Rainy Days and Mondays: Last E-mail from the MTC

Hello from the inside,

I can't believe it has already been 3 weeks since I came to the MTC. The days feel like weeks but the weeks feel like days. After being in the MTC it is hard to remember what I did before coming here. I say that because it feels like I have been here forever but not at the same time...it's a weird feeling.

Elder Bednar was amazing!!! It was such a wonderful experience. He spoke first with Sister Bednar and talked about the patterns in the scriptures of "One by One." He told us that he wanted to share this message with the missionaries first because we are the ones that will be finding people to teach one by one. From his talk I learned that the Lord knows us and will help us one by one, and that God puts me where He needs me so that my path intersects with the one I need to serve. I also learned that there are NO coincidences when you are on the Lord's errand. After he spoke the choir sang One by One (the song he wrote) with some of his grandchildren. It was such a special experience to sing for an apostle of God. I was sitting about thirty feet away from Elder Bednar and to see how happy he was while we sang was remarkable. When the devotional ended, everyone arose while Elder and Sister Bednar were escorted out. Once they left no one really knew what to do. The spirit was so strong and you could feel that Elder Bednar really is an apostle of God. The song One by One will be released and published in the coming month of the New Era - so keep an eye out for it.

BATS BEATS BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

So one of my responsibilities as the STL is to visit the rooms of the Sisters in our zone each night. We were in the Sisters' room that are also leaving this week. Sister Tayco was sitting on the floor and I was standing a few feet away. All of the sudden a BAT comes out of nowhere and almost hits Sister Tayco in the head!!! We all freak out and Sister Tayco runs out the door to find a custodial worker on our floor. We couldn't find anyone so we called the front desk.

Conversation between Sister Tayco and the Brother on the phone...

S.T. - "There is a bat in room 427"

front desk - "UGH! Again?! We will send someone over."

We were a little grossed out that this has happened before. When we went back to the room the bat was just chillin in the corner and the sisters were taking pictures of it. When the "security guard" came she told us to all to wait in the hallway, that they might have to change rooms tonight, oh and that she is scared of bats...so we were back to square one. They ended up having to change rooms so we helped them while animal control was on the way. About two days later I was brushing my teeth around 6:30am and one of the sisters that was in the "bat room" walked by and said that there was another bat in there room at 5:30 am and that animal control was here again. I felt so bad for them and that they had to deal with that. They were told that the bats came through the vent system... I also just found out that those sisters got tested for rabies and have to get shots. That means they have to stay at the MTC for another two weeks. I feel so bad for them, curse those bats!

Last night we had a district devotional/testimony meeting, because Sister Roberts left this morning. It was a little sad and I will miss my district so much.

Thank you for the package - I was so pumped when I opened it up. I got it right after dinner along with more donuts from G'ma. My district will have a wonderful going away party. They also say thank you for the calendars - WE LOVE THEM!

Thank you for everything!

Here are a few of the things I learned at the MTC:

1. Always fulfill my purpose by inviting others to come unto Christ

2. Love others the way God sees them

3. Find those whom the Lord has prepared

4. Pray like it depends on God, and work like it depends on God - because it does!

5. Keep it simply and always bring it back to Christ

6. Listen, Learn, Preach - repeat

7. Address the investigator's NEED not the concern

8. We teach lessons, we do not give spiritual thoughts

9. There are no coincidences when you are on the Lord's errand

10. Be prepared and let the spirit guide

11. The Book of Mormon is everything and in everything there is Christ

12. Be obedient

13. Love and serve my companion always

14. Some trials we may never overcome but because of Christ we can ENDURE those trials and be happy

15. Do I love the Savior enough to do what he asks me to do?!

She forwarded Sister Tayco's e-mail to me again (I think they must decide who is going to write about what and then share their e-mails with each other so they don't each have to write everything!) So here are the parts from Sister Tayco's e-mail that Bryn didn't write about -

On Wednesday we taught Jen for the second time. She is so much fun-- we spent a good five minutes talking about how cool it would be if we were all mermaids. But she is also really interested in our message-- she says she can see that we have a happy outlook on life and a bright countenance, and she really wants that for herself. We also taught Samson for the second time, and he is on fire! He'd pretty much memorized the Plan of Salvation pamphlet we left with him last time (he has a photographic memory-- also, he speaks 6 different languages, which is awesome), and he just wanted to know what the steps to returning to live with God were. So we told him, and he was like, "Ok, that's it?" and listed them back to us in perfect order. Me (a little disbelieving): "Uh, yeah, exactly! You got it Sampson!" Then Sister Wynder asked him if he would be baptized, and he said yes!

Wednesday evening Sis. Wynder and I helped the Zone Leaders with the orientation for the new district-- seven new Elders and no sisters. Poor things. I think Sister Wynder and I scared them a little bit with our Joseph Smith rap (a Sister Tayco original)...

(From Bryn) This is Sister Tayco's mormon rap to the tune of I Like Big Butts and I Cannot Lie...

I like Joseph Smith and I cannot lie,

you other Mormons can't deny,

when a prophet goes into a grove of trees and gets down on his knees...

you've got a vision, righteous livin'

man with a mission,

truth restored from the Lord,

Book of Mormon - I'm on board,

I read it, I need it, I plant a seed and feed it. UHHH!

Thursday was torture-- um, I mean, infield orientation. For eight hours. Eight *#$(!@*! hours. Of training. At least, the parts I was awake for were training. :P But after training we go to meet with Samson again, so that made up for how dead-boring the rest of the day was.

On Friday we taught Jen and Samson for the last time :( We taught Jen the Word of Wisdom, Law of Chastity, and Law of Tithing all in one lesson (trust me, we were NOT planning on this. When I brought up the Word of Wisdom Siser W. looked at me like "What the bleep are you doing?!?" But the Spirit led us, and we followed.) We committed her to all three, and to baptism as well. It was an incredible experience. She was very willing to obey, although she did hesitate for a bit with the Law of Chastity, until I explained the blessings a bit better (turns out chastity is actually not that awkward to teach. In fact, I thought it was pretty funny. Jen: "So, like, is kissing ok?" Me: "Oh yeah! I'd be in a lot of trouble otherwise." Sister Wynder took over the talking after I said that...)

Our lesson with Samson was also awesome. We figured that if we could commit Jen to everything in one lesson, we could do the same with Samson. So we taught him W.o.W., chastity, and tithing and committed him to all three. Also, Samson told us he always feels like a comedian when we visit him cause we never stop laughing.

Here are pictures Bryn sent of her district, zone, companion, etc.