Hello Everyone!!
This last week was pretty sick, both in the real part of the word in which I am still recovering from my sore throat and in the figurative language that it was a pretty good week. It started with a bang, quite literally, on the Fourth of July. We had a special devotional after dinner in which we listened to some cool, patriotic musical numbers and then heard from a speaker talking about how real hero's are disciples of Christ. Then, we were all allowed to watch the pioneer movie 17 Miracles which is one of my favorites. It was so cool to see a film I had seen before the mission and how much more I could relate to the pioneer's struggles now that I was on a mission. I am truly grateful for the sacrifice of all those early pioneers and my ancestors who crossed the plains and suffered illness, death, and setbacks just so they could be a part of the Lord's work. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be here in the MTC today.
I am also so grateful for all of our founding fathers and those who fought for freedom throughout American history and not just in the Revolutionary War. God truly did help in the creation of this great nation so his gospel could be restored back to the Earth and flourish in America and now in some many others parts of the world. It is weird to think I will be leaving this great country that has offered me so many blessings these last 18 years of my life. I truly will miss it but and so proud to be able to be an American. After the film we got to watch the fireworks from the Stadium of Fire here in Provo. Our Brazilian and Chilean elders really enjoyed the holiday and it was a nice treat to be able to stay up watching the fireworks past our bedtime or until 10:45.
A couple days after the fourth, our senpai (those in our zone that came in three weeks before us) left for Nihon. It was super sad because I had become good friends with them all and I learned so much from them and their examples. My favorite teacher Clark Kyodai also left us this week for a three week vacation to Rome. I'm kind of jealous and sad we won't be able to see him before we go but going to Nihon in two weeks and a half will be an awesome adventure. What we lost with our senpai we gained again when we got kohai or in other words we got two new districts that are six weeks younger then us come in yesterday. Me and Ricks Choro went over to give them a big welcome because they are in a different residence hall then us and low and behold there was my good friend from high school Ryan, I mean, Elder Meservey!!! So we talked a little bit, and I will be able to see him a lot in the next couple of weeks as he is in my zone. One of the kohai is named Elder Hall too but he is from California and part Polynesian so I think that rules me out of being related to him. #100%whiteboi But it is super fun to have more than just our district in the zone again, and we will try to not corrupt them too much and be good examples.
Perhaps the best part of my week was the devotional on Tuesday night. Neil L. Anderson from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came and spoke to us about the Spirit. It was so cool!!! This last week I had been challenged in coaching by our Brazilian elder Correa Choro to try to recognize the Spirit more in my life since I had voiced to him some of my concerns of not being able to fully listen to the Spirit when I was teaching our investigators lessons. That was on Saturday so I spent the next few days trying to recognize the Spirit more and more in my life and trying to follow it in my lessons so that are investigator can come closer to Christ even though our Nihongo might be terrible. So I had been trying to do that the past few days and then I went to the devotional. The Spirit was so strong throughout the whole thing! He talked about the blessings of the Spirit and how it can sanctify us, comfort us, help us find answers to our prayers, and bare testimony of simple truths not only to our investigators but also to us! It made me realize how important the Spirit is in not just teaching but in our everyday lives. Through it, you can feel God's love for you and learn of simple truth. His wife talked as well and she bore her testimony on the Holy Ghost and how we can have a member of the Godhead be with us all the time. The devotional made me realize that I need to strive to have the Spirit be with me always so that I can not only come closer to Christ but help others do so and without feeling the Holy Ghost, one cannot come unto Christ and learn of his true truth. I am so grateful that God has given us a means to always have him be with us and feel his love 24/7. I know that the Spirit can be with us always if we continue to choose what is right and try our best. I hope that everyone can strive to feel God's love for them in their lives and can't wait to hear from everybody today!
Have a great next week!
皆さん あいしてます!!!
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