42 Days in the MTC.....

Hey Friends and Family,

42 days in the MTC, 124 meals in the cafeteria, 6 pounds gained, 100 lessons taught, and countless amounts of fun times. I really have grown to love my time at the MTC.  As of Monday our district became the oldest one in the zone y we will be the big dogs for the next 3 weeks.  It hard to think that I’m going to be in the field in 3 weeks, y it’s kind of scary pero exciting at the same time.  It will be the real deal, with real people, y real situations.  We got a new batch of newbies this week y they are a pretty cool group of Elders.  It’s exciting to have them all come y ask me questions about Spanish o the gospel.  Having Landen Barr as a best friend over the last 6 years has deprived me of experiences where people are asking me about those 2 particular topics.  Next week we get new Elders as well y my district are hosts next week.  Everyone is excited to be able to show the nuevo missionaries around y I get to be one of the Elders that direct traffic.

Last P-day I had the oppertunidad to do sealings, which really just means I was able to be a witness o stand as a proxy for a child. Man is the spirit strong in the sealing room. Being a witness is probably one of my most favorito parts now of the temple. When he says "In front of God, Angels, and these Witnesses" I have rarely felt something that powerful. Temple marriage really is a "Forever", "Eternity", "Till the Ends of Time" thing. I’m so thankful to be sealed to my amazing family.

After the temple the Elders also hold a "Man Party" where we make stuff out of cardboard and other materials that we acquire or are sent to us. (It really is kind of like a stamping night where we talk all week about how great it is going to be y what we are making this week y then no one ends up showing up and it’s just me, my companion, and Elder franks) oh well. Last week we made some really cool scripture cases. I’ll send some pictures this week when my parents get my SD card back.

This week we started to learn a grammar principle preterit vs. imperfect tense and man is it difficult.  We spent 2 days with 4 different teachers teaching this one concept to the class.  It’s difficult because there are not 2 different tenses for the past in English but for some reason Spanish feels the need to have multiple tenses.

The zone has played a lot of soccer the last week and usually it is all the Elders going to Argentina and Paraguay vs. the State Side missions.  There are a few Elders who are actually pretty good on their team and the big game this week ended in a 6-6 tie.  Every time they scored they would chant "Argentina or Paraguay" and lift the person up and stuff.  Our team did the same but with "USA".  I’m glad I was the one that got to experience that 5 times out of the six. :)

We had Richard G. Scott come this week, which was an amazing experience, and he talked about the importance of having your life be guided by the Spirit always.  In between, of course, he threw in a bunch of references to not "Hanging out" like "Hanging out is Idleness in Flocks" and how right when we got off our missions we needed to find our eternal companion.  But that’s still forever away.  I got from the devotional that I can’t ever doubt myself.  Someone who holds the power of God (The Priesthood), the power that he used to make the universe, world, and all mankind, especially one who is set apart to preach his gospel, should never ever doubt himself. The possibilities are limitless with Faith.

We always have testimony meetings after the Tuesday night devotionals and I know I have probably said this before, but there are some truly powerful missionaries going to New Mexico.  In that meeting, with just 9 people, I have heard such strong testimonies from the Elders of the district.  It’s unbelievable.  We started to be investigators for each other and one of the newer districts and it’s so funny to pretend to be an investigator.  It’s a great learning experience at seeing what it is like to have someone teach you from a different point of view.

I had an opportunity yesterday to talk to an Elder from the new district about companionship problems he has been having.  The zone leaders came to me specifically because of the "Experience" I had in overcoming hardships with a companion.  It really was a neat experience to kind of review how Elder Bailey and I got past our problems with each other and stuff.  After the opening prayer that we said though, I don’t remember a single word I said, and we talked for an entire hour.  The spirit is a powerful thing and it’s a shame that I’m only now realizing how to use it in my teaching.  It would have saved me a lot of hardship and stuff if I would have learned this a few years ago.

Anyway, thanks everyone who wrote this week.

Cory- Man it’s so true. It is such an amazing feeling to always have someone guiding my actions and what I say when I need it.  But, yeah the DJing gigs sound like they would be a blast.  Is it very hard to DJ?  I mean I did it for 19 years, but it just came naturally from birth, but is it that hard to work? Ha-ha But I’m glad that you are choosing you girls wisely and that you recognize that a girl that does those kinds of things is not worth your time at all.  Yes it is important to help her with her problems and stuff, but I know you would never fall into that thing.  Just make sure you careful.  I wouldn’t want to have to come back and get you into shape ;).  Keep the dating pool open and live it up.  College can be a lot of fun, single (as long as you date the right girls).  Just have fun.  Thanks for your letters every week.  It’s always great to hear from my best bud.  I miss chilling with you man.  You’re a beast.  Until next week.

Jared Stewart - Hola, Como Esta?  I would write my whole letter in Spanish but I don’t know how to do the accents on here and I only have 30 mins.  Thanks for the letters little man, you are officially leading my class in best little brothers.  No one got 3 letters from their brother this week and they are all super jealous.  I’m glad you had a good birthday and I wish I was there.  I bet I would solve your puzzle box so quickly and get all your money muhahaha.  And the book!  AMAZING!  I bet Abby and Emily where super jealous of your awesome gift.  You will have to tell me how the book is.  I am sorry to inform you that I have no idea in the world what an "abacus" is, but it sounds pretty interesting.  Congrats on the Arrow of Light.  I got mine too, so that makes us, "....Arrow.... of... Light.... Brothers?"  Anyway, I’m super proud of your determination in Scouts.  Keep it up.  I want to come build robots too!  Lucky pants.  That sounds like a ton of fun and you MUST, MUST send pictures of your robot smashing people around. There is a great white shark at the aquarium?  Why did you not tell me earlier!  I want to see!  The movie X-Men is a good movie and it is so not fair that Mom let you watch it.  When I was your age, Mom still only let me watch movies like "Wonderpets" and "Arthur", so count your blessings.  I WANT TO SEE DALLIN PLAYING JUST DANCE.  Mom and Dad have my SD card there so take a video with the camera and send me a video of him playing just dance, that’s probably the most amazing thing I have ever heard.  Oh and with the Shark Bank.  Alright, well I don’t have any time left but when I send home a hand written letter, there might be more to say.  I love you man and I want you to read your scriptures every day.  Keep up the letter thing so that the rest of my class can stay jealous.