FRIENDS AND FAMILY!
love you! all of you! thanks to those who wrote letters, they make all the difference. i think i've reached that pivotal point here at the mtc, i still get nervous when i teach and i always feel under prepared, but i'm learning to better teach by the spirit instead of focusing on teaching the exact doctrine we studied.
we had in-field orientation yesterday and i loved it! it took nearly all day long, but it was so great. it really helped reduce the stress that i sometimes feel when thinking about leaving the mtc and doing all of this for real. we got to break out into different groups and have different instructors. remember when we took pictures of ashley and her husband in provo mom? her husband was one of my instructors!
sometimes i forget that there's a real world out there, that my friends and family are still going to school and work and that byu games are still happening, and apparently a government shut down?
i had a really neat experience last night. we had a substitute teacher, brother collier, who went over with us the doctrine of christ. we then talked about teaching by the spirit and did a role play in which he played an investigator that he found on his mission but was unable to teach. his name was nick. brother collier told us to go in prepared to teach the first lesson - the restoration. i started panicking half way through because we still hadn't taught the restoration, but i learned SO much from that experience. brother collier challenged us to only speak up if prompted to do so by the spirit. i felt kind of annoyed that we hadn't taught anything about the restoration yet, and still hadn't spoken up towards the end. we ended up addressing repentance with him, and then taught him that god loves him, how to pray (he prayed right then and there!) and then we taught him a little about joseph smith, apostasy, and the book of mormon. at the very end of the lesson i felt prompted to bare witness of the truthfulness of the book of mormon and challenged him to read it. i felt that scripture description of the holy ghost. that overwhelming burning in my heart... i knew FOR SURE that what i was saying in that moment was true. listening to the spirit is essential in teaching. he is the teacher, not me. and thank goodness for that, because he knows a lot more than i do!
yesterday we talked about how the lord knew where i was going to serve and when from the very beginning of time. i love that. being here is exactly where i need to be. i love this gospel and i love everything i'm learning and feeling. i feel the spirit every single day and cry pretty much every day too. we watched THE COOLEST video clip last night with a map that shows how the church has grown and expanded over time. it reaches a certain year and then BAM! sooooo many temples and branches! what was so neat was that it turned white after that, after one dot popped up where a temple was built that dot would turn white. slowly but surely, this world is being prepared for the return of our beloved brother and savior. cue crying sister rowley.
i just love it here and love the lord. i even love the challenges i'm facing. i wish i had more time to write, but i don't. i'll write real letters to those who have written me. to those who have't DO!!! please! send me real letters or dear elder letters so i can read them this week!
love you all!!!!
- sister rowley
it was so fun to hear that derek got to teach kylee this week! he said she seemed so happy to be there and answered lots of questions and just helped the lessons so much! can't wait to hear more from Washington DC next week!
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