Hi!
Well, two weeks down and one to go before I head down to the MTC in the Dominican Republic - it's pretty crazy. I feel like I've been here for months, yet the days all kind of mush together. I got my flight plans, and
I'll be flying to Chicago, and then to Miami. and finally to the DR - up at 4am and not there until almost midnight... im pretty excited.
Not a ton of exciting things lately, but the Spirit is as strong as ever. My
District is unified and I'm greatful I haven't had to deal with any
problems. The last two weeks we have had two General Authorities speak to us,
Elder Gary Coleman was last night, and he did a pretty good job. I think I might
sing in the MTC chior for next week's devotional. They both talked about
missionary work and our role as missionaries. The best so far, though, was a
sunday night fireside with the MTC director who related how Joseph Smith's
experience is an exact model of what every investigator goes through when
joining the church, same thing with Lehi... loads of times in scripture it's all
the same, and that was an angle I had never thought of before, and it made
sense. I guess it's something to use one day if I ever had a problem helping
someone to see the significance of the event.
Elder Carter is a great guy. He lives two doors down from me, and is
ready to talk or listen, give advice, whatever. One particular day that left us
all pretty exhausted, he related to us a scritpture in Ether 15 (i cant remember
the verse) about how they slept on their swords and shields during war, and if
you relate that to the Armor of God scritures in Ephesian, it applies to
missionary work. We are in a war, the sword is the word and the sheild is our
faith, and there is nothing Satan can do if we don't let him. Just remember,
Satan is jealous of us, he can never be like us, and although he has power to
bruise our heal, we have the power to smash his head (and then he did a cool
karate smash move thing against the wall) - so I won't get discouraged, why
should I? Sunday night we watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration and I thought, if only the world could see this, how could deny it? The Church is so true. It is God's organization on the earth, and we are lead by a true,
living, breathing Prophet! It''s all so amazing.
Saturday was Game Day, we taught the first lesson (in english) in the
Teaching Evaulation Center, and I feel like we did a good job. The Spirit was
there, we were able to adapt to our investigator, and i really felt like we
worked as a team to share this wonderful message. Now I just have to do it in
Spanish. (Although we prayed as a district beforehand in english, which our spanish teacher overheard - he was a bit disappointed I think).
I'll be flying to Chicago, and then to Miami. and finally to the DR - up at 4am and not there until almost midnight... im pretty excited.
Not a ton of exciting things lately, but the Spirit is as strong as ever. My
District is unified and I'm greatful I haven't had to deal with any
problems. The last two weeks we have had two General Authorities speak to us,
Elder Gary Coleman was last night, and he did a pretty good job. I think I might
sing in the MTC chior for next week's devotional. They both talked about
missionary work and our role as missionaries. The best so far, though, was a
sunday night fireside with the MTC director who related how Joseph Smith's
experience is an exact model of what every investigator goes through when
joining the church, same thing with Lehi... loads of times in scripture it's all
the same, and that was an angle I had never thought of before, and it made
sense. I guess it's something to use one day if I ever had a problem helping
someone to see the significance of the event.
Elder Carter is a great guy. He lives two doors down from me, and is
ready to talk or listen, give advice, whatever. One particular day that left us
all pretty exhausted, he related to us a scritpture in Ether 15 (i cant remember
the verse) about how they slept on their swords and shields during war, and if
you relate that to the Armor of God scritures in Ephesian, it applies to
missionary work. We are in a war, the sword is the word and the sheild is our
faith, and there is nothing Satan can do if we don't let him. Just remember,
Satan is jealous of us, he can never be like us, and although he has power to
bruise our heal, we have the power to smash his head (and then he did a cool
karate smash move thing against the wall) - so I won't get discouraged, why
should I? Sunday night we watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration and I thought, if only the world could see this, how could deny it? The Church is so true. It is God's organization on the earth, and we are lead by a true,
living, breathing Prophet! It''s all so amazing.
Saturday was Game Day, we taught the first lesson (in english) in the
Teaching Evaulation Center, and I feel like we did a good job. The Spirit was
there, we were able to adapt to our investigator, and i really felt like we
worked as a team to share this wonderful message. Now I just have to do it in
Spanish. (Although we prayed as a district beforehand in english, which our spanish teacher overheard - he was a bit disappointed I think).
Everything else.... pretty normal. Spanish is coming, still pretty much praying
and having conversations in the language. We finally are learning the Past
tenses which is making things easier.
Hmmmm, I had a little paper with things on it I wanted to say... and then I
left the paper in our room. So my days are pretty much class and studying
between 6:30am and 9:30pm ever day, even today is rushed. I think the best part is mail time, when get the warm fuzzys. I don't really know what's happening in the outside world, I think the Olympics are happening. Everything is great though, memorizing the First Vision in spanish.... lots of meetings. Oh, we had a district meeting on Sunday and I had to teach, but I forgot until about an
hour before. Then the Branch President showed up for the class too. I taught
about effective study, and it actually went very well, one of the few times I've
taught a class and felt comfortable. The Hermanas are also keeping us on our
toes, they always seems to do better than the Elders in everything... but they
are always late to meals... very peculiar.
Food is still not bad, we get ice cream on wednesdays and sundays, that's
something to look forward to. Oh our district has also broken most of the
unknown rules that are actually rules. Like, no taking pictures in the golf
carts, no singing happy birthday in the cafeteria, no ultimate frisbee, no
soccer with the hermanas, whistling in the stairwells among other things. They
really should tell these unsuspecting newbees every wednesday what they are
really getting into :)
No, its really great and I love it. The people care about you, and want to do
everything to help. I'm learning more and more everyday, especially about
patience with others, and myself. The work is real, and it is going forward. The
small and simple things like us missionaries WILL confound the wise of this
world because we have something no PhD could ever have - we can answer the
questions no professor of religion can answer - we know that we are children of
God, we know why we are here and this message can and will bring salvation to
all those why will ask and pray sincerely. In the scriptures it says "it is
easy to follow Chirst" and it is. I love the Gospel, it's amazing, it's simple, and it WORKS!!!
Love you all!!! Until next week.
Elder Sellers
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