Travel plans today!

4 August 2011

Familia and Amigos... HOLA!!!!

I just found out that we should be receiving our travel plans today, so I am SO excited!! I hear that they should come after dinner. I can't believe that I only have 2 more weeks left in the MTC. I am so excited to get to the field, but until then, I need to learn more!! But, anyway, I hope you are all doing well. It has been another great week here at the MTC and I have learned so much.

To start out on a funny note, in my district, there were a few pranks that happened. And one of which was on me. haha So...I received a card from my mom about how things were going on the home front and my extended family. I was so excited about what I read in the letter that I shared it with my companions. I told them how I have a cousin that just got engaged, another cousin that could be getting engaged, my other cousin is about to finish his mission, and my sister preparing
for her mission. Well, I was telling them the story in spanish, but I forgot how to say cousin. I thought it was "primo" but after asking my companion, he said "no, it's novio." Well, for those of you who speak spanish, you are probably laughing right now. Well, anyway, I told them about all of "novios" and as I was expressing my excitement, I noticed that my companions and district all were trying not to laugh. I thought they were just so happy for me. haha well, I realized what "novio" meant after my district leader asked me, so... how many "novios" do you have? So, I responded with oh, like 60. haha. And then I found out that "novios" means "boyfriends." WOW. seriously. haha But it was a good laugh for a while. And likewise, something happened like this to several other Elders in my district.

As a companionship this week, Elder Hansen suggested that we read scriptures together each night before bed. So we read scriptures for about 10 minutes and share our thoughts about them before bedtime. And that has improved our companionship and also our personal testimonies!

On Tuesday, Elder Lund (former member of the 2nd quorum of 70) spoke. He gave an AMAZING talk about faith. It was SO awesome. So I thought I would share a few things about it that I liked. "Faith is a process, not an event." To be successful in life we need to know how to exercise faith, how to learn by faith, and how to help others do the same. Then, he talked about how we need to hear the word and have a soft heart in order to have 1. desire/hope 2. Action 3. Witness/Confirmation. "The real test is if you will act on the hope you have within you or if you will demand proof first." I loved this talk. It strengthened me so much and I know that increasing our faith will build up our testimonies, bring us closer to Christ, and feel of his love. Oh and one other quote "We can't see the love of God...but we can feel it as we come to learn about the Savior and learn about how he suffered for each of us individually."

Well, back to a funny note really quick that just happened. So, I'm here typing and sitting next to me was an Elder facing the other direction that looked just like Elder Lee. So, I punched him and was like "ELDER LEE!!!" haha And well...it wasn't Elder Lee!! But he is in his district. But hey, apparently this Elder that looked like Elder Lee was falling asleep so I woke him up :) hahaha

This week, the MTC is now teaching a new curriculum. It started just yesterday so yesterday was a bit different. But I love the new curriculum. It's more focused on investigators and how to teach. And it came perfect timing because our fake investigator we have been teaching is getting baptized on Saturday! But...we will continue to teach our other fake investigator: DIANA. And wow, it has been a good experience.

Well, the background of her is that she has never been very religious and has recently been separated from her family because of bad choices. So.. tonight we are teaching her about the Atonement, which I am excited for. I think it will be a great lesson. I know that God truly loves us all so very much no matter what you have done. The Atonement is incredible and infinite. I hope you all know that.

Lastly, as a district, we realized how fast these last 2 weeks are going to fly by and so we just had like a 40 minute talk that we were going to work as hard as we can so that we can be as prepared as possible when we get to the mission field. I am so excited to get to the field and I am so grateful for an awesome district who always wants to work hard and obey the rules. I hope that we can all finish our MTC
experience on a good note by giving everything we have and obeying the rules!!

Overall, I love you all. Thank you so much for your love, your support, and your examples. This life is so important and it is so great...depending on your attitude. My companion gave a comment the other day that I love: "Faith is having a good attitude and trying to serve others while you yourself are going through a trial." It's so true. So... exercise faith amigos. This life is great. The Lord has
promised that he wont give us anything we can't handle. So, our trials are solely for the purpose to make us stronger. Are your trials making you stronger and closer to Christ? If not, how can you change that? Life is good. :) We all struggle, but that's why the Plan of Happiness is so great!! Have a great week.

Love,
Elder Vawdrey