As The Army of Heleman

Dear Family,

 

And thus begins my last week here at the MTC. Wow. They weren't kidding when they said that on our missions we would have the longest days and the shortest weeks, the longest weeks and the shortest months, and the longest months and the shortest years. We head out on Wednesday at 6am for the airport. There are about 30-35 of us in our traveling group, with 5 of us from our district. We met a sister who is actually from San Antonio and she said that everyone is talking about us coming in becuase there are so many sisters coming into that mission. It's an exciting time to be a missionary.

 

With leaving the MTC comes saying goodbye to our friends and investigators. We taught Consuela for the last time. Best lesson we've ever had. I don't remember if I mentioned it in my last email, but after our last lesson with her,with the ripped picture object lesson, she committed to baptism. Finally. I was so excited for her. And over the week before we taught her again for the last time, she changed. She was reading the Book of Mormon and had lots of questions and had a desire to know and understand the whole picture. We had decided to talk about the Book of Mormon more in our lesson anyway, and as she started asking questions, it was confermed that that was what she needed to hear. We shared our testimonies of the Book of Mormon, and shared Moroni 10:1-10 with her. After we asked her to pray right there to know if the Book of Mormon was true. She did. It was one of the most powerful prayers I have ever felt. After she asked to know, she waited. Totally still and quite for about a minute and a half. I even peaked at one point to see if I had missed the end of the prayer, becuase that's happened before to me when they're in Spanish. But no. She was waiting for her answer. The Spirit flooded the room overwhalmingly. We could tell she felt it. We could tell that she had recived her answer. She changed again after that. We could feel her peace all around her, and could feel the happiness that she felt. But then came the sad part. I don't know if most missionaries do it in the MTC, but I had to say goodbye to Consuela. We had to tell her that we wetre being transfered next week, but that new missionaries would come and continue to teach her everything she needed to know about the gospel. It was hard. I wanted to be there for her so much. This person, who was really my teacher, had become such a part of my existance that it was hard to hug her and say goodbye. We've been told to keep tabs on the people we teach for the rest of our lives. I'm starting to understand why now. Teaching and sharing the gospel builds bonds. I challenge everyone to build those bonds with everyone around them.

 

We were asked to sing in our sacrament meeting this last Sunday, and we had originally wanted to sing our of our favorite Spanish Hymns, but then we were requested to sing the EFY medley. We went to the music library to find it and found it in Spanish as well, and so we decided to suprise everyone bby singing it in Spanish. We practice and finally decided that the Hermanas would sing their part in Spanish, the Elders their part in Spanish and  then we would invite the rest of our branch to sing with medley part with us in English. We've been practicing all week and Sunday came and we were up first. We started singing, and at first I could look out and see that not all the elders were paying attention, they were goofing off or whatever. And then we came to the Elders part in Spanish and they all sat up and watched them carefully. And then one Hermana in our district stepped forward and raised her hands to have them stand up. Everyone got excited. We all stood together and sang "We are as the Army of Helamen, we have been taught in our youth. And we will be the Lord's missionaries to bring the world His truth." The Spirit and energy in the room was immeasurable. Everyone was shaking and could feel the power and reality of our words. Many had tears. At this point, I took the Hermanas hands on either side of me, and in a row, all six hermanas joined hands, holding each other up. Afterwards, talkis were given, with President Jackman last. He asked that instead of us singing God be with you 'til we meet again for our closing hymn, if we could sing the medley again. And so we stood again and sang again. The elders have been told that whenever they stand up in a meeting, the are to button the jackets so that they look nicer. I noticed that when the rest of our branch stood to sing again with us, all of the elders coats were buttoned, and they stood tall. They weren't little boys goofing off in the back anymore. They had heard the words, and now they were answering the call.

 

I love and pray for you all.

Hermana Montgomery