4th letter from the MTC-he is getting his visa :)

Uncle Paul and the fam, thanx a million for the package!! And Grandpa, thanx for the letter. Also, Uncle David and Aunt Danny, I read over the note you guys gave me in the front of my portugeese kids book of Mormon, I was very touched, thanx a million! I am glad to get the letters from my family, I am glad that Heather and Justin are doing awesome in sports, I am also glad that Gregory is doing well in school, I hope he knows I am on a mission. I miss everyone, but I promise that I am all about the work, also I JUST SENT MY ONLINE VISA APPLICATION!!!!!! I am real excited to get to Brazil, it has been awesome, right after I got it I was like a celebrity, And since then a lot more online applications have come.

This week has been real awesome, I have learned a lot but probably the greatest lesson I have learned is from my teachers about teaching lessons. We have a tradition here at the MTC, our teachers all just came back from missions and one thing that we do in order to practice to teach the people of Brazil is that we teach our teachers and they pretend to be the people that they taught on their missions, all down until their smallest mannerisms, this has brought me even closer to my teachers in so many ways, because now I think night and day about how my companion and I can better teach my teacher's old investigators. My favorite person to teach is someone that Irmao Shaeffer taught, one day my companion and I showed up for an "appointment" to come by and teach this young man, he invited us in and told us to sit on the couch, he tossed us a couple of air freshners disguised as beers and told us to watch the game. The week before we had spoken to him about prayer and feeling the holy spirit and that he can connect with his Heavenly Father, and that his Heavenly Father wanted to speak with him.

When we came in and this was happening it was very disheartening, I felt defeated the moment I walked in, but never the less my companion asked him to turn off the TV and that we wanted to speak with him. He did, and then he asks us why we don't like watching soccor, which was especially hard for my companion who is probably the biggest soccor fan in the MTC. This hurt my heart at first because I realized that this guy thought that people who love him come to his house and watch the game, and now I looked like I didn't love him after I had done so much to become his friend. We began to talk to him about how much God loves him and asked if he prayed as he promised he would, he did not. We started asking him questions and after a few minutes he asked, "Why do you believe in this?" After this I explained to this boy that we are a little different from his other friends, I told him that I would live to do nothing more than to watch a game with him after my mission, then I told him why I believe what I believe. For the first time, I told someone in a lesson about Gregory, and that how I knew that someday I can be with him, this boy has a brother who is off at war and I explained that he can be with his brother forever, then I explained to him that I knew that he was a great spirit, meant for great things, and my companion and I taught him about Jesus' love for us and we explained to him how he can be with his brother in the afterlife.

He realized that we told him these things because we cared about him and that we wanted the best for him, he said that he would read some passages from the book of Mormon and that he would pray to his Heavenly Father to know whether or not Heavenly Father was really there. I was so happy, after I left I came back in the room and looked into the eyes of my teacher, Irmao Shaeffer, I realized that he was trying to teach me an important lesson, that on your mission you can only teach through love. I have loved my time at the MTC, I have loved being connected to my teracher's missions by teaching their friends, and I am so glad to be a part of this great work. I know that there is no way that after 3 weeks I could have done all of that experience in Portugeese except through the power of God. I want to take my last minute and 11 seconds to tell everyone back home, thank you. Thank you to everyone who has helped me to get here, thank you for all of the love, and sacrafice you have all given me, I have been very blessed in my life, Elder McOmber