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Tuesday, January 14, 2014

"....we are the guests in the home of the Spirit"



Hola mi familia!!

Como estais? Espero que vuestro trabajo en la casa no se haiga complicado mucho desde que me vine.

No clue how to do accents on here. Oh hhwell.

6 days in! There is so much to say! I'll start with my experience!

First day was a roller coaster. Get in, get your materials, meet your companion, go to class. I was lucky, I actually met my companion on the bus ride over to campus. So the MTC got split into 2 campuses. The Main, and the West. The Main houses all the missionaries, except for spanish, Haha The West campus is strictly missionaries going spanish speaking :O We make a joke in our zone that we are the segregated section of hispanics. :P No, but the campus is way nice, we have better apartments than the main does. But yes, work work work, eat, and work. That's all it is. You literally have no time to get side tracked because everything is planned out for you. Then you get home, adn you think you have time to think for yourself, and you're out like a lightbulb. Overall, I think I can sum up my experience in one thought that I had on Saturday. In the real world, the spirit of the Lord is a guest in our homes...at the MTC (and i'm sure it applies to the whole mission), we are the guests in the home of the Spirit. It literally roams this place and sets you right if you don't treat it with respect. Woah, right?? Yeah.

So get the embarrassments out of the way, i've cried twice since i've been here during a lesson; once role-playing with a sister in my district (i played an investigator and we were invited to portray a family member who was less active or not a member....), and the second time during a lesson with our progressing investigator. Se llama Jose, y tambien es de Guatemala. He just has such a big heart, and love for his family. He has feelings of guilt for his wrong-doings in the past and just has this strong desire to change. It was absolutely beautiful. For the record, Jose cried first :O

My companion!
Se llama Elder Anduro. He is 18 fresh out of high school. He comes from the far land of Ogden, Utah. Haha He is Mexican at birth but lived here for 15 years. He speaks fluent spanish but has trouble reading and has a weird messican accent. Y'all know :P haha no but he's great. Through companionship inventory, I have just come to the conclusion that I should accept he is 18, and that there is room for maturity. Crazy for ME to say that right? haha no, but he just needs to stand his ground with what he believes instead of trying to go with the flow with the apostate missionaries we see here. I am convinced that's why we were paired together cuz i'm able to help him stay in line. OH and that patience prep at work? Yeah...many blessings I have received. 

So my people! 
Our zone is made up of 3 districts, and we are getting 3 more tomorrow (we are officially the old district) Literally, the BEST zone evurr. Everyone is just so loving and willing to accept one another, we have become a family and are able to love eachother. Thursday I got called in to an interview with my branch presidency, where they extended the call to be the district leader. A little frightened but I accepted and I LOVE it. I am able to mediate between my district members and just make sure everything is flowing smoothly and solve issues. I love them all!

So we went to the temple today!!!!
It. was. the. best. thing. evurr. Kay, i';m going to say that a lot, but literally. awesome. I loved my zone before, but after all sharing the morning at the temple, seeing us all in white. It was absolutely beautiful. I'll try to attach pictures!

I feel i'm forgetting a lot, so i'll try writing stuff down, but there has literally been a lot. 

To sum it up,

This is where I need to be. This is where I want to be. The level of happiness just elevated the second I stepped into the mindset of a missionary. This is our Heavenly Father's plan for us, for me. I love and miss you all. 

Elder Castellanos

P.s. DearElder works really well in Utah ;)