December 3, 2014

Happy thanksgiving! Looks like y'all had a nice little quiet family weekend! The MTC was pretty awesome on thanksgiving. Elder Bednar came thursday morning and hosted an international question and answer session with all the international MTCs. They passed out cell phones and had everyone text in their questions, and it was a really cool experience. Elder Bednar is an amazing man and a true apostle of Christ. He talked about representative agency, which is agency that represents Christ when you make covenants with God to take upon you Christ's name. He also talked about consecrating your whole heart, mind, might, and soul to your mission. As the MTC choir, we sang "Come Thou Fount" and it was SO AWESOME! The power of the spirit there was so so strong. Afterwards, we had Thanksgiving lunch, classic stuff, turkey, beans, potatoes, pumpkin pie. Stuffed full. Then we had a really cool service project were we made little dry casseroles for a hungry kids program. We broke some kind of record and it was really nice to just lose myself in service. So then we had like a thanksgiving program and then sack dinner haha but it was nice because we ate with our zone and had a little box that we wrote thankful thoughts in and then read them. Then we had a surprise and got to watch Meet the Mormons! That was really special! Then we walked out and the Christmas lights were turned on and everything looked so beautiful! I'll send a pic. The rest of the week was pretty normal, but then Sheri Dew came to Relief Society and spoke. Let me tell you, she is amazing. She is so powerful, and direct, and she gave a really cool explanation of how women and the priesthood work together. She also talked about receiving revelation and she asked a cool question, "Am I willing to engage in a spiritual wrestle?" She described a spiritual wrestle as understanding doctrine well enough and receiving revelation to wrestle the adversary / questions to the ground. Really cool experience. Then guess who came on Sunday night devotional?? VOCAL POINT. They were so good. They started out with the 12 days of Christmas (Straight no Chaser style) and then sang a bunch of hymns. They sang a really beautiful version of Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy, and they bore their testimonies in between songs. 

Then, yesterday, Elder David F. Evans came to speak and he shared like a mormon message clip thingy called Share the Gift. I encourage y'all to watch it, it's really touching. He talked then about how he discovered the Gift (Christ) and then embraced it and shared it. So, I encourage you family to discover the gift more fully this Christmas. Mom and Dad sounds like y'all are doing just that with reading the Book of Mormon. That's awesome! I recently just started over and have been reading it again, and already I have learned so much through this missionary lens over my life. The more you discover the gift, the more you embrace it, and the more you want to share it. And the more you share it, the more you discover for yourself! It'sa cycle, isn't that cool? Everything in the gospel is a circle, one eternal round.

So I still the love the MTC, but I am getting a little stir-crazy. I can't wait to get to Argentina! Although, I do need you guys to send me a couple more things before I leave: passport holder, some more proactiv+, a usb with tons and tons of music pleassseee! Haha, and whatever else you think I need. I got the sleeping bag, and the little boxes of candy, and the christmas box with cocoas and then cute wreath and DARLING STOCKINGS! So cute! Thank you so much mom and dad! And thank you for the letter Beks! I sent everyone one back. 

I have not seen Matt King yet, but if I do I'll say hi! Haha. Andy, screen protector is in the black cloth bin on the left side of my little white storage thingy in my room (the one with the mirror over it), or it could be in one of those black and white flowery boxes. I'm not sure. And I don't know about the iCloud password, I'll email you my guesses in a sec.

So anyways, I love feeling the spirit. I love giving all my time to the Lord. I feel blessed every day for this opportunity to serve and have the spirit work through me. I know the Lord is blessing y'all too. How is life in the real world? It is really nice to have so much time to spiritually fortify myself. I have six weeks to learn how to put on the armor of God more securely and then when I get to the field, I will have a couple hours a day to put it on. One of my teachers said something cool/scary. She said going to proselyte is like going into the great and spacious building and inviting people to come and partake of the tree of life. So, let's put on the armor of GOD! YAY!

Alrighty well, before I leave, I just want to say that I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that he is the savior of the world and has born each of our burdens. I know that when you embrace the gift of His Atonement and His life, we will be filled with the Spirit of the Lord, and we will be filled with the desire to share this gift that has come to mean so much to us. It means so much to me, more than I could possibly express, and I cannot wait to share it with the wonderful people of Argentina. 

So, watch the message. http://www.mormon.org/christmas. I love you all so much! 

Love, 

Hermana Pyper