Saturday, February 5, 2011

3rd letter from the MTC

Hey, everyone, thanx for the package, and Nick from Mail post, thanx for the little note haha.
I have really enjoyed my time here in the MTC, I have been thinking a lot about the kind of missionary I want to be. Ever since I was in this interview on sunday where I sat down with a counselor for the branch president and he explained to me the difference between a leader with position and a leader without position. He explained to me that some of the most valuable leaders are those without position. After that meeting I thought a lot about everything that has happened since I have been here and how my time at the MTC has affected me. I find it funny that my branch president has only known me for 2 weeks and already knows how to throw the world on my shoulders. But in many ways I think that he is right, it is important that everyone does their part. I am so glad that I have grown up in the family that I have, my parents have always taught me to do missionary work my whole life. At the MTC they show us videos of people from the NYTimes One campaign to show us all of the different people out there and all of the lives that we can touch. I am so excited to see the change in someone's life when they recieve the gospel and they leave all of their guilt and pain behind.
My district is the biggest portugeese speaking district, and whenever we watch these videos I can see that some of the other people in my district are sad that they did not teach tjhe gospel to their friends back home, because from these videos and then our discussions afterwards we can see how we can help these people. I can only imagine how sad they would be if they were sitting in the afterlife watching others and thinking of how they could have helped them more. I would admonish anyone who has a desire to help their friends and especially my family to not just mention the gospel to others but to really try to teach them, you owe it to them. I would challenge anyone to invite a friend to hear the first disscussion, even if they say no, at least they know that you care about them and you want the happiness that they can get from it.
But as for myself, in the MTC I feel unsatisfied with the missionary I am now, I know that Brazil needs a better missionary, and so I have been praying for revelation on how to be abetter missionary. Then one day my companion and I got "contacted" by a trio of cantoneese missionaries going to Hong Kong. We went to their room to hear what they had to say. We walked down these stairs into a little room, we asked them where their district was, they said that they are their district, then they asked us questions and testified of Joseph Smith and that if you poor your heart out in prayer that you can recieve answers to any of your questions. Something about them seemed different from every other district, they had a genuine look on their faces that spoke to my heart, so I told them that I would pray especially fervently that night. The next day my companion and I went to a large meeting with everyone in the MTC there, of everyone we could have sat next to my companion and I sat next to these three missionaries. During the meeting I just thought of how I could be a better missionary, then I recieved my answer, I could see in my mind the kind of missionary I wanted to be, it was the ultimate gift from my Heavenly Father, my prayer had been answered. I was so touched, when we left the meeting I wrote down all of the names of those three missionaries and then I thanked them for everything that they had given me and I told them of my experience, I will always have a special pl;ace in my heart for those three missionaries. I want to testify to everyone back home that the greatest thing you can do is become closer to your father in Heaven and the best way to do that is by helping others. Those three missionaries have brought me closer to my Heavenly Father, I hope that everyone back home will do the same for at least one of their friends.

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