Oct. 26, 2014

It is crazy to think I will be leaving the MTC tomorrow.  The one thing I will not be missing is the food.  Whoever is crazy enough to say that this is great, is wrong! It just destroys my body's will to digest.

I leave for Albuquerque tomorrow at 3 am... I am really exited to get in the field - but not so much to wake up so early. I get to send this email now, because I do not not know when my next P day (prep. day) will be. I just want all of you to know how thankful I am that you emailed me.  It really means a lot to me!

I got to sing at the MTC choir last week for a General Authority. The coolest thing about doing the MTC choir is that the instructor has a vast knowledge of church history.   He talked about the faith of Lorenzo Snow, who baptized faithful investigators while getting pelted by rocks by a mob. He said, "If they have the faith to be baptized, I have the faith to do it." I highly recommend participating in the church choir, just for the learning experience.

Last week we we had Elder Carlos A. Goodoy speak to us from the First Quorum of the Seventy.  He spoke in Portuguese at the last General Conference. He gave a us a recipe for being a successful missionary, based off of the scripture ALMA 26:22. He said, first we must be worthy. He said a missionary can carry baggage his whole mission and it will greatly affect him - but he won't necessarily get sent home.  You may be able to hide it from your mission president or your companion, but never from God. Next, he said WORK HARD! because God won't bless us unless we get out there and find the people he has been preparing to hear the gospel. After that, we need to be worthy of the Spirit and be able to teach by the Spirit.  Because the Spirit confers truth unto our minds, JOHN 14:26. When others can sense that we have prepared, and have the Spirit with us all the time, they want to know why - and their hearts will be softened. Lastly we need to have an undoubting faith that God will do the rest; when we put forth ALL of our effort. I have noticed this so much - when I prepare and pray and study my scriptures, Heavenly Father always fills my mouth with what the investigator needs to know - Moses 6:32.  We can perform miracles if we put all of our trust in our Heavenly Father. We are just tools - so God can work through us to spread his gospel on the Earth. I really really enjoyed that talk.

The rest of the week just flew by.  We taught lessons- which were awesome -and the investigators  progressed well. The MTC has taught me to love a complete stranger - and my heart is full.
And I patched a tiny hole I made in my suit pants while doing a ninja kick. The MTC has helped me come so far -  but also to realize I have so so far to go. The longest day of my life was in Field Orientation. But I learned a lot through 9 hours of seminar....

I love my family - and this Gospel - and my friends.  And I know we will all see each other in eternity also. Happy Birthday to Lisa Mapel and Moroni Beal! And my sister, Jill Pedersen, this Friday. Love You!