MTC Week 4

Hola Familia y Amigos! Benvenidos a semana cuatro! 

18 days left in the MTC! Santa vaca! 

Last Sunday there was a Chamber Choir called Lux Singers that came to the MTC for our Sunday Night Devotional. They sang ~8 songs about the Atonement and The Crucifixion and it was sooo good. It was probably my favorite devotional yet, just reminded me of my Choir days.They even sang a different arrangement of a song that I sang in Choir. 

Not even 2 days later on Tuesday we had Elder Gary E. Stevenson from the Quorum of the 12 come speak to us! He talked about how our Mission calls were divine and inspired, no matter where you're going. Pretty much the rest of his talk was focused on using the Scriptures, Preach My Gospel, and the Missionary handbook as our "Missionary Survival Kit". It was definitely a cool experience to see him in person! They broadcast the devotional live to all the MTCs around the world. I'm pretty sure me and my district got a close up shot in the broadcast because we were in the choir so I guess I'm technically worldwide famous now ;) 

Another thing this week is we had our first TRC with a member. (TRCs are practice lessons completely in Spanish). It was pretty cool to have someone who was actually fluent in Spanish to help us teach. Our members name was Jerald (Her-ald) which was pretty funny because the person we are teaching is named Jerald (Gerald). It was a really good experience and probably our best lesson yet! 

This week I've been learning and studying a lot about how the Book of Mormon plays a role in the Church. My companion and I are teaching a lesson about this in Priesthood meeting on Sunday so wish us luck ;) There's a really good quote from Preach my Gospel that says

"... The only problem the objector has to resolve for himself is whether the Book of Mormon is true. For if the Book of Mormon is true, the Jesus is the Christ, Joseph Smith was his prophet, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, and it is being led today by a prophet receiving revelation." 

I believe this applies to everything in our lives. Any questions of the soul, objections to The Church, or even personal questions you might have can be resolved by the Book of Mormon. It's also good to pray for a renewed answer that the Book of Mormon, even if you've felt you've received an answer in the past. 

My challenge this week is to read the Book of Mormon every day. BUT there's a catch :) Don't JUST read it. Every now and then, take a pause in your reading and ask yourself "Why is this in here? Out of ALL the things that could be in here, why is this in here for me." If you do those two things, I promise you'll feel a closer connection to the Book of Mormon and better understand its importance. 

Con amor,

-Elder Thompson

Fotos: 

1. The Elders in our District with one of our Español Maestros, Hermano Durrant

2. First Snow at the MTC

3. Panorama View South of the MTC

4. My Companion and I with our mission shirts

Hola Familia, 

Hope y'alls week went well! 

It was fun to hear about Alyssa's dance this week! All the pictures look great and it looks like fun times with good people. My district thinks it's hilarious how Alyssa was low-key roasting me by saying she was "Blazing the Trail" for the Thompson family ;) I thought it was funny too :) 

Glad to hear of a fun week of plays, shows, works, and more work! 

Mom was wanting to know more about my companion so here's some more info

So his name is Justin Freeman, he's from Santaquin, so not too far from Provo. He's going to Wisconsin, Milwaukee and loves to tell us how cold it is there every day :) He's a pretty cool guy and we get along pretty well. He definitely has presence in every room. He's a theater/choir person so he likes attention for sure. People say a lot here that there's a reason for every companionship. Elder Freeman is often very hard on himself with Spanish, and he's expressed a lot that he appreciates that I always have a good attitude to help him when he feels down. Not going to lie, that's not what I was expecting to be in the MTC, but I really am pretty much always happy here, even when I'm tired or hungry. 

I think one of the main things I'm learning from Elder Freeman is patience. He has a tendency to pack up slowly, get ready slowly, etc. I hate being late to things and so there's a conflict there sometimes. He also occasionally reminds me of some people that I didn't particularly like in High School, which totally isn't his fault. This week especially I've come to love him more for who he is, even if we have contrasting personalities. 

I was reading in the book Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: President Hinckley and I read something that I thought might help for you all to hear. 

I meet so many people who constantly complain about the burden of their responsibilities. Of course the pressures are great. There is much, too much, to do. There are financial burdens to add to all of these pressures, and with all of this we are prone to complain, frequently at home, often in public. Turn your thinking around. The gospel is good news. Man is that he might have joy [see 2 Nephi 2:25]. Be happy! Let that happiness shine through your faces and speak through your testimonies. You can expect problems. There may be occasional tragedies. But shining through all of this is the plea of the Lord:

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30.) 

I just like this so much! Even in the most stressful times, turn to the Lord. You don't have to do anything alone! Like I mentioned earlier, I'm surprised at how much staying positive has helped me here. We're always busy, so much to do and learn in short amounts of time. But when you look at the good in the word and focus on that, you can truly be happy. 

Like usual it's Saturday and I have my phone so if any of you wanna talk about other stuff I've got all day! 

Oh, and to answer your question, some of my favorite things about the MTC is all the languages you hear. Like I'll say Gracias to someone holding the door and then the person behind me is like Merci. Or maybe it's just a group of missionaries having a conversation in Hungarian, or Finnish, or something. I think languages are super cool so it's awesome to hear all the different ones. I like talking in Spanish too, we try to as much as possible. 

I also like the Choir here, Elmo Keck and Brother Eggett are the conductors and they do a good job. For Thanksgiving there's another General Authority coming to speak, (Everyone's pretty sure it's another member of the 12 or first pres.) and they specifically requested that the Choir sings "Let Zion in her Beauty Rise" which is a pretty cool Hymn I forgot that existed. 

Also the food is good.....sometimes it's too good. This week I've been super consistent with not eating too much since last week I went a little overboard :) Feelin good though. 

Alsoooooo Happy Early Birthday Mom! Have fun in San Diego! We get to watch a Disney movie on Thanksgiving! 

Con amor

-Elder Thompson