WElllllll hello all and welcome to my email. I surely hope as I go through what I have been doing this past week that you feel good inside and that you can somehow find in your heart to write a missionary about your life and how its going. If there has been one thing I have learned here in the MTC that letters sure do make ones day.
We have one Elder here, Elder Edwards. his story is amazing. He started investigating the church when he was about 17 years old. He decided that he finally wanted to be baptized. His parents wouldn't let him be baptized until he was 18 and then if he was baptized he couldn't live in their house anymore. He was baptized in May of his senior year of school. After that he had to live on his own and pay for his house and everything. He has such a strong testimony but it saddens me when every day all the elders in our district recieve multiple letters and he just sits there pondering on the gospel while receiving none. No support from his parents. Only from his past girlfriend and from his bishop. I have truly come to understand through his example what it means to stay motivated here on the mission. Its about having so much love for God and for Jesus Christ that you are going to go out and serve a mission for them. Not for your family, not for your friends, not for you, FOR GOD AND JESUS CHRIST. I have that testimony now, that as long as I stay focused to the purpose of my mission, I will never care how many letters I recieve (that doesn't mean stop sending them) I appreciate all the support and love that you show me by sending me mail and reading my emails because it goes to show that you care.
AHHHH finally the time has come. Elder Marple and I got today an invitation to play this Sunday in the Mission Conference Devotional in front of 2600 missionaries. I'm so excited but nervous at the same time. I hope some of you have had a chance to listen to the email my mom got with the arrangement of "God be with you till we meet again". It was very nice from what I hear. I guess just my biggest hope is that Elder Marple and I can bring the spirit into the meeting to allow the speaker to know and discern what is going to help us as missionaries most. We have been arranging other songs as well. We have definately considered getting together after our missions and writing a "For the Strength of Youth" album. I think it would be alot of fun, besides creating opportunities for us after. It has been a great opportunity to bring the joy of music into the lives of the people here in the MTC.
I got a haircut today. WOWOWOW I thought that my haircut was short before I came, you should see it now. It is pretty much the shortest haircut I have ever recieved in my life. Yes, even shorter than the haircuts from TOM's clip joint. But i'm liking the short hair for now. But don't think for a second mom that I will keep it this way, I have been debating whether or not to grow my hair super long after the mission. I think I would look good with long hair and a perm. hahahah I always did want curls.
AHHH Spanish is going well. Its a little frustrating when we sit down in class and we don't learn much spanish anymore. We talk about how to be effective missionaries and what is going to help us best out in the field to teach the people. Don't get me wrong, I love that stuff. I love learning to be a missionary. But I still get plenty scared when we started to have to teach only in spanish and I still didn't know about all the grammer rules and what was best to say. I sure am growing though. I really hope that I can just get the accent down. That is probably going to be the hardest part that I will have when I hit the field. I sound true blue American. Just a funny little tidbit. I thought it would be pretty cool if I took that Guarani (that is the language most people in Paraguay speak) dictionary and wrote my testimony out in that language so that I could share it in my email or on a letter. I opened up the book and WOW. That has to be one of the most confusing languages I have ever seen. The pronunciacions are all weird sounding and nazally. I thought it was fun though to look up some words and how they sounded. I can't wait to get down there and get emerged in spanish. It is going to help me grow so much, not only because I will need to humble myself to learn but also so that I can come closer to my companion who is going to train me.
Things have been going well here in the MTC. I have finally been able to control myself when it comes to eating. I have lost 13 pounds so far since coming in. I guess its better than gaining pounds because I can probably guess that its not muscle weight. Things with Elder Varny have been going good as well. He has hit a spot in the language where he struggles alot to understand all the words that everyone is saying. Its hard to help him because when I correct him to help him, he gets really mad. I hope he can learn that I'm not trying to correct him to make him sound stupid I'm trying to help him become better.
Things as zone leader have been going very well. We have been keeping busy because we had a huge bunch of missionaries come in last week, a group of 24 which is huge. and we have another group of 10 coming in this week. Its good to get out of class sometimes to have to help the missinaries but it sure makes me stressed when I miss the lessons and the Spanish.
The biggest thing that I have gotten out of this week would have to be out of one of the lessons that our teacher gave us. We were talking about how much we can do in our calling. How much effect we can have on people. We started talking about the sons of Mosiah, about Ammon, and Alma. All those people were not only prophets, they were missionaries. They would go around and baptize whole cities. Thousands of people can be turned to the gospel in a matter of days in the BOM. Its crazy to think that it was even possible. But you know what... it is..... I have that same power now. If i can teach with the authority and power of the Holy Ghost I could bring people unto christ in a matter of days. If they feel that spirit testify of how the things i'm saying is the truth and if the people yeild to the promptings of the spirit, the capability is there. I know it is. Every day I come in to class at 7 in the morning and have to ask myself what am I doing here. I'm getting only an average of 3 hours of sleep a night. My investigator doesn't understand the truth of what I'm saying. My companion and I don't see eye to eye. I can't seem to focus in class because I'm just so tired. I ask myself these things and I immediately see the answer why. HOW much did Christ suffer on the cross? HOW much did He suffer in the garden? Not only did He suffer for our sins, He suffered for our pains, our sickness, our feelings of sorrow and everything. He literally knows how I feel this very instant. After this thought comes into my head I think...... If Jesus did that much for me, I know that I can do what little I can now to be able to be the best missionary that I can be in the field. All of those times that I think everything is so hard. Its not. I know that through the atonement of Christ and through the power of God I can do anything.... ANYTHING...... Some missionaires don't comprehend that one simple truth. I pray for all of you to feel the power and mercy of Jesus Christ in your life. I challenge all of you to come closer to Christ and as you do you can feel His support and love for you. I love you all and hope you all are successfull in all your problems and trials. The love of the Savior is real and you can feal His support and love forever.
I love you all so much
-Elder Beatty
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