May 8, 2012

Hi family,

 

Thank you for the thoughts and all the good news! Who won Biggest Loser!?! I have gained a total of 23 pounds in this first almost month. I am very happy here and getting into the groove of prison/school regimen. It is fun to watch elders come and go from our zone and see how they go from scared and really quiet to comfortable and happy. That comes from working hard.

 

We had a cool workshop yesterday about our hearts and minds. We spent some time on "understanding". Understanding means more then mental comprehension. Elder Bednar said "when the thoughts of our mind move to our hearts, that is the beginning of understanding" Through the Spirit our thoughts can move to our hearts. I have always thought less about feelings and just wanted to comprehend the doctrine, but being here in the MTC I have realized I need to have the Gospel written in my heart so I can testify of its importance to everyone I teach. I would rather teach words all day, but I need to express feelings and communicate heart to heart better.

 

I got to see elder Collins and Haas this week, which is always a treat. They will be great missionaries! We had mission conference on Sunday and it is great to hear our MTC presidency speak to us.

 

In other news, teaching is going great and I have had some really almost crazy experiences of teaching by the Spirit. I love all of our investigators. We got to teach a real investigator in Mongolian on Thursday.

A few highlights of things i said:

"Hi what's my name"
"Is learning Mongolian difficult?" "three"

"I do people's nails for a living" "oh, cool! So you write books!"

"I read about the man who brought the people out of Egypt" "uh, huh. Red Waters"

 

I have had a few experiences like that, but it keeps things loose and helps our investigators feel comfortable. I think it is funny. I left my notecard of things to say up in the residence hall, so I will have to write more next week.

 

Oh, sorry to say this, but in the MTC we do not phone home on Mother's day due to the insufficient supply of telephones. I will let you know when I will be in an airport so I can call you then. I believe June 25, but I will verify and communicate my findings as we approach the designated time.

 

Glad to hear things are going well. Hi, Fontana! There is a letter coming before the end of the month! And good luck this week Jackson.

Talk to you all soon, bairte -Axlacktch Chandler