MTC Week 7

Dear Family,

How is life getting back to school? Sounds like New Years was enjoyed by all, whether it was asleep in bed or celebrating. You can always count on Clarissa to celebrate when the parents go to bed.

Is it cold in Maryland? Sunday it was -5 degrees F when we headed over to Sacrament. Provo is very snowy! We are walking to the temple today so we'll be out in it for a bit.

I am getting so anxious to get out to Houston. We were part of the group that was brought in early because of the holidays so we will be here about a week longer than the rest of our district. They leave in about 2 weeks and we leave on the 28th of January. There is an elder going to our mission that had an injury and so he couldn't go right before Christmas like was the plan but he found out yesterday that they had booked him a flight for today so we wrote down some questions for him about the weather, the mission president, what to expect etc.

This week was another great week.

Tuesday night's devotional we heard from Kevin W. Pearson of the Seventy. That was one of my favorite. He got his MBA at Harvard and so immediately I knew it would be amazing, but he said at ton of things that struck everyone really powerfully. Something he really emphasized was that when he was a mission president, the missionaries were not allowed to say they were TRYING. TRYING isn't allowed. Good missionaries DO. Are you waking up every morning at 6:30am and going to sleep by 10:30pm? How silly is it to say "I'm trying to be obedient and follow these rules"? The Savior throughout the scriptures not once asked us to try.

He also talked about how important it is to establish the power of divine identity with an investigator before they can learn more. The understanding that Heavenly Father knows us individually, that he called Joseph Smith by name, that he rejoices in our rejoices in sorrows in our sorrows is the fundamental piece of knowledge the gospel of Jesus Christ issues. Just the day before I received a Dear Elder from Rae. I was reminded of her patriarchal blessing as she mentioned it. I know I joked about it then, but when Patriarch Willis said all of those foreboding things about trouble and tribulation in her life, I was really afraid for little perfect Rae. In that Dear Elder I was comforted by the words she said when she essentially bore testimony that she knows she is a daughter of Heavenly Father. He loves her so much. Heavenly Father doesn't call us to fail and so any trial we are given is out of trust that he knew we would be able to handle it.

This week we taught the first lesson in Spanish in the Teaching Resource Center. We taught a man named Marcos from Lima, Peru now living in Provo. He has Polio and knows the Alfredo Lopez family. The Spirit was so strong during that lesson. Even though he was just pretending, we were able to first establish that understanding that Marcos is a child of God.

Last Tuesday the temple was closed for cleaning but we were able to go and clean inside. It was a great experience. We also saw the enormous chandelier that they were about to install in the celestial room. I am excited to go today and see it all lit up and in place.

Sunday I played a flute that was borrowed from one our branch presidency members, Brother Palmer. I played "If You Could Hie to Kolob" along with Elder Arnold who was in Men's Chorus before his mission and Hermana Bausermann at the piano who is serving in Provo, UT Spanish Speaking Mission after having attended BYU for 3 years. It was beautiful. I played the flute better than I ever have before and a lot of people were impressed; but most of all, the Spirit was sooo strong. It was a great experience.

Testimony meeting was amazing. I bore my testimony because I realized it would be my last fast Sunday in the MTC. My Spanish was perfect. I not once struggled for the conjugation or word... I bore a simple testimony that the Church is true and this is the Lord's work.

I will write my letters today but I have a few more pictures I want to send home so I'll hold off for a few days before sending them.

I love each of you and hope all is well. I pray for you countless times a day.

Love,

Camille