Hope all is well in Virginia! My first full week in the MTC has gone by a lot faster (thank goodness) than the last one. It's nice to finally be setting into a routine here. The language is going better, but can still be very discouraging at times. They've changed a lot of the language classes here so missionaries are teaching in their mission language from day one. We're part of the first batch to do it so we'll be a good litmus test. So far I've taught three lessons in Tagalog (Crazy!). It's very tough and my grammar is by no means good, I just try to use the words I know and piece them together into a sentence the best I can. It's really cool here because we're always teaching progressive investigators (our instructors). Our investigators are real people our teachers taught on their missions, so they act the way they did and have the same issues. Our investigator right now is a man named Rusty. Rusty is a father of one and has a wife named Maria. Rusty is very receptive, but has a hard time understanding the scriptures. This is hard because we invited him to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it but he was just so confused. So, I bought a children's version of the Book of Mormon which summarizes the stories and has pictures so hopefully he'll understand and be able to pray about it.
Last night we went to the Training Resource Center (TRC), where we teach mock investigators. Usually you'll teach volunteer returned missionaries, but because we were short on investigators we taught members of another Tagolog class. I was so nervous going into it!! Almost more nervous than I am before playing in a big game or taking a test! But the Spirit helped us get through it and teach the message of the restoration. Elder Tamale and I rotated off different parts of the lessons, but he's really struggling with the language so I had to give most of the lesson. Anyways, I was reading from a pamphlet about the First Vision. At this point I felt kind of dumb because I felt like what I was trying to say wasn't making sense and I had so many things to say but just didn't know how to. I came to the page about the first vision, and immediately just felt the Spirit take over. My heart stopped pounding, I spoke slower and more clearly. And then I came to the end, and I read, "Ito ang aking Pinakamamahal na Anak. Pakinggan Siya!" (This is my Beloved Son. Hear Him!) Wow! As I bore my testimony about Joseph Smith, I was overcome with the Spirit, and used words and phrases I knew I didn't remember coming in. The most important language for missionaries to learn is not French, Spanish, English, or Tagalog. It's the Spirit. The language of the Spirit teaches us things and others that we have no possible way of communicating through the spoken or written word. What an important principle for all of us to learn, that as we have the Spirit in our lives, we will be able to do things and know truths we would have never been able to attain. While I miss my Fox News, Taylor Swift, and Facebook, not having things to distract from the promptings of the Spirit has allowed me to tap into things I had never imagined. Another experience this week for devotional we had Elder Winkel of the Seventy. He and his wife shared a presentation that was made for the Quorum of the Twelve about the Majesty of Christ using movie clips, pictures, and commentary. Going into it, I wasn't looking forward to it as much because I wanted to hear from Elder Holland. But as the presentation went on, I was struck by the enormity of my calling as a representative of Jesus Christ. The Savior of the World, the only Begotten of the Father who died for all of us. Even if it had just been one person, he would have done it. That's the Christ-like love I want to emulate, and what I believe is the true definition of Charity. To give all that you have, even if just for the one. He lives, He is Risen. This is my testimony, sa pangalan ni Jesu Cristo, Amen.
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