Bugs.

HAPPY 24TH OF JULY!

July is seriously the best.. with the funnest holidays! 

This has been the last full week that I will spend here in the MTC. It is such a bitter-sweet feeling. Bitter because I have the most amazing district. They are seriously some of the best people in the world and my experience here would not have been the same without them. 

But it is so, so sweet to think that in less than a week, I will be in Houston! I am stoked! 

It has been another awesome week and once again, I have been taught so many lessons and made some great memories! 

I just want to start out with something that is kinda lame.. but it played quite the role in my week. 

I have been super lucky the entire time here because I haven't had any encounters with bugs. If you know me, you know that I am scared of any kind of insect.. No matter what the size is. Well this week, all of the bugs decided to come out and it was terrifying.

One day, we found a spider bigger than a nickel. It was huge and you could see it from a mile away. Another day, a massive butterfly came into our classroom. You may be thinking, '' a butterfly, really? they are so pretty and wouldn't hurt a fly.'' Well it isn't very cute when you can hear it's wings flapping from across the room because it is the size of a bat. You better believe I dropped to my desk and covered my head pretty quick. 

There have been all sorts of other unknown creatures that I have run into.. I don't know what they are besides disgusting. 

I have heard that there are cockroaches in Houston and if that is the case, I am going to die haha. 

Now onto the important stuff. 

Once each week, we get to teach people who come in from the city (some LDS, some not). Hemmingsen and I got to teach a really cool girl who was about our age, and her little sister. First, let me just tell you have cute little kids that speak Spanish are. 

This is a really awesome opportunity because we get to practice our Spanish on '''real people'' and they are so kind and helpful. I absolutely love it!

We also teach lessons to our teachers every single day. On Saturday, I had a really cool experience with this. 

Teaching the gospel in Spanish, I have a hard time feeling the spirit since it is not my native language. That has made me wonder if the people that we are teaching actually feel something, or if what we say are just empty words. 

Hemmingsen and I were talking about The Book of Mormon with Hermana Garcia (who has been our ''investigator'', Gabi, for the past 2.5 weeks). I began to share an experience of how The Book of Mormon has brought a lot of comfort it my life. I shared a story of how 1 Nephi 3:7 has really helped me through things that I didn't think that I could do. I wasn't really feeling the spirit, but as I continued talking, Hermana Garcia's eyes filled with tears.

It was such a testimony builder that the Holy Ghost is what teaches people and we are simply a mouth piece. Though her and I both speak different languages, the spirit is universal and I am SO grateful for that. 

Lastly, I just want to share something from a devotional that was given here in the MTC that was amazing!

The second shortest verse in all of the scriptures is in Luke 17:32. It says, 

"Remember Lot's wife.''

So much can be learned from these three simple words.

Because of the wickedness of the people in Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot was commanded to take his family and leave the city. They were also told not to look back. As Lot and his wife left the city, the Lord sent fire and brimstone to destroy it. 

In Genesis 19:26, we learn of why we should ''remember Lot's wife.''

''But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.''

She looked back with doubt in her heart and a lack of faith in her future. Or in the words of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, 

''Her attachment to the past, outweighed her confidence in the future.''

The first week I was in the MTC, my mind was often full of thoughts from the past. My home, school, family, friends.. the things that I had left behind. My focus wasn't 100% where it needed to be and I was nervous that these next 18 months wouldn't compare with the experience I had in Utah. I quickly learned though, that dwelling on the way things used to be was not doing me any good. I was letting my past get in the way of my mission. 

Our past should be learned from and remembered, but never lived in. We should never doubt the Lord's ability to give us something better. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said, 

''Your future is as bright as your faith.'' 

We should be confident in the future, we have the God of the universe on our side!

So point your faith to the future and ''Doubt not. Fear not.''

Love,

Hermana Rupp