Second week in the MTC
Tuesday:
First P- Day! We went to the temple today, and the spirit was super strong. It also just mostly makes me appreciate the beauty of our world. Lots of beauty on this here earth. The email/internet server stopped working half way through so we got to email a little bit more later. Neil L. Anderson came and gave Tuesday night devotional and it was great. He talked about a lot of things but one of the things I liked the most was "open your mouth no matter what. You will be blessed."
Wednesday:
Today wasn't too great. There are a lot of kids here in the MTC who are like unassigned MTC police. They enforce rules that don't even exist and it drives me crazy. Elder Roderick got a package from his mom and it contained TWO loafs of bread AND A TOASTER. So we've been having some delicious toast pretty much every day since. You know we got that Nutella. I saw Elder Melville at dinner. He's a great guy and he's doing well. He's been in here a while and was talking about how crazy being here is making him. I agreed but he was like "You dont understand... Watch me." and he just gripped his country fried steak and started squishing it. I was laughing pretty hard. It rained a little today and that was nice.
Thursday:
We cleaned the stairwell today in the main building, top to bottom. The church saves like a million dollars each year just making the Missionaries in here do service I guess. We had an asiago bagel for breakfast--toasted.
Friday:
Remember how I told you about the MTC police? Well they were all out today and they found Elder Rod and me. I was told to shave and he had to remove a bracelet he's been wearing for three (!) years (the tan line underneath is gnarly). Our investigator Mika became our teacher today (he was LDS the whole time?? (just kidding, we knew this day one)). He's a really good teacher though, but he actually moves for Vegas soon so we wont have him much longer. Dang.
Saturday:
The way you last in the MTC is just by taking it day by day. Just one day at a time. There's getting less to write about already. There teachers here can be frustrating, but the key is just going out of your way and loving them despite it. And writing letters to loved ones.
Sunday:
Finally a break. Sunday is truly a day of rest in the MTC. The topic in Church today was "Enduring to the End." After church, in priesthood, President Price (the President of my Spanish speaking district/branch) came in to our small class AGAIN. This was pretty lucky because he is an amazing man and there are like 6 priesthood classes in our branch alone. He converted when he was 19 and served a mission very soon after. He talked about having a "perfect brightness of hope" which is a very important Christlike attribute. I truly believe in the power of hope. "Sometimes you need to have a little faith before the hope can come."
We watched a talk for Sunday movie night. Elder Bednar "Character of Christ." It is my new favorite talk of all time. Elder Bednar is an amazing speaker. This talk focuses on what it means to turn away from man kind and to turn to Christ. He also impersonates the Cookie Monster which is pretty funny. One great quote, though I highly recommend the whole thing: "It comes a little day by day."
Monday:
I finally go to run today! Elder Schelly and I (he hails from SoCal) ran around the track this morning. Ten laps is a mile, so I have literally no idea how many laps I ran. I stopped keeping track after 3. We had a new investigator today! We taught this lady named Maribel. She comes from Mexico and although her story is real, she is already LDS. It's ok though, that's what we prefer. She was the biggest sweetheart and we taught a 45 minute lesson on the restoration. I had the biggest smile at the end.
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Anyway, here's a scripture of the week! This one talks about Ammon which is always great. "The light had infused such joy into his soul." I truly testify that the light of the gospel has the magnitude of power described in the scripture. It will set your soul on fire!
Alma 19:6
"Now, this was what Ammon desired, for he knew that king Lamoni was under the power of God; he knew that the dark veil of unbelief was being cast away from his mind, and the light which did light up his mind, which was the light of the glory of God, which was a marvelous light of his goodness—yea, this light had infused such joy into his soul, the cloud of darkness having been dispelled, and that the light of everlasting life was lit up in his soul, yea, he knew that this had overcome his natural frame, and he was carried away in God—"
