Week 4
This week started with our P-day on Monday, and was followed by Christmas Eve and Christmas. Basically, the first 3 days of this week were just days off. We still had class Monday night, and had another TRC (Teaching Resource Center) appointment, where we taught an actual Brazilian couple from Sâo Paulo, who recommended that we try the pizza in the city. The lesson went great, and although it was near impossible to understand the husband due to his super speed speaking, I was able to understand the majority of what his wife was saying. At the end of the lesson the couple exclaimed how much they love missionaries, and how they hope to serve a mission as a couple when they are older. Unfortunately, I don't have the photo, but the couple then asked to take a picture with us, and thanked us for our hard work and dedication. That felt so good, to be reassured that our hard work has payed off, and shows in our speech and knowledge of the language.
On Christmas Eve we still had classes in the morning, in which our teacher gave us cute little cards and Junior Mints, and the solo sister in our district gave us all bags of skittles and M&M's to share. Then later that night we proceeded to have a Christmas Devotional in which I had the privilege to sing "O Holy Night" in front of the entire MTC, and our guest speaker, who was Elder Rasband a member of the Quorum of the Seventy (not the apostle Elder Rasband). I can honestly say that that night I experienced a miracle, an undeniable example of God's love for me. The previous week I had come down with a cold, and as much as I hoped and prayed that I would get better over the weekend, Monday came around and I was still sick. My voice was hoarse, and I most certainly couldn't hit the high notes that I needed to to sing O Holy Night the next night. I also couldn't take deep breaths because of my congestion, which is pretty necessary when singing a slowish song like I would be. I prayed and prayed that God would heal my sickness, and help me to be able to peform well on Christmas Eve. Even that morning I still felt a little congested, but as the day went on, and the time came for Elder Clawson and I to practice our song, I found myself with little to no problem singing. I could hit the notes, and could take deep breaths that helped me to sustain a good sound. When the time came to perform, it was perfect, and the spirit was most certainly strong. That night after the performance, I was coughing up a storm, and even today I still feel a little sick, but I can tell you that even though God didn't heal my sickness just like that, I know without a doubt that he heard my prayers, and gave me the strength I needed to sing and perform my best. Miracles are real!
On Christmas morning we were blessed to hear from one of our dear 12 apostles, Elder D. Todd Cristofferson. The devotional was amazing, and afterwards we were able to call home and talk with our families for a couple of hours. At about 2:15 we then all gathered in S2, which is the place where we hold all our devotionals, and watched my favorite Christmas movie, "Its a Wonderful Life". Many of the elders in my district had never seen the movie before, and after went on and on about how in their words, "The movie was straight FIRE". We then had a chance to talk about what we learned from the morning devotional, and the movie while eating a wonderful Christmas sack dinner. I say wonderful a little sarcastically, because we had sandwiches, chips, apples and a couple of cookies instead of a nice hot dinner like usual, but I did really think it was wonderful, because it meant all those workers who spend hours preparing meals for us every day were given a chance to go home and be with their families the rest of that day. Finally we ended the Christmas day by having a special Christmas program featuring David Archuleta!! He sang beautifully, and it was a delight as well to hear stories about his mission, as well as stories about his career, and the hand of the Lord in his life. Although we were all surprised by how short he was, it was amazing to get to see him, and also shake his hand. Yes you heard me. He literally devoted the last 30 minutes of the night to shaking every missionary's hand. Probably the best highlight of those last 30 minutes was watching as an elder went up to shake David Archuleta's hand, and instead pulled out a bottle of hand sanitizer, and gave him some. It was super funny, and everyone burst out laughing. Overall, Christmas here at the MTC was amazing, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
This week we also discovered suddenly that another one of the elders from our Branch would be going home. It was so sudden that many of us, including myself, didn't even get to say goodbye. No one really knows exactly why he went home, other than that he just doesn't feel completely ready yet to serve, but let me just tell you, that I love that elder. His name is Elder Piatau, and although we were never super close, he is seriously the coolest guy ever. Not only is he super fly, but he is also very friendly and kind. He would always go around and shake everyone's hands and say "what's up bro?", even to those he wasn't super close with, and he was a friend and a brother to us all. Today we all as a Branch decided to fast for Elder Piatau, and are keeping him in our prayers, in hopes that he will be able to find his way, and be comforted. Nonetheless, we know he is gonna be okay. He's a strong guy, and I believe that what he has learned and experienced here will stick with him no matter what path he takes from here on.
This week I was also called to be our new district leader over District 23A! It's not the craziest responsibility ever, but I am excited to serve nonetheless. Basically, I get to lead district council meetings, which we have after every Sunday and Tuesday devotional, where we review what we learned at the devotionals, and make weekly goals for the district. I also have to pickup mail/package slips every day for my district, so if anyone's mail goes missing, they know who to blame... No but in all seriousness, I'm very excited for the opportunity to serve my district, and help us come closer to Christ.
Some funny things that happened include the following. I'll try to include the video, but on Christmas evening, after we watched "It's a Wonderful Life", we all had to gather together to eat our sack dinners, and discuss the movie and devotional. Well, after a few minutes of waiting, one of the companionships in our district wasn't there yet, and was nowhere to be found. In our classroom we have a nice huge window facing towards where the residences, cafeteria, and the S2 building are , where we watched the movie. At one point I spotted Elder Clawson and Elder Davis in the distance walking up, and so we all got up and danced around, trying to get their attention down below. At one point Elder Thackary started taking a video of the two, and it was absolutely hilarious. As companions in the MTC and on our missions, we always have to stay within sight and sound of each other, close enough to be in each other's conversations. All of a sudden, as we are watching Elder Davis and Elder Clawson, we notice Elder Davis kind of straying into the snowy grass away from his companion, as Elder Clawson stops to say hi to a couple elders he knew. The whole time this is going down Elder Thackary is recording and yelling "Where's your companion? WHERE'S YOUR COMPANION DAVIS?!" and then "Run Davis! Run!" as he proceeded to run towards the door to catch it before it closed. Perhaps this is just mostly funny to us because we are all so close and such, but it was hilarious, and if I can get it to send, I will provide the video that Elder Thackary took.
Also this week, my companion got sick, and bought a bottle of "Night Time" medicine, which is supposed to help with congestion and colds. He decided to drink some right after dinner instead of taking it at night like it advises, and he was out. We had about 3 hours of study time that night after dinner, and once we sat down in one of the buildings to study, he fell asleep almost immediately. After about an hour, he woke up super groggy and confused asking "What? What happened?", and was in and out of sleep for a bit after that. Finally, he got up and moved towards the back corner of the area we were at, giving me the impression that he was gonna sit and study, but instead found a bench around the corner and laid down on his belly, and asked me to wake him up in half an hour. Afterwards, he woke up and studied just fine, but it was so funny to see him half asleep that entire night.
Anyways, that's gonna do it for this week! I hope everyone back home had a wonderful Christmas, and I hope you have an awesome New Years as well! Chao chao!
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