Ebbert, Alia

11/17/21 - 12/28/21 -Makes things super fun -Always willing to accept and act upon critiques -Use the energy that you don't have because we are the Lord's servants, not just missionaries -How to give and receive opinions, advice, accountability, etc with lightheartedness, but still sincerity

We had a BOMB week this week. So many miracles it's unreal. I read some awesome things in Alma 26, which might be my favorite chapter of the Book of Mormon now. One of my favorite quotes I read in a talk is "Do we want to be quitters or do we want to be valiant servants?" Christmas was fun. I've had so many tamales this week I can't eat anymore of them. I also had mexican hot chocolate AKA Champurrado a couple times from members and investigators so thats truly epic. I love the hispanic culture and spanish language so much. I'm so grateful to be called spanish speaking! There's a very real difference between first contact interactions with spanish speakers compared to english speakers. English speakers generally tend to be more confrontational and hyperfixate on the different sects of Christianity. I've never been denied so bluntly and aggressively a conversation or the chance to share a scripture than with english speakers. Spanish speakers are either...

This week was a weird one. We had a mission wide christmas event which took a lot of work time away. Pros and cons to that for sure. A lot of our lessons and door knocking on our green and grey dots fell through and resulted in closed doors, so honestly we didn't feel too productive this week. But our Facebook work is popping off, so I think God is telling us to cast our net on the right side of the ship.  I love our ward so much! They are just the kindest and so so funny. I say this a lot, but I truly am just so happy to be speaking spanish and to be welcomed into the homes of these people whose culture and language and lives are different. Some of my most treasured memories thus far are sitting around the dinner table eating tamales or postole or tostadas (MY FAVORITE) and laughing, having full conversations in spanish.  We had a New Convert Devotional which was streamed also on facebook, and it was SO POWERFUL. I was so struck by the spirit that came from these converts to ...

Every day is the same except when its CHRISTMAS! Today is kind of my p-day because we've got a Christmas conference for the whole mission. It's a ton of fun. We watched the Best Two Years and I loved it. This week I got to see my old MTC comp, Hermana Gasperoni, and do some roleplays with her. It felt like we'd never stopped being comps.  Spanish is going really well! I'm learning a ton of new vocab and I'm understanding more and more of what people are saying. Its so cool to be in the states where people are from all over South America. We hear lots of accents and different words like "mande" that some people say/understand and others don't! Super fun stuff! It's an honor to be serving people in their language.  Spiritual thought: people liked the movie metaphor last time so I think I'll keep that up. The song We Know the Way from Moana has a line that really intrigued me. It says "at night we name every star, we know where we are. We kno...

This week was great! I feel like our ward members really clicked with the missionaries this week. Our ward is so awesome!  We had a BOMB zone conference this week too, which was awesome. It was really motivating and spirit-filled. Our mission is the best in the world :) Spanish is going well, my comprehension has really gone up since I've gotten here, and I feel like my accent is slowly getting better. Its hard to tell. Every day I feel honored to be able to have conversations with people in their language. Its such a blessing.  Speaking of blessings, my trainer has been making me lead more lessons, phone calls, contacts, etc. I have really felt the growth, and now I like phone calls? So prayer really does work. You ask for help, you get it! At least in this case.  SPIRITUAL RANT WARNING: I've been learning a lot about humility and pride in my studies and its been very enlightening. I'm going to rant so SKIP to the pictures IF you don't want a Kung Fu Panda metaphor abo...