En serio! con Hna. Ellsworth

So we´re just going to flashback a little bit to the days where I tell a story... because it´s just too hard to figure out what to tell you from week to week. So... this last week, my companion and I have decided to make a goal to sit with Spanish speakers at every meal. This has been really helpful in our Spanish. We sit with about 20 Spanish speakers from South and Central America who we like to call the nativos. So imagine with me, if you will, an entire table of South Americans and two white girls. En serio! It´s a beautiful sight.

Anyways, during a particular meal, I sat by an Elder from Mexico. I talked mostly to the Hermanas but decided to try to start a conversation with this Elder. Just a simple Cómo está? So that´s exactly what I did. And he replied with the usual Estoy bien. But I usually repeat everything they say to make sure I understood it right and that I can also say it right. But I mixed it up a bit and apparentely said something back that meant I was hitting on the poor Elder. I had no idea what I said but he started laughing and then the people next to him started laughing until the entire table was laughing. Apparently, the only thing I can understand in Spanish is laughing. En serio! Anyways, I was pretty embarassed and felt pretty down on myself. How am I going to be able to speak and understand Spanish when I can´t even get a simple greeting right. En serio!

Well, i was feeling down and got back to class and the opening hymn was ´Tengo gozo en mi corazón.´ En serio! I felt like the world was mocking me. I had never felt so frustrated and discouraged with the language or even in the MTC and they throw this song in my face. I couldn´t even sing. And then I got to the middle of the third verse and I started to remember a little bit about humility and patience and started to really listen to the words. I was seriously thinking to myself, Ellsworth, you can probably learn a lesson from this. (Because I usually speak to myself in third person)

So I did learn an important lesson. Spanish is hard. and it´s kicking my trash. But getting discouraged about it won´t help anything. I will fail at times and make a fool of myself but all I can do is laugh at about it and tengo gozo en mi corazón. I was really grateful for that experience and for that hymn. At first I thought Heavenly Father had a sense of humor and was making fun of me, but then I realized it was a tender mercy. And it taught me an important lesson about being happy through frustration.

Well I love ya, Hna. Ellsworth