Considerably?

 

¡Hola!

I am officially halfway through the online MTC! This is so exciting and crazy and at the same time to know that I am getting very close to actually getting to get out in the field and serve. Es un poco loco.

This week has been crazy!!!! I don't even really know where to start. My district started getting reasignaciónes last Friday which has been a whirlwind of emotions for everyone. In addition to that craziness, because el CCM is getting several hundred new online misioneros this week, we have been combined with a new district. So districts 11D and 11C are now one district. Our new group chat has been lovingly named DC, which is appropriate since several people's favorite superhero in our district is Batman. (Marvel is still better, I'm definitely a Captain America or Thor girl, but I can respect the Batman). :)

This merge has brought a whole bunch of new challenges as we have had to suddenly get used to classes with 16 people instead of simplemente 8. It feels a little bit different, not bad, just different. And as with any new group, we have had to get used to new personalities and there have been a few struggles there. But I think this change is going to be really good for all of us. To spend the last 3 weeks of el CCM together will be so fun and I am looking forward to it.  

Now, the story about the word considerably.

This week, mi compañera y yo had the wonderful opportunity to teach Fernanda again. And this lesson was absolutely amazing! We taught about El Libro de Mormón and the power of scripture study that combined with prayer can lead to personal revelation in her life. God does know her and understands her struggles and needs. And compared to how hard the last lesson was, this lesson was like 5 times better! It was not perfect, our Spanish is still a bit rough, but there was such a sweet spirit in that lesson. As we were trying to evaluate our teaching on the MTC teaching survey they send us after every lesson, Hermana Mellow and I could not stray from the option Considerably for each answer. There were two options above, Very Much, and Completely, but we felt like "considerably" adequately expressed how we were feeling. 

To our surprise, Fernanda had put some of her answers for the experience at "Very Much" or "Completely". I was a little bit in shock because I did not quite believe we had done that well. And I can't help but feel like that one word, "considerably", related perfectly to my feelings about myself as a missionary. This week, I have really been studying the talk His Grace is Sufficient for You, by Brad Wilcox. It's amazing, I'll stick the link below so you can read it. But this experience and this talk helped me this week start to realize the fact that as a missionary and a disciple of Jesus Christ, I do not have to be perfect right now. That it is all about effort and commitment, progress vs. perfection. And sometimes, "considerably" is how I feel my efforts compare on some grand eternal scale, measured against the impossibility of earthly perfection. Heavenly Father does not have this scale, this pass or fail system based on if I earned enough perfection points in this life. That's not how it works at all. Instead, He only expects practice, effort, and commitment. His grace is sufficient for me. For you. For everyone. 

Have a wonderful week everyone! Stay safe!

Hermana Blackburn

His Grace is Sufficient

Fotos:

1) Nuevo distrito! The first time being together!

2) Hermano Alcalá teaching us how to make salsa through an amazing cooking video. We beat him at a Spanish game so that was our prize. 

3) District photo! This time we're all smiling and paying attention though :)