Teaching English???

Well I hope that ya’ll had a great week and that you are pumped for Christmas. I’m really excited for our mission Christmas party is coming up and we will all get together and be able to see each other for a few hours. I just got told about transfers and I will be staying here with Elder Mortenson and I’m pumped about that. 

 I have really been liking the Twelve days of Christmas. It’s been great. I also got one from Robynn and it’s been fun as well. I really have liked the stories and all that. It is cool to be able to read them and feel the Spirit of Christmas with that. I really love how many stories and things there are about service in this time of the year.

So kinda cool and funny thing is that me and Elder Mortenson are the teachers of an English class here. Haha right. I can hardly speak English as it is and now I’m trying to teach it. It was really fun though. I got the chance to kinda lead the class and because we have the class in the church and we are missionaries I told them that I would like to start with a prayer and that I wanted them to say it in English. They were so good. I was such a proud teacher. I would write what I wanted them to say and then point to every word and they would follow along. It was super funny and fun. I love Spanish people and their funniness. They really are the best and I can’t imagine how funny it is to them when they have new missionaries coming in and trying to talk in Spanish. We will be teaching every week and I’m excited. We will see if they feel like they are learning anything or not but I think they will.

Also we were able to visit with the M* family and to share a message about the importance of using what the Lord has given us. I used an example of a box of Nerds. I gave them all a box and they were really excited.  Then I told them “Ok this is yours but you can’t open it” and their faces were just like ‘What?’  We talked about how pointless that would be and then we pointed out that the scriptures are something that God has given us so that we can enjoy them and yet so often we don’t even take the time to open them and get the blessings that are there and how that doesn’t make sense.  I think they liked it. I just want to say that I know that that is totally true and that the scriptures, when we really start to get into them as ya’ll are with the Book of Mormon challenge you have, you will find them to be so good and will have a greater desire to read and to learn. I had a Sister in the English ward say something I thought was awesome. She said that the scriptures are really just letters from home. I was like ‘That is so true. God gave us all the scriptures because He loves us’. I know that as a missionary I’m helping people to have a chance to learn that and it’s really great. I love it. I hope ya’ll have a great week and that all goes well.

I love ya’ll.

Elder Birks