Last MTC Email

Hi Friends and Family,

So life is going well and very fast over in this part of the world. Not sure how it is over in Utah but I hope things are going great!...but really though, am I the only one that feels like I emailed two days ago?...weird.

So let’s start where we left off shall we? Last Thursday, post-emailing, we went to an art museum called Prado, it´s apparently the second largest art museum in Europe or something like that. It was awesome! You know what was even more awesome? I left my BYU student ID card in my wallet for some reason so I got in for free instead of having to pay $15. I was pretty excited. I´m not super into classical art but I still really liked it. It was crazy to see original paintings by Rembrandt and Goya and sculptures from the first century.

So not going to lie, proselyting is pretty stressful. I know any of you who have served missions are rolling your eyes and thinking “welcome to the mission field Tuttle” but in my defense at least when I get into the field I will be with a trainer. I love all of the sisters I have been  paired up with but they do the pairings so that those who have the most experience with the language are paired with those who are just beginning to learn it so it´s pretty intimidating to know that you are going to be the main mouthpiece for the companionship. Nevertheless, I decided to have a really good attitude going into this Saturday´s proselyting. I decided that even if all I got was rejections all day, I would work harder than I ever had and because of that it would be the best proselyting day yet. Well…Satan must have heard that because I´m not quite sure if it was the best day yet but it was definitely the hardest. I have had days when I was tired, I have had plenty of people scoff at me and make fun of me but this just felt like I was getting beaten up one side and down the other. My sweet companion just said hi to one man in particular as we were waiting to cross the street, he looked over, read my nametag then just started going off about how we should be in Mexico because people are dumber there and went on a little tangent about how we should be ashamed of ourselves and seriously I thought he was going to spit on us he looked at us with such disgust. Finally the signal turned green and the man walked away from us as if he had accomplished his life´s goal by telling off two twenty year old girls away. My companion, who is the sweetest girl and is just learning Spanish, asked me what he said and after I told her she started crying. And that was only the beginning. But that makes it sound like the day was awful, while it was the hardest it definitely had it´s upsides too. We passed out 2 copies of the Book of Mormon and several (probably 20) pass-along cards. The two men we gave book of mormons were so sweet and so excited! One was from Africa and he actually stopped us. He read Hma. Griffin´s name badge and kept saying “Memo! Memo!”  When I finally noticed that Hma. Griffin wasn´t walking with me I came back and started talking to the man. He kept saying “memo” but I kind of just ignored that and began telling him about the church. I finally figured out what he was saying when I pulled out the Book of Mormon and he pointed to Mormón and said “memo!” He was so excited to learn more about the book and he definitely made the day much better. There was also a really nice Muslim man that we talked to, he wasn´t interested but he was very sweet.

For physical activity on Saturday, the CCM hadn´t reserved the normal court we have so we went to a park a little further away where there was a concrete soccer court. There were 8 Spanish boys between the ages of 12 and 16 that were passing around and smoking a couple of cigarettes. We asked if we could play with them, and they said yes. We had a few more players on our team but they said it didn´t matter and it definitely didn´t! They were UNREAL! I couldn´t believe how accurate their passes and shots were and how much curve they had on them. It was really fun. So I have officially played fútbol with real Spaniards and Italians, I feel pretty cool.

We got a new roommate from Argentina who is going to Italy with 7 other missionaries that I think I mentioned last week who are from Italy, Peru, Ghana, and England. They are hilarious. I like having an Argentine roommate because she has the accent I grew up with! And she doesn´t know much English which makes it so fun because it forces me to speak Spanish all of the time and she even complimented me on how well I speak, she said she was really surprised that I hadn´t lived in Argentina for a time, which takes so much of the anxiety off of going to the field and made me feel so good.

I know this email is getting so long that I am probably chasing off readers so I´ll just mention one more thing. Sunday we got to watch Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration. It was INCREDIBLE! I had seen it before a few times but it is night and day different when you are on a mission. Watching it just made me realize that Joseph Smith really lived. I guess I had heard the story so many times that it became sort of like a tale in my mind rather than a history but he really did live and better than that he really did restore Christ´s gospel in it´s completeness on the earth. I read his history and D&C 135 afterwards and it was so powerful. I wish there was more I could read about him while in the field but unfortunately his histories and what not aren´t any of the four mission approved books (which I did just buy in Spanish because I completely spaced buying some before I came, can´t wait to start trying to read Jesus the Christ in Spanish).

I love you guys! As always, thank you for your love and support. Next time I email a big email I will be in the field…weird. Please keep me and all missionaries in your prayers. Have a great week! J

Hermana Tuttle

P.S Each Sunday night we sing in front of the temple. I don´t know who took this video it was either the temple matron or the first counselor in the MTC presidency.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuBwBJtyao0&sns=em&noredirect=1