Well it officially has been 1 month since I
entered the MTC! I feel like I have been in here for forever, but at the same
time, I feel like I just started. A lot
happens here in a week I feel like, but everyday still feels the same. So some
highlights of the week:
The oldest district left on Monday morning. It is
weird how you only know a group of people for a month and it's still sad saying
bye to them. That's going to be my
district in a week! We did get our travel plans! We leave at 4:30 am to the
airport and our plane leaves at 8:30, so expect a call from me then!!! Only 3
of us (including me) have our visas, but another one should be getting his this
week. The other two, one of which is my companion don't have theirs. My companion's passport got lost in the mail
somehow. He will probably get reassigned
so he is pretty bummed, but it'll be good either way.
So with our investigators, we taught Ivette Monday,
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Monday was interesting because I kind of just
sat there and just listened and thought. At the end I simply bore my testimony,
and you could really feel the Spirit in the lesson. Elder McCrory taught most
of the lesson. There are cameras in the room so our teachers can view us and
listen to us. It turns out that day my teacher Hermano Doblin was watching our
lessons while the other companionships were in their lessons. After our lesson
he pulled me aside and asked me what I was thinking. I told him that I was
really learning the importance of listening to our investigators and their
needs. Also that some things don't
necessarily always need to be heard to teach. It was a neat experience for me.
It was cool that my teacher picked up on what I was doing. He is such a good
teacher and seems to relate really well to me. We continued teaching Ivette
throughout the week with the Gospel of Jesus Christ about baptism and the Holy
Ghost. On Thursday we had our teacher
pretend to be a member with us. They
would start talking fast Spanish and I would get really lost haha. Then Friday
was our last day teaching her. We finished teaching lesson 3 (which is the
Gospel of Jesus Christ). It was a great last meeting. We encouraged her to
continue to meet with missionaries if she was a real investigator (we weren't
sure if she was real or not). Turns out she is a member and just got her
mission call last week. Her conversion story was real though. It was so cool to
talk to her for a little bit after and thank her for teaching us.
We have taught Samuel (our other teacher Hermano
Eaton) a few times. It's hard to make progress with him. Apparently Mexicans a
lot of the time forget what you teach them the previous lesson, so he is giving
us that same experience. He says he believes in The Book of Mormon, but I can't
tell if he just believes because we tell him or if he actually knows for
himself. Today we are planning to teach him about God's plan for him.
On Tuesday we taught on Skype. Elder McCrory and
I were trying to contact someone they assigned us with, but the person was in
Mexico and had a bad connection so they found someone else that one of my
teachers baptized on his mission. They are just member lessons, but it sure was
humbling. We couldn't understand most of what she said because of the bigger
words she would use. And worse, both of our teachers sat on each side of Elder
McCrory and me and would kind of laugh because our faces looked in shock since
we didn't know what to say. I am sure it was hilarious. It was fine though. The
lady we taught was so nice and loves missionaries. It was cool to teach through
a computer. We even say prayers together and read the scriptures
together.
Also on Tuesday we had Elder Cook of the Quorum
of the Twelve Apostles. It was a pretty good devotional. In his talk, he had
some really good points. He talked about where we are going, we are going to
build up branches and wards which is a cool thought. We are going to build up
the leadership and the members.
On Wednesday our district was assigned to host at
main campus. We went up and hosted all the new missionaries who were being
dropped off by their families. It was actually really sad because a lot of
families are driving up and in the front is the mother crying and everyone
getting teary eyed including all of the siblings. I hate goodbyes. How cool it
is though that we say goodbye to our families for 2 years to serve God and
build up his kingdom. While hosting I did see a kid that was in my ward at BYU.
I have seen 5 or so people from my ward and it's fun to say hi to them.
After
the temple we went to main campus for lunch. I grabbed my food and then just
heard this girl start squealing. I was kind of confused and then looked over
and it was Stephanie Smith from BYU!!! We
both almost started crying we were so happy. I sat down my food tray and we
both ran to each other, but we couldn't hug! It was so tempting not to hug, so we just
shook hands. We talked a bit but not very long. She leaves this Tuesday. She is
English speaking so she hasn't been here that long. So much fun to see
her! 
After class our district was all losing focus so
we decided to make boats and float them down the river we have around our
classroom. Some elders were getting into it and started cutting up their
laminated conjugation charts haha. We went the other day to the copy center
just to get blank lamination sheets for boats. Yup, just as Elder Jordan in my
district says, "this place really gets to ya".
Dad, your experience with Elder Bednar sounds
amazing! That is so cool you got to talk to him. The temple trip sounds great
too!
Hopefully you got the boat out today! Congrats to
Aaron in finishing school and for his sports awards! It looks like Tyler's
family had fun at Myrtle Beach. I bet that was good to take a break from
school!
Congrats to Cam and Kelsey! I am so happy for
them!
Good luck with your talk tomorrow Mom! Just be glad it's not in Spanish! Every week
we may get randomly chosen to give a talk in Spanish in church, so every week
we prepare a talk to give depending on the subject (tomorrow is baptism).
Happy Father's Day Dad! You are awesome! I sent
something in the mail yesterday so it should be there soon. Love you!
Thanks for all the letters everyone! I will write
you back! Just got to find the time :P Love you all!
-Elder Thomas
P.S. Mom, probably cinnamon rolls :)
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