Hola familia y amigos!
This week's been pretty weird. It´s the first week past the halfway mark that I´ve been here and it's weird to think that I've been here for longer than I have left here. I've learned soo much soo quickly and when I look back to where I was when I first got here, it's drastic. And to think it's almost the same story with every person in the MTC... it's fully and completely a miracle for each and every person here, even those that don't learn a language. But, there's still a bunch that I don't know, and I've only got two weeks before it'll be actual investigators, not just our teachers role-playing as investigators. That's a little scary, but I know the Lord has it all under control and everything will be alright.
Ok, the other reason this week has been weird is because we got roommates, so it's not just E. White and I in our room. We got Elder Knudsen (kuh-Nude-sen) from Orem, Utah and Elder Young from Kansas City, Kansas. They're both pretty chill and we have some good times together. Sometimes too good of times, because it's getting harder to write in my journal and get to bed on time at night. But that's ok, it's cool to have them there, and it's also been a good opportunity to help them out and compart some of my 4th week wisdom. :)
Yesterday (Monday), and every Monday, we have what's called TRC, or "Teaching Resource Center," where we teach volunteers, almost always members, who come in and we teach them for 20 minutes usually about some broad topic that we don't, and kinda can't, really prepare for completely. So yesterday we were supposed to teach about receiving inspiration from the Book of Mormon. So we taught an older man, Santiago, first and we had a pretty good lesson, but second we taught a young 19 year old girl, Maria, who is preparing to serve a mission right now. It was such a good lesson because we were able to teach her instead of a lesson. We talked about preparing for a mission and how important the Book of Mormon, and figuring out how to receive and recognize inspiration from it, is to preparing to serve a mission. It's so hard when you're trying to teach to people's needs, and completely by the Spirit, that it feels so good to have a lesson like that, where the Spirit is there, and you know that something you said will help them. It is such a good feeling and I'm sure will be even greater of a feeling in the field when I'm not just helping someone prepare a little better to serve a mission, but when the person is getting baptized, coming to their Savior and completely changing their life for the better. It just really made me excited to share the gospel, and even more simply to just serve those around me.
I want to take a quick minute before time runs out to thank everyone who has written me, sent me a package, and for all the many, many prayers that have been sent my way. All of the above are very meaningful, and help a lot. Hope everyone's doing well!
Nos vemos!
-Elder Whitaker
This week's been pretty weird. It´s the first week past the halfway mark that I´ve been here and it's weird to think that I've been here for longer than I have left here. I've learned soo much soo quickly and when I look back to where I was when I first got here, it's drastic. And to think it's almost the same story with every person in the MTC... it's fully and completely a miracle for each and every person here, even those that don't learn a language. But, there's still a bunch that I don't know, and I've only got two weeks before it'll be actual investigators, not just our teachers role-playing as investigators. That's a little scary, but I know the Lord has it all under control and everything will be alright.
Ok, the other reason this week has been weird is because we got roommates, so it's not just E. White and I in our room. We got Elder Knudsen (kuh-Nude-sen) from Orem, Utah and Elder Young from Kansas City, Kansas. They're both pretty chill and we have some good times together. Sometimes too good of times, because it's getting harder to write in my journal and get to bed on time at night. But that's ok, it's cool to have them there, and it's also been a good opportunity to help them out and compart some of my 4th week wisdom. :)
Yesterday (Monday), and every Monday, we have what's called TRC, or "Teaching Resource Center," where we teach volunteers, almost always members, who come in and we teach them for 20 minutes usually about some broad topic that we don't, and kinda can't, really prepare for completely. So yesterday we were supposed to teach about receiving inspiration from the Book of Mormon. So we taught an older man, Santiago, first and we had a pretty good lesson, but second we taught a young 19 year old girl, Maria, who is preparing to serve a mission right now. It was such a good lesson because we were able to teach her instead of a lesson. We talked about preparing for a mission and how important the Book of Mormon, and figuring out how to receive and recognize inspiration from it, is to preparing to serve a mission. It's so hard when you're trying to teach to people's needs, and completely by the Spirit, that it feels so good to have a lesson like that, where the Spirit is there, and you know that something you said will help them. It is such a good feeling and I'm sure will be even greater of a feeling in the field when I'm not just helping someone prepare a little better to serve a mission, but when the person is getting baptized, coming to their Savior and completely changing their life for the better. It just really made me excited to share the gospel, and even more simply to just serve those around me.
I want to take a quick minute before time runs out to thank everyone who has written me, sent me a package, and for all the many, many prayers that have been sent my way. All of the above are very meaningful, and help a lot. Hope everyone's doing well!
Nos vemos!
-Elder Whitaker