Hey, everyone!
This second week has flown by! I am definitely a believer in the joke that ''the days are weeks, and the weeks are days.'' It seems like yesterday was P-Day, and now I have the whole day to do some fun stuff! Our district is going to have a 6-on-6 volleyball game in the sand volleyball pit at 1:00, so I´m looking forward to that. I also ran into Brian before he was leaving for the temple this morning, and I´m going to play ping pong with him and Elder Metro and 3:30. It is amazing how much more time I have today than last P-Day, which is awesome. So, if anyone wishes to email me during the day today (I´m two hours ahead of the West Coast, and one hour ahead of the East Coast), I will probably check my email again later today around 4:00 or 5:00. I think I´m going to do something similar to last week, where I will use my journal to recap the week.
Friday
August 16, 2013:
Today was a rather slow and routine day. However, during our needed breaks between our five-hour blocks of language and cultural studies, my companions and I really got to know each other on a deeper basis. We have established this mutual trust that we can support each other with constructive criticism on how we teach and how we speak the language. It has really helped, and we are all getting better with our Spanish. It really helps that both of my companions are geniuses haha. Elder Metro is studying mathematics at BYU on a full-tuition scholarship (he got offered half his first year, but is getting bumped up to full when he returns after getting a 3.97 his first year with all math classes). Elder Mask is also very bright, and he got a 32 on his ACT; he will go to BYU as well after his mission to study something yet to be decided. As a result, all three of us are very knowledgeable about the gospel and the language. We constantly quiz each other on more complex grammar, vocabulary, and effective teaching principles. Andrea, our first investigator, also became our evening teacher today! We will continue to teach her as Andrea during lessons to get the practice of teaching an investigator all the way up until baptism, but her real name is Hermana Powell. She is an awesome teacher, and she served her mission in Chile. She told our companionship specifically that many of the teachers now know about our natural teaching abilities after our lesson with Andrea and Luis. Hermana Powell said that they were amazed at how well we brought the Spirit into our lessons. The teachers told us that they base their responses entirely off of the feelings from the Spirit, so hopefully that means that Elder Mask, Elder Metro and I are doing something right. The encouragement we received just makes me want to work harder to really be able to benefit the investigators I find in the field. It is also truly humbling knowing how much the Spirit is working through me.
Saturday
August 17, 2013:
Yesterday, Hermana Powell asked my companionship if we would demonstrate teaching a lesson in front of some verdecitos (the word used in place of Gringos in the MTC) from another district. It was a wonderful opportunity to practice teach, and share our tips/advice with other missionaries. We taught about the Restoration, and it made me realize how well our companionship teaches together. I have really come to know that the love I have for my companions translates into love for the investigator. I´m not really sure why this principle works, other than that hostility between companions doesn´t invite the Spirit. After the lesson, both our district and the district we taught in front of watched a church video called ''The Atonement and Missionary Work.'' EVERYONE PLEASE WATCH THIS VIDEO!!!! It was one of the most powerful messages I have ever heard in my life. It was by President Eyring and Elder Holland around Easter a few years back and talks about the sacrifice of Christ, in addition to how missionaries must have ''a taste of Christ´s sacrifice'' during the progression with investigators. Elder Holland commented that we cannot expect conversion to be easy or straightforward because Christ's infinite sacrifice was more than he could physically bear. He remarked that all missionaries must experience that to some degree, and those times are when we must rely on God the most. Elder Holland also stated that ''my mission'' isn't my mission at all; it is the Lord's mission, and I am here to help the Lord carry out His work. The last part of the day was focused on a stress management class. I thought it was hilarious and ironic that we need to have additional stress about worrying how to handle our own stress haha. In all seriousness, it was helpful to know that the breaks my companionship has been taking are actually encouraged and beneficial.
Sunday
August 18, 2013:
For only being the second Sabbath here at the MTC, it has already felt like I have been gone for a full year. Because the day is so jam-packed with things to do, it feels like the days consist of a month's worth of activities. We watched a devotional today by Elder Bednar that was first given to the Provo MTC about two weeks after General Conference - meaning only two weeks after the age change for missionaries. He focused his message on how to study the words of the Apostles and Prophet. He gave three steps, which can be helpful for many different studies:
1. Find the doctrine or gospel principles being taught within the message.
2. Understand the invitations to act upon such doctrine (What am I being told to do?).
3. Understand the blessings we are promised if we abide by the invitations to act.
During the evening, for the evening devotional, everyone watched the ''Finding Faith in Christ'' video, which brought back memories of being a kid with the missionaries over at my house. It is so inspirational and accurate. The video really made my companions and I all wonder if we would have the faith sufficient to believe in Christ if we only ever saw the nailprints in His hands and wrists. It was a testimony-builder that faith is required to achieve salvation and believe in Christ. The most incredible part about today, however, was the spirit that was felt during our district's devotional review. We always review the messages we learn in devotionals as a district, and tonight we decided to have a testimony meeting, as suggested by Hermana Despain. Due to limited time, only Hermana Barney, Hermana Despain, Hermana Bennett, Elder Metro, Elder Mask, and I bore our testimonies. It was a powerful meeting, and our district hopes to finish the rest of the testimony meeting thiscoming Sunday during the next devotional review.
Monday
August 19, 2013:
Today was a rather average and uneventful day, and it was very similar to the ''Sunday Hangover,'' as I like to call it haha. Everyone in the district was completely wiped, and five of twelve people fell asleep during morning personal study. Don't worry, I stayed awake, barely! There has to be some sort of psychological disorder after the joys felt on Sunday haha. Today, I focused my efforts on learning more of the subjunctive mood in language study, and it is very difficult. The tough part about Spanish is that many verb tenses and moods don't exist in English. During the evening, my companions and I began to teach Andrea about the commandments. We only got through obedience, prayer, scripture study and attending church regularly. I'm rather nervous to teach her on Friday about The Word of Wisdom, as well as The Law of Chastity. I've only heard about one positive experience with other teachers and the Law of Chastity, so I'm hoping that 1) it´s not awkward, and 2) my companions and I know all of the vocabulary. On a happier note, my companions and I consecrated some olive oil for the first time! Elder Mask even had an extra oil vial and bottle that he gave me! He's such a great guy. Elder Metro is quieter, but he is one of the nicest and most knowledgeable people I know! I look forward to using the oil to bless the sick and afflicted in the mission (did I mention last week that our district stood in during a blessing for Elder Bench that was given by Elder Grigg?).
Tuesday
August 20, 2013:
Upon my first thoughts, today wasn't as great as it really was. We taught another investigator the first lesson today, who is named Fernando Montes (also fake). Hermano Montes, our morning teacher, is using the persona of his real uncle to try and gain insight on how to teach him about the gospel. The lesson was quite scattered at first, but at the end, my companions and I bore testimony of the truthfulness of our message, in addition to the truthfulness of the invitation to find out for himself. Our companionship also set goals to focus on asking more inspired questions during our lessons, instead of doing all of the talking. We need to do better at focusing entirely on the investigator and tailoring our message to fit their needs. During the evening devotional, Elder Johnson of the Quorum of the Seventy (who is also serving in Mexico City at the moment) came to speak to the MTC in person. The coolest thing is that Elder Mask's grandfather (his dad's father) was a member of the Quorum of the Seventy, and Elder Johnson used to be a counselor for Elder Mask's grandfather! How cool is that?! Elder Johnson gave an amazing talk, too. He told all of the missionaries that ''you are here to SAVE SOULS.'' That doesn't mean baptism; that means MORE than baptism. So many missionaries get caught up in the numbers or even just the goal of baptism, when really our goal should be to get every investigator to the point of wanting to strive to make covenants in the temple. Through that goal as missionaries, we bring about ''the immortality and eternal life of man,'' as said by the Lord in the book of Moses. He also promised us that we ''will never fall away from the Church if [we] read the Book of Mormon every day.'' He said that reading the Book of Mormon will inspire people to pray, which will, in turn, inspire people to continually grow and progress. The whole gospel is predicated on that alone. I'm also anxious to receive my package from home with a photo album to be able to see pictures of my family! It's making me home-sick.
Wednesday
August 21, 2013:
Today was really a slow day. We had zero lessons to teach, and it felt like everything we were doing was vain repetition. However, Elder Low (also going to Arcadia, woohoo!) pulled an amusing prank. I will try to relate his prank to the gospel. It is entitled, ''The Stolen Peanut Butter.'' Elder Mask has diabetes, and sometimes uses it as an excuse to eat junk food/snacks even when he doesn't need to, in order to regulate his blood sugar haha. He has this jar of Jif creamy peanut butter that his mom sent him, and it is like his most prized possession haha. Now, since Elder Low got bored, he thought it would be a great idea to mess with Elder Mask and steal his peanut butter. We got back to the casa, and Elder Mask flipped out in a funny way. He began interrogating everyone to figure out the culprit of such a haneous crime. It was quite amusing, and eventually we left the casa later without luck. Upon return, the peanut butter returned! Eventually, Elder Low confessed to the prank, and it was hilarious to see Elder Mask's reaction. Now, how does that simple little prank relate to the gospel? Well, the peanut butter (symbolic of our prized possession of free agency) can be stolen by Satan if we don't take the precaution to protect it. How can we protect our peanut butter? I told Elder Mask to lock it up in his closet before we left, but he didn't listen... go figure that it got stolen! The armor of God is similar to the lock on our closet, which holds all of our prized possessions. Ephesians 6:11-18 talks about putting on the full armor of God to protect us against the Adversary. We can do this through reading our scriptures, praying and ensuring that we are living in accordance with the commandments of God. So, there you go, the ''The Parable of the Stolen Peanut Butter.'' Also, tonight we met with some other missionaries during TRC, in which we were able to teach them about the success in our companionship, and how that, in turn, leads to happier investigators.
Thank you all for all of your help! I'm doing wonderful, and I'm so happy here! It's great receiving emails during P-Day. I will try to check my email later today around dinner time, local time. I probably won't send any hand-written letters until I get to California, as they take two weeks to arrive. I hope everyone is well, and tell me how life is back home! Two years will fly by!
Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley
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