MTC Week 3

Hello Everyone!

This was the 3rd and last week at the MTC and it has flown by. My time at the MTC has been so fun but I'm also really excited to get into the field. On Tuesday, we're leaving in the morning to head to the mission home in Manchester and meet President McReynolds and his wife. I'm so excited!

I emailed like 5 days ago but so much has happened. On Wednesday we had a normal morning but in the afternoon we got to go on a church history tour. In Preston, we saw where Heber C Kimball and the other early missionaries of the church stayed when they first arrived in England. We also saw the obelisk where they preached and the River Ribble, where the first baptism in England happened. The first converts in England were so excited to get baptized that they raced to the water to see who would get baptized first. And since it was such a big deal that American missionaries were baptizing English people, thousands of people came to watch the baptism. We also went to Downham, where we got to walk around a bit and see the church where the entire congregation got baptized. We took tons of pics but I'm attaching my fav ones. England really is such a beautiful place.

On Wednesday night we had a devotional with Elder Tunnicliffe, one of the area 70's for England. He talked about how the kind of missionary we want to be is a missionary that walks with his purpose in mind. It was very good.

Oh also on Tuesday we had our last lesson with Eron, one of our progressing investigators. Really it was because our teacher Brother Robertson was leaving on holiday so he couldn't play Eron anymore. The lesson went really well and he agreed to be baptized. Just as a side note, the Spirit really does put into your mouth what you need to say. We were teaching Soraya (pronounced Zariah) yesterday and she was asking a question about 1 Nephi 4, where the Lord commands Nephi to kill Laban. She said she understood that sometimes you need to kill a wicked ruler, but she didn't understand why the Lord would ask Nephi to kill Laban if he loves Nephi and Nephi felt uncomfortable will killing him. We ended up pulling an answer out of thin air about the importance of the record they needed to get and how we need to teachings of the prophets to strengthen us. It was really awesome. So teaching by the Spirit is definitely something missionaries have to do all the time.

Another thing we had this week that we didn't have any other week was Infield orientation. The purpose of Infield orientation is to let us know more about the field so that when we get out there we at least have a clue about what we're doing. On one of the days, we talked about how to do weekly and daily planning and on the other day we talked about how our success as a missionary is determined by our commitment. 

I am seriously freaking out that we only have one more day of classes. My time at the MTC has been difficult but I have learned so much already about teaching by the spirit and according to the needs of the investigator. And just so you guys now know, my Pday in the field will be on Monday so next Monday is when you will be hearing from me next!

Attached are pictures of my companion and I with Elder and Sister Tunnicliffe (the area 70), our district with one of our teachers Brother Scharff, the building where the first missionaries in England stayed, a plaque in a park about the church, me in a telephone box, and a picture of Downham.   I also forgot to mention that on our church history tour we got to see the flat where President Hinckley stayed while he was on his mission. The story he tells about the letter he got from his father that said "Forget yourself and go to work" happened in that flat. How cool!

From her letter to Mom:  I wanted to share something I read in 1 Nephi 14. As we've been learning how to teach investigators effectively, we've learned that it is good to promise blessings because it will give the investigator a motivation to obey until they have seen the blessings for themselves in their lives. I've noticed that many of the prophets and Christ himself work in the same way. They will give us something that we need to be doing but will then promise blessings that come with obedience to that commandment. In verse 1 of 1 Nephi 14, it says that if the Gentiles will hearken unto the lamb of God, he will manifest himself to them "unto the taking away of their stumbling blocks". I love this verse because it explicitly promises that if we will follow Christ, the stumbling blocks we have in our lives will be taken away. As a missionary and as a mom, we both have some stumbling blocks in our lives we would like taken away, so if we are obedient we can see that blessing fulfilled. I seriously love the scriptures.