Hello! It's Monday again here in the MTC and we have the opportunity to email home again, yipii!

Dear Magnificant Mom,

ONE MORE WEEK

Well one more week, Booya! Next Monday at this time, we will be on a bus headed to the SLC airport. It's super exciting and totally nerve wrecking. We revieced our flight plans on Friday and we know all of the different flights and layovers we'll be taking. I'll sent a picture of all the times that you can look at if you're interested. We have thirty hours of total travel time and I'm anticipating some major jet lag.

I've been expanding my studies to include more of the New Testament and Old Testament from my seminary things you sent me. I find it amazing all the stuff that we learned in seminary that I never remembered. As I was looking through, I found a bunch of references and talks that could have helped our investigators and me. Lesson to be learned: paying attention in seminary can help us greatly.

Probably the best Thanksgiving every happened here in the MTC (not to one-up your Thanksgiving experience you shared last week). We had a day jam packed full of awesome. We had an early morning (and a late night on Tuesday) choir practice on Thanksgiving. We sang what the director said was the hardest song they've ever sang in the MTC in the past twelve years. We sang Come Thou Fount and the Spirit during the practices was so strong. The devotional it self was really awesome, too. Elder Bednar came and after some short, inspiring remarks, he turned the devotional into a world wide question and answer session. It was broadcast to all the MTC's in the world. They passed out several hundred cell phones and missionaries were able to text questions to Elder Bednar's ipad and he answered them. We were pretty impressed that he was able to answer all the questions so clearly, simply, and smoothly without having planned any specific responses. The Spirit really does work through the Lord's apostles. Probably another highlight of the day was a service project we did. We made food packets to help feed people in need in Utah. We had several other service-oriented devotionals and presentations throughout the day. Apparently, 1:5 Utah children are struggling with food. We also had a Thanksgiving program where missionaries took on roles of indians and pilgrims. My companion was a turkey. At the close of the day, we watched Meet the Mormons. It was a really god movie. Hearing about all of the cool, inspriing stories of converts and those who have helped others was really cool. It also made me reflect on our roles in helping others and about my own conversion story. Some thoughts that Elder Bednar shared is agency is a fundamental and simple principle that is the most misunderstood. He explained that when we are baptized, our agency is changed, is altered. Another thing is that, regarding note taking, it would be great if we never remember what a speaker says, because it is so much more important what the Spirit makes us feel. One question Elder Bednar was asks is how he can keep going and going even though he, and all the other apostles, are pretty old. He answered saying if we are tired, just keep pushing. He said this work is energizing, it is hard and demanding, but we will feel the energizing effect. He also shared how, as missionaries, we are doing what anyone who honors his preisthood would want to do forever. This work gives a spiritual vitality. Another great question was "How can I have faith in something that cannot be proven?". He focused his answer on the definition of true vs false in science. He said that, as a scientist, he can analyze it this way. I actually also noticed that what he said completely and entirely builds off of the principle I learned in physics class - that science only makes things more plausible. He said that science is not wholly objective or scientific. He said that for science to  even work, we have to have faith. We have to have faith in the institution conducting the research and that science answers a lot of good questions that should be answered by science, but it can't answer the most important. In physics class, our teacher told us that research that is most 'successful' when the result is such that further pursuit is possible. I can't quite remember the exact wording, but basically, science's view of true and false is such that it actually supports religion. Both religion and science are two sides of a pair of glasses, if you will. Those who believe that science can prove or disprove have a naive belief of what science actually is. He also said how the age change is not new and that the age change in North America actually just set America on the same plane as the rest of the world who have had younger missionaries going out for decades.

On Sunday, we had BYU vocal point perform. It was pretty spiritual. They started off with a Christmas medley of 12 days of Christmas and some other festive songs. They then sang I Need Thee Every Hour, Where Can I Turn for Peace, and bunch of others. The songs themselves were super awesome, but also the thoughts and experiences that they shared. All nine members of Vocal Point are returned missionaries and they shared really cool stories. Three things that stuck with me are two cool thoughts and a story. One of the Vocal Pointers said that the only day when we truly realize the power and authority of being a missionary and an official representative of Christ is the day you take the badge off. As he said that, it kind of just reassured me that although we try our hardest and it may not look like we've grown a ton from our perspectives, we actually have and we have two years to serve the Lord and a lifetime to look back and see how we did. But for now, we just need to focus on doing what we can. Lesson learned: 

One missionary who served in Portugal shared a story about two elders. They were walking down the street and saw two men across from them walking towards them. They were a ways off, but started taunting and insulting them. As they approached the missionaries, they said some very vulgar things about them, the church, and as they were crossing, they also insulted the Lord's name. The missionaries were very angry, but did not respond. One was very angry and almost turned and reacted, but his companion grabbed him by the arm and they kept walking. A small woman who was watching them ran up to them and asked what church teaches their men to act like that. She was then taught the lessons and was baptized. That story was cool because it would take a lot of patience and Christ-like attributes to handle that situation in the way those missionaries did. By simply not responding, their example was seen and they were blessed with the opportunity to teach someone. Lesson learned: Do what's right, be an example, you are seen.

The last thing is what Jordan Hale would have liked to know before he went on his mission. He said that you always have people saying 'a mission is so cool. You're going to love it, but it is also hard'. He said that he knew it would be hard, but not as hard as it actually was. He told us, since the real work doesn't start until we get into the field, that in every single way possible, it will be hard. Physically, mentally, spiritually, etc. It is the hardest best two years of your life. The advice he gave us was to tell ourselves "I will do what's right". Make the decision now to do what you know is right. It'll help us get through and end up 'on top'. Lesson learned: understand that missions are likely the hardest thing you'll ever do up to this point in your life and that the way to get through it is to 'Do what is right'.

Hearing from the choir director has been one of my highlights every week. He's a very charismatic guy, but even more than that he's super awesome. He's had a ton of life experiences and gives us new perspectives on missionary work, the songs we sing, and is honestly a greate person/example/role model. He shares a lot of really great stories and is an awesome teacher. He shared a story about Mitch Davies, the director of The Other Side of Heaven. In short, he told us how amazing and awesome missionary work is. He told us that missionary work is great, but he sees missionaries all the time who are super stressed about it. He said that our job is so easy and so simple. It's to simply represent Him and teach. That's it. He was quite amusing when he told us this important message. He said all we have to do is walk around and talk. That's all our job is. He then adlibbed (as he does often) we don't even have to worry about what to say. We just open our mouths and they'll be filled. Lesson learned: don't stress, focus on our purpose, to teach.

The emphasis I think on this story was remember how great missionary work is. We were practices Away in a Manger. A pretty straight forward, simple song with a simple message, or so we thought. Brother Eggett always knows how to help us look at the deeper doctrine. The point he was telling us was that missionary work is powerful. He said he had heard Elder Holland on numerous occasions say that his mission was the 

One cool story from sacrament meeting was that our district president and his wife spoke to us. She shared a story about how two missionaries lived in an old broken down house. They kept it clean and tidy and what not and when they left, a non-member family moved in. The family asked the neighbors who lived in the house before them because they could feel something different in that house. The neighbors told her the Mormon missionaries had lived there. They then asked to meet with them. I was really impressed that the missionaries had left a feeling in that house that was 'potent' enough to make an impact on the family. Lesson learned: strive to have the Spirit as much and as strong as possible, but at the same time, don't think too much on it or you may lose sight of how to actually have the Spirit.