Saturdays are Mom's favorite day... letters from Elder Joe!!

So Saturday is Elder Joe's "off" day at the MTC.  It's called p-day.  It's the day they catch up on letters, do laundry and play some sports.  I sure love Saturday morning when I get some mail.

Elder Joe with his district

Tidying up the room.  Wish 18 year olds would do this more at home!

 

 

Elder Joe's busy schedule

 It has been so busy here! I have completely re thought how i view and teach the gospel. I have felt the spirit everyday since i have been here! Its been the best experience and the best two weeks there is so much I have to tell you. 

 

So in our class room instruction time we have p.i. or progressing investigators and then we have TRC which may or may not be actual investigators. We had to teach one a minimum of 5 and then we could teach the rest however many times we wanted too. We also had a group TRC. With our group TRC Elder T. went off on a rant and we were all stressing out and worrying about what the investigator might say. It was so scary haha. Then i had to bring it back and fix up what Elder T. had said haha. 

 

We did however place a Book of Mormon on the first visit and assigned 2 Nephi 31 the gospel of Christ and he read it. Our next appointment. was with Carlos Garcia on Wednesday. Unfortunately we couldn't be there but they taught him the plan of salvation and he accepted the invitation to get baptized. 

 

shopping for postcards

The first lesson we lost Elder Smith because an Elder from the other district went home so Elder Chee and I had to teach. So we are no longer a threesome.  It was the most spiritual teaching experience i have had. We established a great relationship with Haley from the beginning and keep going. After the prayer it was like a wall of the Spirit fell upon the room. As we talked and testified and learned about Haley we truly came to love her and taught with the Spirit. Elder Chee and i couldn't even remember what we said after but when we got out from the room we hugged eachother and knew we just taught the gospel or doctrine of Christ as we should have and it wasn't us teaching but we were vessels of the Holy Ghost working through us. The second appointment with Haley was just as spiritual as we learned about her family situation and her trials we bore testimony that she could have comfort in the Father's plan and we cried together and we felt the Spirit. We invited her to be baptized and she is actually getting baptized! 

 

The progressing investigators class, as i was telling you about in the last letter, we taught Shane the 21 year old who doesn't know if there is God or not and has his doubts, Pete the agnostic, Samantha the church goer but unsure if she has a testimony and wants to know if she should be baptized, and Linda - we did not teach as we were all scared of her. With Pete we weren't able to get far however we did help him to question his belief's and question his soul searching for answers and we did help him feel the spirit and he has started to come to understand there is a God deep down even though he outwardly admits there is not one, he knows there is.  He is just scared to change. Our first appointment with Samantha, the Spirit was so strong that we invited her to be baptized and she accepted!!! Whereas other groups had a hard time teaching her. The Spirit our companionship possesses is so strong and united. With Shane, we had experience with prayer we had  him pray and it was a cool experience hearing an investigator's first prayer. He was really reserved at first but became more open and willing to accept the spirit he felt. The next 4 visits with Pete was so good! He tried to keep our commitments and wanted to but sometimes forgot which was okay.

Rows and rows of wash machines

apparently if you are one of Elder Joe's companions, it pays to get out of bed in the morning.

Our gym times have been fun I've been playing volleyball a lot! I have missed it so much and can finally jump serve again! haha and i have lost 5 pounds! ha told you i could lose wieght. The food here at the MTC is so good! 

 

 

 

Yesterday we had infield training for 9.5 hours it was so long but really educational. I learned a lot and took a new goal for my mission to try to talk to 10 new people everyday because if i do that then i can have 2 or 3 baptisms every month if i keep that goal or hopefully close to that. I  cannot wait to get out into the field! I am so excited! 

 

 

Tell Justin and Emily if you see them that the MTC is completely life changing and how we learned to teach in missionary prep is not how you need or ought to teach is it completely different.  

 

Tell Elder Jacobs thanks for that scripture assignment it really helped me out.

 

going to the Provo temple

 

 

 Last night was our last time seeing our teacher, Sis. Farnsworth. She taught us another great lesson about the role of the Holy Ghost and how it helps conversion. I have been working on the world's longest letter for you to send before i leave. So you can update on all the events here at the MTC.

I miss you all so so much! Tell my family hi! and oma and opa! and anya! give everyone a hug for me! and dont forget about me! haha. You tell Anya she can't have my room yet! haha

assuming this is the fountain outside of the Provo temple??