MTC Week 4

   To start off we had a devotional Tuesday night by Elder Oaks. He is a great speaker and I love how he explains the doctrine of the church and the doctrine of Christ. We also had a speaker last night who was a former BYU tight-end. His name was Chad Lewis and he gave a great talk on the savior and his own football career and his mission. After the devotional last night we had to run over to another building to get a seat for a movie they were playing. They fill up fast so if you don't go you won't get in. The movie ended up being The Testaments which was great. Probably the most entertainment I've had since I have gotten here. Hosting on Wednesday went great. I was able to host two missionaries, one going to Salt Lake City and the other going to Japan. I felt awkward standing by their car while the family and missionary were bawling. Basically what I do with that is take the missionary and his luggage up from the underground parking garage and bring them to the main building to pickup some necessary stuff and then to their residence hall to drop their luggage off and then straight to their classroom to see their teacher, and district. I tried my best to talk words of comfort and encouragement to them. So far being District leader is going well, I have whipped my group of men and women into shape in the past week. Just kidding they are already pretty good. Since I have been here I have had to give or participate in four priesthood blessings. People either are sick, in pain, or just need comfort. I have been sick the past two weeks though not very bad and no where near needing a blessing. Just a sore throat and stuffy nose. Some people get stomach problems from the food here. And because of that we had to evacuate our classroom for an hour one day. Our teacher was laughing so hard she started crying. We could see the BYU football stadium from the the top of one of the buildings. You could hear the crowd screaming on Saturday night. My Portuguese is constantly getting better and it really is a joy. Even when others are discouraged I still try to keep positive because that is the only way to improve. Our teaching skills are improving as well. This week we taught district meeting about study habits, and on Tuesday we taught some volunteers. One guy we taught had just returned home three weeks prior from Cabo Verde. It was great to talk about what it was like and he even took our picture to send to our moms. He said that the Creole we have to learn is no big deal because they speak a lazy Portuguese where there is no conjugating verbs which sounds easy. We don't need to speak creole just understand it. He loved it in Cabo Verde and I'm sure I will too when I go. It has been nice to have a chance to simplify the gospel and in reality the gospel is very simple. Everything we do in the church can be related back to Christ, and his resurrection. I love being around the great guys whom I have come to call my friends. I know my savior lives and loves me. And he loves all of you guys too.