MTC – Week 5

Ciao!!

This week was a lot of fun and we were busy as usual.  So I can’t remember if I ever mentioned that after our temple time a few weeks ago we ran into an investigator that comes to the MTC and she is so cool!  We talked to her because she saw our name tags and saw “Anziano.”  She was being taught by some other missionaries that were going to Italy when they were here at the MTC and she loved them, so that was really cool.  We kept talking to her and got to know her a little better and shared a few things with her.  The next week we ran into her before dinner and we talked to her for around an hour and got to share a lot of cool spiritual insights with her.  It was so cool.  We gave her some scriptures to read and a video to watch on the mormonchannel.com called The Hope of God’s Light.  That is one of my favorite mormon messages of all time.  I love that one and I thought that she would really enjoy that too.

Well we ran into her on the way back from the temple again and talked to her for around 45 minutes and got to know her even better.  I was so thankful for that opportunity and we really care for her and she followed up on the commitments we extended so that was really awesome.  We get to talk to her again today so I am excited about that!  She just talked about how much she liked being here at the MTC and felt good here and how she knows that she needs to start reading the Book of Mormon.  She is so awesome.  She really does believe that God is helping her in her life and she shared an experience she had with her son that truly did testify that God’s hand has been in her life continually.   He never leaves us through what we are going through and we need to do as Alma directed his son Helaman in Alma 37:36-37:

36 Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

37 Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

We can lean to our Heavenly Father for everything and Christ knows us so personally, more than we know ourselves and He too is always here for us.  I am so thankful for the Savior Jesus Christ and the opportunity we had this past weekend to celebrate his Resurrection and then remember his atoning sacrifice for us.  I am just eternally thankful that He saved every single one of us.

I loved Jefferey R. Holland’s talk during conference Sunday morning.  It was so awesome!  The story he told is riveting and applies so much to our relationship with the Savior.  I would highly recommend watching it.  I loved conference so much!!  It super nice to get to watch all 10 hours of it on Saturday and Sunday and I really enjoyed it.  I loved so much from it and got something away from every single talk.  I loved how one of the main themes was families and they all shared really great things regarding that.

I loved the talk by Linda K. Burton that talked about how there is misconception of what a man really is these days, and that we have a responsibility to be the best loving husbands and fathers we could be, and that is what a true man is.  One that looks outwards to his family.  She also talked about how her husband looks most attractive when he is serving others.  I loved that point.  I love my dad and am so so so thankful for him in my life and he has inspired me a lot and I have always looked up to him as my hero.

A lot of the talks just reminded me of how important the family is and how I really want to make sure I am the best husband and father I can be later in life.

Conference really rocked and i am thankful for the talks about the savior and also from Elder Bednar that we shouldn’t take counsel from our fears and let them guide our decisions in life, but should press forward with a steadfastness in Christ.  Conference was amazing and I look forward to reading and studying the talks again.

Fratello Gessel (one of our three teachers) made the excellent point monday that Satan doesn’t mind if we watch conference and have a spiritual weekend.  The most important part is what we take away and do with what we took away from it.  It is important to set some good goals after conference and work towards them.  Just 2 or 3 at the max that we can really work towards and follow up.

The temple announcements (Haiti, Ivory Coast, and Bangkok, Thailand) were awesome.  I am excited for the one in Haiti becuase so many people go there for service trips and they will be able to see that we are going to have a temple there and that is so cool.  Temple sites are truly inspired and I am so excited for the one in Rome to open up.  That is going to be so cool and it will give us an oppurtunity to share the gospel even more once we are there.

So last Thursday we had a lesson with a native Italian speaker through skype and it was so cool because I taught Sorella Battezzato who has a daughter in the Rome mission right now!  It was super awesome because she knew me and knew who I was before I even introduced myself because she reads my blog which was really neat!  I read Sorella Battezzato’s blog before the mission and really enjoyed reading all of the blogs to know what was going on in my mission before I get there.

So we got our flight plans and I have one layover in Chicago and then to Rome.  I am excited to be able to come back home for a little!!  Will miss my mom by one day I think.  I’m not sure what airport she will be at though.  It will be weird being so close to home before I leave.

I’m super excited for next week.  I will have to be up by around 2:00-2:15 in the morning, so that will be rough.  It will be super awesome to finally get to Italy though!  I love the MTC and am thankful for the things I have learned here and it’s crazy to think this time next week I will be getting my first assignment and then start to really get to work.  I am pumped.  I am really exctied to meet the people in Italy.  The Lord loves all his children and he has prepared so some of them for me to share the gospel with and I just want to make sure that I can do all I can to prepare for them to feel the Holy Ghost as strong as they can so they can know of the truthfullness of the message we have.  I want to be like Ammon in Alma 26:11-12 and know that I am not doing this by myself.  I am being helped along every step of the way and that the Holy Ghost is really teaching, not me.

Next week will be awesome.  Thanks for all the snacks.  I was able to share the many cinnamon roles with my whole branch and they were really awesome!!  I got an Easter basket from my family too that had a bunny tie in it.  Fratello Gessel has that same tie so I thought that was really awesome.

I love my teachers here at the MTC.  They are all so awesome and really care for us and about us and I think that is so wonderful.  They really help me progress and I am thankful for them.   They are all super fun, funny, and really have strong testimonies.  I enjoy hearing them share them with us.  I am excited for them to talk about Italy with us all day next Monday and that will be really aweseome.

I am exctied to go out make memories of my own.  I love this work.  Keep praying, keep reading, and keep going to church!!  If anyone would like a Book of Mormon, talk to my family.  I am going to give them that responsibility haha.  It is a book that I love reading and we can grow closer to God through it and it has brought changes in my life and also so much happiness that the gospel brings to me.  I love the scripture in Alma 36:24:

36 And this I know, because the Lord hath said he dwelleth not in unholy temples, but in the hearts of the righteous doth he dwell; yea, and he has also said that the righteous shall sit down in his kingdom, to go no more out; but their garments should be made white through the blood of the Lamb.

I love you all and will talk to you in probably around a week and a half.

Arrevaderci!!

Anziano Taylor Garrett