A Spoonful of El Tiempo Vuela: Guatemala Mission- week 8

El Tiempo Vuela...At least here in the MTC. We only have about 10 days left here and

that seems crazy to me. I'm quite excited to be getting out into the
mission field but it's hard to believe how fast time goes sometimes.
In a week and a half I'll be with my trainer in my first area teaching
real people...it's going to be great.                            If
there is anybody out there who doesn't believe in the gift of tongues,
then let me explain to you a little something that has happened. I
didn't speak any Spanish before coming to the MTC. I knew some
vocabulary words, but on the whole, nothing that could get my by in a
conversation. After only 8 weeks of studying Spanish, I can have a
complete conversation in Spanish, can teach the Gospel completely in
Spanish and understand almost everything I read. To compare, I studied
French for 3.5 years at BYU and spent 2 months in Paris and I now
speak as good in Spanish as I ever could in French. Naysayers will
point to the fact that I speak French as the reason why I could pick
it up so quickly, but I know that I've had divine help. I remember in
my setting apart the Stake President telling me that the Lord wanted
me to really learn this language and he has made me equal to it. I
don't know the purposes of the Lord in this, but I am willing to use
my skills in any capacity to help build the kingdom which is what I
intend to do.                           I don't have too much to share
about life in the MTC this week because it hasn't been too eventful,
but we do have another proselyting activity on Monday and we won't
have Latino companions this time. So, prepare to hear about our
awesome experiences with that next week. I hope you're all safe and
happy. And I love you all. :)                         Hna Cappuccio

A Spoonful of La Tierra del Libro de Mormón: Guatemala Mission- Week 7

This week we had the amazing opportunity to go to an outdoor relief
map of the whole country of Guatemala. It's pretty big so they had to
build small towers so that you could see all the parts of it. It's old
too so some of the original functions don't work anymore, like the
water that's supposed to be flowing for the rivers, lakes, and oceans,
but it was cool none the less. We had one of the MTC Presidency
Councilors explain to us how this land fits the description of the
Book of Mormon land. He went through a lot of the history and pointed
out different places like the place where they landed (which is
actually in Mexico on the border of Guatemala and also where Christ
appeared to the Nephites), Zarahemla, the river Sidon, and the land
Northward. It was such a neat experience. He also explained that when
they say ´´and they went up to the land....´´ it means up in altitude
which is common because there are so many hills and mountains (and
volcanoes) here.
                 We also got to go to a mercado in the city. It's kind
of like the streets in Rocky Point but it's a complex and all the
vendors have tiny stores with a lot cooler stuff. As you walk past
they all ask "¿Qué está buscando?¡Pase!" They were all really
down-to-earth and it was fun talking to some of them. I definitely
think you'd like the market, Mom. You're able to bargain them down and
everything is pretty cheap but they have some sweet table runners and
place-mats and, my favorite, hammocks.
         This week was a little hard because all of our friends from
the last 3 weeks left and besides being lonely for a day and a half,
we really missed them. They were all fantastic people and so funny and
I know they're going to make great missionaries. We got a huge new
group of missionaries though and they're great too and what's better
is there are actually more missionaries going to my mission! It's been
cool getting to know them and also the other missionaries that are
from there and finding out a little bit more about what it's like.
                                 This is a rather long email, so I
apologize. I hope you're all doing well and enjoying your March. It's
crazy to think that I only have 3 weeks left here in the MTC, but I
already feel ready to be out in the field. I'm just trying to learn
patience and find ways I can help build others in my district which is
actually harder than you'd think with the personalities we have. Ha.
Well, until next week amigos y familia!
Love, Hna Cappuccio

A Spoonful of La Vida de una Misionera: Guatemala Mission Week 6- Mar. 3, 2012

I can't help but comment on the speed of which time seems to fly by
here in Guatemala. It seemed to drag a bit in the Provo MTC,
especially the first and the last week, but ever since we got here it
has been going so fast. Our Latino friends that got here at the same
time as us are leaving on Monday and Tuesday and I'll be sad to see
them go, but I guess we'll be getting another batch so I shouldn't be
too sad.                                                           The
most exciting thing about this week is that we were about to go
proselyting!!! It was awesome. They took us out to Zona 5 of the city
and then let us loose all on the same block. Luckily they gave us
gringos Latino companions. I was paired with Hna Ramirez who also
happens to be my roommate and she was awesome. Whereas I was nervous
and unsure, she was bold, compassionate, and knowing.
                                      We ended up just contacting on
the street about 15 people. Out of that bunch we got the reference
information of about 11. We placed 2 Books of Mormon as well as
various other pamphlets. What surprised me was the willingness of
everyone we stopped to give us 5 to 10 minutes of their time. It was
such a neat experience to be able to look into their eyes and know
they were missing something that I could give them. Yet, I only felt
as if 3 or maybe 4 of them actually intended to follow-up with our
invitations. But that's how missionary work goes.
      Besides that, our scedule has been like normal, meaning chaotic.
They give us a schedule every week like they did at Provo, but then
procede to not follow it strictly. The only thing that is constant is
our meal times, which I still LOVE. A little too much, I think. I was
able to try a new fruit called a Jocote which is a size in between a
grape and an apricot with the taste between a pineapple and a mango. I
also got my first taste of mango yesterday! They just pealed them and
stuck all the mangoes into the fruit bar whole. It was awesome, though
difficult to eat.                               I have really been
impressed this week by Nephi. He really did have so much faith, both
in the words of his father and the words of the scriptures. He didn't
complain about the timing of the Lord in revealing his will or giving
him revelation. I think we  can all learn a lot from him. I hope
you're all doing well and staying out of trouble. I appreciate your
prayers and hope you know I pray for you all too.
With Love, Hna Cappuccio

A Spoonful of H-S-I: Guatemala Mission Week 5- Feb. 25, 2012

Those of you who have served Spanish-speaking missions will know what
HSI means, for those who haven't, it means Hable Su Idioma, or in
other words, Speak Your Language and it refers to speaking your
mission language all the time while in the MTC. As youc an imagine,
this can get pretty hard when you're a newb to the Spanish language,
but it does pay off. I've learned a ton in the last week and can
understand almost any Gospel discussion. It's harder when it comes to
discussions about pastimes because I've never learned a lot of that
vocabulary.                 The teachers have taken notice of my sweet
skills and have asked me to teach my district certain grammar
concepts, but I'm still learning a lot too so I'm not the most
thorough or knowing teacher out there.                          Our
devotional this Tuesday was with Elder Martino of our Area Presidency
with his wife. My headphone jack wasn't working so I listened to the
whole thing in Spanish and actually understood most of it. I found it
slightly amusing because during the end of his wife's talk, Elder
Martino began to doze off and didn't wake up until he heard everybody
say "Amen" and so he had to take a few seconds to reorient himself for
speaking, you'd think it would have taken him a while to speak with
power and the Spirit, but nope, he gave a powerful discourse from the
get-go. Thus, he supported my idea that the Church needs to put more
of an emphasis on Revelation through Descansar, or Sleep/Rest,
especially here at the MTC. That's something me and my companions came
up with this week and now it's an inside joke of a sort.
       We also got to go to the Guatemala City temple because it's
literally a block from us. Closer than the Provo temple is to the MTC
(And no hill! Haha). It was a really neat experience as it's a smaller
temple than any one I've ever been in and it's neat to see the temple
in a distant land so bustling with people.                      Well
we have about 4 more weeks here at the MTC which possibly could be
shortened (a sister in the group before me left in the middle of her
4th week here). DearElder letters get to us by Wednesday if submitted
by Sunday at noon Utah time and I'm pretty sure it's free. I hope
you're all doing well and remember that power comes from faith and
faith comes from a pattern of study and prayer. The Lord loves you
all very much, of that I am sure.  

Love, 

Hna Cappuccio

A Spoonful of El CCM: Guatemala Mission Week 4- Feb. 18th, 2012

That's Spanish for MTC. I made it to the Guatemalan MTC! Wow, I don't
think I can communicate how much I love it here. The temperature stays
in the 60 to 70 range all day, thus we never need jackets, the food is
cooked by our chef and his crew and is amazing (especially the bread),
and I have more of an opportunity to speak Spanish todo el tiempo (all
the time). I should warn you that the enter button doesn't work here
so it's all going to be one block of text. Lo siento! (Paragraph
break) Okay more about el CCM- all the nativos here are super nice and
have a lot of patience considering we talk
their ear off in poorly constructed sentences. The temple is like 10
yards from us and every day when I wake up and go down the stairs, I
can see it through the window. Yesterday we had the opportunity to go
to the Distribution Center (everything there is soo cheap. G's for
like less than a dollar) and we go to contact on the temple grounds.
There was a group of membros visiting from Honduras because their
temple is under construction now so we got talk to them and ask them
for references. (Paragraph Break) The flights over were pretty fun too
because when traveling in a group it's hard to go unnoticed. Some of
us even had some sweet missionary experiences and our flight to
Guatemala was pretty empty so we each got our own row to sleep. I'm
looking forward to my next 5 years here. I hope everyone is doing
well! 

Love, 

Hna Amy Cappuccio           

A Spoonful of El Fuego Purificador: Guatemala Mission Week 3- Feb 10, 2012

Or the refiner's fire. Which is sometimes what the MTC feels like. The teachers want us to have the most successful mission possible, which apparently means feeling like you're not doing anything right. I exaggerate of course, me and my companions are seen some great success, but we definitely have a long ways to go. I have enjoyed learning more about teaching as well as more about the gospel essentials so that I can be more converted to Christ and His Gospel.

One thing that I am continually impressed with is the power of the Book of Mormon. I've read it myself several times and know it is the word of God, but when you read it in the context of missionary work, everything is new and incredibly powerful to help our investigators come to Christ. I think that's what makes the Book of Mormon such a dynamic book. No matter how many times you read it, it can be new and more significant depending on the lens you read it in.

This last week has been like a roller-coaster, but by the end of each day I always come to the conclusion that this is where I'm supposed to be. I appreciate hearing from those who have written and sent things my way and I promise I've responded to everything so if you haven't received a reply let me know. We're preparing to leave for Guatemala next week and we're all getting really excited. Some of the sisters in our group have never left the United States, but all are a little nervous about going to a place where they only speak Spanish. I welcome the opportunity to speak in Spanish all the time.

Thank you everyone for your support and love and the next time you'll here from me, I'll be in the land of the Lamanites!

Love,

Hermana Cappuccio

A Spoonful of Yo se que... : Guatemala Mission Week 2- Feb. 3, 2012

.el Evangelio de JesuCristo y su iglesia fuen restaurados para el profeta Jose Smith. I can speak Spanish everyone! Haha, well it's still pretty rough, and obviously not fluent, but I've taken some serious strides. I can bear my testimony to anyone without notes and I do so about 3 times everyday because we count them as "contacts".

All the classes and devotionals have been incredibly spiritual and uplifting. This last tuesday we had a devotional with Elder Holland and Elder Nelson. Yes, you read right, (end of first email- added next email below)

.So the computers here at the MTC are really stupid. And apparently you can send a document by simply pressing the Caps lock button. The email continues below.

TWO GENERAL AUTHORITIES! At once. There were a lot of rumors that it would be the whole First Presidency, because we were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the MTC, but the two Apostles was just as good. I got to sing in the choir which was a really neat experience that I'm glad I did since I only have one more week to do so.

We got our travel plans yesterday and I will be flying out the 14th of February at night. I should be able to call during my layover in LAX. I'm excited to get to Guatemala, but I'm actually finding myself sad to go at the same time. I love my teachers here at the MTC and I love the feeling here.

We had an interesting experience this last week as we were thrown into teaching our first investigator the first Friday. We taught him everyday after that except for Sunday I think and then we found out yesterday he was our other teacher. Fun stuff. I accidentally asked him if he was married in the lesson and that lead to a pretty great reaction. Ha.

So, it's kind of hard to see all the other hermanas and elders get letters and packages every day when I've only gotten two letters, but they're families and friends sends them enough treats for the rest of us. And it's important to focus on the work. I really want to learn this language so that I can be the best instrument of the Lord as possible.

I hope you all are doing well!

Love,

Hermana Cappuccio

A Spoonful of Me llamo Hermana Cappuccio: Guatemala Mission: Week 1- Jan 28th 2012

Soy de Arizona. Hay 5 hermanos y hermanas en mi familia. I'd need more hands in order to count the number of times I've had to use these 3 phrases in the last 3 days. Everybody has a fun time with my last name, so I'll have to remember to thank my Italian ancestors when I meet them someday. So the MTC...I wish I could say the Spirit warms our physical bodies as much as it does our souls, but it's still incredibly cold outside.

I'm loving Spanish, maybe not as much as French, but my feelings of animosity towards Spanish really just stem from my unfamiliarity with it and I remember feeling the same way about French once upon a time. But seriously, since when is it okay to not say the subject of the sentence?

I love my district. We have 5 sisters and 5 elders which is probably one of the only districts with such even proportions. All the sisters are going to the CCM (MTC) in Guatemala and all the elders are staying. I'm one of the lucky ones that has 2 companions, Hmas Henderson y Schroeder. Hma Schroeder is from here in Orem and is going to my same mission and Hma Henderson is from Bakersfield, CA and going to Nicaragua.

Oh, so I have a quote to share. "The best preparation for a mission is learning how to change." -yours truly.  I feel like all the classes I took, books I read, people I talked to mean very little next to my willingness and ability to change who I am to be a better missionary. It takes a lot of humility, which I've discovered is quite painful in large doses. But I'm finding myself wanting to be a better companion, a better example, and a better disciple because that's what it takes to be the best missionary and I didn't come here for anything less than that.

I want to thank every and all of you that have helped me get to this point, you might not know what it is you've done to make an impression on me, but I promise you all have, and good ones. I pray God is watching over all of you and that each day you are getting to know him better. And if you have time, think of your favorite missionary and find time to write them a letter! (I can acccept if that favorite isn't me, but letters make every missionary happy--and that's a fact.)

With lots of love,

Hermana Cappuccio