April 27 2012

Hey everyone!

A ton of things have happened in the past week and a half. They are going to be constructing a huge nine story building here in the next week, so they switched everyone's schedules around. My new P-day is Friday. More importantly, I finally got moved into my Portuguese classes last Wednesday, and I am having a lot of fun there. From the time I walked into the classroom, until today, I don't think that my teacher has said more than 100 words to me in English. I've had to adjust really fast, but I'm also learning the language a lot faster than I expected. It has only been a week, but I can already feel my way through most of the lessons. I still can't speak very well, but it's good enough that people can understand me. On the second day of language study, I already had to teach and investigator in Portuguese. My companion and I taught him four times. Yesterday we found out that he is going to be one of our teachers, so that was really cool. All of the teachers here are great.

The devotionals this week were really cool too. On Sunday, Brother Allen, the director of the Missionary department for the entire Church was here. He was absolutely hilarious, but he still delivered a really powerful message. He said that no matter how hard missions can get, there is almost no reason that any missionary should ever come home. The Lord can help you with any challenges that you face. On Tuesday, Elder Russel M. Nelson was here. He titled his talk, "The Doctrine." It was about the Doctrine of Christ, how powerful a tool it is in the conversion process. He also talked about just how simple, yet powerful the doctrine itself is. It is faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. I've had that memorized in English for a few weeks now, and I almost have it memorized in Portuguese. With Elder Nelson visiting, I have seen three Apostles in the four weeks that I've been here. It really is awesome to see and hear the devotionals here, especially when an Apostle comes. I'm just hoping that a couple more will visit while I'm here. That is one advantage this MTC has over the Sao Paulo MTC.

Other than that stuff, my week has been pretty uneventful. I love you guys!

Sincerely,

Elder Day

April 16

Hey everyone!

This week has been a lot of fun! On Tuesday, Keith B. McMullin, of the previous Presiding Bishopric spoke at the devotional. His talk was about the importance of the Holy Ghost in teaching. He also told us not to be afraid of bearing our testimonies. He told a story about an Area 70 in Africa who was riding a bus with a bunch of Evangelicals. One lady starting yelling about how awful Mormon's are. Soon, she had the whole bus in an uproar. Instead of keeping his head down, and trying to stay out of trouble, the 70 started reading 2nd Nephi 25:26. After the first line, the lady yelled, "Amen!" After each line, more of the bus got involved, until everyone was cheering their agreement. After he finished the verse, the lady asked him if he was a preacher. The 70 told her he was reading straight from the Book of Mormon. She was baptized a little while later. It just goes to show how powerful the Book of Mormon can be. If people will just take the time to read it, and pray about it, they can't deny it's truthfulness.

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful until Friday. My companion, who is also going to Brazil, received his visa, and travel plans. He is leaving this Tuesday, along with the rest of my district. I turned in my visa application around the same time as my companion did, so I am hoping mine will arrive any day now. On Wednesday I will probably be assigned a new companion, and I will be placed into Portuguese classes. I am really excited. I don't know exactly what I will be doing on Tuesday though. My whole district will be gone by 8:00 am, so I will probably be attached to one of the other districts in my zone until Wednesday. I haven't gotten any information from the MTC about this yet, so I'm just guessing with all of this.

For the Sunday night devotional, M. Russel Ballard was here! He talked a lot about the development of Preach My Gospel, and how powerful a tool it is. He also told us that we shouldn't get involved in really deep doctrinal discussions with investigators. In most cases, the only things we should be stressing is the Doctrine of Christ, which is faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. If they understand that, everything else will follow without issue.

I'm having a great time here, but I can't wait to get to Brazil. I know there are people there that are just waiting for me to share the gospel with them, and I hope that I can do my best! I love you guys!

Sincerely,

Elder Day

April 9th, 2012

Hey everyone!

This week was awesome! On Monday, I got to shake President Brown's hand! (the President of the MTC) Vai Sikahema, the first Tongan to ever receive a football scholarship to BYU gave us a devotional on Tuesday, and he was great. He is a Chief Broadcaster for NBC in Philedelphia, so he had some really funny stories for us, but his message was mostly how important missions, and missionaries are to the world. My classes have been going really well, and I am learning so much about the role the Spirit plays in teaching, and conveying the message of the Gospel. Because of that, I am getting much better with sharing the lessons with "investigators" in ways that they can feel and understand the Spirit. Being in the MTC for Easter was even better than being here for General Conference. We had a huge MTC-wide sacrament meeting in the gym, and President Packer was presiding! He was there with his son, Elder Packer of the 1st Quorum of the 70, and we all took the Sacrament together. President Packer shared a message with us about the Atonement of Christ. It was centered on the scripture, "Repentance could not come unto man save there be a punishment." He told us anytime we sin, it is like we break our spirits, and the only way we can fix it is through the Lord Jesus Christ. We can't expect everything to be ideal, and that the trials we experience are what make us strong. If we follow the Atonement, we can have happiness, and that we need to remove fear from our lives, as it is the opposite of faith. I enjoyed his talk more than any i have heard by him in recent memory. He was more lighthearted than i have ever seen him, and he even told a couple of jokes. I am very glad that I had the opportunity to be here for that. Later, on Sunday night, I was able to watch, "Joseph Smith, the First Prophet of the Restoration." I have seen it a couple times already, but I still love watching it. I have always found Joseph Smith and his life fascinating, and I love learning about him. After the movie, my companion and I were walking back to our residence hall, and I was telling him about my experiences at Nauvoo, Carthage Jail, Liberty Jail, and other Church history sites. I was very young when I visited all of those places, but I still remember the feelings I experienced. As I was telling Elder Hendrix about them, I was overcome with the Spirit. I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet, and I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I can't wait to share these feelings and experiences with others in Brazil. There is nothing I would rather be doing right now than serving a mission. I love and miss everybody, and I am having a great time here!

Love,

Elder Day

April 2, 2010

The MTC is awesome. Every minute of my time is taken up while im here. I have around 8 hours of classroom instruction each day, and a ton of personal study time. I've been trying to read through all of the Book of Mormon during that. Class is awesome. They are putting a huge emphasis on "Teaching people, not lessons," so we have been teaching "investigators," that are played by either our teachers, or our companions. Soon we will have to teach other people. They could either be an actor from the community, or an actual investigator, so that will be pretty nerve racking. They are also teaching us to invite investigators to be baptized on our first visit with them. That sounded really strange to me when I heard it, but now as I've had the opportunity to learn, and teach more, I am becoming much more comfortable with it. I know that if I can listen to the spirit, and teach the right things, than anybody that I happen to be teaching will know the gospel is true, just as surely as I know it. I am learning to teach these lessons in English first, because of the pilot program I am a part of. I will begin to learn Portuguese on April 18th, and I am very excited for it. Brennen Davis got here on the same day, and he is already teaching in Russian, so I will have a lot of pressure on me to learn the language in a lesser amount of time. I will be leaving for Brazil on May 28th, so I will be in the Provo MTC for a long time. I cant wait to get to Brazil, and start sharing the gospel with the people there. I hope everyone knows that I love and miss them!