Wow! This past week has been a good one. Let me start of by saying, of course it is ok that you drive the truck papa. I mean it is yours. Second, Julie, my password was oneeyed1 or oneeyed54 or oneeyed2. It was something with oneeyed and then a number. Anyway, obviously I can't remember.
To answer Justin's question about the new dropoff procedure, it was going to be like that anyway. For those that don't know what I'm talking about - families now drop their missionaries off at the curb. They get about 2-4 minutes to say goodbye and then the missionaries are ushered away by volunteer missionaries that are already here, and they take them to their new room and then drop them off at the health place. I guess the MTC was going to switch to this pattern in September but because of the swine flue they moved it up. They are happy that they were able to move it up cause the people here really didn't like the old way.
Next, the most exciting news of the week. I have a progressing investigator on chats from mormon.org. She lives in Logan and WAS an athiest. She was really scared about praying, but I bore testimony to her that if she prayed she would receive an answer. After I said that, the chat was silent for about a minute and a half and then the reply, "Ok I am going to pray tonight." !!! How awesome is that. What a great testimony to me that the church is true - that this is what God has planned for us and that our heavenly father loves us. She said that she had received an answer! Another testimony that our heavenly father loves us and wants us to know him. She wasn't able to talk the rest of last week (this happened Wednesday and Thursday nghts) but we are going to be able to talk this week. It is really exciting.
The second most exciting thing about this week is that we taught the first lesson in Italian yesterday. I was so spaventato (scared) that it was going to be an epic failure. But we did really well. I think it is because we went in there and taught with enthusiasm. We were able to convey our message through our testimonies and our love for the gospel. We definitely didn't say everything right - probably very few things 100% right, but the "investigators" understood what we were saying and it is really good. This week we are only talking in Italian all the day long. Yesterday went pretty good with that. It is amazing to me that I know almsot everything I need to know to work and tell stories here at the MTC. It is crazy what an amazing gift - the gift of tongues.
Oh yea, and some more exciting news. Last Tuesday at the Tuesday night devotional, Elder Bednar spoke! His talk was amazing! His main message was on "How do we know if we are feeling the spirit or if it is just us." His answer was "don't worry about it, be a good boy, be a good girl, remember and honor your covenants, keep the commandments as you press forward with faith in Jesus Christ, and your steps will be guided, your utterances given to you, and you cannot go amiss. Now get going." He also said that for this to work we have to be working. We have to be in positions to open our mouths and talk to each other. We have to be out working and walking the streets for this promise to take hold. It was just a fantastsic talk.
That marks what will be a great couple of devotional weeks because mission president week is coming up. During that week, all of the Twelve are here and the Presidency. So I am sure that we are going to have some amazingly awesome speakers coming up soon.
As far as a swine flu update, the missionaries in my district that were in quarantine last week are out and healthy. We are all healthy except one elder who has a sinus infection. But he is getting better. Last week was sad. We had only four elders in class one day out of the normal eight. Class seemed to move really slow. But that was alright. It was a good learning experience.
I want to tell dad that it is official. After keeping track of my sleeping patterns for the last year or so, I inherited his sleep gene. Everyday that I have been at the MTC, I wake up between 3:45 and 4:30am every morning. And then I have a hard time getting back to sleep after that. I don't mind it. I work off of 5-6 hours of sleep the best I think. That was how it was in college. Depending on when I went to bed I woke up 5-6 hours later. The only bad thing is you are not supposed to be up and about while your companion is still sleeping. But I just try to go back to sleep. I told my branch president this in an interview I had with him last Sunday, and said that it was normal for me and he told me that if I have a flashlight or something I can just read the scriptures in bed if I want to. That that would be alright. Which I have done now a couple of times. But I don't mind dad. I think it is cool that I can work effectively off of only that much sleep.
Which brings me to my last and final point. I never get tired of reading the LdM(BoM). In fact, I feel like I don't have enough time in the day to read it. I love reading the scriptures and the stories and experiences that you can pull from them. Right now my favorite actually comes from the Old Testament in Nehemiah 6:3 "I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down." It is so true in this work in which I am engaged. I love it when you study in the morning and something you studied that morning comes in handy later that day.
Well it has been another great week. I love gtting the letters that I have received from you all. It is great to hear that you are all doing so well. I love you and pray for you and I can feel your prayers. Oh and by the way, I sent some pictures in the mail. I think only two, but I can't send pictures from the MTC computers because of the way they have them set up. But I should be able to when I am in the field. You should get those pictures today. I love you all and keep doing the great things that you are doing!
Here are a couple pictures of my district. The two Elders on the outside right and left are my companions. I don't know why we weren't sitting together, but oh well.
Still as wacky as ever!
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