MTC – Week 4

This week was another awesome one and we really just did the same old routine.  We are very used to the schedule now and they keep us super busy here.  We don’t have any down time to do nothing.  None at all really, and thats how it should be.  Any free time I get I am either studying the language or picking up the Book of Mormon.  I love how much time I have to really study the Book of Mormon and throw myself into it.

The rest of last week went by really nicely.  It’s really weird being on a mission because one moment in the day you can be so up and the very next hour you can be freaking out.  I just get really worried sometimes but I have to know that this is where I am supposed to be right now and this is what the Lord is wanting me to do.  I just have to diligently use all my time to prepare myself to the best I can for those people that the Lord has prepared for me in Italy.

Class is going really well.  We are getting to know our teachers better and I love them all.  They are all so nice and really funny.  They keep class fun while we continue to learn Italian and also the spirtual sides of things we need to know.  Its really crazy what we already know in italian.  Its pretty wild.  I am more confident with the 4 weeks and 1 day of Italian I have then I am with Spanish [after 4 years of it in high school].  I can converse a lot more and keep conversations going, for the most part.  I am really excited to continue to learn more these last two weeks.

This past Sunday was just amazing!  I felt the spirit so strong all day and I just love Sundays.  It’s especially nice to be able to get out of the class for a whole day. It was fast and testimony week for us and so we had a 2 hour mission conference with everyone in the MTC.  That was really awesome.  I gained a lot of insights and learned a lot as we listened to all the speakers we had.  The second speaker, Brother Daniels, talked about how we need to not just eat out of the scriptures but feast out of them.  Not just snorkel over them, but scuba dive into them.  I know that things like this have been said before but it is so true.  We really can gain so much more when we dive into them and try our hardest to find answers and gain insights every single time that we read.

He also had a first edition of the Book of Mormon and so that was really awesome as he brought that to show everyone.  He talked about how the 3 witnesses saw the physical evidence of the artifacts in the Book of Mormon to testify of the truthfulness of the things contained within the Book of Mormon, such as the sword of Laban, the Liahona, and so on.  It was a really good talk.

We heard many other good things, such as how we have the responsibility to help those we teach and to endure to the end for the rest of their lives.  I love how I will be able to develop a deep love for the people in Italy and be able to stay in contact with them and continue to be a part of their lives.  That to me is so special.  One thing that I thought was really neat was that there was an Elder here at the MTC that was challenged to give a Book of Mormon away on the way to the MTC and he was nervous to do it but accepted.  While he was on the plane to Salt Lake City he talked to the guy sitting next to him and they had some small chat of where they were going and once he said he was reporting to the MTC the guy said “Oh i served a misison.”  So the elder thought how will I ever give this thing away now.  He found out the man had been inactive for awhile now.  The Elder talked about how he wouldn’t know what he was going to say and after every time he would have to say something or ask a question the words would just come.  He gave him the book and invited him to read Moroni 10 and the guy accepted!

Well what got really interesting was that the chorus director, who directs the songs for the devotionals sometimes, was then invited to come tell the rest of the story.  It was her son that the Elder had chatted with.  She said that she and her husband have been praying for a long time that their son will realize the importance of the gospel in his life.  It was super awesome that her prayers were answered through that new missionary.  Our prayers are often answered in various different ways such as the scriptures, our thoughts, feelings, and through other people.

My testimony of prayer has strengthened this past week.  God does answer our prayers and he listens to us.  We have to be patient for the answers to come sometimes, but in His time He will answer them.

We watched an awesome video of Elder Bednar’s talk “Recognizing the Spirit” and I hope that you guys will be able to find that one online because it was so good.  [I couldn’t find it online.  Apparently, it is a talk he gave at the MTC in 2009 and those aren’t posted online] He told 3 stories about how there were times in his life that he was being prompted by the spirit without even realizing it.  The stories are awesome and I hope you guys will be able to find it and read it because I could have sworn I had heard one of his stories before.

I forgot to mention that the “Character of Christ” talk was a BYUI speech and I read it before my mission so it is out there!

I am so thankful for the Gift of the Holy Ghost in my life to help guide me through and do the things that I need to do.  We are blessed to have the light of Christ and being able to go and give people an opportunity to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost through baptism is super special.  In my life I know that the Holy Ghost is guiding me in ways that I don’t even realize.  He is consistently helping me do all I need to do to be able to do what is right in life.

Life as a missionary is wonderful!  It is the hardest thing I have done in my life.  No doubt about that it isn’t meant to be easy though.  If everything was easy in life, and we never had trials, how would we grow?  The lord truly does bless us with opposition in life.

For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.  (2 Nephi 2:11)

If we didn’t have that opposition in all things how would we be able to taste the sweetness and the joys in life.  Il progresso è un processo.  Our teacher talked about that with us earlier. He explained how we don’t countinuously progress constantly.  Rather, we go up and down, but we should never fall down further than where we progressed the last time.  We can constantly strive to set new goals and push ourselves further.  It’s like running.  Honestly, you see progress when you truly push yourself.  When you think that you can’t go any further you just have to know you can, because we have The Savior to bear us up and help us along the way.  From Matthew 11:28-30:

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

We are yoked with Him and He truly does carry more weight than we do.  That doesn’t mean we can’t try, but when we put all our efforts forward He will not leave us.  He never does.

Last night at the devotional we read the story of Ammon with the speaker, Elder Michael John U. Teh of the Seventy from the Philippines, and he has been called to be here in Utah for the past 22 months I think.  He really gave me something new to think about that story.  Ammon is definitely one of the best missionaries, but we talked about how he was young during King Benjamin’s address to the people, so he really didn’t understand it at the time.  And then when he was older he went out actively destroying the Church with Alma the Younger and his brothers.  Once Alma was struck dumb they all had a change of heart and really desired to do what is right in their lives.  They then had a strong desire to serve a mission.  And they all turned down the kingdom because they wanted to serve a mission.  Ammon was bound and captured when they decided to go preach to the Lamanites.  Sorry I am running out of time.  A turning point for his mission and his life was when King Lamoni asked what he was doing and he responded with wanting to reside and live with them serve him.  King Lamoni offered him a daughter to wife which could have eventually lead him being to possibly inheriting that kingdom and he turned that down and said he just wanted to serve him.  We right now as missionaries are on Par with Ammon and it it is our choice to write the rest of our story. I loved that.

I’m so excited for conference this week!!  It is going to be amazing.  We get to watch all the sessions here and we don’t have class at at all, so that means even more study time which I am looking forward to.  I encourage you all to pray about questions you may have and that you will be able to be prepared and ready for conference this weekend.  We can receive those answers through the prophets. I am so excited and I hope that you all will be able to watch it this weekend.  [BYU TV on Dish or Direct TV, or live via Internet feed from lds.org]

Well I have to get going.  I love you all and am thankful for being able to hear from you guys.  Keep reading the Book of Mormon.  Keep praying because Heavenly Father wants to hear from you.  And go to church because we can gain so much spiritual insight and knowledge from that.

Until next week!

Ci Vediamo!!

Anziano Taylor Garrett

Goodies from the “halfway done” party