Notes from Mom: As usual, I had several questions that needed answering.
2. Do you want your blue suit here at home sent to you? If not, totally fine. If you want just the pants, fine, but they don’t look quite as good as I know your others do.
3. Any toiletries you need?
"Please send the suit (whole thing). I'm about to go get the
suit. Still working on weekly message. Still have way too much candy left over.
Stop the love flood before it kills me.
I'm about to go get the package is what I meant. Sorry, I'm
typing like mad right now!
We might get them on Fridays or saturdays, but there was an
explosion of packages in the Mailroom on friday and saturday due to general
conference weekend. Couldn't get it. Thank you though...and STOP DISTRACTING
ME! You're throwing off my emailing groove;)
Also, just so you know...we all got money on our cards this
month! The church is true!"
Craziest MTC week in the existence of all MTC weeks. 360ish
new missionaries, Temple on wednesday, accoplishing 100% my language goal of
140 words, 30 Phrases, and mastering 20 grammar sequences. General Conference
where 7 members of my district sang Brightly Beams our Fathers Mercy and in the
same session everyone had a mass panic because President Monson seemed like he
was going into some sort of revelation/cardiac arrest mode at the podium! Oh,
plus the BYU vocal point came for the devotional last night...WHAT!
All in all, more has been done this week than I thought
possible, attesting to many of the talks in General Conference. I will just
talk about that this time (please remember that this is also my home teaching,
so please send it to the Andersons and the Lundbecks!):
Mom, to start with you, I felt that you were being directly
quoted by Elder Holland when he was talking about the divine role of motherhood
and the power of the love that you feel for me. I felt my understanding of that
love deepen and I felt guilty for every single time I brushed you off or talked
rudely to you or disrespected you rather than treating you like the queen you
are in my life. Ana, the same goes to you, being guilt tripped through the
understanding of my sins toward you. I hope you have forgiven me for the
countless times that I have mistreated you. You are also deserving of my
highest respect as a member of the class which represents the crowning jewel of
the creation.
Many people, though especially President Uchtdorf in his
initial address to the saints at the beginning of the conference, talked about
looking at your life and circumstances through Heaven's Eyes (cue chorus to
sing: lailailailailiddlelailai...). That song was stuck in my head for the
whole two hours between sessions on Saturday.
Larry R. Lawrence in that same session talked about
listening to the spirit no matter how and in your prayers including these:
1)What lack I yet? 2) What am I doing right? Francisco J. Vinas perfectly
followed Elder Lawrence's in talking about repentance being a process, and not
necessarily occurring at any specific moment.
I am reminded, as we all were, of the sacred sabbath day,
being repeatedly reminded to keep it holy, remembering our covenants we made at
baptism to be representatives of Christ in thought, word, and deed.
Robert D. Hales, whom I hold a very special place in my
heart, talked about seeking a spouse and raising children. We don't marry
perfection, but potential, and we seek to be the kind of person that we look
for in our eternal companion, or in application to my specific circumstances,
to be the missionary I would want my companion to be. We shouldn't hold outrageous
expectations though, you may find that you will end up lonely and angry with
everyone around you if you do that. I especially have an issue with having
ridiculous and even hypocritical expectations. As for raising a family (or
teaching an investigator for me), work through faith, not temporal mediums.
Come to yourself in personal counsel as well as holding companionship counsels
and family counsels.
Bradley D. Foster emphasized that we must win
the battle for the children in bringing about a lasting conversion through
reception and understanding of the gospel "...for the Son can do nothing
but what he seeth the Father do." Teach in simplicity, patience,
gentleness, and having a hope that the spirit will fill in the gaps for all of
your personal weaknesses. This filling can only occur if you have faith though,
and are obedient to the commandments that you have been given by your Father in
Heaven.
You can feel the Comforter sharing the love of christ
anywhere if you will but allow Christ to lift you.
Elder Oaks stated that
Christ is perfectly positioned for the lifting of souls unto salvation, having
literally descended below all. From the walls of the Temple to the walls of the
darkest prison, the Charity of God knows no physical boundaries. The only boundary
is YOU!
As for priesthood session, Elder Anderson bluntly began the
session by stating that we as priesthood holders can no longer stand on neutral
ground in any circumsance, and invited us to remember that the future is only
as bright as your faith. Have you noticed the pattern of simplicity in all of
these talks? Have you noticed that they are ALL based on the contents of, you
named it, the missionary purpose (which I now have memorized not only in
cantonese, but in Thai as well for some odd reason).
President Monson's message
was the most straightforward of all: Keep the Commandments. Be strong and alert
of anything that could cause you to lose your blessings. Satan is cunning. Be
firm and steadfast in faith. Satan is relentless...So am I. His slightly
hilarious quote of 1 Corinthians: "There are so many different voices in
the world...(slight giggle) close quote." We watched that again Saturday
night just because we all thought it was the most hilarious thing ever. You
really can quote anything when you are the president of the church (except
Jeremiah 4:19 and pretty much anything from Songs of Solomon). We cannot allow
ourselves to participate to any extent in that which is addictive, immoral, or
unrighteous.
The "panic session" as the Sunday morning session
is now called here at the MTC, is so named because President Monson seeming to
almost fall over at the pulpit after an amazing and powerful address about the
attributes and role of Christ in our Salvation, as well as how we should
replicate those attributes in our lives. We also received the powerful
testimony of three amazing new members of the Quorum of the Twelve. We have
another heart specialist as well as what I believe is now the youngest member
of the quorum. Congrats to Elder Bednar for making it that long as the youngest
one. Russel M. Nelson brought me to tears as he mentioned his indescribable
loss of friends, but he knew where they were. He just misses them, and their
amazing influence that they had on him. He focused on the support that they had
from their unwavering wives as well as his own wife. President Kimball saw the
women of today, knowing how powerful they are as well as the struggles they
would face.
Claudio R.M. Costa actually gave the devotional on Tuesday
last week. He is a HILARIOUS guy, and his love for the missionaries all over
the world is so full. He's a convert to the church, and he talked about his own
conversion story and how he couldn't get baptized fast enough.
As far as Ponderizing, this week my scripture for ponderizing
is Philippians 4:13. Mom and Dad, take this challenge seriously. It will help
everyone. Put your scriptures in the cars, on the windows, frame them, do
whatever it takes. It will help the spirit have a constant presence in the
house. This challenge goes to everyone within the sound of my technologically
enhanced voice. The spirit has confirmed to my entire zone the importance of
this invitation.
Finally, Elder Bednar's concluding talk praising those who
have passed. The church is run by old people for a reason. Each person, if you
didn't notice the super obvious pattern, gave Elder Bednar a "Powerful
lesson of a lifetime...From a man [he] loved."
The music was especially profound. SO MANY PEOPLE I KNOW! I
saw Brother Mendenhall conducting, Sister Walker and Sister Crockett singing,
and a few new friends from the MTC there as well. Every single missionary
enjoyed the session with the unbelievably adorable children's choir, and the
Spirit of God was sung so loudly in the MTC that we literally caused the chairs
in the room to vibrate (yes, we did sing with them, because president Burgess
told us to).
Tell Sister Walker that I about broke down because I heard
"The Pasture" sung by the MoTab men. Good memories can hurt too when
they flood your mind. Simon, tell your team that I say good job. Strive even
harder for a perfect season in this life.Ngohdeih dou bitseuiyiu dakdou
funsyu taugwo Yehsou Geidukge Suhkjeuih (translation: we all desperately
need to receive forgiveness through the atonement of Jesus Christ). I love and
miss you all. Tell Abby Nielson that it was great to see her on the 29th.
Love you all!
This was the only picture for the week: Kim Jong Hitler.
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