Week Two in the MTC

Just here in the MTC doing pretty well.

This week has been a pretty good week though. Time is very odd in the MTC though. In a way it has gone by really slow, but this week seems to have gone by fast. Just like they say, the days feel like weeks, and the weeks feel like days. I have a theory for that though. We do so much every day that by the end of the day I can't really remember what I did. You add up all the days of the week where you don't really remember what you did, so you feel like you haven't done much, and boom! It's Friday and the week seems like it went by really fast even though when you're going through the week it feels like forever.

Spanish is starting to get a little more tough though. My headstart helped for sure, but now we are all coming up on about the same level. Thankfully we don't have to teach a lesson in spanish until like week 4 or 5, but that doesn't mean we aren't learning anything. Today I have to go to the TRC and "meet someone" in spanish. So it will be something like, "Hola, mi nombre es Elder Hicks. El es me companero Elder Clark. Somos representantes de la iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias. Cual es su nombre?" Something like that, and then we ask them a few questions and then we're done. We also have to teach lesson one today in the TRC in English. I know about the lesson, but me and my companion still have a lot to learn in teaching with unity. We don't really prepare very well together, so how can we be expected to teach well together? It's like we both read the lesson separately, talk about it a little bit, and then expect to be able to teach as one. That isn't working very well, but we are both still learning.

Last Sunday was a pretty great day. It was fun to have most of sacrament meeting in spanish. Our branch president makes everyone write a talk every week and then in sacrament, he'll call on people to read their talks. So you never know if it's going to be you or not. For the first week we were allowed to write our talks in English, but from now on we have to write them in Spanish. He mainly wants us to write every week I think, so that in the field, we will already have some talks prepared. This week isn't as big of deal though because it is fast and testimony meeting, so we would only have to bear our testimonies.

On Sunday night we had a devotional with Brother Heaton who works here at the MTC (I think it's Caleb's friend Jeff's dad) Anyway, he gave a good talk, and then after that, we got to watch the Joseph Smith movie. I love that movie, it is so great.

Anyway, on Tuesday we had devotional with Elder Hinckley and his wife and they gave us some great insights on having a successful mission (Sister Hinckley talked a lot about being optimistic). Then we had a district devotional with our branch president and his wife. Something he said really struck me though. One of the elders in our district was re-asking a question that was asked in devotional about learning to love your investigators. He told us to look at Mosiah 5:13 and replace the word man with missionary, and replace the word master with Investigator. And in some cases (if you are trying to learn to love your companion) change the word master to companion. I guess that's what you have to do to love everyone, is just to serve them. That's how I will better learn to love my companion here at the MTC, by learning to serve him.

We also watched a video this week, that was a talk by Elder Holland from 2000. It was purely based on missionary work. It was a really great talk and there are a couple of points I would like to share. He said that some of the hardest lessons, are the best education we get. Although I sometimes have a hard time here, it honestly is the best education I'm probably going to get in my life. He also said that there is no promise for heroic success on our mission, but we need to make sure to pledge heroic effort. This is good for me to realize that if and when things aren't going very successful on my mission, all I need to do is just try my best. I know that that is really all that I can do. He also shared with real power saying something about how if you go home early (not counting if you get sick, or there is an emergency or tragedy) you will ruin your life. I can totally see how much regret one would feel if they came home early.

Gym time here is pretty great. We usually play sand volleyball every day, which is a real blast. The b-ball courts don't open till the 14th now, so I guess I have to wait a little longer. It's awesome living with the zone leaders though, and trying to follow the great example that they set.

Thank You so much for the propels, and for the lemon bars, they were delish. And good news! I found my ring! Now i'm gonna be more careful with it.

Well I gotta run.

Love you all so much,

Talk to you next week!

The Gospel is True!!!!!!

Love,

Elder Hicks