Music, losing things, running into friends and relatives
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| Evan and friend Elder R |
So on Sunday I woke up super early in the morning and i
sat there for a long time trying to decide if it was me accidentally
waking up or whether I had heard my companion talking (I was dreaming
that we were doing companion study). The reason I didn't want to get out
is because I am on the top bunk with no ladder so it takes some effort
to get in and out of bed.
Then
we had district meeting which was taught by a companionship, it was
pretty meh, but someone made an excellent point and nd I was like WOOOOOOOAH! which actually occurs
almost every day here I am always learning something new, and I love
that. Also we were talking about the creation and one dude said he was
thankful he was for how green Utah was and I was like, "NO BOI".
Anyway
afterwards we had our branch meeting, he announced us noobs [new arrivals for us old people] which was
two districts, and then who was leaving, I think there were three
districts leaving. Some of them are going to be DC temple sisters so
that's cool. Then we had mission conference where Kellen [Evan's cousin who is going to Norway on his mission] played the
violin for us. I have a recording of it but it's pretty bad, we weren't
supposed to take recordings, so that is why it is sound only. Mission
conference was also funny because our zone leaders (who are in our
district), and our district leader fell asleep. I honestly forgot what happened during mission conference but you
will forgive me shortly.
We
had choir, which was awesome, We sang Sweet Hour of Prayer [church hymn that can be found here], which is a
nice song, then you have a couple hundred missionaries singing it and it
was powerful. The choir director was the best, sorry Sis Bethke, he
told stories just as much as we sang, and they all were super spiritual.
And Kellen got pulled in to play, he was great as usual.
We
then went and had dinner and had this weird cordon bleu thing. It was
pretty tasty. [As you can tell, Evan is into food]. Also I had two helpings of BYU Creamery, my first of what
will hopefully be few pig out days. Then we came back for the Sunday
devotional, and it was Jenny Oaks Baker, but I was tired after all of
that eating so I missed her first two songs cause I was sleeping. The
best part about while I was dozing off was I tipped over and my head hit
some random missionary to my right. He looked very uncomfortable.
However they shared this cool story about losing and finding a cello in
Italy, apparently if you leave a cello in a car it will be stolen. But
they were lucky and got it back.
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| Evan's group (district) in class |
So
we then watched the Character of Christ a talk by Elder Bednar to the
MTC. The main things I took away from the talk are, lose yourself in the
work, serve others, turn outwards in times of need, and don't get in
the way of the Spirit.
After
that finished they hit us with the announcement that Elder Bednar was
in the building for a Q&A. The room just lit up and everybody got
super excited. So we heard some clarification on the talk and the main
thing that I got out of it was, and this is true for most situations, "we
are not qualified for the work that we are called to do" isn't that
great? If we are ever feeling insignificant or out of our depth in any
situation, your job is to DO YOUR BEST! And then he promised us that if
we convert ourselves to Christ, we will never fall away. There is a lot
of emphasis on the stat the 25% of missionaries fall away from the
church.
So because Elder
Bednar came, we got back to our rooms at 10:15 so with journal writing,
planning, and getting ready for bed, we didn't go to sleep until at
least 11.
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| Evan pretending to be spiderman |
This became a
problem as we had service on Monday, it started at 6:25 so we had to
wake up at 5:45. So we washed some window doors and vacuumed. We ended
up in class, and we sang the first verse of the Star Spangled Banner,
and learned about how our morning teacher, Sis W, got proposed
to. It was hilarious, all of the boys were like that dude was smart, and
the girls were like aaaaaaaaaawwwww. But we also learned how to help
other understand the gospel, so we aren't too crazy. However we are
tangent champs, the best part about it though is that lots of said
tangents are spiritual tangents.
We
finished teaching Carson and he told us we have missionary voices,
which is a when you talk differently when you talk about the gospel,
which is bad. But we have two more investigators, Maddie and Beth, and
we are doing pretty well. We also learned the best way to have them
learn is by asking leading questions. So we have been implementing it.
The
MTC is one of the few places in the world you can hear multiple 18
years olds singing bright and early in the morning while brushing your
teeth. It's always great to hear "Put your shoulder to the wheel" before
the start of a day.
I
got some good quotes from the choir director for you guys, "at least I
can only fail as much as everyone else" truly inspiring. And "sisters
be more emotional, how often do you hear that sisters? You should go
write it down in your journal". Those are just the shorter ones that I
could write down.
Stuff
I learned today is singing Called to Serve, is an actual feel trip, I
almost started crying. What a mess, part of the problem is that it is
very applicable and true to me. I also learned that we should all be in
the repenters hall of fame. Also repentance in one word is CHANGE. So
Tuesday ended up being very spiritual, and then we had the devotional
from Elder Sitati, and he talked about how we all need charity, and his
wife quoted President Monson, "When we are on the Lord's mission
we are entitled to his help", I don't know about you but I would love
the Lord's help. I know that God loves me and will help me out for the
next two years.
Then
afterward the district discovered duolingo so there as quite a
commotion, with lots of yelling and know they are all talking in Spanish
in extremely bad accents, I understand now, it grinds upon my eardrums.
I also played soccer during out exercise time and it was SO MUCH FUN.
Reminded me why I like soccer so much.
. . . .
Speaking
of President Mullen, I decided to test out my theory about everyone
knows Bill J [Uncle]. President Mullen is in charge of a trust so he is
fairly connected. I asked if he knew who Bill J is and he said "is he
an attorney? I think he went to law school with my twin". LET IT BE
KNOWN THAT EVERYONE IN UTAH KNOWS BILL J.
Finally let me share my personal item adventures. My watch does not
work anymore, don't send me one I will just get a seat for a one or
something when I get to the mission. I have lost my swipy swipy [rfid card that gets him into his room] 4 times
once for two days. But I have found it every time. I lost my ring once,
it was in a random pair of pants. I lost my wallet twice. All of them
were lost in my room, except for my swipy swipy for that really long
time. My companion has been roasting me about it.
It's
too cold out here when the sun goes down, every night I wake up cold and
have to rearrange my blankets, boooooo dryness. But on that note it
thuderstormed and I got so excited i took a lot of pictures and videos.
And afterwards there is some humidity, I could feel the air again, it
was wonderful.
So TRC [teaching resource center where they practice teaching people] was
a disaster on Wednesday, the first lesson was sick so we went back to
class, the second one he hit us with quite a doozy, I am already
baptized I don't need to get baptized. So we stammered a bit said
something about priesthood authority and kinda changed the subject. The
first thing I learned is that I still have a lot to learn. I talked to
my teacher and she told to congratulate him on getting baptized but that
he should think of how much more it will mean to God if he gets
baptized as an adult when he has a choice. I will send you the story
that I used to change the subject, it is a good one from a guy named
Elder B in our zone. He has so many funny ones.
Then
on the way to class, we walked by a tour and all the kids reached out
and shook our hands, then in class we were waved to by the tour people,
We felt like actual celebrities. Then in class we taught an investigator
we talked about the Plan of Salvation, and I asked if she would be
baptized, and she said yes, thank goodness for the Spirit because our
lesson was not very linear. Side note all of these investigators are
actors but they all are acting an investigator they had in there
mission. So that is pretty cool, it's a bit easier than real life but
they still have some pretty nasty curveballs. Also our job is to help
everyone improve spiritually members and nonmembers. But back to the
invitation I was so nervous and afterward my companion and I were SO
excited. It is just like going off a high dive to be honest. Scary but
easier after you do it once
Also
I saw Corn Dog [good friend of Evan Jacob R, nickname courtesy of scout camp], and we took a picture, it looks like he is enjoying
himself, he said he is super busy, but its just you don't know what is
going on or where things are. Over time both of those things will calm
down. Also they pack you in pretty tight, but afterwards the schedule is
more relaxed.
Thursday
it was annoyingly cold again, but I had a decent night sleep, but Elder
C struggled to get out of bed. The tiredness is starting to set
in. I discovered just how true the Word of Wisdom, my eating habits have
slipped so Tuesday and Wednesday were really bad. Then today Thursday I
ate a lot better, and I haven't been as tired. Now I just need to sleep
a bit more then i will be perfecto. WOW is truth everyone.
I
learned today, that I will never convert someone. Which at first glance
is pretty sad, but I don't want to convert them to me, the spirit needs
to convert them to the gospel. Also the class in the morning wasn't very alive so they
sent us out to share our testimony with the people touring, and after
that it was a lot better.
Also
my district discovered duolingo so there is so much buuuuhdings going
on [not sure what this is referencing]. There is now a competition and it is getting tense. Stay tuned if
anyone starts to fight.
Today
we learned that the best way to find out where a story is in the Book of Mormon for kids that we used to have. On the tablet it has the name
of all of the stories and you click on them and each panel has a
reference. We made a timeline of it.
SOAPBOX
ALERT!!! I figured out he reason politics are so far gone. People do
not know what an argument is, they think that it is where you yell at
someone about how your beliefs are right and theirs are wrong. A
disagreement is, "a discussion in which reasons are advanced for and
against some proposition or proposal. Also I see a dehumanization of
the people you disagree with, "you liberals/conservatives" or "those
liberals/conservatives". It makes political discourse no fun, and makes
it so the normal people out there don't participate. (See the
presidential candidates of this year). If you disagree with something I
am sorry and would love to argue but missionaries are not allowed to have
arguments. In fact you should probably just take this part out Dad cause
as it says in the Book of Mormon people hate to be wrong, it just makes
them angry. Also if this does make it in you guys know that my dad
would make a terrible editor. [very true, I'm a bad editor] But I digress...
Enos 1:13 is really cool because it is an example of prayers answered. You
guys should go read it and see what I am talking about. But I think it
is really cool.
The
lessons with investigators are going real well, I think the best part
about it is the Spirit, but the second best part is all of the doctrine I
learn, because I have to go back and research the investigators
questions, and I learn something new. For personal study I am going
through the videos, because I need to know what they contain so I can
use them to teach. This is one that stuck out to me,
On
to less spiritual things, disappointing but I like to keep you informed
as to what really happens in the MTC, in basketball I got clocked in
the ear going up for a rebound and now my ears are ringing, hopefully
that fixes itself.
Also they had ORANGE CHEESE CHIPS FOR LUNCH A COUPLE TIMES [Evan loves orange cheese chips and even made a song praising them that we sing as a family, ask anyone one of us]
If you made it this far, congrats, these should get shorter as things become less new.
For those who care, I am not sure about the oranges because I am not yet in California.
My doctrinal question for the week is why do we pray?
Elder Bearman
God so loved the world
That he sent his only begotten son
Do you feel his love?
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