Hey Mom!!
I am so excited to tell you about my week but first, I can't wait to see Bella when I skype home on Mother's Day!! It is going to be here before you know it!! We get our travel plans this week so I will know when I can call you from the airport! M'kay seems pretty happy about baseball and the whole, "wheelin and dealin" on ebay! McCall is in here final stretch for Volleyball! I shared a scripture from 2 Nephi with M'kay, have him read it with her about the rest of her season.
Alright, The week started off with an amazing devotional last Tuesday by Elder David F. Evans of the 70. He spoke about how we all must be exactly obedient throughout our missions. It brought to mind the words that President Smith shared about how obedience brings blessings and exact obedience brings Miracles! It was really good!
On Wednesday, our new district came in! So we got four new sisters and six new elders. They are going to Spain, Mexico, and New Mexico. Super cool people! They all have such a desire to learn the language and how to teach and they all look up to the missionaries in my district, just another reason we have to be on our best behavior. One of the sisters in the district, Sister Butler, came down with a stomach bug on Friday and wanted to be able to focus for her first lesson with her investigator and so she came and asked Elder Gifford and I if we could give her a blessing. That was the first blessing that I have given and it was such a neat experience. The Spirit was there and he definitely directed the blessing. But she was able to get feeling better and now is 100%
The rest of last week was pretty normal and then we had Sunday! Early meetings again with the Branch Presidency and then a great opportunity in the mid morning. The cafeteria staff has their sacrament meeting here around 10 and they need people to prepare the sacrament for them and have a spiritual experience with them. So my district was able to do that and I got to speak to them about the importance of Baptism and the Holy Ghost! For the first time since I have been here, I have taught about the Gospel in English. It was so weird, and I just naturally through in some Spanish words. But overall it was great!
We had interviews with Brother Brooks, second counselor, for our routine appointment and he told me some things that I really needed to hear. He had told me that Elder Berg and I are probably the best Zone Leaders he has ever seen in the MTC. We have been in this calling for a few weeks now and normally we have been gone but because of our circumstances, he is thrilled that we haven't left let. He said sometimes you have people in a calling and you're not too sad about having to release them, but He is so disappointed that they are going to have to let us go in a couple weeks because we have been so on top of things and we're just always ready to serve. He then went on to tell me that I am mature far beyond my age. That is something that Dad has said to me before and it is so neat to see that others believe that as well. I told him about how all of us kinda had to grow up a little faster than the usual kid due to our circumstances and he told me that I have been blessed so much because of the that. It made me think of an amazing talk by Elder Christofferson. "As Many as I Love, I Rebuke and Chasten" I recommend watching the Mormon Message with it, "Will of God". It talks about how God loves each and everyone of us so much that he cuts us down. Not to try and discourage us, but to help us grow and learn for our lives! I was starting to get a little emotional with Brother Brooks and he just wrapped his arms around me and gave me a huge hug, saying that I am going to do so many great things out in the mission field.
The excitement carried on the rest of the day into our Sunday Evening devotional with all of the missionaries at the MTC. Brother Heaton, MTC Director, came and spoke to us. He started out by asking missionaries to stand if they were in their 8th, 6th, 4th, and 2nd weeks at the MTC. I like to get to the Devos early so I can always sit right front and center and when he asked for all the 4 weekers to stand up, I was right there in front of him and he called someone up from each category, including me. So as the four of us missionaries are sitting in front of the 2,000 other missionaries, he asks us to think of something we have learned about the Holy Ghost since we entered the MTC. One by one we went up to share with everyone what we have learned. As my turn approached, I was getting so excited with what to say. I shared about the Holy Ghost brings to remembrance anything that The Lord has taught us and that He is a constant comforter in our lives. (John 14:26) I also shared some experiences with the Holy Ghost while I have been here. I talked about our lesson with our "investigator", our teacher Hma. Daly, and how we got a prompting to have her pray about Joseph Smith during our lesson. Brother Heaton was so impressed by our boldness and he shared a story about some other missionaries he knew that kept pushing off the prompting of the Spirit to have their investigator pray right there. He asked me, jokingly, if I have already served a two year mission because I was speaking and teaching like I had. That my friends is the Holy Ghost!
I got many compliments on how I spoke and a few people told me that they could see me speaking in General Conference sometime in my life! That was cool. But one sister came up to me at lunch yesterday and told me that she really needed to hear what I said. She was planning on going home this week because one of her best friends had just committed suicide last week. She told me that I said some things that made her want to press forward with her mission. I quickly realized that it was not what I had said during the devotional but that it was the Holy Ghost that was able to talk to her through me. That is why I am here serving a mission. I want to be the mouthpiece for the Holy Ghost, Jesus Christ, and God to all of the people that I come in contact with. Helping others come closer to Christ is my purpose as a missionary and I want to continue to fulfill that.
So basically this week has been totally awesome!! We get another district of missionaries tomorrow and then we leave in two weeks!! So excited for the rest of my MTC experience.
I love you so much!
Elder Grant M Salinas
Argentina Rosario
P.S. I am going to send my camera card home this week. There aren't a ton of pictures but too many to try and email. I will just need it back by the end of next week.
Love you mom!
No comments:
Post a Comment