First e-mail from the MTC!

Monday August 27, 2012

Hola todas!!!!!! Well I have survived 5 days in the MTC and I am loving life. My companion is Elder Fawcett from Hurricane Utah and he is just a swell guy. He loves playing basketball and reigns from the three point line. Well in any case, i will give you sort of a run through on what I have done since coming here.

Wednesday: After my goodbyes, I saw Elder Stephen Doxey! What a good guy. On my way up the ramp I saw Elder Cody Jenson, then Elder Chase Bleyl, then Elder Scott Palmer all before I even got to my room! Since then I have seen Elder Zach Bowman, Elder Jimmy Greene, Elder Travis Draper, Elder Mark Burdette, Elder Warren Crowley, and probably more that I can't remember right now. Elder Fawcett is convinced that I know 70% of the MTC, which is completely crazy. I love seeing people I know here! I have so many great examples of people dedicating two years of their lives to serve the Lord!  On the Wednesday I came in, I went to my classroom and my teacher already started speaking Spanish to me. I could pick out words here and there, but mostly had absolutely no idea what she was saying. Her name is Hermana Price. She served her mission in Argentina and she loves our district so much. She is funny, a really good teacher, and just a sweetheart overall. Am I allowed to say that about my teacher? Oh well. Just did. After our class, we got to go and teach real people already! On the first night! We got in to rooms of about 30 missionaries, and each room had 1 real live investigator in it. Some elders or sisters would go sit down with them, teach a mini lesson, and then the investigator asked questions to all the missionaries. I thought it was fake at first but it turned out to be real! It was really cool. I didn't get a chance to share myself because there were people that got to it before me... Oh well. It was a way cool experience.

Thursday: We started out with a workshop where we watched a 2 minute clip of a random person in NYC. They told about themselves and what they did in their life. Afterwards, we wrote down what we learned about the people during the clip, and then we wrote down what we thought God thought about these people. They were all non-members. It was an experience that made us try to look through God's eyes and develop charity and love towards these random people that we had never met. I realized that I need to do the Same towards the people of my mission. I have never met them, but I pray for them every day and ask that I can have an unconditional love towards them. It sounds really weird doesn't it? but i know that I must gain this love for them so i can serve with all my heart, might, mind, and strength.

Friday: My worst fear... We taught in Spanish! well kind of..  We were supposed to teach as much as we could in Spanish, then say what we didn't know in English. It turned out to be about 50% English 50% Spanish Spanglish nonsense, but I did my best. In our classes every day, we learn different Gospel jargon in Spanish. I already know how to say a simple prayer and to communicate most things. Although I am not where I want to be, I am getting there and el don de lenguas is very real. What was cool about the lesson was even though I could barely understand what I was saying, I could feel the Spirit. The Holy Ghost speaks Spanish, English, and Spanglish, and everything in between. Even when I get out into the field and can't speak that well, the Spirit can communicate what I cannot.

Saturday: We taught our second lesson to Manuel, our "investigator." He is actually one of our teachers, but plays an investigator for us to practice on. I could do a little bit better on my Spanish, but the real improvement was doing the lesson out of Preach My Gospel. The first lesson we jumped around like crazy and Manuel had no idea what we were talking about, but through better organization we were able to teach him better.

Sunday: My favorite day so far. Feliz Cumpleanos a Mi! Our sacrament meeting was good, but the best part about it was after the devotional, we were able to watch a talk that Elder Bednar gave at the MTC this past Christmas. He talked about the Character of Christ, and how the Atonement of Christ would not have been possible without the Character of Christ. When He was on the cross, He wasn't even concerned about Himself! He was worrying about His mother, her well-being, the well-being of the guards who had just crucified Him, and the thieves crucified with Him! Elder Bednar said that the way we can best emulate that in our lives is to turn outward when the natural man tries to turn us inward. I strive to do that every day now! It was a really eye-opening talk for me.

I love you all, and in perfect honesty don't miss you much yet. Can't wait to see you in 24 months!