Wednesday,
November 12, 2014
Today was a long day even though we only got here at 1:00
p.m. Even as a half-day it felt very
long. My new companion is elder
Woodward. He is a small guy. We should get along well. He is from Spanish Fork and enjoys anything
to do with computers. Today was a very
spiritual day with classes, devotionals, and investigator lessons. Dinner was very good (cordon bleu). My district is very large (12 people). There are 4 sisters and 8 Elders. We fill our classroom from wall to wall,
shoulder to shoulder when sitting down.
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Today was long, we work from 6:30 to 10:30. All we do is study, eat, and study
again. Today we received branch
assignments. Elder Woodward and I are
Branch sacrament coordinators. A few
more things about Elder Woodward. He is
very sleepy. He fell asleep today more
times then I could count. I had to keep
waking him up. He
hates the cold, now, or sleet. (we have
had snow and sleet while here.) He has a strong testimony. Over all our district is awesome, we can be
pretty off topic though sometimes. Elder
Ili is our new district leader. He is Somalian
and pretty funny. Over all, working hard
and having some fun.
Friday,
November 14, 2014
There
is only one thing you need to know about today.
The rest of the day is in my journal.
But all that is most important happened the last few hours. All of the classes were incredible
today. But this is why today is one of
the most spiritual days of my life.
Elder Snelston felt very homesick, and still is. He came to the district and explained how he
wanted to leave the MTC and go home very strongly. What followed was amazing. We all prayed, talked, sun hymns, and read
scriptures. Elder Snelston's companion gave him a very strong blessing. We all felt the spirit, and we all cried. Elder Snelston still does not know if he will
go home or stay, but tomorrow he has an appointment with someone to talk about
the possibility of leaving. I hope he
stays. Tonight he is praying and reading
the scriptures, deciding what God wants him to do. Most of all, I hope he does what God wants
him to do.
Saturday,
November 15, 2014
Today
Elder Snelson decided that he needed to go home. He left after lunch. I hope he serves a mission later in his life
because he was such a good missionary.
His old companion, Elder Jorganson, is now in our companionship. So I am now in a tripod, or a
three-some. On Sunday Elder Jorganson is
seeing a member of the Branch Presidency to see if he should stay with us, or
if he gets a new companion. I like Elder
Jorganson, but I hope he gets a new companion.
It is hard to be in a tripod.
Instead of staying with one other Elder, you are always looking for
two. When you are an Elder you have a
sort of radar where you always know where your companion is. Now your radar has two dots.
Sunday,
November 16, 2014
Overall
today was awesome. (I am writing this on
the 16th) We had awesome classes and we taught a good role-play
lesson. Elder Jorganson is going to be
companions with Elder West. Elder West
has been in the MTC for 4 weeks. He was scheduled
to leave in 12 days like us, but got knee surgery while in the MTC. After 4 weeks he is finally shipping out the
same day we are(Nov. 25th).
Sunday here is very nice and relaxing.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
The mtc is
going great. We work very long days here. The showers are also always freezing
in the morning. I have found out that if you shower at night, there is a slight
chance you might get a warm shower. The spirit is very strong here. The My companion (Elder
Woodward) and i started teaching a new "investigator" yesterday.
teaching investigators here is role play. they are not really investigators.
but they pretend to be. let me tell you, they do such a great job. when i am
talking to Eric (our investigator) i do not even think that he is really not an
investigator. We just teach him like we would a real one. I am so thankful for
the people that do the role play lessons. It really helps to teach someone that
is real. Here at the mtc, when you put your head to the pillow, you can really
think, "today i did a hard days work."
Thursday,
November 20, 2014
Today
we had in-field orientation. It is
basically a 9 hour, but very awesome, class.
We learned how to use the members, the key indicators, and other
stuff. Today we taught Eric again (our
TRC investigator). Today we finished
teaching the plan of salvation. We committed him to being baptized December 10th. He wanted to know more about repentance, but
we ran out of time, so we told him we would make sure to talk about it
tomorrow. Tomorrow we plan on teaching
him the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Going
great here. This second week has flown,
I cannot believe it is Thursday. Tuesday,
after I e-mailed you, we went to the temple.
It was awesome.
Elder Woodward has picked up the pace. He is starting to get used to the
schedule. He is still sleepy a little in
class. (We are all normally a little sleepy though). He is most definitely not a morning person
either. He strongly dislikes waking up
at 6:30 a.m. It is funny, because now
that I am sleeping better I also dislike mornings more. When I could not sleep last week, I wanted
morning to come around. Anyways, we are
doing great here. I cannot wait until we
go into the mission field.
Monday, November 24, 2014 at 5:17
p.m.
I am leaving the MTC tomorrow. I will be
calling home tomorrow. bye