Just Listen

Tudu bem!

 I really can't believe another week has gone by!  Days are so long, but at the same time it's crazy to think that I've been here for a month now!  I've had a lot more meetings than I expected since I'm now the coordinating sister, but it's been really enlightening.  I feel like I'm just learning now some of the things that I should have been doing all along.  IT's nice to finally know them, but I feel like we could have been so much more productive if we'd already known them.  My companions anxiously await what I have to tell them every time I get out of a meeting.

 Every Sunday we have a devotional, and this week we were really blessed to have the BYU Men's Chorus come and sing for us!  It was so amazing, and I am so grateful that people are willing to share thier talents with us - we're actually not allowed to listen to any music here at the mtc, so it was great to have some uplifting music from other countries and about our Savior.

 Our companionship has really grown together this past week, too.  It helps that there are only the three of us now, so our teachers can cater to our needs.  The two things we've really focused on are listening - to each other, the Spirit and the investigator - and focusing our lessons on the commitments we want to extend.  It really was enlightening to go to  the TE and have a professor help us with our planning, because we've been struggling on how to focus our lessons.  He gave us a scenario and then ask what we thought we should teach, and we all said the Word of Wisdom.  He said that was great and then asked how we were going to teach it.  Well, we all looked at each other for about 30 seconds and finally he said "How about we teach them the Word of Wisdom?"  I wish we could have seen our faces.  It was like something clicked in our brains and we realized how much harder we been making our teaching for ourselves.  The listening we've been doing has been great and I would encourage EVERYONE to try and listen like this: Just listen.  Don't try and think about how you're going to answer what the other person said. Ever.  It will come to you because you know what you need to say after you know what it is they need, and you know that by LISTENING.  Again, really simple, but so amazing.

I think everyone should also be very proud of me.   I've been using gym time to also build a skill a lack a bit, and that would be the skill of confidence when doing something I don't know how to do.  Yes, Sister Petersen has played not only volleyball, but basketball with people she doesn not know.  And it has been really amazing.  Because I've realized how much I worry about stupid things.  And how to have fun.  And I have.  Had fun, that is.

Another thing that has become invaluable to me is prayer, and probably not for the reason that you think.  Yes, it is important to talk to my Heavenly Father, and I'm doing that, but I also know that He is the most patient and understanding being in the universe, pois, I am using my prayers as personal language study.  It has helped me soooo much, because I say EVERYTHING in portugues, even if I don't know how to say it, because I know that unlike my investigators, God understands what it is I'm trying to say!  And I've also started to take notes, because its also the longest times that I spend speaking in portugues for an extended period of time, and so I figure out there are certain words and phrases I still don't know how to say, so I write them down.  I love it.  And what's even better, is that I know Heavenly Fathers appreciates my prayers more when I pray in portugues because He's called me to speak that language.  It just so happened that I was born into an English speaking family =]

Speaking of portugues and family, we did an exercise yesterday where we had to describe our families in portugues and it was pretty great.

I also ran into Danny Anderson the other day!  I didn't even know he was going to be here the same time I was.  He's going to Russia, so he'll be here for 12 weeks!  I've heard some of the Russian Elders speak, and it really is crazy, yet so amazing.  I also saw Tyler Gentry yesterday - I completely forgot that he worked here!  It's so much fun running into people from home.

 I love you all!!

Sister Petersen