May 28th letter

Ola familia! Tudo bem?

Things here are going great. How are things back at home? The weather went a little crazy on us earlier this week, and we had a total snow storm. A huge tree right outside of the bookstore fell. It’s a good thing no missionaries were walking that way at the time, or they might be serving their mission in heaven. :)

On Tuesday, we were lucky enough to have another Apostle come visit us for devotional. This week D. Todd Christofferson came to talk to us. He talked all about repentance and the importance of teaching about it. He said if there were no repentance, there would be no Christ. I had never really thought of it this way. It was a great talk, and it was very spiritual. I love hearing the Apostles talk. At the MTC in June, they train all the new mission presidents that are called. June is the best time to be in the MTC, because all the First Presidency, the Apostles and General Authorities all come to the MTC to train these new mission presidents. So June we are pretty much guaranteed to hear from at least one or two more apostles! That should be awesome.

This week was mine and Elder Graves first time teaching the second lesson. We taught it to an older guy named Gene. The lesson went so well. Elder Graves and I teach really well together. It’s nice knowing that I can count on him! We teach the second lesson one more time in English. In two weeks, we start teaching in only Portuguese. We will go back to the first lesson, and teach that twice in Portuguese. And then teach the second lesson twice in Portuguese. After that, we are off to Portugal!

A couple of our good friends headed out for their missions on Tuesday. Their names are Elder Wilder and Elder De Hoyos. Elder De Hoyos dad is actually in the first quorum of the seventy. They are super rad kids! They are also serving in Lisbon, so I’m sure we will run into them again while in Portugal. I can’t wait to get out there!

On Wednesday we received 50 or so new missionaries in our zone. Our zone is huge now! Before they came I think we had around 30 altogether. Now we have like 70 something. Church is going to be packed now. Elder Graves and I are in charge of sacrament meeting every week. We have to assign people to pass, set up, bless, and all that.

I have a cool story I’ll share with you.

On Monday an international missionary from Mexico arrived at the MTC. His name is Elder Morales. He is going to Mozambique (one of two African missions that speak Portuguese). Since he arrived two days earlier than the rest of the missionaries that were coming into the zone, he spent those two days with our district. After the devotional on Tuesday night, we had our district meeting. We just go over the things we liked in the devotional, and just share what we enjoyed about the talk. We went around the room and we all shared something we enjoyed. Elder Morales then began to talk about what he liked about the talk. His english isn’t perfect, but we are still able to understand most of what he says. He said he loved how Elder Christofferson talked about miracles in his talk. He then told us a story about when he was growing up. He told us that it was just his mom, his brother, and himself that were living together. His mom could barely afford enough food to feed her kids. One night the missionaries came over, and asked if they could eat over. His mom knew she didn’t have enough food for everyone, and this would mean they couldn’t eat the next day. But she put her faith in Heavenly Father, and invited the missionaries in to eat. Elder Morales was already in tears by this point. He then told us about how all of them ate that night. Miraculously they still had food for the next day as well. She had no clue how this was possible. Elder Morales then said that he knew they were blessed that night for putting their faith in the Lord. Although it shouldn’t have been possible, they all ate enough to where they were full. They had food the next day. Elder Morales was barely able to finish the story he was crying so much. The Lord is so amazing, and can work miracles in our lives if we just show faith. You could feel the love Elder Morales had for our Heavenly Father, and it was a very spiritual time. Although his english wasn’t perfect, the spirit was so strong when he told that story. It goes to show even if you can’t speak the language perfect, the Spirit can talk to anyone. That is the most important part of our missionary work.

I love the MTC so much! I have seen and heard so many amazing things in just three weeks. I already know these next two years will be the best of my life. I’ve already graduated high school, I have my bachelors degree, but never in my life have I felt so happy as I do now. This truly is the happiest I’ve ever been.

Speaking of which- the first counselor of our branch said I’m the first person that has ever had their bachelors degree that has come through this zone since he has been a part of it. Pretty crazy!

My time is winding down, but I will also write a letter while I’m doing my laundry. Ps… my district leader (Elder Peck) just told me I received a package. So I’ll pick that up after I send this. I’m assuming you sent it, so thank you! :)

I love you guys so much! Never forget it! I love this gospel, and I love my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I’ve never been so blessed. I’m so glad I made the decision to come on a mission, it is the best decision I’ve ever made. It is going to change my life. Although I’m not home sick, I do miss you guys. I can’t wait for Brittain, Landon, and Brady to have this opportunity as well.

Tell all my friends who have written me thank you. And if they haven’t yet, tell them to get a move on it. I love hearing from everyone. Friday is the only day I can write though. And if you e-mail me, leave a physical mailing address. I won’t have time to e-mail back but I will send a letter, I promise.

I love you so much! Eu amo-vos! I hope you have a great week. You are in my prayers.

Love,

Ty