Well this is my last Preparation day (P-day) at
the MTC! I have no idea how the time has gone by so quickly. I've learned so
much, but I am sure when I get to Mexico, I will feel so unprepared. I just
have to put my trust in God and hope that I make it through the next few
months. My Spanish is slowly coming. Before I knew all this stuff, there was a
lot of grammatical errors that I didn't know. Now I know everything I don't
know and it's hard to keep everything straight in my head. We sometimes sing
Christmas hymns and I told my district that hopefully by this Christmas we will
all be fluent.
Here at the MTC we have been having our final
days. This past Sunday was Father's Day and I wanted to call you Dad and
talk! Fortunately for me, I was one of
the lucky ones during Sacrament meeting to be randomly called up on the spot to
give a talk in Spanish. This week's topic was baptism, but I tried to throw
some things in about fathers :) People said my Spanish seemed to be good, but
they weren't really sure because they couldn't really understand Spanish
themselves so...haha. How'd your talk go mom?
Later that night we had Sheri Dew come talk to
us. It was really good. She talked about having grace of Christ and how it can
influence our lives. I went up to her after and asked if she knew Nana and she
said that she was really good friends with her and they travel often. It's
really fun finding people you know or connections with others. While here I
have seen I think at least 15 people from my ward at BYU or people I've met. It
is so fun running into people. I even saw my roommate David Asay this past
week.
We haven't taught as much this week. We finished
with our TRC investigator. They were people they hire (or maybe volunteer, I am
not sure) to pretend to be investigators. Some people are actually
investigators though. On Tuesday we had to teach again over Skype. Elder Olvera
was in Vegas getting his visa, so his companion Elder Huber joined us. We
prepared really well for the lesson and then went in and it wasn't our best
lesson... I've found most times I prepare for a lesson it always goes a
different direction. We eventually got through it. I've been having a hard time
just getting to know people and then relating the Gospel to their life. I hope
it comes as I learn the language more and practice in Spanish. We also taught
Hermano Eaton who was Samuel. We taught him Saturday and then on Wednesday. We
found out that he had a wife and daughter that left him and he wanted to change
for himself and for him. We got him to read the Book of Mormon and set a date
for baptism. Wednesday wasn't as great because every time we would teach him,
he would never remember what we taught him the time before. Since it was our
last time teaching, afterwards, Hermano Eaton told us about Samuel's
background. Samuel is someone Hermano Eaton taught on his mission. His family
is really broken. He is 18 with a wife and little three month year old girl. He has some
sketchy details. Hermano Eaton also said that his attention span was so small
and he would forget everything. He only gave us 10% of what he actually is.
It's crazy that these are going to be similar to some of the people I teach. We
also have taught each other in our district and our teachers without any role
playing.
On Tuesday we had Elder Ballard come and talk to
us. He talked about staying focused and avoiding the "noise" of the
world. We sang "Consider the Lilies" for the choir piece which was
really nice.
We went to main campus for all of Thursday for
in-field orientation. They pretty much taught us the importance of being
involved in the wards and getting everyone involved in missionary work. We read
this story of this sister missionary serving out in the Cambridge ward in
Massachusetts and she flipped the entire view of missionary work in the ward. I
hope I can do the same in Mexico! We also saw a video of the growth of the
Church since the Restoration. It's amazing how even in the past 40 years the
Church has exploded. Wahoo! It's time to contribute! :D
Today was muy bueno! I may or may not of told
Dallin when I would be at the temple today. I completely forgot I wrote him
that until we were riding the bus up to the temple. I walked up and sure enough
he was there. I wasn't expecting him to, but he came in and did sealing with
me! In case he is married when I am gone, at least I got to be in a sealing
with him now...Everyone in the temple thought he was a missionary as well and
it was awkward when we were like "I'm a missionary, and yes, he's my
brother" haha. I told him to pick up those shoes to return at 12:30 at the
Wyview creamery so I met him there and gave him those and a cinnamon roll
(thanks for those Mom! They were delicious!). He wanted me to practice
contacting him and then snapchatted me sharing a piece of my testimony. Oh
Dallin... When he called you, Mom and Dad, he put you on speaker phone. You
were talking about getting ready to go boating... I was trying so hard not to
say something because I would feel guilty talking to you. It was fun hearing
your voices though :) It was SO fun
seeing Dallin, but I'm going to miss him. :(
Anyway, that's my week! Thanks Tyler and Whitney
for your letters! I'll try to write back before tomorrow and get those sent
before I leave for Mexico (or if I have time to email you today). Oh yeah... I
am leaving for Mexico on Monday! CrAzY! I am enjoying my last few nice showers,
cold milk, and clean water. My companion and one other elder in my district are
reassigned to Salt Lake City East because they never got their visas. They seem
to be okay with it though which is good. We leave here at 4:30 AM and our
flight is at like 8:30. I have no idea what the deal is with calling you. I
think we get to, but I am not sure when.
Boating with Stokers sounds fun. Their picture is
here at the MTC in the mission presidents case haha. Congrats on painting the
deck! That is such a chore, but I am sure it looks great. Aaron, you crack me
up. I saw your snapchat to dallin of your pole vaulting accident haha. Glad to
hear you all are well. I love you all! Next time you get an email from me is in
Mexico! Miss you!
Love,
Elder Tanner Thomas
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