Paraguay-Bound

Hola!

First of all I just want to say how much I love you! I am so thankful for my family. For Sabrina, Tom, Carrie, Jared, Neal, Paulette, Hope and the nieces and nephews. I'm so thankful for you, mom and dad. I love you all SOO much.

 

There is a reason I live the gospel. There is a reason I'm on a mission. The reason is because it is TRUE and it is the only way to happiness. There is purpose in our lives, and it is hard to believe that so many people don't know or don't understand that purpose.  When I first entered the MTC, I thought I was making a sacrifice--sacrificing opportunities I could have had in the next 18 months, sacrificing time with friends, sacrificing a few semesters of school, sacrificing things of the world. It was a sacrifice I wanted to make, but nonetheless I thought of it as a sacrifice. But now, I don't at all. I'm the lucky one. This is the biggest blessing. It is a privilege to be a missionary. I feel overwhelmed with gratitude every day for my mission call.  I would say that my time at the MTC has been one of the happiest times of my life if my life wasn't already one big happy moment.

 

This is my second and my last prep-day at the MTC! Next email you get will be from PARAGUAY!!!!!! Yee haw! I leave the MTC on Monday at 11:30 and fly from SLC to Dallas TX. I have only an hour layover there until my flight to Buenos Aires (a 12-hour flight) and then I have an 8-hour layover until I fly to Paraguay. We're allowed to call home from the airport, so if I find a cheap calling card I'll probably call you on Tuesday the 24th while I'm killing time in Argentina. So, be home. :)

Also, the last Dear Elders I'll get will have to be sent by Friday at noon.

 

Last prep-day we went to the temple (we did today, too at 7 a.m, so nice!) and we barely made it to the session we were trying to get. Guess who I see walking into the same session? Matt Price! So crazy! There was no way we could have planned that. All we could do was say hi and shake hands, but it was so nice to run into him.

 

On Sunday we had a great devotional by Elder Ballard. Elder David Archuleta also sang as it was his last Sunday. He sang the Spirit of God, and man! The Spirit WAS a fire burning. So powerful.

 

Speaking of fire, a couple nights ago we were shocked out of our beds by the fire alarm. I figured it must be 6:30 but it was actually 1:30 in the morning. We all freaked out of the building and went outside in the cold. No one knew why the alarm went off. Niels Wankier (remember him mom from the UN trip?) was the security guard who let us all into the gym to wait while they made sure everything was ok. In retrospect it was pretty fun. When else will we get to be awake at 1:30 a.m.? Never again. :) Everything with my companions is a blast, even rude awakenings. Every single day I double over with laughter over something.

 

For some reason, it came up that I was homeschooled. My comps couldn't believe that. Hermana Johansen said, "What?!  YOU are so NORMAL! I'm like 77% more weird than you and I went to public school! This is blowing all my pre misconceptions of homeschoolers!" It's been a joke quite a bit in the past few days. Now everyone knows I was homeschooled, and I'm proud of it.

 

Yesterday I counted how many times I prayed, and it was about 15 times, not counting the ones in my heart during every single lesson begging for help with Spanish. 

A while ago, Cameron Geiger sent me a Dear Elder after he read an email on my blog. I wrote him back, and he sent me another Dear Elder. He also sent me a package of healthy snacks that you can order from Dear Elder! I couldn't believe that! Those packages are not cheap!  It was so kind of him.

 

Carrie, thanks for the letters from your boys and the money. I sent you a letter yesterday.

 

Tom, thank you again for buying me shoes and stuff for my mission. I really do think of you and your generosity when I wear them. You're so great! I love you!

 

There is a skirt that gets passed around among the sisters at the MTC. It's like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but with a skirt and everyone signs it on the inside. It's my turn to wear it today. I think it's pretty ugly, but whatever.

 

This week was a little challenging in the beginning because everything just hit me that I am not nearly the missionary I want to be. One night some teachers demonstrated an example to us of a lesson and it was so good! The Spirit was there, they were teaching according to the investigator's needs, they caught the vision-- it was everything! Then we taught one of the resource teachers, Bro Gamez, who is a miracle worker. I was struggling so much to teach him the restoration for some reason. He broke character to correct me a few times, which they don't usually do. I sat there just wishing I could convey how I felt about the first vision and the restoration. THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST IS EVERYTHING TO ME! And I felt completely incompetent in sharing that that is how I feel. I wished my testimony could be communicated, but my Spanish skills and missionary skills were so lacking. Bro Gamez could see I was pretty sad and took me to a different room. He shared some scriptures and quotes from Preach my Gospel. I felt the Spirit so stongly that even though I'm not what I want to be right now, I can change, I can become.  It was just what I needed. I just want to be a good missionary SO BADLY. That's my one desire in life right now, to be the missionary God wants me to be, the missionary I want to be, and the missionary I know I can be. But it is so much harder than it sounds or looks. The gap between the missionary I want to be and the one I am now is so huge. It was a humbling week. But I'm thankful for it. Jacob 4:7 applies perfectly here (I feel like such a missionary when I use scriptures in an email..haha). I know God will help me and I need to be patient, but at times it is so difficult to believe that you can ever be who you want to be. Elder Bednar reminds us that it is not what we say or do, but WHO WE ARE that spreads the gospel. I have to not just do missionary things but BE a missionary. And I can do that. Even if I can't speak the language perfectly or have the missionary impact of Ammon, I can build my testimony every day and strive to have the Spirit with me so others can feel how I feel about the gospel.

 

Read Romans 8. I love it.  If God be with us, who can be against us?

 

Well, time is up. I had a million more things I wanted to share but I don't remember them. I will talk to you next from the southern hemisphere! I'm honestly the most blessed girl I know! I feel so supported by the people I know and by Heavenly Father.

 

 

Love,

Your Sister Missionary,

Hermana Faith Goimarac

Cada Dia es Mejor!

Hello Family!

I have so many things I want to tell you I don't know where to start. Having only 30 minutes a week to respond  to your letters is the hardest thing about being a missionary. Cada segundo es como dorado (each second is like gold).

Ok, I'm officially in love. In love with the MTC and my mission, and yes, I realize it's only been 7 days but I just don't see this changing. Sometimes I think maybe I'm not working hard enough because I'm enjoying it so much. Even when we have class for 6 hours in a row I don't get tired of it. Mom and dad, you will LOVE the MTC when you go on your mission. You'll be surrounded by people who love the gospel, you get to study the gospel all day, three great meals, hot showers, more Spirit than you're able to take in. What could be better? Honestly, I don't know.

When we're not in class we have personal study time, district study time, and zone study time. We also have gym every day for an hour which is really nice. We won't have that in the mission field.

Easter Sunday here was SO great. President Boyd K Packer came and his son Allen Packer, of the Seventy. We sang "Called to Serve" as the opening song, and I’ve always loved that song, but this time, singing it as an entire MTC, it just hit me like a ton of bricks. I AM his "chosen heir to witness for his name." Elder Packer said so many good things. He commended us for serving a mission and told us to replace our fear with faith. He said we have no reason to feel inadequate. All things I needed to hear. He said the apostles worry, but never fear.

One of the elders in our district, Elder Mena, has come so far. He has only been a member for 5 years. He was raised without a father and was the wildest little punk gangster boy. And now, all we see in him is this determined missionary who loves his mission. I am so glad to know that all the wrongs in life (such as not being raised with a father, or all the children in Africa I saw who didn't have parents and didn't have food) will be made right through the Atonement. We don't know how it works, but it does. It's like turning on a computer. We use computers every day, but do we really know how they work?

I had the most powerful lesson this week with our teacher, Hermano Johnson. He is such a good teacher! He served in Peru. Anyway, he demonstrated to us that we need to make the gospel personal for people. Yes, it is true for everyone, but it is also true just for that investigator and can help them in specific, meaningful ways. If the gospel was just a general thing, we could just make copies of the lessons and hand them out. Hermano Johnson had us pair up and teach each other about the Book of Mormon and focus on tailoring our message to the investigator. He had me teach him. I was so nervous, because he is GOOD and he expects a lot of me. I didn't know what I was going to say and my soul was truly being stretched. He was acting as an investigator Alejandro who has a specific situation. I read parts of the introduction to him and asked if he would read it. I said it would help him in his life, and he asked, "Cómo?" I explained that it would help him to know if he should keep listening to the missionaries, what he should do about his girlfriend who didn't like that he was taking lessons, how he could help his son. The words were not my own. I hadn't had any idea of what I was going to say, but as I opened my mouth the words (in Spanish, thank goodness!) came. That has happened a couple of times and I'm so touched that God can use little me to teach something so profound. It was a very powerful day of class. I know the gospel truly can help us individually, and that the Book of Mormon does answer the questions we have when we read it with a question in mind.

Tuesday we had a devotional and I sang in the choir. They put the choir on camera like on general conference, and I saw them zoom in on me. There I was, a missionary in the MTC choir instead of the person watching the people in the choir. We also taught in the TRC, where they have volunteer investigators. I used to volunteer there all the time and be taught by missionaries, and now I’M the MISSIONARY!! And let me tell you, it's so much better being on the other side of the living room. Teaching is so much more fulfilling than partaking.

You know what? I think I was called to this mission in the pre-existence. Sometimes I don't feel nearly adequate to do what it takes to be a missionary, especially in Spanish (in English I would be so much more effective) but then I realize I've only been doing this a week. Cada dia es mejor is my motto. Every day is better. And really, every day is better! I feel like I'm trying to drink out of a fire hose, but every day I am able to drink a little more.

I absolutely love my companions. We were in a trio, and there was a solo sister who was in intermediate Spanish but still in our district. But now I am only companions with Hermana Cruz and Hna. Johanson and Hna. Herrera are companions. But we're always together anyway so it's kind of like we're a quad. We probably love each other too much. Last night we four kneeled down for companion prayer and we started laughing about something. Then we tried to calm down but started laughing right after Hna. Herrera said, "nuestro Padre Celestial"(our Heavenly Father). Then we tried again and started laughing, so we had to take a break and pray later. Hahahaha. We wouldn't be funny to anyone else, we're just funny to each other. Although, perhaps other people would laugh when Hna. Herrera pulls  two halves of a kiwi out of her bag. Oh, I love them.

I love being an Hermana here. We never have to open doors; the elders treat every sister here like gold. There is also an exercise class every morning at 6 for the sisters. It's like the Jillian Michaels workout DVD but with all my friends, and a modestly-dressed Jillian! how could I NOT love the MTC?!

David Archuleta continues to distract us a little bit, but we're mostly over him. He talked to me for a few minutes the other day about Guatemala. We see him all the time. I have been very humbled this week of being here, but I realized I'm not humble enough because I was NOT okay when he passed me on the track.

You asked about the food. It's certainly not Joel Fuhrman-approved, mom, but I think it's great! Anyone who complains about it hasn't had to live off of rice and beans for a summer. I try to eat two salads a day, but the desserts and the ice cream are what get me.

Last Saturday it snowed, which was a big deal for two of my companions who had never seen snow in their lives.

Thank you everyone for the letters! They are the best!

I am beginning to see more of what it takes to be a good missionary. To be someone who doesn't just teach lessons but teaches people. And doesn't just teach but makes them want to learn more and more, and help them catch the vision of how the gospel can help them and how they can help others through it. Someone who knows how to invite the Spirit and know what someone needs to hear by teaching through the Spirit. This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Sharing it is a serious thing! My responsibility is so big! It truly breaks my heart that there are honest, sincere-of-heart people out there who want to know what the purpose of life is, and want to draw closer to God, but are kept from the truth because they know not where to find it.

Mom and Dad, I love you both so much! I am SO thankful to have you as parents. Without you there is no way I would be here. Almost all in my district have not had the blessing of active parents. My cup really does run over.

Keep the letters flowing, I love hearing from you. I'm so happy. Wish I could ask more about you. That's what I want to hear about is YOU.

Love,

Your Sister missionary,

 Hermana Faith Goimarac

A Whole New Life!

Hi Family!

 

This is my email address, so next p-day (On Thursday) hopefully I will have something waiting from you!

 

 I have been dying to talk to you since my first night. not out of feeling homesick, but just to share how things have been and what I've learned.

 

You hear stories that missionaries cry their first night here or for the first week or two, but I don't get that! I don't know how one couldn't love it here. Yes, you feel very inadequate, but we don't have to do this alone and the rewards are so great. We are the lucky ones.

 

So I am in a threesome with two other companions. Hermana Herrera is from Mexico originally and then from Phoenix, and is perfectly biligual. She is going to New Jersey. Hermana Cruz is from Honduras. She doesn't understand English perfectly. It has been a little hard because I want to speak Spanish all the time, but they don't need to practice their Spanish, and Hermana Cruz wants to practice English, because she is going to New Mexico and is studying to be an English teacher. But when they do talk in Spanish I don't really understand because they're so fast. But sometimes I truly do feel help from God. Sometimes, especially as we've taught our "investigators" I just open my mouth and say things that I wouldn't normally know how to say. I have no extreme examples, but I just do feel extra help and I am so thankful for it.

But my companions are the best. They have had lives that are much harder than mine but have the strongest testimonies. I love them and feel very blessed to be their companion.

 

My district is us three, and three elders and one other gringa sister going to Dominican Republic MTC after three weeks here. She and I are the only gringas. Our district is so great. Last night, out of nowhere, each of the elders started telling us what good examples we are to them, and how thankful they are for the faithful women in their lives. One of our elders said his sister left on a mission when he was 17 and she just got back and taught him so much. Yesterday in general was a real bonding day for our district. Hermana Hererra and I laughed a lot about a couple different things. It was just a really great day. I wish everyone could be a missionary for one week in the MTC. I'm already a changed person.

 

David Archuleta has class on our same floor. One of our elders, Elder Mena, always wants a picture with him and uses us as an excuse. Yesterday we were walking down the hall when he was coming out of his classroom, and Elder Mena asked if we could get a picture with him, pointing to us sisters as if we were the ones who wanted it. He said he was trying to refrain from pictures but asked us our names and where we were going. I asked him if he was in advanced Spanish and he said yes, but he shouldn't be. He asked if I was, and I said yes, but I shouldn't be (actually though I love being in advanced). He is so short! And he wears the tightest missionary pants, haha. During our gym time yesterday I creeped on him doing ab work for all 20 laps that I ran around the track (that's only 2 miles though). 

 

Whenever I do classic missionary things like put on my nametag or walk around the MTC with my companions, I just take a step back and realize what I'm doing. I am so thankful for the incredible opportunity to be a missionary. I don't know if anyone realizes what a blessing it is. I feel so lucky and blessed. This truly is a dream come true. I wouldn't rather be anywhere else. The Spirit is everywhere.

 

Tomorrow is Sunday and I am so excited. There will be three General Authorities here for Easter. I think it will be the most spiritual day because it will be in English. I feel the spirit in our classes but not as much as if it was in English, because I have to concentrate so much on what I'm going to say and what is being said. But I love class. We have two three-hour classes a day, and I love it. Our teachers are pretty good. We teach them as if they were investigators which is really good practice.

 

I really wish I didn't have to give up my first name. No one wants to call me by my name because it is hard to pronounce, so they just say hermana or slaughter my last name. And I love my first name. But c'est la vie.

 

Thank you for the Dear Elders! They really make me so happy. Write me what you want to know about MTC life.

 

I wish I could find my camera cord so I could send you pictures. Mom, you would probably tear up when you see me with my nametag on. I have to say I nearly cried when I put it on. Such a good feeling.

 

I love you and love the gospel! I know that it can help everyone, no matter if they realize they need it in their lives or not. I am learning so much. This is God's work and I'm overwhelmingly grateful I get to be a part of it. Thank you for your examples which helped me to make it on my mission!

 

Love,

Your Sister Missionary,

 

Hermana Goimarac

 

Goodbye!

In a few hours, I will be set apart as a missionary. Since when am I going on a mission? Since when am I 21?! Since when is it already 2012? Since when is it April?

I still feel like I should be the 10 year old girl who had her goals taped to her ceiling above her bed, so she could look at them as she feel asleep. Along with "Run the 400 meters under a minute," was the goal, "Serve a mission in 2012." That seemed so far away.

And it always seemed so far away. And now, here I am. And I wouldn't rather be in any position. It would be nice if I was packed and felt prepared, but besides that I am so ready. So ready because it's what I've always wanted. And why do I want it? Because I am who I am because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am forever grateful for His sacrifice for me, and I want to sacrifice what I can for Him. I have been given so much, and I want to give. I have felt so much joy from living the gospel, and I want others to feel that. I don't know how one can live without knowing who they are and the grand scheme of things. I NEED to spread the message that we are children of God! There is a plan for us! This life isn't it! We have a Savior who makes it possible for us to return to God! Obedient to the commandments is the way to find true happiness!

If there is only one thing you know about me, please know that I know the gospel is TRUE.

Here's my heart, take and seal it.

Your (Soon-to-be) Sister Missionary,

Faith Goimarac