Dear Family,
First off,
Thank you for the package that included my sweater. I don't think I told you
that it came in yet, but I've had it for a while. Thank Kurtis for me for the
email, It's been weird to think that he's only been 1 block away from me this
whole time. It doesn't feel at all like I've been in Provo. The MTC is a very
different place. Anyway as of this Monday, my district is the oldest in our
zone right now as the one above us left for Chile and Nicaragua. It's
challenging to deal with all the changes but its great to know that my time
here is almost over! This past week has been the most physically painful week
as I was playing basketball. One day as I was jumping for a rebound, the ball
rammed down on my left thumb. It's the weirdest jammed finger I've ever gotten
because my thumb was perfectly fine, but the joint in the palm of my hand was
totally inflamed. I had a dark purple streak going down my palm into my wrist,
and for a while it felt like a had a rock inside my hand. I was the weirdest feeling.
It is pretty much healed and I've been monitoring its recovery. This past week,
my companions have had multiple practices in the mornings and throughout the
week for choir. They are going to be singing on the 2nd session of General
Conference. Even though it's great that they have this privilege, I'm glad to
just be able to stay and relax this weekend. Because of this I can listen to
all the sessions of Conference and be able to take notes on all the talks. So
there's a pro and con to everything. The choir sounds really good, and I sang
on Tuesday with them for the Devotional. They are singing 2 beautiful
renditions of Lead, Kindly Light and Praise to the Man. Anyway, yesterday was a
fun day too as I got to help direct traffic for the new missionaries coming in
yesterday. It was enjoyable to see all the different reactions of families
dropping off their missionary. The funniest one I saw was a tiny pickup truck
with about 10 people sitting the bed come and drop off a sister. She was a
champ, I did see her shed a tear as the rest of her family was bawling. She
attempted a couple times to leave, but they wouldn't let her go! People are
funny. Oh if you could let Aubrie know that Elder Archuleta actually came to
the MTC yesterday and is living in the residence floor beneath me. I've seen
him a couple times, but I haven't talked with him yet. I plan on giving him a
high 5 before I leave. Something that I've been spiritually pondering the last
week on the connection faith, hope, and charity have with each other. Before I
came here I've basically seen faith and hope as two really similar things, but
I've seen faith in a different light here. I see faith more as a expression of
trust and confidence. Since then, I've seen how I need to have confidence and
trust in the gospel, hope/expect/wish for the best, and express my faith and
hope through charity towards others. The way I've see it now is if you don't
have faith, you don't have hope. If you don't have hope, you don't have
charity, and if you don't have charity, Moroni says you don't have anything.
This changes my perceptions of how I should serve as a missionary. The last
article of faith really sums it up for me in what I need to do and teach. My
testimony has been truly strengthened here. Don't let me forget when we talk on
Mother's Day to remind me what happened on March 21st and talk about on of my
teachers Hermano Gillon. It's totally defined my stay here at the MTC. Well,
I'm off to do laundry. I hope Aubrie enjoys her trip to Idaho. Say hello to
everyone in the ward, and I'll keep my eyes out for the Farmers!
Te amo tanto!
Elder Marrott