Week Six

Only two and a half weeks left in the MTC!  We are coming up on the last stretch of our MTC experience, and I could not be any more excited to be heading out soon.  The MTC has been great but I cant wait for the field.  The countdown is starting, tomorrow we are getting a new batch of german elders, next week we get our new elders, and then it is our last week here in the MTC.  It has been going crazy fast.  But as for this week, not much happened.  We have been working really hard to get ready to go and just trying to learn as much german as possible.

 

I think my favorite times are the moments we can get our teacher, Brother Corey, to get distracted and talk about Germany.  I think one day this week we had him talk about Germany for two hours straight.  And every time it just gets me more and more excited.  All the food, crazy experiences, the opportunity to preach the gospel, it all just sounds so amazing.  Our teachers are so awesome and they are amazing teachers, it will be sad to say goodbye to them.

 

This week the worst think you could possibly imagine came to pass.  The gym was closed for resurfacing, and it started to rain outside.  This meant that both the gym and the field were closed during our gym hour and we had nothing to do.  It was leading up to become a disature, but thankfully we have the best zone in the entire MTC and we can improvise.  We had a super small soccerball, and just played handball in the parkinglot.  So just so everyone knows disasture was adverted, but only because of a group of genius missionaries.  That was the only potential threat here at the MTC, and now the gym is back up and running so everything is back to normal. 

 

The were two events this week that really stood out.  First was on Sunday, during our personal study time, the fire alarm went off in our building.  We had to evacuate and 4 firetrucks came and 2 ambulence vehicles.  All for a light that had a short and burst.  A tiny bit of smoke was in the room and we were kicked our of our building for a couple hours while we waited for them to clear our building.  So that was the big excitement this week, we were all the talk on campus.  Then the next big thing was that Joseph Smith told me I had a cool tie.  So the kid that played Joseph Smith in the Restoration movie that they show on temple square is now a missionary and he just got here this past week.  It has been pretty fun  seeing him around, every time I still think of him as Joseph.  And he complemented my tie, I am kinda a big deal here at the MTC... Just kidding.  But that was all the excitement here at the MTC.  Tomorrow is going to be so awesome, we are all super excited to meet all these new elders, like I said before, we have 45 new German elders coming in tomorrow and it is going to be crazy.

 

Alot of my studies this week have been directed by the question that our other teacher, Sister Covey, asked us about a week ago.  That was, what kind of missionary do you want to be in 1 year and in 2 years when you are coming home.  I was thinking about this alot, and I think the answer hit me as I was reading in 3rd Nephi.  When Christ comes to visit the people in America, he is introduced similar to how he is introduced in other scriptures, ´´This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased´´.  That struck me as the greatest introduction that one could possibly recieve.  That the Lord, our God, was well pleased with us.  And Christ was obtained that because He lived His life in perfect harmony with the Lord´s plan, and magnified his mission on this earth, as best He could.  That is what I want to be.  I want to be a missionary, that never misses out on the opportunity to serve, never misses out on the opportunity to be an instrument in the Lord´s hands.  Alma 29:9 is quickly becoming one of my favorite scriptures, for this very reason.  Everyone, in every aspect of their lives can magnify thier mission on earth to become an instrument in the hands of our Lord.  And in doing so become a son or daughter, ´´in whom [He] is well pleased´´.  How great would be your joy, knowing you became everything the Lord had intended for you, and then magnified it.  That is the missionanary I want to become by the time my time as a missionary is up.  I am excited to work hard and immerse myself in this work.  There is no call greater than that of a missionary.

 

 

Love,

 

Elder Blackley