Letter #2 He is Aware of You...

HOLA MI FAMILIA!!!

oh how i love and miss you so!!! p-day has become my new favorite day!! its like christmas reading all my emails from all the people i love the most!! ah!! i'm so happy right now!! thank you all for all your love and support!! like real talk... you have no idea how much it means to me!! :)

so... this week has been full of ups and downs. i definitely can't lie about that. but overall its be unbelievable!! the 'ups' have definitely made all the 'downs' SO worth it!!

we got the unbelievably amazing privilege to hear from Elder L. Tom Perry in devotional this tuesday... and... he's just so incredibly wonderful. blows my mind!! my goal is to be as happy as he is! he literally skipped onto the stage waving hi to all the missionaries... it was SO cute!! i died. but anyways... one thing that he said that really stood out to me and i actually feel like it was said for me (pardon my selfish thinking... ha!) but he was talking about the love of our Heavenly Father and how He is aware of each and everyone of us... then he repeated his sentence and

said, "He is Aware of You!!" goodness. i almost fell out of my chair. i had kinda been struggling and doubting and getting on myself about the language... but my Heavenly Father knows what i'm going through and he is aware of my struggles and he is going to be here throughout the entire journey!! and i'm so grateful for the knowledge and comfort that brings me!!

this week me and my wonderful comp, Hermana Hawkes, taught 3 lessons to and 'investigator' by the name of Pablo... i put his name is quotes cuz he is now our teacher. ha ha. awk-ward. ha ha. but yeah. basically read straight from my Spanish script that i translated. it was horrible. and so embarrassing. cuz he would say things back and my comp and i would just stare in blanked out confusion and frustration because we had no idea what he was saying! but... if i did learn one thing, i learned that it important to have the spirit. no matter what. no matter the language bearer or anything else... if the spirit is there. the lesson will be successful!

anyways... i have come to find a new scripture that might be one of my favorites... it has come up a couple times this week and it really had helped me get through those times of self-doubt and discouragement.... D&C 84:88 "... I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up!"

please tell me that isn't the most comforting, amazing scripture you have ever heard!! goodness gracious!! every time i read it i just want to jump for joy because we are so blessed to have such an amazingly wonderful Heavenly Father who is ALWAYS there for us! i also have grown such a deep love for the scriptures... why in the world did i take them so for granted before!? i'm a fool. thats all i'm sayin!! ha ha.

anyways.. i love and miss you all so much!! and i'm so grateful for all your love and support... i really am loving my time here at the mtc and know without a doubt this is where i'm suppose to be!! ah!! i love this gospel and can't wait to learn this language and share it with every Argentine i meet!! ha ha. hope all is well at home... just 30 minutes away from here!! so crazy!! feel worlds away!! but yes.... love and miss you all!!

xoxoxo.

love always,

your missionary,

Hermana Forte

Letter #1 My First Taste of the MTC...

HOLA MI FAMILIA!!

wow.. so its only my third day here at the MTC, but it honestly feels like my third week!!

okay.. okay.. a bit of an exaggeration. but real talk. i feel like i have been here for WAY longer than just 3 days. BUT... its been awesome!! the spirit is seriously SO strong here! i have honestly learned SO much in these past two days.. its a bit overwhelming honestly. i'm realizing how hard spanish really is. but mostly i'm realizing how hard just being a missionary is. not that i underestimated the hard work... but... i underestimated it. ha ha. but yeah. my companion is awesome!! she's from texas. went to school at byu for 3 years. and yeah. me and her have like the same humor! its awesome!! always cracking jokes and laughing. its great! she's 21 also... so, i'm not TOO much of a grandma. ha ha. i am the oldest in my district though. and the tallest. we had a 'cinnamon roll' hug the other night and i got wrapped in the middle and its was hilarious cuz literally i'm a head taller than EVERYONE!! no joke. good times though.

i'm down at the west mtc campus dorms, which is technically the old raintree apartments!! crazy huh!? its an all spanish campus! so everywhere we go: "HOLA! HOLA! HOLA HERMANAS!!" ha ha. its awesome!! definitely helps with the inclusion process of learning the language! :)

another cool thing about my district is its all girls!! its the first they have had on this campus! which is kinda rad. also my companion became district leader! which was rad too! cuz... girls aren't usually district leaders... but... in an all girl district they make some exceptions! :)

hmmm... what else. OH! guess who got senior companion!? yup!! this girl!! so its kinda funny, i'm senior companion to the district leaders... whatever that means. ha ha.

anyways... i'm kinda having a real hard time with the language. granted its only been a couple days. but still. with everyone around me speaking so well its kinda of discouraging! but then everyone tells me that once i get to argentina the dialect is so different that i'm gonna have to learn a whole new language pretty much! dang. that is kinda intimidating... but i got this. i know it will come... eventually. goodness! i've definitely had my ups and downs so far... like tomorrow me and my companion are suppose to teach our first lesson to an investigator... IN SPANISH. do you hear me!?! NO ENGLISH!!! ummmm... i just barely learned how to pray in spanish. and i can barely so it without the pamphlet to look at!! blah. anyways... so pray for me please. i'm kinda freaking out. but then i have nights like last night where the spirit was overwhelmingly strong and i just get reassured that the doubt that creeps into my mind isn't from my heavenly father. also... guess what!! L. Tom Perry comes next week i guess!! rad huh!? i'm super stoked!!

anyways... i love you all. and i miss you like crazy. but i want you to know that i know with my whole being that i am for sure suppose to be here right now. i know i have been called of god to preach his gospel. i know the lord needs me in argentina. and i know that my life will furthermore be blessed for this dedication.

hope you all have a blessed day!!

xoxoxo.

love your missionary,

Hermana Forte