Change Continues to Happen!

Hey Fam!

Tuesday (continued)...After the devotional, we talked about it with our Branch President (Pres.Tyler).  He's a great man, full of knowledge.  He knows the scriptures inside and out.  One of my favorite things he said was that the definition of humble is "to recognize our dependence on the Lord".  I'm putting more and more dependence on the Lord in my everyday life here at the MTC. 

On Wednesday I had class starting at 7:30am.  I'll just outline how the class works...EVERYTHING is in Spanish, the hymns, prayers, teaching, EVERYTHING.  First, we open with an opening hymn. Then we pray, all kneeling down.  After that, we usually pick a few verbs we are going to talk about that day.  For example: Poner, Deber, Necesitar, Tener etc. Our teacher, Hermano Johnston, teaches us when and where to use these verbs and then we create sentences with these verbs in them to practice.  Then, after that we usually talk about a few fundamentals of teaching and go into that.  An example of a fundamental would be "Teach people, not lessons."  A lot of times we watch videos about missionaries teaching investigators which are our examples of how we should teach.  After that, Hermano Johnston helps us out individually with what we feel like we need to work on.  For classes in the evening, we usually teach our investigoator (new investigator in my new District is Edwin).  Also, don't get confused.  These investigators are really teachers at the MTC posing as investigators, just to clarify....Wednesday afternoon, the new missionaries came in to the MTC.  It's great to tell all of them "Welcome to the MTC!" like they told me when I was new (you have an orange dot on your nametag if you're new).  I saw Pierce at dinner on Wednesday.  It was good to catch up with him.  After dinner I had to apply for a new Passport.  It all went smoothly.  Should come in the mail in a little while.  Wednesday during class, Elder Nelson and I taught Edwin for the first time.  He's a 20 yr. old from Mexico.  My comp and I restarted with Edwin and teaching the Restoration of the Church again.  The first lesson went so well and my comp and I were so engaged in the lesson that we lost track of time and went over 30 minutes! Edwin had to stop us and say that he had to go and we would continue with him Thursday.

Thursday there wasn't a whole lot of action in the morning, but Thursday night was incredible.  My comp and I taught Edwin for the second time.  In this lesson we talked a lot about Joseph Smith and his story.  When it was time to share the First Vision experience Joseph had, I recited from memory the First Vision in Spanish found in Jose Smith Historia 1:16-17..."Vi una columna de luz, directamente arriba de mi cabeza; esta luz gradualmente descendio hasta descansar sobre mi; Al reposar sobre mi la luz, vi en el aire, arriba de mi, a dos personajes, cuyo fulgor y gloria no admiten descripcion.  Uno de ellos me hablo, llamandome por mi nombre y dijo, senalando al otro, "Este es mi hijo amado Escuchalo!"  I couldn't help but to tear up as I was reciting from memory the First Vision.  It was such an incredible experience for me that I will never forget.  The Spirit was so strong in the room.  I KNOW Edwin felt the Spirit. I didn't even mess up one time! I definately had some help from the Lord recalling that from my memory.  After I recited that from memory, we both testified to Edwin that we know Joseph Smith was a true prophet.  We ended our lesson by asking Edwin to pray.  He did, and his prayer was incredible.  I can't wait to teach him again on Monday.

This morning, (Friday), my comp and I woke up early to attend the temple.  We got there about 650am and attended the 7:15am session.  I saw my old investigator Efrain there! His real name is Hermano Black.  He said it was good to see me and that he was impressed with my Spanish.  I said I'd moved up to Intermediate Spanish and he said, "Ya that was a good idea."  It was a great temple session and I'm glad I went.

Basketball is a lot of fun in the MTC.  Competition, unfortunately, isn't good.  Only lost one game since I've been at the MTC!

My new building I live in is the Pratt Building.  I live in room 341.  Lots of stairs to get to my room, but that's ok.  My comp Elder Nelson can't go to Chile anymore.  He can't be sent his meds because Chile would confiscate them.  He's being reassigned next Wednesday and is really bummed about it.  Apparently the Lord wants him in a different place.  So, that means a new companion for me!

I want to recite the missionary purpose in Spanish to you guys. Here it goes..."Invitar a las personas a venir a Cristo al Ayudarlas a que reciben el Evangelico restaurado mediante la fe en JesuCristo y su explacion el arrepentamiento, el bautismo, la recepcion del don del espiritu Santo, y el perseverar hasta el fin."

Some more Spanish words I've learned this week: 1.  Padre Celestial: Heavenly Father  2.  Don de lenguas: Gift of tongues  3.  God sent us to earth to learn and grow:  Dios nos envio a la tierra para aprender y progresar  4.  Bone: hueso  5.  the cross: la cruz  (I'll put 5 words or phrases per letter)

I'm getting all of the letters and packages everyone's sending me.  It's great to hear from everyone!!! Keep sending letters cuz I love getting them. Everyone is in awe in my District because of all the letters I get.  Half the letters are for me everyday:) Well, I love you all so much!  And love getting all your letters everyday! Keep sending!

(I want to bear you my testimony)....Quiero compartir mi testimonio con Ustedes....Yo testifico que, en realidad, Dios y Jesucristo aparecieron a Jose Smith para decirle que no hay una inglesia en la tierra que tiene toda la verdad.  Yo se que Jose Smith restauro la inglesia de Jesucristo en los ultimos dias.  Tambien yo se que Jose Smith tradujo el Libro de Mormon y es la Palabra de Dios.  Estoy muy agradecido para la oprotunidad para estar en el MTC y aprender como ensenar mas mejor como puedo invitar muchas personas a venir a Cristo.  Y si trabajo duro, Dios va a poner personas en mi camino como puedo ensenarles.  No hay un otro camino para regresar y vivir con Nuestro Padre Eterno y Jesucristo.  Digo estas cosas en el nombre de Jesucristo, Nuesrto Redentor y Salvador, Amen.