Week Three- Still No Beans <3

Wow what a week this has been! I love every moment here in the MTC. This week we got to go out contacting at a local University! It was SUCH an awesome experience. We handed out pamphlets and Libros de Mormon! The first guy we talked to played the guitar. We talked to him about church, and then we asked him if he would play us something. He played us music he had written himself. It was so beautiful. Then Hermana Keith told him that she could play. She ended up playing and singing Sun day Morning by Maroon 5. I know it isn't a church song but the Spirit was honestly so strong. The tears were streaming down my face. It was such a beautiful moment that I will always treasure. I hope the guy we were talking to ended up reading the Book of Mormon. I know he felt the Spirit in that moment. We also talked to this woman who was an inactive member. She talked about how she wants to go back to church. It is amazing to see the people that the Lord uses us to teach. It is all so inspired and the people are truly ready for the gospel!!!

My district is SUPER awesome, and we continue to get closer and closer. We had a speed walking race. We also played a really good game of soccer. It was BAKING HOT!! Honestly I was sweating more than I even knew I could sweat. My skin felt so nice afterwards. It was better than getting a facial and it was so much fun to be playing outside. We also have been sharing more personal stories. We had a devotional about receiving revelation. Then we had a district meeting and talked about it all. It was awesome to hear the stories about people receiving revelation. The father of one of the Elder's in my district was injured this week. Please keep him in your prayers. I love my district and I know it was inspired by God.

So during Sacrament meeting four or five missionaries give talks. Everyone has to prepare a talk and then after we partake of the Sacrament President announces who will be speaking and guess who was called on this week? Yeah it was me. I gave a talk on the Restoration IN SPANISH!!!!! OMG was I nervous but people told me they could really feel the Spirit. It is crazy that even though a lot of people couldn't even understand me they were still able to feel the Spirit.

This week two Haitians arrived. They are going to serve in Haiti. They are teaching me French and Creole so I will come home quadralingual. LOL JK but they did teach me some basic words. It is awesome and talking to them about where they come from is so humbling. I asked one if he grew up in the church and he said no he grew up in an orphanage. That is how he knows English because there were so many Americans around. He joined the church in 2013 when one of his brothers he met at the orphanage introduced him to the missionaries. Both of them come from very tough situations but are the happiest people I have ever met. It is incredible.

This week I have been studying humility a lot. I have been reading a lot of scriptures on how to be more humble. It is awesome how many blessing we can receive for being humble. D&C 136: 32-33 talks about how the humble gain wisdom and are enlightened. Another scripture talks about how it is easier to receive answers to prayers as we are humble. I hope to become more humble and learn how to fully give my will to the Lord. Another thing I read this week was D&C 46. It talks about all the different gifts that different people have. It says that they are for the benefit of everyone. This is so awesome! It helps me to want to lift everyone else up and also magnify my own strengths because we were each given specific gifts to benefit everyone. When everyone is living to their full potential, we can all do our best!

Wow this is quite long and thanks if you are still reading. This week my district was talking about predictions and prophesies in the scriptures. In Revelations 9:7-9 they talk about helicopters basically. Also in Doctrine and Covenants 87 it PREDICTS THE CIVIL WAR. No joke. Go read it. It was written like almost 30 years before that even happened. I dare you to tell me Joseph Smith isn't a prophet and that this church is not true after reading that! There is so much in the Book of Mormon that proves how true it is. I love this church and know that as we pray to God we can receive revelation and answers to our prayers. The mission is hard but also incredible satisfying. I love you all so so SOOOO much!!!! 


Love always,
Hermana Bossard xoxo

Jesús es mi Luz

My district LOVES the song Jesús es mi Luz because it rhymes. We sing it ALL the time. Even though we do it because we think it is funny to sing, the meaning is SO true. Jesus really is the LIGHT!!!!!!

Funny thing, in Santiago, where I will be serving, they cannot pronounce the RD in my name. They will call me Hermana Bozal (pronounced beau-sal). In Spanish bozal translates to muzzle. Just kind of ironic that someone who talks as much as me is going to be called Sister Muzzle. Can't win em all right??

A BUNCH of missionaries in the MTC got sick with what we call gringo fever. Basically just a cold because there are so many of us shaking so many hands all the time. So I pulled out my doterra oils and healed everyone. I am now called the witch doctor here in the MTC! I hope this one makes you so proud mom!!!! They are SUCH A BLESSING. 

We have been going to the park across the street more frequently. One night I was feeling HORRIBLE with my gringa fever, but we were going to the park. I decided to pray that we would find the people who would be willing and open to listen to our message. I then put on my happy face and went out. We ended up finding three people who were willing to listen. We had really meaningful conversations with all of them! We gave each of them a Book of Mormon. Then we got their numbers to give the local missionaries! I could totally feel the Spirit and felt a million times better after. It is so crazy how the Spirit and spreading the truth can help me feel so much better even when I am physically ill. I love being a missionary.

On Sunday my companionship taught a lesson on charity and love. I would like to urge each and everyone of you to go read 1 Nephi 19:9. It talks about how the Savior loved people who did horrible things to Him. I have been working really hard to love everyone especially those who are hard to love. They are usually the ones who need it the most. LOVE EVERYONE!!

The missionaries who were here when we got here left to the areas where they are serving so we got a bunch of new missionaries. I am really going to miss some of them! There was one Elder from Jamaica who was the happiest person I know despite having grown up in very hard circumstances. He is SO fast!!!! His 100m is in the 10 seconds and his 400m is like a 46.82 or something. He has met Usain Bolt. He inspired me to always turn to love even when life is hard. I will miss him very much. There were many others who I will also miss but I am excited to meet the new ones.

GUESS WHAT?!?!?!?!?!!! I still have NOT EATEN BEANS!!!! The Church Is SOOOOOO TRUE!!!!!

Well I am learning a bunch here and absolutely loving it. I hope everyone is doing great at home. I love you all and the Lord loves you all.

Here at the MTC we say goodnight five ways:
Buenas Noches
Bon qui
Goodnight 
Bien dorme
Hasta Manana

It is Spanish, French, English (duh), and Creole then see you tomorrow in Spanish. It is awesome here!!!

All the love,
Hermana Bossard (Sister Muzzle) xoxoxo

One of the best things about being here is that EVERYONE that is a native Spanish speaker can pronounce my last name correctly. The other American names are so hard, but MY IS ALWAYS PRONOUNCED CORRECTLY. No more BOSSard!! Love it!!

WEEK 1- The Longest Week of My Life

!HOLA MORMONES!

Wow if I had a nickel for every time I heard that. It is how people greet each other here in the MTC. This has honestly been the longest week of my life. but it has been SO AWESOME!! The first couple days were rough but the longer I stay here the more I can feel the blessings of a mission and the more I love it.

The average day here looks like this:

6:30- Wake up get ready

7:00- Eat breakfast

7:30- personal study

8:30- additional language study

9:30- Class on teaching the gospel and language

12:30 lunch

1:30- more class on teaching the gospel and language

3:30- gym time

5:15- dinner

6:00- more class on teaching the gospel and language

9:00- daily planning

9:15- Prayer Meeting and goodnight

9:30- get ready for bed

10:15- quiet time and reflection on the day

10:30-lights out

It is pretty intense all day everyday, but we also have a lot of fun. I have an AWESOME district, the people I spend pretty much all my time with. It has my trio and then 6 Elders. We have such a good time. One of the boys is from San Jose! SO CRAZY!!! There are a total of 59 missionaries in the ENTIRE MTC including the ones from Latin American countries, so to have one of the Elders in my district be from somewhere so close to home is so crazy. Another is from Plasterville. Three people are from Utah and then we have one from Portland and another from Missouri. We have quiet the crew. Crazy that the majority isn't from Utah, what the Mormons here call the factory. The Lord seriously knows us so well because I can tell I was just meant to meet these people. It is so cool to have such an awesome district!!!!! THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!!

So I have made it through the entire first week without eating beans. Anyone who doesn't believe in God is so wrong because not having to eat beans is such a tender mercy and a TOTAL BLESSING from Heavenly Father. The food is pretty good actually. For breakfast we will either have pancakes or french toast. They are pretty basic. I usually have cereal and a banana. They always have yogurt and oatmeal but I don't eat those. Lunch is always two types of rice and two types of meat and beans, but they treat me SO nice and give me just the one type of rice that I like and meat that I like. The chef LOVES me. Her name is Shelley and I love her. She is probably the sweetest person I know. The other great thing about lunch is the FRUIT!!! It is the best pineapple and mango I have every had in my life. We always try to get down there fast because the fruit goes quick. IT IS SO YUMMY. There is also salad and some days it has avocados. For dinner we usually have potatoes, which I never eat because they are mashed, some kind of meat and salad. I also usually eat a banana with dinner too. Overall it's pretty good.

On the Third of July we celebrated the Fourth because we couldn't do it on Saturday because too many people are here to go to the temple. We live in a building that is also like a hotel for people who come to the temple because this is the only temple in all of the Carribbean. We had a traditional Thanksgiving meal for lunch and we sang the National Anthem and the people here decorated. It was really fun! Then for dinner we had hotdogs and hamburgers. 

The first day here I was like OMG the missionaries think the stupidest stuff is funny, but now I totally think that stuff is funny too. Being a missionary is SO weird because you can feel yourself being lame but it is also the most awesome calling on Earth. We had a devotional about how missionaries are the only people in the church who have the authority to teach and baptize people besides the apostles but they never do. How cool is that that literally NO ONE else in the church can do that except ME!! I feel like I totally just one uped Greg Madsen LOL! Being a missionary is truly amazing! The MTC is truly amazing. I feel the spirit so much, and it is so cool to be with a group of kids my age that all have such a strong desire to serve the Lord.

The teachers here have a bunch of faith in us because we usually have to stay inside the temple grounds but on the THIRD DAY we went to this park across the street and contacted. We talked to REAL PEOPLE about the Church. It was SO awesome and I really hope those people read the pamphlets we gave them. It is hard because we can't understand them a lot of the time, but if the Spirit is there the language is as important. The language can be really frustrating because I have SO MUCH I want to say but I don't know how. But I can totally already feel myself learning so much!!!

Well I feel like I just wrote a novel and I didn't even talk about everything I wanted to. We got to go to the temple this morning which was really cool. It also isn't as hot as I thought it would be. The have the AC so high in the building that I am actually cold except when we go outside for gym. 

Okay I am actually running out of time so if you're still with me congrats for finishing this. Also remember the Church is totally true. There are so many things that happen here that just make me realize how it couldn't happen without God. I challenge you all to read the Book of Mormon and pray if you think it is true. I promise it will bless your life. I miss all of you so much. I love you all so much. If things are hard, remember that I lopve you and the God and Jesus love you.


Love and blessings,
Hermana Bossard xoxo

Arrival

Wow what an adventure flying here. The flights were long but I made it. Flying into the DR was beautiful because everything is so green. I made it through customs just fine. As soon as we walked outside the humidity hit. It was so sticky. Ten of use piled into a van and made our way to the CCM (mtc).  

 

I am in a group of three for my companionship. Hopefully you can see the picture. I also took one of the temple and me with my name tag. Boy does that make things real. I hope you can see them and they look alright.

 

Guess what I had for lunch?!?!?!?!?!! QUINOA no joke with chicken and green onions. We also had rice, beef, fish, juice, and THE BEST FRUIT EVER. It was awesome. Also there were beans but guess who got away with not eating any. Holla.

 

I love you all!! 

 

 -Hermana Bossard xoxo