July 8, 2013

Hello everyone.

To start off I have something for everyone to do. See if you can find somwhere on the internet The MTC Christmas devotional talk given by Elder Bednar called "Character of Christ." This talk is the most incredible thing I have ever heard. I don't know what year it was given, but it is recent. In it Elder Bednar explains how it was Christ's character that made the Atonement possible. His words are directed at the missionaries, but are applicable to everyone.

I appologize for getting a little preachy last week, you guys are the only people I can preach to in English right now and the MTC trains you to always be thinking about teaching and preaching. The letter I wrote for Jordan I mailed on Tuesday, so it should be arriving very soon.

4th of July here was weird. We all gathered in the gymnasium for a special devotional where we heard two talks. After that they showed the movie "17 Miracles" for some reason. After the movie it was 10 pm, and we were allowed to stand outside and watch the "Stadium of Fire" show, or at least the fireworks that made it high enough to see from the MTC.

Now for the questions:

1. For now my companion and I have a goal to read the entire PMG manual in both english and French before we leave. After that we will probably study based on what we feel we need to work on. We learned on Saturday that straying from PMG in our lessons is not a good idea. We decided to try something a little different, and the lesson didn't go well. We butted heads a little afterwards, and we found ourselves not talking to eachother. This lead to one of the biggest spiritual experiences I have had so far. I said a prayer in my heart while the class was going on and I asked the Lord what I could do to fix our relationship. The Lord answered my prayer. The spirit spoke to me in a still small voice in my mind that I should humble myself, that I was in the wrong, and that I should apologize to my companion. After the lesson I did exactly that, and the happiness and relief from our renewed relationship was incredible.

2. Yes. We had Janis Kat Perry, who wrote just about every song in the primary hymnbook, came and sang her songs with us and talked about what they meant and how they were meant to lead us to Christ. The first speaker that I listened to here was Elder Gay of the seventy (who I have mentioned) and he told us a story about his mission in Spain where he and his zone were prompted to break the laws of Spain and erect street signs. They did, and they went from one or two lessons a month, to several baptisms a month. I mention this because the next week another seventy spoke to us (I can't remember his name) and bodly declared that the spirit would NEVER prompt us to break a rule. This little seeming contradiciton was a source of considerable humor for everyone.

3. Elder Patrick and the other Mission Presidents only get one week of training here, but the entirety of the Quorum of the Twelve and first Presidency were there, so it was pretty good training.

4. Every Wednsday a new batch of missionaries arrive. We are still trying to find out how to be hosts because we all want to do it. The new missionaries are fun to talk to because they always think we are like 21 or 22 years old, and are stunned when they find out that we are their age.

5. There are no transfers in the MTC. The Tahitian missionaries on our floor of the residence have had the same companion for eleven weeks (they leave next week, they had to learn French and Tahitian).

6. I kind of already shared my big one. The talk by Elder Bednar was also a great experience, but I want you guys to see it for your selves.

7. Just food. Dinner for us is at 4:00, so by 9:30 we are starving. The others in my district have tons of food from home so they share, but it would be nice to have my own.

8. It sounds like we are allowed to make a phone call at the airport. Sorry I just realized I keep saying "we" This is because we are taught to alwasy refer to ourselves and our companions as one.

It's Tanner's turn to get a letter. I'll try to mail it sooner this time, so he won't be waiting still next Monday. I was able to talk to Dylan for a few minutes yesterday at dinner. I am hoping to talk to him again before he leaves next Monday. I have found Austin Braun many times, and found my roomate Ben Perry a couple of times. Be shure to tell me when Eric gets his call.

Speaking of leaving, I leave in two weeks! The time here at the MTC has been great, but I sometimes feel like Jacob; my time here has passed as it were to me a dream. I am called to wander in a strange land of Moose and hockey and bring a change into peolpes lives, and bring them the kind of joy that they have always searched for, but couldn't find. I have begun to gain a testimony of the scripture Amos 8: 11-12. There is truly a famine on the earth, not a famine of bread or of water, but a famine of the word of God. As in the days of Joseph of Egypt, we have great abundance stored up in Zion, and we must invite others to come and by bread without money.

I'm sorry, I started to get preachy again. Time for French.........aaaaannnddd I just deleted the little button to change the language on the keyboard somehow. I refuse to write in French without the accents, so sorry. I'm not too shure about what to write now. I have........wait I just found the language thingy again. French time.

Je vous aime, ma famille. Je retournerai àpres les deux ans de mon mission. Si vous gardez les commandaments de Dieu, et si vous me donnez beaucoup des nouriture (I think that is how that is spelled), vous auriez beaucoup des bénnedictions de Dieu. Avons mon mission, je n'ai pas compris le nature de cet ouvre, mais je commence que mieux connaître le nature de Jésus-Christ, et le grand significance de cette église. Ma temps a fini: Je termine avec mon temoignage. Je sais que Jésus-Chirs est notre Sauveur est redempteur. Je sais que Joseph Smith est un prophéte de Dieu, et il a revélé le Livre de Mormon. Je sais que le Livre de Mormon est vrai. Christ vie. Je l'aime, et il m'aime, et il aime tout le monde. Je dis ces choses au nom de Jésus-Christ, Amen.