Guess What?!

Hola mi familia! Como estan?

 

Man, this week flew by again.  I look forward to getting to write all of you so much.  I hate to admit it, but I think all of these letters are going to start sounding the same. I can't even really remember what I told you in the last one.  Thanks for all your letters and support though I really, really do appreciate it. Letters in the MTC are like manna from heaven. Mom, thanks for sending another package with a sweater and cookies and stuff. The cookies were soooooo good, and the sweater is perfect. And yes, I can send packages home before I leave so I'll probably be doing that.

Guess what?! Elder Nelson, as in the apostle, came to speak to us for Tuesday devotional. It was amazing! It was definitely an answer to my prayers too. Honestly, the initial excitement of being a missionary has started to wear off and its getting a little harder to truly enjoy the work every day. I was feeling a little stressed out about all the things that it takes to be a good missionary, and I was praying hard that I could change my attitude to be happy about what I was doing. Elder Nelson didn't give us some crazy secret to missionary work or anything. He basically just got up there and said, "each one of us knows who they are and what God wants them to do..." Then he basically just went on to talk about how we do what we do because we follow the Savior, Jesus Christ, and we are to establish His church on the earth.  His talk was so simple, yet so powerful. It made me realize that the gospel, and even being a missionary, is such a simple thing.  Really there is a lot that goes into being a missionary but the most important part is that I have been called to help bring people unto Christ by faith, repentance, baptism, recieving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. He also promised us that we will be prayed for every week by the First Presidency and millions of people around the world every day. That really hit me, because we can feel those prayers. Thanks to all thsoe that pray for the missionaries.  He also promised us a couple of times that we will be safe on our missions, safer than anyone we know back home. Soooo...don't worry about my safety because you're the ones in danger! haha. I loved Ava's story about being excited to be baptized.  The amazing thing about the gospel is that even a 4 year old can understand it and have love for the Savior.

This week I was really impressed by a couple of verses in the Bible. In Luke 2 it talks about when Christ was young and when He was in the temple teaching. His parents find him there and he says, "wist ye not that I must be about my fathers business?" I know you know this family, but I felt impressed to share this with you. I know without a doubt that this is where I'm supposed to be.  Elder Nelson also promised us multiple times that our families will be so blessed for what we are doing. I hope that I can serve the Lord to my fullest capacity so that you can recieve those blessings.

This week, like every week, we went and taught at the TRC. For some reason, I just didn't feel super good about it after just because things didn't go as smoothly as I had liked. My teacher was doing an evaluation with us after because they watch the lessons on camera. He told me that it really doesn't matter how you felt, you just commited one of them (there were two investigators) to baptism. He said yes because he felt the spirit! It was a good reminder that it doesn't matter how well I thought I did, but whether or not I invited that person unto Christ.

Another little miracle... last night we were supposed to teach another class in our district and our teacher only gave us about a 10 minute heads up. We had talked a lot earlier that day about how we really need to work hard on spanish and SYL (speak your language) all the time. I said, "Elder Durrant, we're doing the lesson in Spanish." I was scared that it was going to be horrible, but I know that because we've been working hard and praying even harder for the Lord's help that He helped us to give a simple version of Lesson 2 in Spanish. Sure, there were definitely flaws, but I could feel the Spirit so strong and I think our fellow missionaries could too.

We got some new elders in our zone!!! Man, it feels good to not be the fresh meat. The sisters left for the Guatemala MTC this week so now we only have 6 elders in our district/classroom. Its kind of weird!

Funny stories for the week. Elder Durrant has this alarm clock that looks exactly like a Razor cell phone. A member of our branch presidency (who is a pretty cool brother) came to our residence halls at night. I took the "cell phone/alarm clock" and started talking in the hall.  I said, "hey babe, whats up?" and paused..."yeah the mtc is great but I miss you so much too." When he saw me I think he just about had a heart attack. It was great but we all laughed and he said, "you got me good, Elder, but too bad I have the real thing right here!" Everyone went ohhhhh!!!! when he pulled out his Razor cell phone.

Another funny story. There's a well kept sercret in the MTC. They're called Narnia Holes. In everyone's dressser they have a little hole in the top that people put random objects and pass alongs in. It's super cool! So we go into the new elders' rooms last night and look, and I start taking all this random stuff out; soap, flip flops, etc.  I'm like, why would someone put this in here? Turns out I was reaching all the way down into the elder's top drawer.

The weeks are FLYING here. It's crazy! We talked to an elder from Mexico that had only been here for 4 days who was learning English. It was nuts! It reminds me that I have a long way to go before I get out of here.

Thanks for keeping me updated on things at home. Man I sure do miss those FHEs with the ghost story and Ava getting upset and hiding under the piano. By the way, everyone thinks Ava is the best artist in the world. I have a sweeeet collage in my room of pictures from Ava and cousins. They remind me that God truly does love us because he sent us families. I love you all so much family and I hope you know that I pray for you every day, in Spanish. Keep choosing the right! By the way, how has having charity and doing missionary work been going? (Following up on commitments is the most important part :)

Challenge for this week: Read about the Savior and his life in the scriptures (there's TONS in the topical guide), and strive to live like He did. It's tough, I know, but it is the way to true happiness. We have something amazing in our lives and we should never ever, ever take it for granted. I love you so much and keep telling me about home, drawing pictures, whatever!

 

Con mucho amor,

 

Elder Ward