Paige's Missionary Experience: Week 3

Buenos Dias Family and Friends!!

This week may have been the best week ever here at the CCM!!

On Saturday, my companions and I went proselyting for the FIRST time ever!! It was wonderful! I think we ended up getting the safest area out of anyone, because our area had the church chapel, AND the Argentina mission home. While proselyting we ran into two REAL elders out in the streets who have been on their missions for a long while. One of them is from Hillsboro Oregon! His companion is Elder Cline I think. We talked to sooo many nice people out in the streets, we ended up with 24 contacts, which was a lot! This week I hope we can do even better. It was amazing to have a small taste of what being out in the field will be like. We talked to this security guard for about fifteen whole minutes!!

This week we got to go to the temple yesterday instead of P-day (I´ll tell you why later). It was the best temple session for me so far!! My Spanish has come so far and I was totally alert the whole time while a lot of the other missionaries started nodding off a bit. It was so spiritual that I kept tearing up!

After coming back from the temple, we had teaching practice. One of the Latina Hermanas was alone because her companions had to go do visa paperwork. So one of the teachers came up to me and asked if I could be her substitute companion! It was an amazing experience! We taught a north American companionship from the arrival group two weeks before us. Teaching with the Latina Hermana (Hermana Rodriguez--a different one than my previous roommate) felt like a primary kid and he the teacher trying to teach someone about the gospel! My abilities with the language are so simple, and hers were powerful. But it was amazing. A few times I actually had to translate what Rodriguez was saying because the people we were teaching weren´t always sure they understood.

So now, here´s the REAL exciting part-- This morning I met......wait for it...... ELDER NELSON!!!!

That´s right--from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles!! He was speaking a a mission conference about an hour away from here and the CCM got to be invited!! All 307 of the missionaries at the conference took their turn shaking his hand. It felt like graduation again! You know how some superheroes have laser vision? When I approached Elder Nelson, I was struck by his Spirit vision. I was filled with the Spirit just by approaching him. It surrounds him like a cloak. I stared at him sort of dumbfounded and mumbled out a "...Good Morning" with a huge, dorky smile on my face. I´ve shaken hands with TWO apostles now! My hand is now an illuminated object!

While his wife spoke to us, she gave us a challenge that I have accepted and I, in turn, challenge all of you who read this. It´s a 30 day challenge of personal revelation. Every day you come up with a question that you want to have answered that day--it can be about anything! She used finances as an example. You pray to God with true sincerity that you can have the Spirit guide you as you study the scriptures, and then you ask your question. Following that, you open randomly in the scriptures and study until you find your answer. She promised that it wouldn´t take long. On a piece of paper, keep track of the date, question, the answer, and where you find the answer each day. Why keep track? Because when you go back to read the same scripture that answered your question one day, it might not make as much sense to you another day. She said that "the scripture angels" like to move stuff around, haha. :)

While Sister Nelson was speaking to us, her translator fainted!! It was a super scary moment! She ended up being a-okay, she is pregnant and she had been standing up translating in a hot room for about an hour. It was the sweetest thing in the world to see Elder Nelson sit by her and comfort her. I fought tears fiercely.

When Elder Nelson spoke to us, it was so inspiring. I´m honored to be one of the over 80,000 missionaries serving the Lord. Before we came to this Earth, we all made goals about what we would do here. I´m sure that mine included serving a mission here. I hope I meet all my goals I made and that I talk to everyone that I promised I would bring the gospel to in the pre-existence!

Before Elder Nelson exited, he waved goodbye to all of us a blew a kiss. I was overcome with a wall of the Spirit as a waved goodbye back. That man has to be careful how forcefully he wields the Spirit. It was brutal!!

Haha, all in good fun. :)

Anyway, once again, I love it here at the CCM! I love it more and more as I get to know the people here and progress in my understanding of the language. I love hearing from all of you back home, and I hope so very much that my silly e-mails can somehow inspire you in some small manner. I love you always!

Love,

Hermana Autery