I actually do have a Mission President!

Holaaaaaa mi familia!!!!

Man, it seems like just yesterday that I got to write all of you (or I guess just mom for her birthday, sorry guys :) ). Seriously, the time in the MTC is just flying right now. Well, first I'll answer your questions, mom. Yes, I've had an approximate departure date since I've been here and it's Nov 29.  I won't get travel plans for about 2 weeks so I could leave before then. I'm seriously getting so anxious to get out and start teaching real people with real needs. I'm sure it will be here before I know it. I've definitely got a lot of work to do with Spanish though :)  Hmm...honestly I don't have any goody requests. In fact, you get kind of tired of goodies in here because when other elders leave you get goodies passed down since that's what all the packages are. Don't get me wrong, I really do appreciate it. You don't have to send me packages, but if you do, real snacks would be an idea (beef jerky, pretzels, chips, whatever). How's the food? Uh.....haha. Honestly, it gets super old after a while. We actually went to the temple this morning instead of in the afternoon and bought breakfast there.  It's probably not even that good, but it tasted as if it were made by angels. Haha! The food is actually ok...yes, similar to the Cannon Center, but probably a little worse. No joke, there was a sign the first couple of weeks here next to the sickly looking bananas that said "the bananas may be discolored, but they're still GOOD!" right...

Guess what? I got a letter from my mission president today, well an e-mail. So, I do actually have a mission president, cool huh? It was all in Spanish but I could understand it all. He basically said that he's excited for us to come to the best mission in the world, and that they have three goals to have success in the mission field: 1. bautizar 2.bautizar 3.bautizar (baptism). I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty stoked about that.

Soo...a LOT happened this week!  I'll try to remember everything and try to type really fast. GUESS WHAT?!  Man, oh man, this work must be super important because we had yet ANOTHER apostle come and speak to us for devotional for the 3rd week in a row. That just doesn't happen here. Elder Ballard came and spoke on being a "master communicator".  It was interesting because it was a very specific topic. It was awesome a couple hours before then he had met with the top executive of Burkshire Hathaway (I think that's what its called) and is supposedly going to be the next biggest businessman in the world. The fact that one of the richest men in the world wanted to talk about religion goes to show that the gospel can bless absolutely anyone's life, and that is the only thing that can make you TRULY happy, and for forever too! You don't get to here about missionary experiences from apostles much but he bore his testimony to him, and of his own calling as an apostle, and set up a time to talk to him for 4 hrs with his wife to answer any questions he has. It was really powerful, and he related all his stories how communication plays a huge part in our work.

The thing that I think made this devotional even better though was what happened before on Tuesday night. I might have mentioned this in my last letter but we're teaching a "progressive investigator" in the TE center. We had our first lesson with her on Tuesday, which was crazy because we also had to teach in the TRC earlier that day. Basically with the investigators in the TE, they're teachers that act exactly as a person that they taught from their mission, so its as close as you can get to teaching a real person. I think that this is why it was such a spiritual experience, because in a sense, we were teaching a real person. Her name is Veronica Mendez and she lives in Mexico. Her husband has lived in the states for the last 5 yrs working and was recently baptized. When we first contacted her she was very reluctant to hear our message. It was amazing though, because when we taught her this week she had a complete change of heart. We shared the story of Lehi partaking of the fruit of the tree of life and then wanting his family to partake and related it to her husband. Halfway through the lesson, Elder Durrant asked, "How do you feel right now?", when we both knew that the Spirit was very strong. She said that she felt happy and felt peace, and that she didn't want to believe us but that it "felt" right. We then explained the feelings of the spirit and read Galatians 5:22-23 to her. It was amazing to literally see and feel Veronica find hope in the gospel and to soften her heart. That is why I'm so excited to get out and do that for real. She agreed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it and Elder Durrant and I were so happy after that we literally ran out of the TE and talked about how stoked we were to be missionaries. The truly amazing thing was that this entire lesson was in Spanish. I know I always mention this, but I'm amazed every day at the enabling power that grace has. It's amazing what the Lord can do with us when we follow the Spirit.

Honestly, we're all finding it a little harder to be super happy and excited all the time as we get towards the end of the MTC experience. Satan, that dufas (dufis?...i dunno). But there are lots of little blessings every day that help me to keep going. Spanish is coming along pretty well, but it is tough, which its supposed to be. Its helping me learn a lot. We play this game every day called "El Nativo" (the native) and we all have to speak Spanish (at least what we know how to say) all day. It's super tough to do, but it helps. Crazy to think that I only have a few more weeks until I'm in Nicaragua!

I love hearing from all of you guys! Ava-you sound happier than ever and thanks for saying that I will learn Spanish :) sometimes that's hard to remember. I'm glad to hear that you are still "in charge".

Aubrey-Thanks for telling me the stories about what goes on at home! It's alright that you haven't written a ton.  I'm glad that you're doing well in school.

Coll dawg-Dude, I love you! I loved hearing that you're carrying on the Ward tradition of wearing weird clothes for spirit week and stuff. LOVES!

Connor-Glad to hear homecoming was good and that you're volleyball team is rockin!!! Believe it or not, our MTC volleyball team is getting a lot better. Thank goodness for Polynesians!

Mom-As you already know, I love you more than anything. People always come ask who made that blanket? Then I always go on about how much I love my mom.

Dad- Seriously? You wore my leather pants for Halloween? Sick! They are MY pants! Ewww. Anyways, be patient with work. It's kind of like learning Spanish in the MTC, sometimes you don't see your progress for a long time. It's like a tree though, the roots have to grow strong underground before there is visible progress. 2 Cor 4:16-18 is one of my new favorite scriptures. Thanks for all the great stories from home.

Love you guys so much!!! Keep being good and the challenge for this week is I dunno....CTR, HLJ!!!!!

Elder Ward