Planting Seeds

Honestly not much has happened this week.  I am honestly ready to get to the field and to be able to move around more and meet new people and have new experiences.  But our district did harvest apple seeds from an apple in the cafeteria and we are growing it in our dorm.  We have had a lot of class and so much more Spanish that I have learned.  I cannot believe that I have been out almost a month.  Time is going by so fast.  One thing that I have learned is that you can accomplish anything you put your mind to.  We also had a member TRC lesson and I will just say I'm very grateful for members that can speak fluent Spanish.  Our person of interest asked many questions about the restoration of the priesthood and the resurrection that were hard to answer in English.  I had no idea how to answer in Spanish so the member helped us a lot on that lesson.   I had the opportunity to play the piano in sacrament meeting and be the accompanist.  It was kind of weird playing out of the English hymn book and being used to hearing it sung in English when the congregation was singing in Spanish but it was a lot of fun.  Practicing in seminary really helps!!  It was strange not doing anything on Pioneer Day.  It seems like all the past years I have always been backpacking or running a race and going to fireworks.  It did not feel like the 24th to me yesterday.  But we did have a devotional by someone in the seventy that talked about obedience and the importance of it.

This is our district with one of our teachers.

Our arbol manzana

Halfway Point at the MTC!

What do you call a sea full of noodles?

-Apostasy

Can't believe I'm already over half way done with the MTC.  It seems like time has gone by so fast.  The language is coming along and every day it gets easier to talk in Spanish.  

Sunday is the best day at the MTC. During sacrament meeting we ran out of water during the sacrament!  There were only 4 people who still needed the sacrament the blessers and the passers.  So in the middle of the meeting the sacrament coordinators got up and got more water while everyone sat in the congregation and waited patiently and quietly.  After they had got more water they said another blessing for the 4 cups.  I don't know why this stood out to me so much.  It may be because it showed me that the most important thing we do on Sunday is partake of the sacrament and that everyone deserves the same opportunity to partake.  I know that the sacrament is very important and one of the most sacred ordinances we can participate in on a weekly basis.  I would encourage ya'll to never take it for granted and to pay attention and have a respect for Christ's sacrifice.  The sacrifice of the atonement is something we should all be super grateful for, have respect for, and understanding for, and most importantly we should use the gift of the atonement to become clean so we can dwell with God in the life to come.

M. Russell Ballard the president of the quorum of the twelve apostles came and spake with us Tuesday night for the devotional!  He spoke about Joseph and Hyrum's martyrdom.  The spirit was as strong in that meeting as I have felt the spirit in the temple.  There is no doubt that these men are called of God and speak directly for Him.  One thing he said that was really interesting was that Hyrum did not have to go to Carthage. Another opportunity came to him and he could have gone to Cincinnati but he chose to go with Joseph.  I can not imagine how hard of a sacrifice it would have been to leave their families knowing that they would never see them in this life again.  It humbles me and makes me think that 2 years isn't a very long time.

The Winter twins and Aidan Troutner are here in the MTC.  I only have gotten a picture with Elder Zach Winter.  He is going to Washington DC north mission Spanish speaking.  Elder Troutner is going to Canda speaking Mandarin.  I can't remember exactly where Elder Bronson Winter is going but he is going Spanish speaking.

Elder Zach Winter (lots of speedy runners at the MTC right now)

McAllen Texas Crew!

Here is a picture of one of my favorite places to sit and study! 

Found Elder Sheffield!  He leaves for Brazil in a few days.

Found Elder Zortman!!! He was my roommate at EFY that was from Michigan.  I lost contact with him a while ago and it was amazing to see him again.  I was standing in line for dinner and I look over and he is right next to me!!

  

Carta De La Semana

Hola familia y amigos!  I can't believe it is already P day again.  It seems like time is passing so fast!  I can't believe how much Spanish I have learned in such little time.  On Wednesday we got the opportunity to watch stadium of fire.  We were able to watch the flyovers and the fireworks and we had permission to stay up later that night.  Although it did make it hard to get up the next morning for our service project.  For our service project we vacuumed the hallways in the classroom building.   On Monday We had our first TRC lesson.  This is when we are required to teach a lesson to a person of interest. (They have changed Preach My Gospel a bunch and one of the things they changed was getting ride of the term investigator.)  The person may be a volunteer or a real person of interest we have no idea.  The lesson has to be in complete Spanish.  We had to teach for 45 minutes!  I had no idea how we were supposed to even say that much Spanish.  But some how we did it.  Our person of interest's name is Ana.  She is from Columbia and is also a grandma.  We asked her about her family and she showed us pictures of her children and grand kids!!  We taught her that families can be together forever and about living day prophets.  The gift of tongues is very real.  If it wasn't there is no way I would have been able to teach her for that long.

Tie trade night!  Here are the ties that I traded for.

They have a bunch of random shirts in the store for 2 dollars so we all got matching ones and wore them to gym.  We call ourselves the Somalia Pirates.

Another picture of our room only this time Elder Douglas is on the crutches.  Behind us is one of the many beautiful pieces of artwork that are here.

Another picture of one of the paintings.  They're super cool to walk around and see and the detail and complexity of them is crazy!

Chiste del dia: What kind of seafood is 100% chicken? -MTC food

First Week!

It's been a good first week at the MTC! My companion is Elder Johnson and we are rooming with Elder Clark and Elder Douglas.  All four of us are headed to McAllen Texas on August 6th!!  Elder Johnson is from Lindon, Elder Douglas is from Riverton and completed a year of college at Utah Valley University.  Elder Clark is from Delta.  There are also two sisters in our district that that are also headed to McAllen Texas.  The second day we were here we had a meeting with our branch president and they called me to be the district leader.  I still have no idea what I'm doing but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.  We are learning Spanish very quickly here. It's amazing how much we have learned in only one week.  I already know how to pray, bear my testimony, share a scripture, and how to invite others to do challenges.  I have learned more Spanish in one week then I learned in two years of schooling.  In Spanish a joke is called a chiste.  Every day we have been here we have had a chiste of the day.  The best one from this week was;  why did the Lamanities always have sore legs?   -because of the Knee-fights.