MTC, Week 7

Dos mas semanas en el MTC!!!! Es loco!!

Well, it was another normal week in the MTC. Nothing too exciting to write home about, but I'll tell you a few fun stories anyway.

In the TRC (where you go teach volunteers who are fluent in spanish) Elder Kelly and I got a person we had taught a few weeks ago. Last time we taught him we thought he talked really fast. This time we could understand him pretty well, but he brought a friend (she was acting as his wife, but I don't think she really was); and we couldn't understand her at all. And she would laugh at us whenever we messed up our spanish (which was pretty often). So during the lesson we talked about our families and I told them, "tengo siete hermanos. cinco son cansado." That means, "I have seven siblings. Five are tired." They thought it was pretty funny. I meant to say, "cinco son casado" which means five are married. They laughed for a while, and so did I. That is what happens when you are a gringo. Plus that lesson was tough becuase they were "Jewish" and asking a lot of questions about Christ how we know He was the Messiah. We did ok, but it probably the hardest lesson we have taught.

In class on Friday we had a member of the Quorum of the 70 come speak to our district. He is one of our teacher's dad. I won't tell you his name since he said he didn't get permission to speak to us, he just did it. But if you look back at my teacher's names it shouldn't be too hard to figure out. ;) He talked about becoming a consecrated missionary and devoting all of our thoughts, even during our "free time," to missionary work. It was really good. I hope I can put into practice the things he suggested.

The weather here has been kinda crazy (it is Utah, what do you expect). Almost every day for the past week it has just started to rain randomly. Then it will get sunny again in a hour or so. It makes it more interesting to have a change every now and then, even if it is just the weather.

Yesterday was a pretty busy Sunday for me. Elder Kelly and I taught district meeting at noon. It was really good. We taught about the power and authority of our calling as missionaries. We didn't really follow our lesson plan very well, but we followed the spirit and it was a lot more powerful than what we had planned out. Then in sacrament meeting Elder Kelly and I passed the sacrament. I figured since I was already doing something in sacrament they wouldn't call on me to give a talk, but I was wrong. They had me give the talk I prepared about virtue. It wasn't that scary since I just read what I already wrote, and the native speakers in our zone said it made sense, which is pretty good.

On Wednesday mornings we have "service," which is really just janitorial work. But it's fun, especially since the person in charge of us (we call him Hermano Fix-It) is really cool. This Wednesday he had a ball and cup (the game where you catch the ball in the cup, the ball is attached with a string). He said the record was nine times in a row, so of course I had to beat it. It took a few tries but I eventually got 15. So Hermano Fix-It put my name on the record board in the costudial room. Then another elder in my district got 23, so I'm now number two. But I'll regain my top spot this Wednesday.

Well, I'm almost out of time but I have one more bit of news I need to share. Jenny is pregnant!! The baby is due in March sometime. Robby emailed me and told me to announce it (he's pulling a Rachel) and I figured waiting till Christmas might be a little long of a wait. So now you know.

That's all I got for today. Everything is going great here. I'm loving being a missionary. Spanish is tought but it is coming. God is great.

Love,

Elder Gardner

"He lives in you. He lives in me. He watches over everything you see. In to the water, in to the truth. In your reflection, He lives in you."