Hello!
Ok the MTC is truly amazing. The Spirit of this place makes everything fantastic.I am so grateful for every day I spend here, and the chance I have to learn and grow.
Friday wasn't the greatest day, but that is something that will take time getting used to. The day after PDay is always interesting. We decided to have an SYL (Speak Your Language) day on Friday. Only speaking Albanian for an entire day is so difficult and very exhausting, especially when you have only learned some of the grammar, and sentences like 'God Loves you" and "I read the Book of Mormon." But we are getting better with every day. We decided to make every Wednesday an SYL day. It worked a lot better than the day after PDays.
Saturday was better than Friday. We were practicing possession in grammar (his house, her pencil, etc.). Our teacher would ask us "Is this her house?" We would answer with "Yes, this is ____'s house" or "No, this is _____'s house." He asked if it was our house (our companionship), and I answered saying it was only my house. My companions jumped in saying that it was their house, not mine. This lead to a 15 minute argument in Albanian, all about who owned the imaginary house. It's is so funny what we do to entertain ourselves at the MTC.
We got a new Branch Presidency on Sunday. A branch is basically a smaller version of a ward. President Hutchings got a new church calling, and is dealing with different things in the MTC. So President Garr, who was the 1st counselor is now our Branch President. He was a religion teacher for at least 30 years before retiring, teaching at BYU for a lot of that time. He is awesome and I have learned so much from him!
On monday, we started memorizing the First Vision in Albanian. Brother Knight read it in Albanian so we knew what it sounded like. When he read it, the Spirit was so strong. Even though we didn't know what most of the words were, the Holy Ghost still testified of the truth of Joseph Smith and his experience with The Lord and Christ. It was such a cool experience. We are supposed to have it memorized by tomorrow...I have about a third of it memorized, so this should be interesting...
We also got new nametags on Monday! We can't wear them until we get to Albania, but it has our names spelled the way they would spell it in Albanian. Mine isn't too different. The only thing different is that there is only one N and one T, so Benet. It is still pretty cool!
We had a lesson with Kristaq, one of our "investigators" earlier this week. Motra Eliason invited him to be baptized. His reply was that he was afraid of water, so he didn't want to get baptized. When he said this, we had no idea how to reply in Albanian. We hadn't prepared ourselves for it! We were sure he was going to say yes. I was trying to think of something to say, when Joshua 1:9 popped into my head. It basically says, "Be strong and of a good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee, withersoever thou goest." I opened my bible to that scripture and had him read it. I asked him what he thought about it, and testified that I knew baptism was important and that the Lord doesn't want him to be afraid. I asked him again if he wanted to be baptized and he said he would think about it. Although he still didn't say yes to baptism, you could tell that he had been moved by the scripture. I love how the Holy Ghost puts thoughts/scriptures in your mind, exactly when you need it, if you are doing your part to be worthy of hearing the Holy Ghost. It was amazing.
Yesterday, we got to Skype with an Albanian! She was a return missionary, which was nice because she went on her mission to California, and spoke English. We only spoke Albanian, but she was able to help us a few times, when we had no idea what she was saying. It was such a cool experience, and made me even more excited to go to Albanian, and meet more of the people. It was amazing and I can't wait to do it again on Wednesday!
So on Tuesday night, we were in the Fins classroom, talking to them. At the end of our conversation, one of the Fins, Sister Clark, said, "This may be a sensitive subject, but I'm really curious...what happened to your finger?" She had noticed about an hour earlier, and I was shocked she had noticed. None of the other Fins had any idea what she was talking about. So I had to go around and show them, and tell them all my fun story. I loved telling the story, and hearing their reactions once they started to realize where the story was going. It was so great and they were all interested. I thought it was pretty funny.
This has been such a great week. I have learned so much, and I realized this week just how far I've come. When I get frustrated with the language, I have to remember that I have only been here for 3 weeks! After I realize that, I am a lot more calm and patient with myself. Learning a language is hard. It takes a lot of work, and I am already doing great. It is just amazing!! I love you all and thank you for your emails and prayers. I am so grateful for everyone who has been cheering me on.
Love,
Motra Bennett
