SMILE!

November 8, 2010

This past week has been really great. The best part was Tuesday night. Each Tuesday there is an MTC devotional, and this week Elder Russell M. Ballard came to speak. He spoke a great deal about how the most important thing we do is communicate. If we don't communicate, how can we tell people about our wonderful message. For a long time, I felt like I was listening to a talk saying everything I already knew I needed to do, but I didn't feel like I was getting any advice on how to do it. Then he said something that has stuck in my mind ever since. "The most powerful thing you have is your smile."

Now- I have trouble talking to people. I hate asking questions. But I can smile.

So I decided to spend Wednesday making sure I smiled at people, Then Thursday I decided to make it a little more challenging by saying Hi as well(or rather, I said Kumusta! because that is hi in tagalog). Now- well, I'm still not a particularly great communicator but at least I feel like I'm getting a little bit better.

For those of you who want an update on the language- I'm LOVING it! It's so much fun. I really believe that my calling to speak a foreign language was inspired. A- learning Tagalog gives me something really fun and academic to do, I feel like I'm back at school. B- it let's me stay here for 6 weeks longer than English speakers so that I can get better at the previously mentioned communication problem. It's a crazy language with over 20 ways to conjugate verbs and the sentences are structured the way Yoda would say them, but I'm having so much fun!

Mahal ko Kayo (I love all of you)