Wow, my first week is done and I can barely believe it. The "experienced" missionaries in our zone told us that afterSunday everything goes fast, and so far it's true. I say "experienced" because they've got here the Wednesday before us, but they are the most experienced people we associate with. They leave tomorrow morning actually. That's how fast it is. In fact, we have our travel plans already!! We leave on the 16th at........ 3:30 am!!!!!! I know, everyone should be jealous that we get to leave that early, but it's for a good reason. We have a 2 hour layover in (drum roll please) Phoenix, Arizona!!. Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me either, but we fly out at 7:20 and we land in Calgary at 2:30 in the same time zone.
So, the MTC is awesome. A good analogy for the first few days is like trying to drink from a fire hydrant. They force so much stuff onto us and none of us can retain all of it. By the end of the first day, we already had our first investigator and had to have the first lesson prepared by Thursday. Now we have that same one and a new one we got yesterday. I'll tell more on that later. When I say we, I'm obviously refering to my companion, Elder Jacobs. He is from Las Vegas and just graduated High School a couple of months ago. In fact, with the exception of the Sisters, I'm the oldest in the district. Speaking of which, my whole district is going to Calgary, speaking English, which is actually not common here. We have two other Elder companionships and one sister trio. All of them are so much fun. I think I've grown closest to Elder Shaw, and between us and our companions, we have lots of fun. In addition to my district, we have at least one other district going to the same mission. 33 of us are all going to Calgary next Tuesday. One of the sisters in my district, Sister Gardner, is good friends with Cody, my roommate, and Hermana Merrill. And the other two sisters are in the same room as Hermana Merrill, which is across the hall from Sister Nicholas. I've seen everyone from the ward, and from school. Plus people that I didn't even realize were in the MTC. Almost everyday someone else comes up to me and says "Hey Elder Wake". It's kinda the joke between me, Elder Shaw and Elder Jacobs that I know everyone at the MTC. Sometimes it seems kinda true.
We have two teachers, Brother's Blatter and Barton, but often Sister McGill teaches or helps too. All of them are awesome, but Sister McGill has helped me and Elder Jacobs the most. She pushes us so hard and makes us think 'til I feel like I'm going to have an aneurysm. Plus she's scary when she teaches, but I've learned so much. She finally got me to teach using purely the spirit, which was incredible. I'm used to just talking and teaching at full speed, so I don't notice promtings. She had me slow down and a question came to my mind that she thought was perfect, deep and profound. I know that the spirit put those words into my mouth. it was really neat. I now know that I need to work on slowing down and trusting in the Lord and the Holy Ghost. She also gave me this piece of advice before I went to go teach an investigator, "listen". At first I was like, well yeah, of course! Then after the lesson, I realized that I need to listen to the responses to questions I ask to better understand the needs of my investigators. But later that night, I uncovered another layer, I need to listen to the spirit. Who knew that one word could teach me so much?
I've figured out so many things I'm good at and bad at, and I have many goals. One of which is to read from Genesis to the Articles of Faith. I hope to be done by the end of my mission. I've learned so much, even though I've only gotten to Genesis 6.
So, the way the MTC works now, in case you were wondering. First, of all, they emphasize teaching by the spirit to the investigators needs. Step one is to figure out what they want and what they truly need. Then we need to form a vision for what Heavenly father wants of them. Then our goals for achieve that vision. Then our plan for achieve those goals. It is a lot different then what dad said he went through. Our teachers also portray real investigators that we get to teach. Bro. Blatter portrays "Marcus" for us. Marcus doesn't feel life has a purpose and has a Christian background. We've already committed him to be baptized though and to read the Book of Mormon!! Elder Jacobs and I are on a role!!!. We also get a progressing investigator, a less active member, and a referal, all actors. We teach our PI twice, and we've already taught him once. It didn't go so good. First he made us sing for him. Then he talked the whole time and went on tangents that had nothing to do with what we were trying to tell him. By the end of the 45 minutes, we hadn't taught anything. I'm very scared about tomorrow but I have a couple of ideas and I've been preparing by listening to the spirit. I'm out of time but I can try to write a letter with more detail. Plus I can call from the airport.
Say thanks to Bro. Christie to his letters, Cade and Kevin for theirs. Also, please send me Paul and Nicki's address as well as Connie and Dean, both of their families sent me some goodies. Also, thank you so much for you package, it was awesome and the jerky was a hit in our room!! Also, please tell Dallin thanks for his email. Finally Thank you mom and dad for your letters and emails, they meant a lot to receive them!!
I love you lots and I hope that you are well. The Spirit is here and I'm safe, so don't worry. I wish I could tell more because I learned so many new things that I just remembered, but I have no time. Tell Erin I'm writing in my journal. I miss you, but I can't wait to serve the people of Calgary.
Love,
Elder Wake
No comments:
Post a Comment