Wednesday, January 29, 2014

January 25th 2014

This week has flown by so fast! Ever since Sunday the speed at which the time goes by increases everyday and I can't believe I've been in the MTC for a week and a half! This week has been super fun and crazy. 

Let me give you a quick rundown of y District:
Elder Penaia Teo: He is from Samoa. He likes to play sports such as rugby, volleyball, and basketball and this is his first time in America. He is also my companion!
Elder Elder Jacobson: He is from Dallas Texas and played/started on the Texas Tec. Football team as a Safety. He played in a bunch of games last year including Arizona and Arizona State.
Elder Udall: He is Elder Jacobson's companion and is from Mesa Arizona. He is also a big sports nut and graduated early from high school to go on a mission. He has a twin brother that is also on a mission
Elder Christensen: He was raised in Idaho but now lives in Alaska. He does some cool things like help run his family's fishing boat, hunting animals such as moose and bears, and roping in competitions.
Elder Anderson: He is Elder Christensen's companion and is from a tiny country town in Colorado. He went to BYU for 2 semesters and played football there. He also has a twin brother on a Mission

So this week was a bad week for Elder Jacobson. He was sick all week from a nasal infection and was in bed most of the time on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Good thing is that he is back to his normal self and hopefully no one else in our district will get sick. Thursday morning we, as a district, gave him a priesthood blessing, which was really cool and I also think it sped up his recovery.

Tuesday was really awsome because we had a devotional from Bishop Gerald Causse and his wife and I also sang in the choir. The song we sang was an arrangement of "Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer." It was a short, but powerful song which testified of Christ and started off the meeting right. I also sat next to Daniel in the base section which was pretty cool, but Joseph was singing Tenor so I didn't get to say hi to him. Bishop Causse and his wife had an amazing talk on Love and Humility and how both can be used to to improve our Mission, come closer to Christ, and love the people we teach. One quote I liked that Sister Causse said was "It is easier to love someone when you don't know anything about them." This exemplifies our purpose as a missionary because we are here to love everyone like Christ did: unconditionally. And through that love we can invite others to come unto Christ.

Spanish is coming along very well for only having been here a week and a half. Teaching investigators in Spanish in very hard, but I know that it is through the Lord's help that we are able to communicate in Spanish and that we are able to feel his Spirit even though we have no idea what we are saying. I also know that if we do our very best, the Lord will take care of the rest.

Going to the Provo Temple Today was also amazing. I enjoy going there and feeling the calming spirit that is present. It is a wonderful way of ending the week

Elder Teo and Elder Giles

January 18th 2014

These past few days have been long and somewhat stressful but they were exciting and filled with the spirit. 

Wednesday:
the afternoon was pretty much just getting settled in my new room and meeting people from my district and my companions. I am in the MTC West campus with all the other Spanish speaking missionaries. All of our facilities and classes are in the Raintree housing area and we stay in the Wyview complex. In my district there are the six of us: Elder Udall, Elder Penaia Teo, Elder Christensen, Elder Jacobson, and Elder Anderson. I was in a triple companionship with Elder Udall and Elder Penaia and we stay in a dorm that has the 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen/dinning room/living room. Our First lesson was completely in Spanish so i was totally lost along with the rest of my district, but as the week has progressed it has not been as bad. In the evening we had a teaching Experience with one of the Elders from "The District" videos. There was a makeshift living room with an investigator that was set up in a classroom and the lesson would start with 2 elders coming in and starting off a lesson with the investigator. then Elder Christensen would pause the lesson and then we, the 30 or so brand new missionaries in the room, would continue the lesson. On one of the lessons, we got onto the topic of priesthood blessings and that there are modern day miracles. As the discussion progressed we keep pushing and pushing the investigator to believe in the power of the priesthood and in miracles until it got to a point where the spirit was super strong and the investigator was really contemplating what we were saying. We talked about how through the priesthood his kid could e healed and he rushed out of the classroom and came back with his kid. The thing was, that we all though he was and actor and we all were very surprised to find out that everything he was saying to us was real and when he brought in his kid a few elders anointed him and gave a short blessing. This experience made me realize that i will have to actually teach real  people and what I can say can really make people believe in the Gospel.

I know I didn't write that much today but i will work on it this week so I can write more. Spanish is progressing pretty well and we teach our investigator tonight....Hopefully we do well enough. I love it here and I know this is where I'm supposed to be

Love,


Elder Giles

Elder Boyce, Elder Billings, Elder Giles