MEXICO MTC-WEEK THREE

So I won't leave you in any more suspense... I will tell you who came to visit us for the special devotional. It was Elder Don R Clark of the first quorum of the 70. He is from Rexburg, Idaho and he has done a lot of church service in Latin America. Here are some insightful things he and his wife said:

Mary Ann Clark: Latin people have soft hearts, this mission will change eternity for you

Elder Clark: The day you'll be happy is when you care more about the people than yourself. He also told us not to be afraid about making mistakes when learning the language and lots of other good stuff.

At the end of the devotional he tried to greet all the missionaries and so I told him that I was an Idaho boy too. He ruffled my hair and told me not to tarnish the good reputation of Idaho, so I won't!

I had many opportunities to give priesthood blessings this week. I gave three! The first was the beginning of the week. A sister that came into the MTC the same time as me, but in a different district was really struggling with a lot of stuff. She specifically asked her district leader if I could give her a blessing. Well he asked me, I said sure and I think she is doing a lot better now. Then one sister in our district needed a blessing of comfort so I gave her a blessing too, then later that same sister got really sick so we had to give her a blessing with oil and I sealed the anointing. So I had the opportunity to use my priesthood a lot this week.

So last week the fad in the MTC was to take spoons from the Commedore and stick them in people's pockets. Well District 5C put spoons a bunch of places in our classroom. So we took over 100 sticky notes and put spoons over there classroom too. The zone leader is from 5C so he sent 5A an epistle based on the epistle from Moroni to Pahoran. So then we then decided to send back an epistle based on Pahoran's reply to Moroni. Yep lots of fun stuff going on.

Speaking of fun stuff. Our district celebrated Halloween this week. Yep we all bought candy from the Tienda and then by companionship we would walk outside the classroom and trick or treat. Of course we are the best district and the only ones that did anything like this! Day of the dead also happened this week in Mexico. It's like a really weird version of Memorial day. We didn't do much celebrating but we heard it all going on outside and we got homemade Mexican candy for lunch that day.

Do you remember a couple weeks ago when I talked about my increasing sports skills? Well they continue to increase! HAHA! I won a race and I'm a half decent player at volleyball. Not to mention the intense workout I've been doing!

My Spanish continue to improves as well. It's coming along a lot better than I thought. I also gave a whole lesson on prayer (in Spanish) to my investigator/teacher without any notes! I'm really happy with that! I also gave my testimony in testimony meeting this week in Spanish. I will have to continue to study and pray that my learning will increase!

I keep thinking of some Le Miserable songs this week. One of them is Who Am I? Specific lyrics come to mind: "I sold my soul to God I know, I made that bargain long ago. He gave me hope when hope was gone, he gave me strength to carry on..." These lyrics have helped me a lot this week. I think of them when I am struggling with anything.

Also this week I have studied the story of the Samaritan women at the well. It has helped me a lot too and I read the story whenever I'm need a pick me up. I think Dad would enjoy studying about the Samaritans. Because we literally are Samaritans. We have ancestors from Samaria, but we also have Gentile and Israelite blood mixed into us. The story has become somewhat special to me. I really love to look at the painting of it in the building that my classroom is in. Whenever you feel sad you should read your favorite scripture story and it will help.

I hope you all have another good week. I love you more than you know. I'm so grateful for all of you.

Sincerely,

Elder Connor Waldron