Everyone keeps telling me they can't believe it's already been two weeks and my simple reply is "Well... I can." That isn't necessarily because I don't like it here but because it just feels like a long time. Days start to blur together to the point where things that I recall in the afternoon that happened in the morning feel like they happened days before. The schedule is so relaxed that the free time that I have just goes to studying more because there isn't much else to do. My usual cook decided to take on the role of Gourmet Chef which really enhanced the learning experience because I knew as soon as I was done, there was a delicious meal waiting for me. My Chef just so happens to also be my personal trainer, life coach, best friend, consultant, entertainer, ninja, body guard, laundry lady, lover of all things France, and my Mother... she wears many hats haha. As many of you know 5/05/20 is Cinco de Mayo. Well... little did I know that the Mexican natives don't actually celebrate Cinco de Mayo and I went into class without this information with what many refer to as "full send mode" (picture provided below). I also got to go and help distribute food for the United Food Bank with my Uncle Tyson Nansel. It was a super neat experience and definitely a good workout. I brought two Elders from my online district who live and Gilbert and 3 other Elders who are all in a District that is "Connected" to ours. We are 16D and they are 16E (picture below)
As far as the study goes... I do a lot of it. I have recently upgraded my time with my companion from 2 hours a day to 4-5 hours a day with some extra yoga and pronunciation practice thrown in. Days are still the same schedule except I workout in the mornings now and study all between classes with my comp. We signed up to teach an actual investigator on Friday and I'm not exactly sure I'm ready but I'm confident it'll work out. We started this Intermediate Core thing that I like to call "Baby Clifford" thanks to my good friend Elder Bean. Baby Clifford because it's small and Red like a small version of Clifford the big red dog (even though it's not a dog, I know). Anyways it came right after Basic core but from basic to intermediate is like from 0-60, it picks up speed pretty quickly. We have also taught two other "investigators" but those are just my teacher pretending to be an individual.
There have been some pretty neat experiences in this last week that taught me to push harder. In the first week I could tell my comp was getting pretty discouraged and I tried to talk him into continuing to work hard until the spirit gave him some help. He wasn't sure that was going to get anywhere until he heard it from his Dad and a switch flipped. The next day he apologized for being down all the time and he was ready to get moving!! I was so excited! That day while in a zoom breakout room I had a thought that we needed to teach someone this weekend and I could see him thinking so I said "yes... I know." Without even speaking to each other we were able to communicate the similar spiritual prompting between us both it was so cool! Right then I signed us up to teach Friday. For how not far we are in Spanish... that was a bold move. I started to see a lack of motivation in my efforts as well because I knew the information but I had no way to communicate my progress. That night I watched a video that really turned my perspective around about Christ with Henry B. Eyring and Jeffrey R. Holland. The title of this week is "Push Harder To Work Smarter" because that was my motivational motto that told me that sometimes you need to sacrifice in order to learn the most. Just because you work smarter does NOT mean you can push less. That was the shift I needed to really push hard this week in getting done the things I needed to and step up my game. "Commit to the Lord whatever you do and he will establish your plans" Proverbs 16:3
Hope everything is going well with everyone! Here is the video if anyone wants to watch it (highly recommend it) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6FKiNVbw3Y
PICTURE TIME!
1. Cinco de Mayo... (Panda head+Poncho+Argentinian Sash+Mariachi Music+Cinco de Mayo Background+Dancing=Full Send)
2/3. Service project with Elder Newman and Elder Davis (in my district on the far Right) and 3 other Elders from a "neighboring" district
4. My comp and I have been making virtual backgrounds of ourselves and we play them in class.
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