Hand written and mailed Nov. 11 (we received this letter on Nov. 16)
Hi,
Once I made it to the MTC safely, our first day arrival we all had a lot
of free time to relax and have fun after Being up all night. During
that time, I got to meet my roommates. I told you last time I'd get
their names down. Their names are, Elders Aumua, Faaifoaso, Seiuli,
Pennington, and Escott. The first two are Samoan. Seiuli is from
Wellington, NZ, Pennington flew with me and Escott is from Australia.
Seiuli played rugby and is a really nice kid and funny as well.
Elder Escott, my companion has really taught me a lot. His story and
background has shown me that you don't have to grow up and have an LDS
family to share the gospel. How cool is it for me to be partnered in the
MTC with a convert?
I've got one week left in the MTC and I'm off into the field. The MTC is
just a wonderful place to be. There are a lot of Samoans, Fijians,
Tahitians, Americans, Australians, New Zealanders and one from South
Africa here. The spirit here is so strong because all of them came from
a different back ground but want to teach the gospel. I've already made
close friends with the elders and sisters here.
This gospel has blessed my life and I want to thank each and every one
of you for helping me and to not give up on me. My first day of class we
learned about what our purpose of being a missionary is. Going through
the lesson and talking about it really got me thinking. In our classroom
we have a poster that reminds each of us every day what our true
purpose is. It says, "Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them
receive the gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement,
repentance, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the
end." This touched me and woke me up because this whole work I'm doing
right now is not about me. It's all of out the investigator that I will
be teaching. As my teacher would say, "There's no more I."
A side track to all of that, we are all writing to our families. As I am
writing I thought I would share this with you guys. We all just got on
our knees to pray because Elder Aumua was missing his brothers a lot. He
first talked to me while I was writing and I told the others we should
all get down and pray with him. Even though he said his prayer in
Samoan, I still felt the spirit in the circle. This all happened while
I'm writing to you.
I believe so much in Heavenly Fathers plan for all of us. It's because
He loves us. As we practice teaching our teacher, it is such a neat way
how they show us how it is going to feel in real missionary work. Love
being here in New Zealand. Love this gospel and what it really can do to
change many people's hearts. Miss you all oh so much.
I just want to close this letter by saying my testimony. This church is
true. Anybody with the desire can and will feel that same happiness. So
many things have accrued in my life that all led to my decision to go on
this mission. My heart is full of happiness and smiles.
Love you family! Miss you guys a ton. I hope everything is going well, Elder Almen Thorpe
No comments:
Post a Comment