Hello Everyone!!
I can't believe I have reached the end of my time in the MTC! Six weeks have flown by and I have loved all of it. Not much new has happened this week, but I did get my travel plans. I leave the MTC on Tuesday morning at 5:30AM and head to the airport to Fly to Boston! Im so excited!! That means this is my last week that I can receive dear elders, so send them if you want to. If you were planning on sending a hand written letter, I would hold off because I dont know what happens to the mail that gets sent here if Im not here. haha Hmm what can I tell you all this week? Oh I thought of something that I forgot to tell you last week! Here in the MTC they do something called TRC. Its where missionaries get to practice teaching short "home teaching" type lessons to members of the church in the language we are learning. Well, last week we did a Skype TRC lesson, and Elder Pope and I got to skype with a Lady from Chile.... she talked really fast. haha but it was still awesome and I could actually understand most of what she was saying which was encouraging. I bet I would have understood more but the sound was bad and there was lots of noise in the background. Hmm... we finished up the final Spanish language concept yesterday which means now I just need to talk and talk and talk and talk to get fluent. Which I have been trying to do, but its hard when I could just say what I want in like 2 seconds in English. Anyway, it just takes patience and I really hope that when I get to Boston I will be semi- immersed in the Spanish Language and I wont have any choice but to speak in Spanish. That would be awesome!
Quick really cool lesson I learned this week. First, on Tuesday we had a great devotional about prayer. After every devotional we meet as a zone (about 30 missionaries) and talk about what we liked in the devotional. In the devotional the speaker quoted someone who said something to the effect of "we make decisions first, trying to solve our own problem and then go to the Lord to see if our decision is right." Thats how I always thought you were supposed to go about receiving an answer to prayer, but during the devotional review on Tuesday night my Branch President expressed to us all how strongly he felt that that isn't how its supposed to be. The lord loves us and wants to be with us through every step of our lives. One of my Branch President's favorite scriptures is D&C 6:36. "Look unto me in Every thought. Doubt not. Fear not." He told us that counseling with the Lord should be a constant frame of mind so that every step we take would be a step that he would take. We should constantly be counseling with the lord and soon our decisions will always always always be guided by the Spirit. Pretty cool eh? I dont think i explained that very well, but it has changed my perspective on prayer and hopefully somehow it made some sense to all of you haha
Oh last thing, Yesterday, we had "In-Field Orientation." Every missionary goes through it at the end of their time here in the MTC. Its an ALL day devotional that focuses on 5 points of missionary work: Preparing, Setting Goals, Finding, Having Faith, and working with the members. Each subject is taught in a different room with different role plays, activities and presentations. Lots of people don't like it because it is such a long meeting, but I actually enjoyed and learned a lot! Well, thats really all I can think to say right now... I just cant believe 6 weeks have already gone by! I can't even imagine how fast the rest of my mission will go. Leaving the MTC is a little bitter sweet because the spirit is seriously everywhere and I know I could learn a lot more, but I'm ready to get to Boston and learn what the Lord wants me to learn as I serve the people there. I love you all and keep you in my prayers!! Les quiero!!!
Con Amor,
Elder Stones
1. Me and Elder Pope in our matching Jackets
2.Me and Elder Clouse infront of the Provo Temple (Which sadly has been close the past few weeks)
3. Me and Elder Hamblin... he has such a nice Tie on. I wanted it so bad haha
4.Me and Elder Cockriel with Sister Linford and her companion, Sister Rodriguez
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