Week Five

Hola,

This week, I've been trying to be more like the prophet Isaiah, but more on that later.  

I feel as though my last email was rushed and lacked much of a story to it, and that's probably because I spent the last two minutes of my emailing time writing it.  So to make up for this, I decided to get an in depth explanation of what the MTC is like for all of the future missionaries out there.  

The MTC experience is comprised of six weeks, with almost completely the same schedule each day with  only a few exceptions.  Week one technically isn't a full week.  all of the new missionaries arrive on Tuesday, and the weeks here end on Sunday.  It's actually the most different of all the weeks simple because of all the orientation affairs.  Every Tuesday to celebrate the arrival of new missionaries, we get pizza for dinner.  Wednesday marks the official start of our missionary work.  We are given a basic orientation of the MTC, which consists of a tour of the campus, we meet our teachers, and at the end we are assigned a district leader.  While district leaders are important in the field, at the MTC, he only is responsible for getting the mail, and answering to the branch president at times.  Weeks two and three are identical in that you spend your entire time learning Spanish and how to teach people the gospel.  I say learn to do this because every sucks at it.  Week four though is the week of miracles because everything starts to click.  Week five is the day that we all do awesome and start spending entire days speaking Spanish, and then we get to week six.  Week six is almost the same as week one except  that you're are expected to speak Spanish the entire time.  

AS for an average day, it starts with forty five minutes of personal study followed by breakfast.  we then have about four hours worth of languages study/mock investigator time before lunch.  We then have a daily planning session, and then gym.  after gym, it's already three in the afternoon.  We then have another four hours of study in the evening until about seven.  The nice thing is that our teachers in the afternoon are better than the ones in the morning.  After that we have diner, and then another hour and a half of personal study.  We then get an hour and a half to do whatever we want in our rooms.  

Now as I said before, I've been trying to be like Isaiah.  i say this because i had an experience very similar to Isaiah.  In Isaiah, I think 9, but you might have to double check me on that, Isaiah describes how he was called to teach.  He starts by proclaiming that he has unclean lips and is among a nation of unclean lips.  In response to this, and angel takes an ember our of a fire and places it to his Isaiah's lips.  It is then after this that Isaiah is qualified to do the work.  I had a very similar experience at the start of this week.  I was the first of many in field orientation that we had, and at the end, one of my teachers offered me a "candy".  It actually was a piece of mango with chili pepper powder over it.  It's actually very good, but it was hot.  After I ate it, I was challenged to speak only in Spanish for the rest of my time in the MTC, for the exception of personal time after nine at night.  AS a result, I have gotten really creative with my language, and driven everyone else in my district insane.  The next few days will most likely revolve around preparing to leave, and meeting my infield mission president.

More next week

Elder Gooden

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A few extras from Mom and Dad's Mail - 

We asked - 

What insights have you gained while at the CCM? What have you learned about yourself?

Elder Gooden Said - 

I feel as if I've gone through a sanctification process while here.

So, president Lyeons, the former first councilor here(he was released last night) had been talking about the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost.  He describes it as the same event that we read about in Mosiah 5.  Before, I just saw myself as someone that knew that the gospel was true, and knew that I had to follow the commandments.  But when I went to the temple last week, something changed within me.  I felt this closer bond with my Heavenly Father and with my Savior.  I felt as though I wanted to keep the commandments not because of a fear of sin but because of a love of God.  

I've always thought as enduring to the end as this idea of, I've made it to a clean state after baptism or repentance, and now I have to hold firm and let the adversary beat down on me with everything it has.  Enduring is hard and annoying, and it's something that I have to make happen.  But I was reading in Alma the other week about how the gospel of Christ is easy, including endurance.  The purpose of the Gospel is to bring joy to our lives, whether it be through repentance or service or eternal families.  and so when the scriptures say we need to endure, it doesn't mean to hold still and see how many hits you can take.  It means that we are supposed to continue to press forward with a joy in Christ, knowing that if we will let him, he will fight our battles, and he will take our hits for us.  And so I've renamed that last part of the doctrine for Christ continue in joy.

We asked - 

Are there still times that you're really angry?  Are you happy?

Elder Gooden Said -

I have a few moments of anger with some of the more immature members of my district, but I've been trying to see them more as God sees them and it's been helping.  Yes, I'm happy