Kolbe's Mission: The best and the worst of times (Week 2 Group Letter)

First of all, thank you for all the birthday wishes this week! Having a birthday in the MTC is a different experience but my friends here are amazing and made it a great day. The MTC this week was absolutely wild. For those learning a language you usually wait until you are in your 3rd week of the MTC to start teaching lessons to the people in the TRC (teaching resource center). We were informed that we would be teaching on our 6th day here... We know little to no Spanish and the first lesson went absolutely awful. They were supposed to tell them that we are beginners and that we were just going to be teaching from our basic core but somewhere along the line the message didn't get delivered. Our friend of the church (not calling them investigators anymore) Estefanny, started asking some questions about what we taught that we didn't know how to answer in Spanish and we tried our best but the lesson got out of hand and it was very discouraging because we couldn't express ourselves at all. I felt like a total failure after the lesson. I was super discouraged and was thinking to myself that I couldn't keep this up and that I should just go home. But I realized that the Lord is not going to give me something that I can't handle and that this is all happening for a reason. Reflecting back on it I realized that it was quite impressive that with our sparse knowledge of Spanish we were able to carry on a conversation for 30 minutes. We went to work and the other 2 lessons this week went AMAZING. It was such a relief after such a hard time just a few days earlier.

There's really nothing else that is new. Everyday is the same and seems to last forever, but then you look back and a whole week has gone by it's crazy. I am getting super good at volleyball. We play everyday for an hour and I kick butt even with a broken thumb. A few funny stories from our Spanish this week:

One of the sisters in our district came in and noticed her chair was missing so she says, "Donde es mi silla" (where is my chair). My companion looks up and says "Estoy bien y usted?" (I'm fine and you). We all died laughing. Another Elder in our district Elder Averill was trying to tell us all that he was tired (cansado) and he said "Estoy casado (married)" Again we all died laughing for a while. In a meeting a kid got up and said a prayer in Spanish. I understood the "Querido Padre Celestial" but everything after sounded like a different language. Knowing that Portuguese is close to Spanish I figured it was Portuguese so I boldly stated "That must've been Portuguese" One of the native speakers turned to me and told me it was Spanish and I realized I know nothing jajaja.

This week was really amazing to feel all the love and support of all of you. I can really feel all the prayers of everyone. At my hardest times this week I felt someone pushing me along. I know that it is through the Lord and because of your love and support. We are never alone in this life and the Lord is never going to give us anything that we cannot handle. All you have to do is ask and turn to him and he is going to help you. I know for a fact that is true. The Lord will provide you with strength way beyond your own.

Le Quiero!!!

Elder Mason

This is my district. (Me, Elder Izatt, Elder Atkinson, Elder Hedelius, Hermana Hernandez, Hermana Strong, Elder Hernandez, Elder Durham, Elder Lore, Elder Orton, Missing Elder Averill)