Week 1

sup familia

Monday, June 25, 2012 11:57 AM

Sup yall,

So MTC life...where to begin.  Well...after you dropped me off, they didn't mess around.  They pushed us from one station to the next getting all the preliminary things out of the way.  Then classes started right away.  (fyi...this letter may be kind of out of order and jumbled :).  Classes have been good.  I'm learning a ton...half of that learning is learning how much I don't know and don't understand, but I'm managing.  One of my teachers is Sis. Whitney Wedom.  Her maiden name starts with an F, but you should tell Calvin this because they served in the same mission, and Calvin was actually the person that drove her to the airport, I think.  Crazy stuff.  Cool storyish.  One cool thing that we have been learning about is our purpose, and after having a lesson on our purpose and God's purpose, I realized that as missionaries, our purpose is to help God fulfill his purpose (Moses 1:39).  Also the more I learn, the more I understand just how simple the doctrine of Christ is, but not necessarily easy or anything like that.  Speaking of which, it kind of freaks me out thinking about teaching investigators.  Sometimes it seems like there is so much for us to try to teach them, where do you begin.  Also, with that line upon line principle, how in depth should we go.  I don't want to get baptisms...I want to get conversions and conversion to Christ is a lot more difficult than simply getting some baptized.  Some of this thought process comes from an excellent recorded talk by Elder Bednar called the Character of Christ.  If you can find it online, then do and watch it.  It's long, but oh so good.  I feel like my mind's been blown, but my mental debris is settling to the point where I am being less overwhelmed by what he said, and figuring out, with God's help of course, just how it applies to me and how it can help me be a good missionary and a good disciple of Christ. 

My companion's name is Elder Adams.  He's from Pleasant Grove, Utah.  He's a really cool guy, and is pretty dedicated, so we get along really well, and know how to buckle down when it's necessary.  The rest of my district is really cool too, and we're all getting along pretty well.  Oh...another fyi... I can't remember if I included this story with the letter I sent, but in our first gym time, I was playing basketball, and foolishly hard core jammed my finger on the basketball...basically, I punched the basketball with my index finger and messed it up hardcore.  I decided to have it checked out by the doc since I thought it was just jammed, but it could have been worse.  Anyways, the next day, when the doc had scheduled the visit, it was feeling a lot better, so I went down saying that I didn't think I needed to come in, but he wanted to see me anyways, so I was like, Whatev.  Nothing broken, so that's good, and it feels a lot better now :)  Good stuff :)  Something else cool you should know, is that I've seen Hayden all over the place as well as some other kids from BYU including both Robert and Dallin.  It was pretty sick seeing all them.  I hand delivered all their letters.  Also, I've seen Holly around a few times. The first time we hugged for the luls, and this one sister got all freaked out.  Lul.  But that night or something, in a class or something, they were all like, "no hugging sisters, no matter the relation"... so yeah, we kind of stopped the rebellion ;)  The food has been pretty good.  On Sundays and Wednesdays, we get creamery ice c ream which is delicious...of course...and everything is unlimited...ahhhh yeah :)  Good stuff. 

The spirit is pretty strong here and I'm really working on just surrendering myself to the Lord and his work.  I try to use all my study time to the best of my abilities, but as District Leader, I have to make sure I help keep the others on track too.  It's tough finding the balance between not caring and being a Nazi, but I'm doing my best.  Prayer has become even more important and special here at the MTC.  I receive a lot of comfort through prayer, and look forward to the time of night when I can open myself up to my loving Father in Heaven.  Sunday was good yesterday.  Oh and I got to meet my mission president and his wife.  They are really awesome, and it's going to be a good time :)  It's going to be good times..

Well, gotta go.  Not gonna lie though, the missionary stuff is pretty daunting when I actually try to understand my responsibility and my task ;)

Love,

Elder Patty