Week 1: First Week in the MTC

 

WOW this has been the longest week of my life. For good and bad hahaha It all started by taking off from LAX at 12:00 am and landing at 6:00 am !!! Right when I got off the plane a little boy came up to me and asked if he could have my watch in Spanish hahah. I was like what the heck NOOOO then we had a full day at the CCM. I was awake for a total of 50 hours by the time I went to be my first night. It was seriously such a hard day for me.

Just landed in Guatemala to begin their missions!

Right when we pulled up to the MTC everything was in Spanish (nothing has changed a week later) and i was beyond stressed. ON TOP OF THAT some guy walked up to me holding a shot telling me (in Spanish) that i needed a flu shot i was like UHHH WHAT and he didn't look legit at all but i let him do it anyways hahahaha

Brynn got her missionary tag!

Missionary Training Center in Guatemala City, Guatemala

Also this city is super dangerous. there are always 2 guards with guns outside the fence and there are ambulances 24/7 driving up and down the streets. We saw the cops drive by one time and all it was was a truck with a sticker on the side with 8 guys with machine guns in the back ahahha i was dying. People get hit by cars here all the time. 2 people from the mtc got hit this week. AND we had two earthquakes this week so yeah Guatemala City is THE BEST
haha never a dull moment.

It has been non stop learning here at the MTC I seriously have Spanish classes all day long. I have learned and done so much already!!! I have taught 4 lessons in Spanish to an investigator and we have learned how to pray and bear our testimonies!! I already have the missionary purpose and baptismal invites memorized in Spanish. I would say my Spanish is well enough to have small talk but with really bad grammar!! So I am making tons of progress!!

Brynn's District and with her companion Hermana Banks

Don't even get me started on the meals hahaha our favorite thing to do is to get our food and try to guess what it is while we are eating hahaha. SO yeah we don't know what we have been eating but I do know it is killing my intestines hahaha 

The way we have been trying to learn Spanish is speaking Spanglish 24/7. Like if we know the word in Spanish we never say it in English again. It has been awesome, and I know it has paid off because all my roommates told me I have been sleep talking in Spanish hahaha I¨will wake up yelling "QUEEE????" and "SALIR SALIR" ahhaah I feel so bad for them!

Pointing to her mission she will go to after 6 weekes of training

Guatemala Temple

So on Sunday we had sacrament meeting (all in Spanish) and I didn't really know what was going on but I did understand a good 40% of talks haha but anyways the person conducting got up and said (in Spanish) we will now have HERMANA SALISBURY SPEAK FROM THE RETALHULEU MISSION I was in COMPLETE shock!!!!! So I literally got up and gave a 5 minute talk on the atonement in Spanish in front of tons of Latinas aahha the gift of tongues is so real, all the Latinas sitting by me told me i did really good ahha they were probably just being nice!!! Someone also spoke in a native mayan language hahaha so sick!!! 

Today we went to the Guatemala city temple!!! it was such a cool experience! 

In conclusion this has been the craziest week and I am SOOO grateful for the power of prayer and the fact that God does answer prayers. He knows us and will always provide a way for us to reach our goals and fullest potential. The biggest thing I learned this week is I am not here to learn Spanish for my self, I am here to learn Spanish to serve the people of Retalhuleu.

Love Always, 

HERMANA SALISBURY

p.s. i only get an hour to email and i cant send pictures at the mtc because the computers will crash (classic Guatemala)