Hello!
Three weeks down already? That's pretty crazy. Time passes really weird
here at the MTC and I'd imagine at all times while serving a mission because on
one hand it is crazy that I've been here for three weeks already, but on the
other it feels like two years have already passed since the day I was dropped
off and the prospect of being here for another six weeks is kind of daunting.
But I still have a ton to learn and I'm still enjoying myself, so bring it
on!
Elder Lundberg left this morning (at 3:00 AM...) for the Peru MTC- he got
his visa and travel plans on Wednesday, along with another Hermana in our
district, so they had less than two days to get things together for that. So as
a companion who has to be there pretty much all the time, things have been a
little different and crazy for me too. But he's on his way and should be in
Peru tonight, so that's good. That leaves me with Elder Snyder as my companion,
which is great because we have a lot to learn from each other! Having just one
companion is going to be good. I guess I've had different companion situations
each time I've written home, eh? And with Elder Snyder potentially leaving anyway for Peru that's likely to not change.
Last Sunday we got to watch a broadcast of the Brigham City Temple
dedication! That was pretty neat.
In case you were wondering about my weight, I've only gained fifteen
pounds... Just kidding- for our weekly service assignment we work in the
warehouse of the cafeteria and they have a giant scale, and according to that
I've pretty much maintained my weight. They give us a good chunk of time to
exercise and I've spent most of that time running, so that's been good. In
fact, last Saturday I decided to try to run a mile as fast as I can and I
destroyed any previous record I had.
I'm continuing to meet a bunch of people from all over the world and so
sweet talking to them and learning about them! I really want to have a job
where I'll be able to travel and do that to an extent because I really do enjoy
it. Anyways, Elder Shresta, the first Elder from Nepal, left this week to Minnesota and I got a picture with him. I met an Elder from China going to New Jersey,
an Elder from the Phillipines, an Elder from Tahiti (who made Tahiti sound
like the best place in the world- beautiful landscape, happy people, etc. he
said that he'll give me his address and facebook stuff and that if I ever want
to go to Tahiti he'll let me stay at his house. Sounds like a good deal!), an
Elder from Florida who was in the same ward as the group of 28 young men who all
got baptized after one guy brought his friend to church or something like that,
and an Elder from Brazil going to Georgia Atlanta North speaking Portuguese. I
had a funny conversation with the Brazilian Elder because he asked me if it was
true if people in Atlanta spoke Ebonics and what that was, so I explained it to
him and used examples and so on. Haha good stuff.
Thanks for the message about the temple- I'm really glad that we get the
opportunity to go to it here in the MTC and that we live so close to one back
home because there are so many people out here who live four plus hours away and
stuff. Oh and family history- I was messing around with familysearch.org or whatever a couple weeks
back and on Grandpa Adam's side I went back and made it all the way back to
Judah and Jacob and Isaac and Abraham just by following back on the Grandpa
Adam's patriarchal line. I don't know how accurate that is, but it was pretty
cool and there were a lot of people that needed their family history work done.
haha
Elder Bednar has come up a few times here in the MTC- he's the man! He
hasn't actually visited here while I've been here but we've had the opportunity
to watch some of his MTC addresses and they're entertaining and life changing.
The one that I saw most recently was one where he talked about following the
promptings of the Holy Ghost. He explained that a lot of people get caught up
in wanting to hear a distinct voice telling them everything that they should do,
but instead of really analyzing and trying to decide whether or not we've been
influenced by the Holy Ghost we should move forward, be good, keep the
commandments and honor our covenants. If we're doing this, the Holy Ghost will
guide us to do the things we need to do, whether we're able to distinguish such
guidance from our personal thoughts or not. As I've tried to follow this
advice, things have gone better for me and I have noticed smaller ways in which
the Holy Ghost influences my everyday actions.
Things are continuing to go well here! I feel like just this week my
ability to speak Spanish has had a big jump. Starting this Monday, as a
district we are planning on pretty much only speaking in Spanish, and while I know that
it will be hard, we're going to learn so much.
Thanks for everything! Hope you have a great week!
Elder Griffiths
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