The Gift of Tongues

I can't believe it! My time here at the MTC is almost done! Only a couple more days left until I fly out to Portland on Tuesday! I report at 4:30 am at the travel center here and then my flight is at 8:30!! 

Sister Abeling (far right) and her companion, Sister Brown
(far left) say farewell to sisters heading to Australia.

So my teacher Sister Querry (who small world: her fiance is an Elder from my ASL Missionaries at Gally) she served in My mission so she showed me on Google maps where my branch will be (if i'm in the Deaf Branch I have a good feeling I'll be trained with English missionaries because there aren't too many ASL out there now; only one ASL sister and they had to recruit another sister) but all is well!!  The Lord will handle everything and I just need to have patience. I already know one of the men in the Deaf branch because we taught "him" (it was just practicing and my teacher covered as him) but he is so sweet from everything I've heard and seen, he doesn't know English, Spanish or Sign so we gesture everything with him, It's like a big game of charades. He's an older man that reminds me of the man I met in Costa Rica that painted that ring wood I gave to dad, I'm already thrilled to meet him. 

We had an incredible devotional (it was previously recorded) of Elder Bednar about the Character of Christ. Long story short our ASL Zone had been waiting for weeks to get an interpreter or get the rights to close caption it for Elder Jackson [an elder in the MTC), but finally we decided to watch it as we thought the interpreter would show up.  Well, they didn’t come, which was sad (there must have been confusion). 

I said a million prayers that I would be able to interpret for the whole thing –  it was I about an hour and 15 minutes, but I really wanted to watch it and wanted Elder Jackson to have that same opportunity because we had been hearing that it was going to be AMAZING.

Kids, let me tell you, the gifts of tongues and interpretation is SO REAL. Elder Jackson didn't want me to try to interpret because carpel tunnel is a thing that can happen when interpreting too long, which is why there are usually team interpreters.  But I asked the Lord to help me and that we could all enjoy the talk. Usually when I interpret I don't retain any of the information – it just goes in my ears and out my hands. But then something amazing happened!! An hour and 15 minutes later I heard and retained EVERYTHING and Elder Jackson understood the message too, he was in tears.

I know that that wasn't of my own strength for in NO way would I have been able to do that had I not asked for the Lord’s help and blessing. I've seen the gift of tongues become real for the people in my group, but that night I got to experience it for myself and I know now that when we have righteous desires to do the LORD'S will that we can do anything. 

So that was my cool experience this week. It's Sister Brown’s birthday today!! We are throwing her a surprise party!! I can't wait :D she's awesome. All these people are and I'm sad to leave them and the teachers and the Spirit that’s here at the MTC, but I'm thrilled to head out and learn more. J

I love you soo much and I'm so grateful for your letters and support while I've been here, and I would love to hear from you in the field!  

Please tell my friends at Gally to send me an email or letter because I miss them and want to hear from them.

I'm so excited to go out to the field and get to work!!

2 NEPHI 2:25 BE HAPPY :D 

Sister Abeling 

Listen with Love ...

Sisters Abeling and Brown
with missionaries in their district

Alecia is doing very well in the MTC and says the time has flown by. In less than three weeks, she'll be on her way to Vancouver, Washington!  Here are some excerpts from her email on Friday:
 

Awesome thing I learned this week: 



We practiced listening yesterday... it was a much needed lesson. While we are talking with our investigators it's so important that we listen and it’s a lesson that can be applied to everyone for life. The Preach My Gospel manual talks about the importance of truly listening, being genuine and sincerely reaching out.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said, “If we listen with love, we won't need to wonder what to say. It will be given to us -- by the Spirit and by our friends. (Witnesses unto Me," Ensign, May 2001). " 

This made so much sense to me and I can always tell when someone is REALLY listening to me. I know that I fall short most of the time when it comes to my turn to listen. I want people to know that I am sincerely listening to what they have to say, and that I truly care instead of planning my response and worrying about me losing that thought. What I learned is that if it’s really inspired by the spirit, the thought will come back to you after they are finished talking. Don't jump in and start talking right away and to pause. ---Yup. I needed this one – it reminded me of that Dale Carnegie Class and book Mom and Dad talk about. True stuff. 

I love you all so much! I hope you have a wonderful week and I can't wait to hear from you!

2 Nephi 2:25 BE HAPPY (: 

Sister Abeling