Hola! CCM Semana Uno!

Hola! Como esta?

Hello everyone! Sorry for my poor grammar en espanol, I can't figure out how to add accents or extra punctuation from my computer!

Before I get to the rest of my email, a few housekeeping items: first, I also have a blog that these emails will be posted to, so if you prefer to look at that, let me know. It's at michelleksoh.blogspot.com so you can find it, there's also some helpful definitions there on the first post. Second, I can only email on my preparation day (p-day) but can read emails any time, so feel free to email me during the week.

Now to the good stuff! This was my first week of missionary training and it was online, so looking at a screen for 7+ hours a day has been my week. I was so tired that first night, I fell asleep almost as soon as I ended my nighttime prayer. But I've learned so much about Spanish and the Gospel of Jesus Christ through it. My teachers are amazing, Hermano Canche teaches our Spanish class in the morning and he's so good at explaining things even though he only speaks in Spanish. Hermano Ruiz teaches our afternoon class which is focused on the gospel and how to be an effective missionary. He says that his English isn't very good but then tells us that our Spanish is great, so he either has too much confidence in us or not enough confidence in himself, and I think I know which one it is. 

Adjusting to missionary life has been strange, especially still being at home, my parents have to adjust to calling me Hermana Soh rather than by my first name. And on a few choice occasions, my dad has called me Sorella Soh which is what my sister was called when she was on her mission in Italy several years ago. Living the missionary standards is a big change from my normal life but it's a good change, even if it is hard. I'm grateful for this opportunity though to be with my family while I get to know my district.

My district is amazing! There’s ten of us in total, six Sisters and four Elders. I can't wait to meet them in person and get to talk to them between classes, which is something that's hard to do when we're on Zoom. I already love them all so much and it's only been one week. My companion is Hermana Thomas and she's fantastic. We have quite a bit in common which makes having a companion all the time a lot less scary. Her dad is in the Air Force and they are currently living in Italy! Which means her day starts at about 1:30 pm and ends at 4 am, she's a trooper for living that kind of schedule and I know God will bless her for her dedication. 

I have already seen the power of God and the Spirit working in me. I feel like I know so much more Spanish now than I did last week, even though I don't know very much currently, but I can say a simple, yet complete, prayer in Spanish. I have also noticed that I remember more scriptures now! It's amazing what consistent scripture study can do. Hermana Thomas and I had our first lesson this week, teaching about prayer. It was scary but I think we did pretty well for not having done it before. We have a follow up appointment scheduled for next week, and we hope we can teach better and spread more knowledge.

I would like to share one scripture with you. It's in the New Testament in Romans 8:16, Hermana Thomas shared this with me and I love it. It says, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:" I love how simple this is and what it teaches: We are children of God. One of the most commonly sung songs in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is called "I am a Child of God" and it's something that we learn very early in life. I hope that you can come to know that you are a child of God if you don't already.

I love you! I hope you have a great week, I'd love to hear about it.

Hermana Soh