Zdravo Family!!!
Wow this week FLEW BY!!! This is so crazy! I want it to slow down! I am enjoying every second here at the MTC... However, I am looking forward to my departure in 10 days!!!!!!! We get our travel plans TOMORROW!!! I love getting mail, but I feel like the travel plans mail might take the cake! Everything is AWESOME here in Provo! Spring is here!!!!! Amidst my constant watery eyes, stuffy nose, and back breaking sneezes, I am LOVING spring in Utah!!! I am so happy! The sun is so great! We try to walk in the sunshine as much as we can and study outside! I love the spring! The flowers are out and the trees are in bloom and it is seriously So refreshing! If you don't think God loves us... go look at spring!
The work is going great! My favorite part of missionary work is teaching!!! I LOVE TEACHING THIS GOSPEL!!!!!! At first, the thought of having a lesson terrified me! But now, if I don't have a lesson during the day I am SO sad! "Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary, use words." I love this quote! I try to preach the gospel through my actions, but there is something about sitting across from an investigator and feeling the Spirit guide your thoughts. I love teaching. All of my investigators are progressing beautifully! We have 2 baptismal dates, and everyone is coming to church weekly and keeping commitments! Some are reading the Book of Mormon even faster than I am! I told you last week how I Skype people in Slovenia! I didn't really explain what that was and I got a lot of questions because of it! Basically a native Slovenian volunteers via Facebook to Skype some Americans on Wednesday nights (7 in the morning, here) so we get to teach a member lesson to real Slovenian members! Last week's experience was cool and scary, but yesterday we Skyped the second ever member to join the church in Slovenia! HE WAS SOOOO SWEET!!!!! We talked about the importance of prayer and when we got done, we talked about our families. When I told him I am from Idaho, he told me he has a daughter in Preston! So cool! I then told him about all my siblings and my cute nieces and nephews and at the end I said"Moj momma je moj nilubši človek!" which means “My momma is my favorite person.” He then said "To je lep" which means “That is beautiful!” He told me how he could tell I was the type of missionary who was making my Momma proud! I loved him! He is also the man who works to acquire all of our (missionaries of the ADRTCN) Visas! EVERY SLOVENIAN VISA CAME THROUGH!!!!! YAYYYY!!!!!! He also told us how one of us Sisters is going to serve in his area during our first transfer (He is 15 minutes from the border of Austria and his house is ON the alps! CRYING!!!!! I'm so excited) I love teaching this gospel!!!!! and meeting new people!
This week I learned a lot about my capabilities! I am very creative with my outfits! hahaha! My wardrobe is the smallest it has ever been. I am proud of my new-found creativity! My companions and roommates say "Only you could pull that off," and I still don't know if that is a compliment or not... so please don't judge any photos this week! At least I am not wearing Toms! Another thing I am getting creative with is my food! Sometimes I eat sliced almonds and blueberries on my granola! And I eat my apple and peanut butter and dip it in grape nuts... as you can see, I am VERY excited for real world food! I have never eaten so much salad in my life.
Being a Sister Training Leader has helped me develop so much love! I love my calling! My zone is seriously my pride and joy! My zone is the "Where is THAT?" zone... (we have the mission calls to which everyone says "Oh, I don't know where that is!") we have a hard time doing English “fasts” (when we're not allowed to speak any English) in our zone because we all speak different languages. We have 5 Bulgarians, 4 Turkish, 2 Croatians, 5 Slovenes, 8 Polish, 1 Slovak, and 10 Czech! It is the best zone!!!! Normally at the MTC the sisters gather from all zones for Relief Society but since that isn't really how we will teach the gospel, they are changing it up this week! They are combining the Elders and Sisters for that meeting (within the zones) and guess who has to teach the lesson?! Yes.. the Sister Training Leaders!!!! I am so excited because we get to teach on the HOLY GHOST!!!! There is not a better topic! I am so excited! SO that is what I'll be doing on Sunday!
The language is coming along! After being here this long and singing 3 hymns a day in the language, I realized that a 40 song hymn book is not enough. We are so blessed to have SO MANY hymns! So during my free time I started translating one of my favorite hymns "More Holiness Give Me!" Before I came on my mission, I got the cutest gold bar necklace that says "More, Savior, like Thee" (the closing line of the song). In Slovene that line is "Bolj, Jezus, Kot ti!" Beautiful!!!! I love this language! Its so different! I so hope my new companion speaks Slovene all the time! I can not wait to be good at this language! I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!
I forgot to add this in the teaching section and I can’t go back... but, I LOVE TEACHING THE PLAN OF SALVATION!!!! Načrt odrešitve! I LOVE IT SO MUCH! Seriously, how great is it that we have the knowledge of this Plan!? I love teaching it! Every time we teach, I am so excited and I feel the Spirit so strongly! OH!!! I also LOVE teaching about prayer! I love telling people about the privilege we have to speak with our Heavenly Father daily! HOW COOL IS PRAYER!?!?! Like really?!
I grew spiritually this week so much! We had the most amazing devotional ever! Elder Clark of the Quorum of the Seventy came and I have NEVER learned so much in one sitting before! I wish I had time to type up some of the things he said but, I don't so I will write it and send it to Momma and she can type it up (love you, Mom). But, really, it was beautiful! Plus I got to sit by Madi Plowman (dearest friend from Africa, BYUI roommate) in the choir so we had three whole hours to just sit there and feel the Spirit as missionaries together! We both loved it!!
Man! I sure wish you all could be here by me! This is the greatest thing ever! I also wish I had more time to email! But, I will follow the rules! I have had the most amazing week filled with packages from my adorable Mom (and my cute Dad) I also got another package from Shanda and her kids! She sends such great packages that make me so happy! I love getting letters from my friends Emma, Brinton, Madi Greene, Ashton Wise, and Kylie Crockett and countless emails from the rest. I love you all so much and I can't tell you how much those letters mean to me!
I am so happy! I love being a missionary! I have never felt this close to my Savior before and I am SO grateful for the opportunity I have to develop this relationship with Him. I love you all! I get my travel plans to SLOVENIA tomorrow at 3 PM!!!! It is better than Christmas! I might not sleep! I love you! Have the greatest week!
Sister Higgins
Wow this week FLEW BY!!! This is so crazy! I want it to slow down! I am enjoying every second here at the MTC... However, I am looking forward to my departure in 10 days!!!!!!! We get our travel plans TOMORROW!!! I love getting mail, but I feel like the travel plans mail might take the cake! Everything is AWESOME here in Provo! Spring is here!!!!! Amidst my constant watery eyes, stuffy nose, and back breaking sneezes, I am LOVING spring in Utah!!! I am so happy! The sun is so great! We try to walk in the sunshine as much as we can and study outside! I love the spring! The flowers are out and the trees are in bloom and it is seriously So refreshing! If you don't think God loves us... go look at spring!
The work is going great! My favorite part of missionary work is teaching!!! I LOVE TEACHING THIS GOSPEL!!!!!! At first, the thought of having a lesson terrified me! But now, if I don't have a lesson during the day I am SO sad! "Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary, use words." I love this quote! I try to preach the gospel through my actions, but there is something about sitting across from an investigator and feeling the Spirit guide your thoughts. I love teaching. All of my investigators are progressing beautifully! We have 2 baptismal dates, and everyone is coming to church weekly and keeping commitments! Some are reading the Book of Mormon even faster than I am! I told you last week how I Skype people in Slovenia! I didn't really explain what that was and I got a lot of questions because of it! Basically a native Slovenian volunteers via Facebook to Skype some Americans on Wednesday nights (7 in the morning, here) so we get to teach a member lesson to real Slovenian members! Last week's experience was cool and scary, but yesterday we Skyped the second ever member to join the church in Slovenia! HE WAS SOOOO SWEET!!!!! We talked about the importance of prayer and when we got done, we talked about our families. When I told him I am from Idaho, he told me he has a daughter in Preston! So cool! I then told him about all my siblings and my cute nieces and nephews and at the end I said"Moj momma je moj nilubši človek!" which means “My momma is my favorite person.” He then said "To je lep" which means “That is beautiful!” He told me how he could tell I was the type of missionary who was making my Momma proud! I loved him! He is also the man who works to acquire all of our (missionaries of the ADRTCN) Visas! EVERY SLOVENIAN VISA CAME THROUGH!!!!! YAYYYY!!!!!! He also told us how one of us Sisters is going to serve in his area during our first transfer (He is 15 minutes from the border of Austria and his house is ON the alps! CRYING!!!!! I'm so excited) I love teaching this gospel!!!!! and meeting new people!
This week I learned a lot about my capabilities! I am very creative with my outfits! hahaha! My wardrobe is the smallest it has ever been. I am proud of my new-found creativity! My companions and roommates say "Only you could pull that off," and I still don't know if that is a compliment or not... so please don't judge any photos this week! At least I am not wearing Toms! Another thing I am getting creative with is my food! Sometimes I eat sliced almonds and blueberries on my granola! And I eat my apple and peanut butter and dip it in grape nuts... as you can see, I am VERY excited for real world food! I have never eaten so much salad in my life.
Being a Sister Training Leader has helped me develop so much love! I love my calling! My zone is seriously my pride and joy! My zone is the "Where is THAT?" zone... (we have the mission calls to which everyone says "Oh, I don't know where that is!") we have a hard time doing English “fasts” (when we're not allowed to speak any English) in our zone because we all speak different languages. We have 5 Bulgarians, 4 Turkish, 2 Croatians, 5 Slovenes, 8 Polish, 1 Slovak, and 10 Czech! It is the best zone!!!! Normally at the MTC the sisters gather from all zones for Relief Society but since that isn't really how we will teach the gospel, they are changing it up this week! They are combining the Elders and Sisters for that meeting (within the zones) and guess who has to teach the lesson?! Yes.. the Sister Training Leaders!!!! I am so excited because we get to teach on the HOLY GHOST!!!! There is not a better topic! I am so excited! SO that is what I'll be doing on Sunday!
The language is coming along! After being here this long and singing 3 hymns a day in the language, I realized that a 40 song hymn book is not enough. We are so blessed to have SO MANY hymns! So during my free time I started translating one of my favorite hymns "More Holiness Give Me!" Before I came on my mission, I got the cutest gold bar necklace that says "More, Savior, like Thee" (the closing line of the song). In Slovene that line is "Bolj, Jezus, Kot ti!" Beautiful!!!! I love this language! Its so different! I so hope my new companion speaks Slovene all the time! I can not wait to be good at this language! I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!
I forgot to add this in the teaching section and I can’t go back... but, I LOVE TEACHING THE PLAN OF SALVATION!!!! Načrt odrešitve! I LOVE IT SO MUCH! Seriously, how great is it that we have the knowledge of this Plan!? I love teaching it! Every time we teach, I am so excited and I feel the Spirit so strongly! OH!!! I also LOVE teaching about prayer! I love telling people about the privilege we have to speak with our Heavenly Father daily! HOW COOL IS PRAYER!?!?! Like really?!
I grew spiritually this week so much! We had the most amazing devotional ever! Elder Clark of the Quorum of the Seventy came and I have NEVER learned so much in one sitting before! I wish I had time to type up some of the things he said but, I don't so I will write it and send it to Momma and she can type it up (love you, Mom). But, really, it was beautiful! Plus I got to sit by Madi Plowman (dearest friend from Africa, BYUI roommate) in the choir so we had three whole hours to just sit there and feel the Spirit as missionaries together! We both loved it!!
Man! I sure wish you all could be here by me! This is the greatest thing ever! I also wish I had more time to email! But, I will follow the rules! I have had the most amazing week filled with packages from my adorable Mom (and my cute Dad) I also got another package from Shanda and her kids! She sends such great packages that make me so happy! I love getting letters from my friends Emma, Brinton, Madi Greene, Ashton Wise, and Kylie Crockett and countless emails from the rest. I love you all so much and I can't tell you how much those letters mean to me!
I am so happy! I love being a missionary! I have never felt this close to my Savior before and I am SO grateful for the opportunity I have to develop this relationship with Him. I love you all! I get my travel plans to SLOVENIA tomorrow at 3 PM!!!! It is better than Christmas! I might not sleep! I love you! Have the greatest week!
Sister Higgins