Hola Familia,
It's insane how fast time is going. I can't believe that I have already been here two weeks.....well when I look back it seems like ages ago that you dropped me off, but each day flies by. I have learned so much and am so thankful to be here.
It was a little bit of a bitter sweet week. The oldest district in our zone all headed out to their fields earlier this week and I'm going to miss them for sure. They were all amazing misisonaries that had their mind set on the mission. They knew why they were here and were ready to get out there and serve. I became really good friends with a few of them, so it was tough to see them leave, but I am excited for them. Before they left we had a testimony meeting in their room with the entire zone. It's incredible how powerful simple testimonies can be when you testify with all of your heart. That's the main thing that I have learned while in the MTC. Even though I struggle with the language, when it comes to testifying of things that I know to be true, the spirit is always present. The other day we had a work shop where a guy from France came and told us about his conversion story. He said that he was converted by a missionary who had just left the MTC. He said that he had absolutely no idea what the missionary was telling him because his French was terrible, but the missionary testified with his heart. This misisonary knew what he was saying to be true, and even though there was a language barrier, this man felt Christ's love through the missionary. I am so excited to get to Tempe and serve. I know that I will not be anywhere near fluent with the language, but I know why I am out here. I know the message that we bring is true, without a doubt and I hope that through the spirit, my investigators will be able to feel the truthfulness of what I say.
This week with school starting at BYU, most of the teacher's schedules had to change. This made it so Hermano Finley and Hermana Contreas were not our teachers anymore. They were both amazing teachers, and so we all weren't too excited about the whole switch. Our new teachers are Hermano Jarmen and Hermano Anderson. They both have extreemely different styles of teaching than our previous two, but I'm sure that I will be able to learn a lot from them either way. Hermano Jarmen is from Arizona. He said he knew Bryce from somewhere as well, but I can't remember where he said.
The language is coming along, surely but slowly. We finished teaching our first "invetigator" last week, and so this week we are teaching two completely new "invetigators." One of them is Miguel, and he is insane. His wife and children are members, and he said that he knows everything about the Gospel and thinks its good. The only problem is he absolutely hates the Book of Mormon. He is extremely difficult to talk to, but I'm thankful that I am getting this experience here in the MTC so that when I'm out in the field I will hopefully know how to handel situations like this better. Teaching is still very frustrating. There are so many things that I want to say at certain times in the lesson that I dont know how. However, I know that with time the language will come. Yesterday we were walking back from lunch and two sisters stoped us. Their teacher was having them practice street contacts, and so they practiced on us. After, one of the sisters saw that we were speaking Spanish, and she was fluent, so she asked us to bear our testimonies. I was surprised on how much I could actually say. I went on for almost 5 minutes on things that I knew, and was surprised at all I knew how to say. I know that I am being blessed here at the MTC, especially with the language. It is frustrating at times, but I know that it will come.
I can't express how glad I am that I am on a misson right now. The Gospel brings me so much joy and I am so excited to share this joy with the people I meet. I have learned and grown so much in these short two weeks that I have been here and I can't imagine where I will be two years from now.
I love you all and look forward to hearing from you all soon.
Con Amor,
Elder Jurgensmeier
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