Week 2

Hey guys happy Sunday. The reason why I am writing to you is because I am going into the mission field on Tuesday which is P day here so this is kinda like my "P-day" but not really all I get to do is email for a tiny bit. Tomorrow is my last day in the MTC and then on Tuesday I have a great 6 hour drive by bus to London. There I will get my trainer and start life in the mission field. I am not exactly sure when P day will be so I will just make sure to email everyone and let them know when I find out. Anyways there is the brief update of kinda what will happen this upcoming week, here is what happened this last week:

Tuesday: First P-day in the field and it was better than I ever could have imagined. It was amazing and getting to talk to family and friends was phenomenal. We also went to the temple and it was beautiful. There were only 50 people total on the session though and that is the most the rooms could hold. After that we went to Chorely and got Subway and some football boots. Then we played football for about 2 hours. It was a super awesome day.

Wednesday: I decided there is a thing I am gonna call P-day hangover. Basically you wake up and know you have to get back to regular schedule and also that there are 6 more days until your next P-day and it is sad. No but really today was another great day. We watched this awesome devotional by Elder Bednar about how to tell if your thoughts are of the spirit or of your own. He mostly said it doesn't matter, just get to work and the spirit will guide you whether you recognize or not. I particularly like his quote "Every good thought you have comes from the Holy Ghost." I'm really starting to bond well with a lot of the Elders and it is sad that a lot of us will be splitting up and may not see each other again. It's alright though because we are all unified in the work of the Lord, so we will still be together in purpose.

Thursday: today was super awesome! They told us a week ago that we would be able to skype a friend and teach them a lesson so today was the day I was able to do that and I taught the Plan of Salvation to Alex and it was great! I also am starting to feel really confident in my teaching abilities, meaning I am getting better at just letting the spirit teach. Another super awesome thing that happened was I learned how to tie a new tie knot so I am pumped! I can now tie 2 different knots so I am basically a pro.

Friday: This morning we did a service project for one of our MTC teachers because she is moving into a new house which is nearby. We cleaned the house and set up some of her furniture. It was awesome to wear some jeans and a T-Shirt!

Our district doing the service project for our teacher.

Me and Elder Jenkins taught one of our pretend investigators today and we felt the spirit and "committed" her to baptism so it was great to get some practice with that. We also went on a tour of historical church sites in the areas nearby us and it was so fun England is absolutely gorgeous and every where you looked it is just bright green. The coolest place we went to was the flat where President Hinkley lived when he first got to England and it is where he was when he got that famous letter from his dad that said, "Forget yourself and go to work"

Saturday: We went to the temple this morning and it was great. The Preston Temple is beautiful like everything else in England. But this morning the cooks in the cafeteria didn't make anything for breakfast and it was awful. Our only options were cereal or toast so of course I had to eat toast. I scored an awesome goal today while playing football as well. I megged two people and shot it bottom corner, I felt like Messi. Overall today was pretty average in the life of a missionary other than my football skills.

Since we are about to be leaving the MTC I am a little sad about some of the people I may not get to talk to much over the next 2 years. I particularly am very inspired by one of the Elders in our district named Elder Brown. He is from San Diego but he has had a pretty bad stutter for the last few years. Living in the same room and going to the same classes as him I have seen the good days and the bad days that he has but I am amazed at how strong his spirit is and in his desire to serve the Lord. I can't imagine how much faith it took for him to come on a mission even though he struggles with speaking but I hope to one day be as good of a missionary as I know Elder Brown already is and will become over these next two years. He is such an amazing person and I am grateful to have spent these past 2 weeks with a great guy like Elder Brown.

That is all from me this week and I am not sure when my P day will be in London but I am excited and I will for sure let you guys know when I get the chance. I will talk to you all sometime next week!