The MTC is Embrague

There's an Elder in our district who always uses the word "clutch". It's his word and he says it all the time. So at some point he translated it into Spanish and now he says everything is "embrague". Which actually makes no sense because that just means a clutch, like part of a stick shift. But the whole district has picked it up anyway. I also learned a couple fake swears in Spanish, like "Rayas!" and "Miercoles!" Apparently "stripes" and "Wednesday" are ways to say "shoot".

The MTC is totally embrague though. It is so awesome to be here. And time is flying by. In a week and a half I'm gonna head out to the field and that's crazy to think about!

This week has been so full of the Spirit. As a missionary you're having revelatory experiences everyday and it's hard to pick what I'm gonna share in the emails every week! But here are a couple of highlights.

This week I've been obsessed with how cool it is to be able to study the scriptures in two languages. Because some of the words are different and you can learn so much more! On Sunday morning I read 2 Corinthians 3:18, which says, "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." But in Spanish it says beholding as in a MIRROR. That was so cool to me! When we look through a mirror to see the Lord's glory, we see Him in ourselves. We can have confidence in who we are and love for ourselves by seeing Christ reflected in us. Satan wants us to think we're not good enough and doubt ourselves, but Christ just wants us to remember that we are worth it and He loves us enough to suffer unfathomable pain for us.

The second half of this experience happened about an hour later during fast and testimony meeting. The first sister who stood up talked about how she looked in the mirror this morning and just had this thought occur to her: we have Christ in us so we should treat ourselves like His reflection. She said some of the exact things I had discussed with my comp in the morning when I found that scripture!

Also another story from that testimony meeting. Last week a couple of Elders had to take a day to fly to Phoenix where the visa consulate for Ecuador is. Elder Hansen, one of the Elders in our district, was one of them. He told us this cool story about talking to their taxi driver Ben, from Nicaragua, and having a total missionary experience. They hooked him up with the missionaries in Phoenix and gave him a Book of Mormon. But the coolest part of this story to me was hearing it from the perspective of another Elder who was there who bore his testimony about it on Sunday. He had been kind of worried about the idea of actually being a missionary and he decided to pray for a missionary experience on the day when we would be out of the MTC interacting with normal people. He felt the Spirit confirm that He would have the opportunity to teach someone the next day, so the whole day he was looking for the opportunity. And then it came and he talked about how as soon as he stepped into the taxi, the Spirit told him, "This is it." Faith and prayer have such power!

Another highlight was that D. Todd Christofferson came to the MTC yesterday. It was so awesome to be in the presence of one of the apostles! I have been before when I went to the conference center, but then it was like, I'm here to see them and that's cool. But yesterday it was like, he's here to see us and that's COOL! He brought a different power than I have felt before to the room by simply being in it. And he shared a powerful message about redemption and repentance. He described us missionaries as stand-in angels. God isn't gonna send an angel to most people to tell them what's what, but He certainly does send angels. Elder Christofferson counseled us to be the best angels we can be by putting Christ first every day in the mission and in our lives.

One more! The other day in comp study Hermana Harrison and I read 1 Nephi 11:1. "For it came to pass that after I had desired to know the things that my father had seen, and believing that the Lord was able to make them known unto me, as I sat pondering in mine heart I was caught away in the Spirit of the Lord, yea, into an exceedingly high mountain, which I never had before seen, and upon which I never had before set my foot." I have always thought of this verse as Nephi's recipe for receiving revelation. Desire to know, believe God will answer, and take time to ponder it out. Which is a pattern that totally works by the way and I completely recommend it. But what struck me this time that I read the verse was what Hermana Harrison said. She pointed out that God took Nephi to a place where he had never been. As soon as she said that, a song popped into my head. I'm pretty sure my sisters are gonna be the only people on this email list who recognize it, but the song goes, "I will fly on my Father's wings, to places I have never been... I will do great things on my Father's wings." In the song she is talking about following in the footsteps of her father who passed away when she was a kid. But thinking about it as our Heavenly Father really struck me. With God we really can accomplish great things we would never have been able to do on our own. God can take us to new places. In life, in our understanding and application of the gospel, in everything! He loves us and has a plan for each of us.

I had gnocchi for the first time this week. I had no idea what it was and honestly I still don't really know what it is. The only thing I knew about gnocchi before was that it's the name of the cat in Curious George, and I'm not even sure how I know that because I didn't really watch Curious George. But I totally recommend it! The kind we had was in pesto sauce, and I don't know if that's normal or not but I thought it was really good!

Also we had spaghetti that tasted like gingerbread. It's called Cincinnati chili and it's basically spaghetti with chili on top but the chili is so gingery that I literally felt like I was eating gingerbread that just had spaghetti texture. It was the strangest thing. But apparently it's a normal thing in Cincinnati. My comp has a sister who is on her mission there currently and has had gingerbread spaghetti as well.

Also I got to play the violin this week! The MTC has this little music room where you can rent instruments. It's not very high tech and they only have like three options of things you can rent. But fortunately for me, I play a common instrument. The violin they gave me was really hard to tune, and they also only let you check out one song. I tried to play hymns off of my phone but the notes were way too tiny so I just ended up playing some hymns by ear for like an hour, then I gave the violin back. It was so awesome to get to play though!

We've also been playing some volleyball this week in the gym! A couple of the Elders played volleyball in high school and are really good, so I honestly prefer it when they keep playing basketball and the Hermanas and the other Elders play a more relaxed game of volleyball. Also, an update about spikeball. Apparently they have spikeball nets but we aren't allowed to play inside and they won't let us play outside because it's too cold to open the outdoor field. I'd like to tell them I've played in spikeball tournaments in the snow but somehow I don't think that will make them change the rule. Next time I'll have to ask when the field opens up and pray it's before February 21... though I don't hold out much hope for that.

Since it was fast Sunday this week I learned the verb for "to fast". It's "ayunar", which is really cool because it's so close to the verb "ayudar", which means "to help". Fasting is a sacrifice because we give up food and water for a couple hours. But really it's a huge blessing! It helps us and channels God's miraculous power to help others who we fast for as well. Fasting is so awesome! We had a devotional during lunchtime and it was really cool to realize that every single person out of the hundreds in the room was fasting.

The MTC is awesome and missionary work is truly the work of God. This email is pretty long... but I'm not sorry about that because I figure anyone who actually is interested in reading it will enjoy a long email and anyone who's not won't read it anyway. However I am sorry if you sent me a personal email and I didn't respond because I used up most of my time writing this chunky email! I love all of you guys and I have loved receiving the emails you send me and I really will try to respond to all of them!

Hermana Cazier

pics

1. the classic MTC picture

2. apparently it's the Provo temple's 50th anniversary today! If you live in the area you should go visit the grounds today!

3. my comp and I studying outside... which clearly means it's warm enough to play spikeball outside too ;)

4. ran into a couple of high school friends at the MTC. You guys are awesome Sister Strong and soon to be Sister Roberts!

5. this might be my favorite picture of Jesus ever

6. group pic at the temple

7. and just the sisters cuz we're more photogenic

8. this is kind of a crappy picture but I like it because you can see the temple and an awesome mural of the Brother of Jared making the sixteen small stones in the reflection of the window