Finally...I'm in the Field!

Well, I'm finally in the field. My companion's name is Elder Pearl. He's from South Africa. Before he came on his mission he was a High school teacher, he's 27. He's a pretty good companion. He was originally english speaking and had to learn Spanish out in the field. He speaks Dutch too. He's got the type of humor that most British influenced people have. Yesterday, the first day, We went to temple square and learned how to use that as a tool with our converts. I'm in an area called West Valley. I'm living in a member's home in the basement. They don't really talk to us that much, but it's a decent living place. After we got settled in we went and visited with a person that was supposed to be baptized he's 10, and both his parents are members but went inactive... I think. I'm not really sure. I'm able to follow some Spanish but not everything. Anyways after that we had a meeting with our branch mission leader. I didn't get too much out of it. But I couldn't really talk, because I lost my voice. It's a little better now but it's still a little messed up. After we met with them we went and tracted a little bit. First person we talked to was smoking a cigarette on his porch and grew up in SLC. He accepted the book of Mormon and an appointment for Friday. We also tracted into a Latino guy who accepted the Book of Mormon and said he'd let us come teach him and his family and would think about being baptized. We also gave a LDM to a kid who was interested in what we were doing. And was interested in the church. Then, we talked to this lady who has members in her family and been around the church but didn't feel it was for her. And she said she was willing to hear what we had to say. So we got about 4 appointments in about an hours work. The week before I got here they had 82 baptisms. The President said this isn't a seed planiting mission it's a baptizing mission. And they said to expect a baptism this weekend. They had something like 176 last month. It's crazy how fast the missionary work is going here. This morning I woke up at 5 and we went to the English Elders apartment and then went to the Temple with a member. It was a way neat experience going through the Salt Lake Temple. My companion said we're going every week which is good. Our p-days are usually on wedneday by the way. But and then today we went grocery shopping bought some stuff, went to get a copy of the key to the house and while we were leaving a member came up to us and gave us some money for lunch. So us 4, Elder Moors, Beck, Pearl, and I went to Cafe Rio. It was good.

First Talk in Spanish

Last Sunday I got called on to give a talk in Sacrament meeting in Spanish. The talk I prepared wasn't the best, but I made it through it. I had a good experience with it th ough. Usually I go into Sacrament meetings nervous because I didn't know who they would call and thought they might call on me everyweek. But this week, I felt calm and relaxed. So I kinda knew it was going to happen but it's all good. So that was a pretty good. We taught the Second lesson in the TRC this week along with the Word of Wisdom. I had more fun with it this week because I wasn't as focused on what I was going to say, but used what I know to answer questions and explain. I didn't have to worry about a written out script i had. Oh and I got my travel plans yesterday. I leave the 29th at 6 in the morning. It's kind of crazy. our teachers are starting to focus more on what we'll be doing out in the field(area book, planning to investigators needs, etc.) and not as much about how to teach general lessons and stuff they focused on before.I'm getting more and more excited, but at the same time I'm getting nervous. Knowing that i'll be in a latino's home in 2 weeks teaching them is a scary thought. It'll be fun though. We finally get to play basketball at the MTC. We played the first day i was here then they stopped because of swine flu, and two days ago they finally allowed us to play 3 on 3. It was a long time without playing real basketball.

Brother Steuer talked to us on Tuesday. Hmm and Spanish is coming along pretty well. I can't think of anything else to say so I'll end by bearing my testimony in Spanish. Sorry for not putting the accents on some of the letters.

Yo se que la iglesia de Jesucristo es verdadera, y que ha sido restaurado en el mundo hoy. Tambien se que tenemos un profeta vivienda en nuestro mundo, se llama Thomas S. Monson. Yo se que Jose Smith fue un profeta verdadero, y que por medio la Espiritu traduccio El Libro de Mormon. Yo se que por medio el evangellio de Jesucristo es posible para nosotros a vivir con nuestras familias por eternidad. Tambien se que cuando seguimos los mandamientos de Dios recibiramos bendiciones. Y yo se que Jesucristo es nuestra salvador y redentor. Y que Dios envio Jesucristo a la tierra para expiar los pecados de nosotoros. Y cuando el fue en la gardin de Gethsemane vio la caras de todos personas en el mundo. Y se que Dios nos ama. Y contesta nuestras oraciones. Digo estas cosas en el nombre de Jesucristo. Amen.

4th of July

Well, nothing really new or exciting to talk about. I heard the Jonas Brothers on 4th of July, they were playing at the Stadium of Fire. We got to watch the fireworks to. So 4th of July wasn't too bad. Brother Abrea talked to us on Tuesday. He gave a good talk. Tuesday I taught the first lesson in Spanish for the second time and I did alright. My companion doesn't think i speak good enough spanish or something, so he felt the need to repeat what I taught, teach his section, then take my next section. Which was kind of annoying. I'm ready to get out in the field, and out of the MTC. Only 3 more weeks. Well I guess that's about it. Here's a few fun pictures of what we do to chill...

A Joke for You

Que pasa? Tengo un chiste para ustedes. (I have a joke for y'all). Que es la diferencia entre una pera y una novia de un misionero? (What's the difference between a pear and a missionary's girlfriend?)(Answer at the end)

This past week has been crazy. The schedule got all mixed up because of the Mission President's training. But Friday night we had a devotional by Jeffrey R. Holland. And it was amazing. There were 7 apostles there. L Tom Perry, D. Todd Christopherson, Quentin L. Cook, Jeffrey R. Holland, David A. Bednar, Dallin H. Oaks, and Neil A. Anderson. He talked to us about the importance of Spirit while we teach investigators. And then last night we had Gerald N. Lund from the 2nd quorum of the 70 come and talk to us. He talked to us about what to do and not to do when we're out of the MTC. After hearing that talk I cannot wait to get out of here. I'm pumped to go teach real people. Speaking of teaching, I taught the first lesson in Spanish yesterday. We made it last over 30 minutes which is pretty crazy. 1 month ago there's no way that I'd be able to say all that. Next week, I teach the other half of the first lesson. So we'll have to see how that turns out. Anyways, it's crazy I've been in here for 5 weeks already. Only 4 more. Sam.. Elder Johnson has the same meal period as me so I see him pretty much every meal. Almost half of our zone left for Argentina this week so it's really quiet now, and a lot of the people we talked to our gone. and the nuevos are really quiet and don't talk to us much.. So it's pretty much 3 districts that talk.

Repueste de chiste: Una pera es pera, pero una novia de un misionero no espera! (a pear is pear, but a missionary's girlfriend doesn't wait) (it's a pun... that only works in spanish. So if you tell it, do it in spanish.)

No Technology Withdrawals

It's wierd that I'm not going through any technology withdrawls. I haven't even really thought about technology or any of that stuff. I didn't find out until yesterday that Transformers 2 is coming out. It's kind of cool how I'm left out of knowing all that. I like it. The only thing that takes us back to technolgy is when we do the language program on the computer and quote movies/t.v. shows, "Babylon" stuff. Oh and we sing Taylor Swift a lot. "Love Story" it's a great song.

There's a lot of excitement around the MTC today because the Mission presidents are coming for training and so a lot of the Apostles and First Presidency are going to be here. My teacher's mom cooked for Elder Oaks when he was in Chile a few days ago and said that he'd find him when he came to the MTC this week. So Elder Oaks might come to our class which would be pretty cool. I taught the 2nd lesson in the TRC yesterday and the Spirit was so strong. At the beginning of the lesson the guy said he read and prayed about the LDM and thought he knew it was true. So at the end after I taught about the Atonement (we only got 1/2 way through the lesson in 30 minutes, there's a lot of stuff in it) I said he knew it was true and received a witness that it was. Then committed him. It felt good, but would have felt better if he was a real investigator.

Simple and Powerful Hymns

Well, this past week has been amazing. I've felt the Spirit so strong. We teach lessons to fake investigators in the TRC and The Spirit was amazing when I retold the First Vision. I had it memorized in english, but I forgot it because I memorized it in Spanish. So we gave an english lesson, but parts of it in Spanish. It went really well though.

On Sunday we had a fireside, I don't remember who gave it but he had a position in the MTC. But before every fireside and devotional we sing 3 prelude songs, and then an opening hymn. And while we were singing the prelude songs it hit me how powerful hymns are, and I've gained a love for them. But every now and then we'll sing songs from the childrens hymn book. I think these songs are even more powerful than the ones from the hymn book. The lyrics to the children's songs are so simple, but powerful.

In class on Monday or Tuesday our teacher, Brother Penailillo, gave an awesome lesson. He was relating the Lion King to repentence. And how Scar gets him to run away from his life after Simba's dad dies, and he lives the Hakuna Matata life (Eat Drink and Be Merry). And Rafiki is like a bishop or prophet who tells him what he needs to do to get back. I think the most powerful part though is when Simba sees his dad in the clouds and Maufasa says "you've forgotten who I am" and Simba replies with "no I haven't" and Maufasa states "You've forgotten me, because you have forgotten who you are." That statement is very true with our Heavenly Father. As we stop doing the things we know are right, we get farther away from him. I think y'all should try watching the movie with this in mind.

One of my teachers got the flu, and then the person subbing for him got the swine flu, and a few people in our zone have the flu. But I'm still going strong. AND THEN, last night we had a devotional from Elder Bednar. He gave a great talk. It was about not worrying about a profound prompting from the Spirit to act, but to "be a good boy" and as you do the things that are right you'll be guided. He told a story about his General Conference talk. He had one prepared but 2 days before it was due for translation he woke up at 4 a.m. and wrote a new talk that he gave in confrence. All he knew is that he was talking after Elder Oaks and before Brother Stevenson. Oaks talked about serving others in temples, Bednar talked about Blessings of temples, and Stevenson talked about Temples in homes. And Monson closed telling everyone to go to the Temple. They all felt inspired to talk about temples which i think is amazing. Oh, and I went to the temple today and the I felt the Spirit so strong as I was a proxie for sealings. It was goood knowing the joy I could bring the people I was doing the work for.

Swine Flu Lockdown

Things are pretty crazy here at the MTC. They've pretty much quarantined the MTC because of the flu and swine flu. They aren't letting any missionaries leave on their missions, so their departure dates were pushed back. The nuevos (new people) coming in couldn't have their family come in with them, they only had a curbside drop off. The church made a press release about it. There's like 3 people with swine flu and 17 with normal flu. But someone in our zone got swine flu so it might be up to 4 now. I don't know. Other than that the MTC is pretty good. The first few days were really long and not fun. But Saturday we had our first gym and since then things have been going faster. I'm starting to learn Spanish. I can already introduce myself as a missionary, get to know the person, tell them I have a message about Christ, and bear my testimony. I still got a lot to learn though, so it's pretty intimidating.

My companion is alright. He knows a lot about the gospel and Spanish. My district also helps me a lot. We're all pretty close, so that's cool. One kid from Austin, Elder Morris, reminds me of Brad McLea. And Elder Hiatt reminds me of Robert Foran. It's weird. We found a stuffed animal dog in our room, so Elder Hiatt, Elder Watkins, Elder Morris and I took it in and gave it a name. We named her Lavender because she has a purple flower in her mouth. I feel like I have so much to write. My zone is great we're all close.

We have some people who were supposed to leave two weeks ago but have had visa problems and so they've been here for 10 weeks. I worked the Referrel Center for the first time a few days ago. I called people who ordered stuff from the church. One person I called was from Brooklyn, and was real mad that I called because he told the last person not to call back. But the best response someone got was Elder Watkins called a guy and he said "DON'T CALL ME. I DON'T WANT YA AND I DON'T NEED YA!" There was some success though. Elder Hiatt talked to a lady for like 45 minutes. The next day we did chats and I talked to a guy for 20 minutes, but I had to go eat so I had to transfer him. He seemed like he was pretty interested though.

Yesterday we had a devotional from Brother Gonzalez of the Quorum of the 70. He gave a great talk about how to be a better missionary. We also taught our first lesson in the TRC yesterday. The spirit was sooo strong while we were teaching. Our maestra (teacher) would go room to room seeing how everybody was doing, and she said ours was near perfect and that the spirit was very strong. It was a good experience. It's nice being able to have time for personal study everyday. I've been learning a lot, and it's so awesome seeing so many people here who are willing to sacrifice 2 years of their lives. Our Branch presidency is really good too. One of the counselors, Brother Priest, knows so much about the Gospel I try to absorb everything he says. I'm running out of time though so I gotta go.