own mail. It is the coolest. We get weird looks because we are the only sisters back there) and a huge part of my MTC stay. Then at one point I had a mild freak out. Ok not a freak out but just anxious about leaving the MTC. I didn't feel ready language wise (I still have 2 1/2 weeks left so there is time). One of our teachers picked up on it that morning and gave a spiritual thought about that when we think we will never be able to speak Hungarian or learn it that we are not showing faith in the Lord. He has called me to Hungary for a reason, and in my call letter from a prophet of God it is promised that I will preach the gospel in Hungarian. So the 30minutes of being stresssed were gone and it was all good again. It hard for me to come to the fact that in 2 1/2 weeks when I get on that plane and then land in Hungary I will probably have no idea what any one is saying to me, but I will have learned everything that I need to learn and can learn here at the MTC. So it's all good now.

Speaking of me leaving the MTC, we need to think about phone calls. I get to call home from the airport and so I'll buy a calling card here. I'll get my flight plans in a week so I'll let you know when is good for me. It will be Monday May 6th I believe. There won't be a ton of time so I probably won't be able to call everyone and I know people have work and school so yeah. The other thing is ALLY (just so your attention is drawn there) there is a free service that I can leave a box with this company in provo do you think you could pick it up? It is just things that I don't want to take like my winter coat and maybe a few articles of clothing. I'll let you know more details as we get there. Mom I'll probably mail home all the letters I have gotten while I've been here and emails (I print most of them out) because its heavy. Thank you for your letter and offering so send me things, I'll let you know next week the few thinks that I might need before I leave. The belts were super cute thanks a ton. I have never heard of Hichews and everyone was shocked that I hadn't but they are way good.

So now to the Good parts of the weeks. So we have been choosing days to SYL (speak your language) more because conceration week starts in a week which is when we are only allowed to speak Hungarian. For weeks we have been doing during breakfast and lunch and now we are doing full days and it is going really well. Our lessons have improved because of it and I don't feel as much in a rut with using the same verbs and grammer principles over and over again which is awesome. speaking of lessons. we having been teaching the commandments and are teaching the big ones like the WoW, tithing, and chastity (we teach that one later this week). and I've been taking time to think about how living each of those commandments has blessed my life and when nover and I did that we were able to teach more personally and testify more and ask better questions. Both Zsolt and Andras are in the middle of quiting smoking which is great. They are both doing pretty well and are turing to the Lord for help overcoming their addiction which is awesome. So when we taught it to Zsolt, I asked him to give us all the cigerettes in his home and he starting grabbing everything he could find around the classroom and putting it into my hands and so I ended up with this huge pile of randome stuff. It was super funny! The other teacher who plays Andras would put chalk in his mouth as smoking it was so gross!

This week I feel like I can honestly now say that I Love my companion. Some of you know that we really struggled in the beginning but now we are close and good friends. I can see how after the first week when I started praying for patience and chartiy and began turing outward rather than inward how much growth I have had over my MTC stay thus far. I know that rather than praying for her to change or to do this or that, I have prayed that I could have more patience be more understanding. It took awhile those things aren't developed over night and obviously I am still working on them but our companionship is solid now. We are able to confide in each other we teach really well together now and planning goes so much smoother. I look forward to having companionship innvetory (which during conference I totally decided my future husband and I are doing. nbd.) because we are able to talk about what we do well and what we can help each other improve on. We are now the oldest in the Zone and we are able to set a really solid example of a companionship which I think is super important because I looked up to the older people in the Branch when I first got here. I've noticed us grow the most when we SYL and also since I got my new assignment in the branch and really started focussing on the needs of the sisters rather than my needs. I feel so blessed that Heavenly Father knew that this is what I needed and gave me her as a companion. I am so gratefully she was willing to come into the mtc 6 weeks early so that she could be my companion. I know that he gives us certain things in our lives so that we can learn the lessons that he wants us to learn. I know that he hears and answers our prayers.

So along that note there is a threesome in the zone that has been having serious struggles. 2 of them have cried on my shoulder til midnight two different nights (not together) which emotional takes a huge toll on me because I am like feeling of there emotions. The zone leaders have talked to me about it because they are in their district and are really concerned. So that is also why this weeks as been a struggle. But one night (I go visit all the sisters in the zone every night as their sister training leader) I shared a spiritual thought with them that my companion and I discussed during comp study in 1 Nephi 15:3-6 and it is after both Lehi and Nephi has seen the vision of the tree of life and Laman and Lemuel have yet to believe. Nephi orginially turns inward. It is woe is me because I've seen the destruction of my people (which is a horrible thing don't get me wrong and he is completely justified) but then you see a change in him. And this is the Book of Mormon according to Sister Grigg he must have realized that the Lord doesn't want us to turn inward but rather think of the needs of those around us. And then Nephi is concerned about his brothers and their trial and how they don't believe and for the next several verses he tries to help them and tells them to inquire of the Lord. Having Charity is a huge deal and takes a lifetime to develop but we can start now and I know that these past 6 weeks I have started being about to do that and I have been able to see my growth here at the MTC. I know that if these 3 sister base their action and thought about what can they do for their compainons rather than themselves then things will get better. Hopefully it will for them because then it would also make my life a lot easier :) The Albanians are great though. Yesterday as part of my assignment I got to spend the evening with a new international sister in our zone and she is from Russia. It was really cool. The devotional speaker was ELDER SCOTT. so cool. the ZLs and I couldn't sing in the choir because we had to do that but it was worth it. She's great. Elder Scott's talk was all about prayer. The thing that stood out to me the most is pray when you don't have the desire to. I remember when Dad was bishop he told me that exact samething about scripture reading. Read your scriptures when you have no desire to because that is when you need it the most. I know that is true about prayer as well. Sometimes praying is hard in the MTC because you are always expected to do it in Hungarians which is challenging and I feel like in my personal prayers I can't always express the desires of my Heart to my Heavenly Father (so I say a lot of things in English). but it is important that we still pray even when it is hard. Elder Scott also said that he wishes he could have a personal interview with each of us. I thought wow that is the coolest thing in the world to have an interview with an apostle. But then I thought that that what prayer is with our Heavenly Father. He is the coolest most awesomest guy ever and he wants me to communicate with him all the time. How lucky are we?!

Mom and Katie both sent me letters about Boston. Tuesday morning one of our teachers actually told us and I was devestating. I don't understand how individuals could do something like that. The teachers are encouraged to not really tell us about news so any details you send in a dear elder is much appreciated. I'm glad that everyone from the ward is ok. Katie said something really sweet. That she wishes I could comfort my friends back there right now, but then I thought they don't need me the best comforter ever is the Holy Ghost. Through the atonement, all of our wounds can be healed no matter the size or quantity. The atonement changes hearts and lives. I know that Christ feels all that we feel and understands it all. I don't understand how people could do something like that. Wouldn't the world be a much better place everyone understood and applied the atonement in their lives? I feel so blessed to have had parents who raised me in the gospel and a family that is so supportive of me right now. Seriously thank you for all being wonderfuly. So much love this week :)

another cool thing is Elder Scott gave us an apostolic blessing at the end it was wonder. Those things always remind me of during my last year of girls camp when President Erikson gave all the young women in the stake a blessing at the end of testimony meeting. Dad thank you for taking time on the drive home to explain to all of us what he did.

Love you all so much!

Grigg Nover