Vestel, Lauren P

Hello everyone! How is everybody? Is life moving fast and slow?  This has been a really hard week but it's a great story for this weekly email. I'll give you a snippet of a journal entry I had this week: I had this spiritual thought that I wrote down right after a lesson I had this week. To me I find it interesting to see non members that are close to Baptism that get worried because they feel like they need to know everything before they are members, but I realized I has the same fear before my mission. I felt like I needed to know Spanish right away, memorize all of the lessons, get the right clothes and equipment, to be the best Missionary possible. But the thing is, I can't be the best missionary I can be until I actually put the tag on and preach what I know! I can't beat myself up for not being my best right now because I am in a new place learning how to live a new way of life, learning how to teach in a completely different language than mine that I have only be...

Hola Mi Amigas! I made it to my mission in Ogden Utah by a train! It was awesome! This is day 6 and so, so many thigs happened. There are some of the highlights this week: Rural utah is so pretty and hot. I now know what 100 degree weather feels like now and "dry heat". My Companion, Hermana Arriagada and I are in the only walking area of the mission and it's alright we push through. All of the streets are pretty sketchy so I feel like my mission clothes are too nice and I stick out like a sore thumb. I was trying really hard to give myself grace about my spanish this week because I don't know everything yet, but it hit really hard on saturday and sunday. I know 60% of what they're saying but I don't have those words in my vocabulary yet to speak. There were many times where my spanish was so broken that they couldn't understand me, and then I couldn't understand them, and because of that they try to start to speak to me in english and think I don'...

Hello! It's my last week in the MTC! Time works so weird here I can't tell you if it was fast or slow. It just came and now it's almost done We had a last helping others lesson in spanish with this girl named Valeria and I felt so much christlike love for her. She told us that she was reading a bit in the Book of Mormon a couple of times and she took our invitation to pray and I got super super exited that she was taking a part in the gospel and starting to build her faith in God and in that lesson I helt so much joy, happiness, i was supper giddy all for her . If I am going to feel that way again when I start teaching other people I am so exited!! I met 2 elders that I know from SVU and I am so happy I got to see them! Elder Leger is going to some part of canada speaking French (ngl I wish I had that mission) I can't remember exactly where it is. And Elder Ford is going to my Comp's mission speaking english! I know they are going to do so many great things on their...