I want to give a brief update on our Sister Missionary. She’s still trying to learn Spanish. As I recall, it took me quite a while to get over my bashfulness and to feel comfortable speaking with strangers in Spanish. I did better with my companions (who for the most part were native speakers and didn’t speak English.) Anyway, on top of that, she had this to say:
“This week I have just been landed in the most stressful situation I have ever been in. We had transfers on Friday, and I have a new companion. . .She speaks practically no Spanish whatsoever. She was switched from English the day after she got here from the MTC, which was about 6 weeks ago. And she is really struggling to learn. I have been able to learn pretty quickly, and the Lord has blessed me a lot, but I am still very far from being able to converse openly with people. And we are companions. I can make it through the first lesson okay, and the second and third lessons, if you were grading me, you’d give me a C+, so it’s passing, but it’s really not great.”
She’s also been stressed out about having someone come observe her and critique (hopefully constructively) her teaching methods. I guess her spirits are still pretty high though:
“[My] life is a roller coaster of stress and fun. The Lord really wants to make sure I am faithful or something! It will all work out, I know.”
I’ll miss her phone call home during Christmas this year, but I think she’ll be back with us next year.