August 2013 MTC Experiences

(Sorry for the long posts, just trying to get caught up :)

Ok, I will answer the questions first:

1) My companion is from Oregon. He has moved around 12 times starting in Nevada then to Idaho then multiple times in Idaho. Then he moved to Oregon and he just tells everybody he is from Oregon, but his family moved to Utah 3 weeks before he came here. It is only temporary though and they are looking for a better place already.

2) My daily schedule is basically the same every day with a few exceptions. It starts off with Breakfast, then personal study. After that we have 3 lessons. Language, Coaching, and now personal investigator. Coaching is just study time where the teachers can help us with anything we need. After those we have lunch. Then usually Gym. There are multiple weight rooms, a track, several fields, and some courts. After that we have 3 more classes. Usually language, coaching, and personal investigator. However, we only have language and coaching once a day. The other time we have classes, we have a long class on fundamentals of the gospel. Ex: book of mormon, how to begin teaching, the atonement, the first lesson, etc... After those classes we have dinner. Then we have TALL. So more detail about TALL. For one it is pretty lame, but it helps if you try. It is a computer program that is basically like a Spanish worksheet. Fill in the blanks, create sentences, complete the paragraphs, etc. There are different lessons and they depend on what we are going to be doing in Language the next day. We are supposed to do prework for the next day. That is why when I emailed you on Thursday I was already done with my prework for the next day. I do not like to move ahead because then I will forget what I did and then have to do it again probably.
3) Church is weird. We start off the day normally with breakfast and study time. Then we have priesthood while the sisters have relief society. Priesthood is out entire branch and we just have usually one person speaking at the front of the class. The lessons have been pretty good, but it is definitely different. Then we have District Meeting which is basically Sunday School. It is just our district though. We sit in class and one person gives a lesson on whatever they want. Then we have sacrament. Sacrament is very different. There are only about 30 of us in our branch right now and so it does not take too long to do the actual sacrament. Then we have our lessons. Each week there are 6 lessons or talks given. They would prefer them to be completely in Spanish but not very many people can do that yet. The lessons have been very good for the most part, but it is very different.  After sacrament we usually have lunch. Then we have study time. After that we have class. We meet together, the whole CCM, and we have a lesson given by the CCM President. Then we have more study time. After that we have a devotional. It is usually a dvd of one of the Apostles giving a devotional at the Provo MTC. The first week was Elder Scott, and this week was Elder Holland. It was a devotional given February 28, 2012 so you might want to look it up. It was amazing! Elder Holland is always amazing, but this was crazy. I definitely cried during it because the spirit was so strong. He talked about how no matter how hard this gets, we need to endure to the end. He pressured us to focus on all the people looking up to us. I immediately though of Emily and Taylor and then Mogies sons who were at our farewell because Mogie even said how much they look up to us. Then finally I thought of Tampa. That is why I am here. It does not matter how hard it gets because I cannot slack off at all. I am doing this for my brothers and sisters that are waiting for me in Tampa, Florida. After that he went on to talk about the Book of Mormon. He talked about how 1 Nephi 1 is all about a prophets life. They pray, receive manifestation, they preach, and they are either followed or hated. That particular part is about Lehi, but what about Joseph Smith? All prophets live their lives accordingly. I loved it. He also talked about how Mormon had to cut out a lot of stuff to make the plates. That means EVERY SINGLE WORD COUNTS. Oh, and for Dad, Elder Holland even said that he has thought about his mission every day for the last 50 years. So Kevin is right when he said that in Mission Prep. So you can share that with them. After the devotional we have some study time and then we watch a video. The first week we watched The Testaments I believe is what it is called. We have seen it. It was so spiritual and I cried along with a lot of other people. This past week we watched How Rare a Possession: The Book of Mormon. It was so good. I do not think that I have seen it before, but it was amazing. You guys have to watch it. After the video we usually just go back to our dorms. Sunday is definitely the most exhausting day of the week. But it is usually the most spiritual.
4) For PDay we get up early to do laundry so we do not have to deal with the rush. Then we have breakfast at 7:30 just like usual. Then we have all day to write, take pictures, relax, hang out, whatever. We have dinner at 6, and then we have a devotional and a devotional review which is just our district talking about the devotional.
5) Being on the computer depends on how many people are waiting. They recommend an hour, but if there is nobody waiting you can take a little longer. They are very lenient because we are away from our homes and they understand how difficult that can be so they are not too strict. (Today I have a lot of time so I will write a lot. And I have several things I need to send personally to each of you so you will each get a personal email from me today)
6) I do not know that I dream IN Spanish yet. I have definitely had dreams where I speak some Spanish, but it is like an every day thing where I speak mostly Spanish and then some English. So that is what it has been like.
7) The food is crazy. Usually breakfast is okay. Pancakes or waffles, but none of the sauce is very good so I just eat them plain. They have cereal for breakfast and dinner because here breakfast and dinner are very small. Lunch is the big meal. I honestly have absolutely no idea what I have been eating. We have gotten very lucky a couple times. We had chicken cordon blue (I know that is not how it is spelled, but oh well) for lunch last week. That was amazing! And we had hot dogs for dinner last night. It was very nice to get some normal food rather than a ton of random stuff. I think most of the stuff we eat is meat, but I have no idea. For example, on Sunday the food is usually pretty bad. This past week we had sandwiches for breakfast. There was lettuce, tomatoes, chicken, some sauce on them. So you would think it was good right? Wrong. There were mashed up beans on the sandwich, along with some random white things and green things that I have no idea what it was. I almost threw up. That is why all of the missionaries have been storing cereal boxes in our rooms. So I ate some of those instead. That is basically the story of my life with food. I have no idea what it is, but you try it anyways, and sometimes gag.
Last week we finished teaching Gabriel. He committed to baptism and to come to church. It was pretty cool. We got some new investigators this week. Yesterday we taught Filiciano for the first time. He committed to read the Book of Mormon, pray, and if he knew that it was true, then he already committed to baptism on August 15th. It was amazing! I really like teaching the investigators. It is hard, but it is a great learning experience. Tomorrow we will teach Pablo and so next week I will give you an update on both of them.
So, the Latinos that were living in our dorm left yesterday morning. It was very sad. They only had to be here 12 days and we got to be really close. Elder Cadena forgot his CTR ring and his Preach My Gospel though. I am going to email him and get his address so that I can mail him the ring. Elder Hernandez was extremely funny and I am going to miss them so much. We used to stay up kind of late singing songs with them. Some were in Spanish and some were in English and some were both. It was so much fun having them here. They are gone though and we should get some new ones tomorrow.
I do not really have a ton left to talk about. I have a couple request though please. 1) please go on my Facebook and send a message to Sister Pong. I am friends with her. I do not remember her first name. Brother Pond and her share their Facebook. Please tell them thank you so much for the binder that they gave me. It has helped a lot and I read something in it every day. It is amazing. 2) Please go on my Facebook and add Juan Elias Cadena H. and Antonio Rodriguez as friends. Those are Elder Cadena and Elder Hernandez. Thank you.
This week has been so much better. It went by super fast. Only 102 more weeks ;)  I only say that as a count down. Not because I have to come home. I am super excited to get into the field. It is getting better here, but I still want the real thing. I have learned a lot more and I love my teachers. I have developed a serious love for the scriptures. I am already in 2 Nephi 20 or something like that. I love them so much. I am using the scripture marker from Kris every day and I have learned so many new things from the scriptures. Emily and Taylor, read the scriptures. They will bless you more than you know. Emily, you might not go on a mission, but I still want you to have them read by yourself before you would have gone. And Taylor, read them as much as possible. Definitely have them read before you leave at least once. Preferably more. I know that it will bless you so much. I love you all. I have also written a lot in my journal so there will be a lot to read when I get back. I use the pen that Taylor made for me to write in my journal. I do not want it to get ruined so I use it for that rather than carry it around. I love that pen so much. Thank you all for everything.
I love you all and I know that you will be blessed these next two years. I will write when I can. I hope that you all realize how amazing you are. I love you.
With much love,

Elder Moyes

 

There are 5 of us here from our stake. Connor, Kolby, Jordan, Me, and Brady Dehlin. He is one of Austin´s friends. The Austin that lives in our circle.

Please do not send another package here. There is one guy who has to go out and pick it up. I still have not received my first one yet. It has been here for over two weeks the guy just won´t go get it and I don´t know why. I am working on it though, but please just send stuff to Tampa. Thank you.

I do not know about my travel plans. However, I do know that my last week I do not have a PDay. So next week we are going to the temple again (I heard about the video) and so I can write next week, but probably only once. and then the week after that I won´t write here. I don´t know about what will happen when I get to Florida though. Just a heads up.

I haven´t met anyone going to my mission yet. But we don´t really talk with many people outside our district or branch.

Thank you for the story. That was wonderful. My scripture for this week is James 1:5. I know it´s very well known, but I have a new thought on it. It says "If any of you lack wisdom.." Everybody lacks wisdom. How often do you think the prophet prays for wisdom? My guess would be multiple times a day. We don´t need to pray only when we need to make a big decision or when we are struggling through something. We need to constantly pray and we need to constantly ask for wisdom on what God wants us to do. I chose this scripture because I have been doing that a lot lately. I have had some hard times here, but it hasn´t all been hard. But I have found that when I constantly pray that I am happier. I honestly feel weird when I am not talking with my father in heaven. I have prayed more in this last week than I probably have in my entire life. Every 5 minutes I am praying. Most of the time just to talk with Him and to feel his love and his comfort. It helps a lot.

Ok, now I have a few things I want to tell you guys about.

The food has gotten better. I eat most of it. I still have cereal, but I almost always eat everything else. We have not had anything Taco-like whatsoever so I doubt that I have had what Nanci brought up. I promise that I will try and write every single week. The only exceptions will be transfers because I don´t yet know how those work. And yes it is difficult here. But I do have to keep looking forward to the meals just like Dad said. I promise not to tell you the times when I am thinking "what the heck have I done and why am I here?" only because I have not had any of those times yet. It has been difficult and I have wanted to come home, but I have never questioned why I am here. I am not here for fun or for myself. This isn´t a simple or plain thing. I am here for the Lord and I will never question that. It is not my will here at all. It is his and I will stay to the end. I do not think I will ever question why I am here.

Last Tuesday we had a live devotional! Elder Valenzuela from the First Quorum of the Seventy came to the CCM and taught us. It was pretty cool. He talked about finding our sheep and how on our missions we are the shepherd and we have to take care of our flocks. It was really good.

Sunday was crazy. First off, Saturday after lunch was when we started fasting. We fasted for 24 hours. It was amazing!!! Sunday morning was when I gave my talk in Priesthood. I used a talk by President Hinckley. It is titled, To the Boys and to the Men. He gave it in conference in 1998. I used the part that was to the boys. I thought it went well. I talked about how important the priesthood is and how we are never alone. It is going to be very difficult, but we are never a lone and it will be worth it.

Sunday night we watched a devotional by Elder Holland. He gave it in January of 2011. It was amazing. I love Elder Holland so much. He is so amazing. He talked about how incredible we have to be. And how we need to have this gospel in our hearts before we can put it in others.

Sunday night we watched Joseph Smith: A Prophet of Revelation (I think that is what it was called). It was amazing!!!! I felt the spirit so strongly and I want to get out in the field and help people right now! You guys should really watch it. I love Joseph Smith. He truly was a prophet of God.

I love you all. I will try and write again later today if you have any questions. Hopefully I will get a picture of the temple next week that I can send to you guys. I love you all.

Love,

Elder Moyes

 

Okay, so there is a jail that is like 8 blocks away from here and apparently people escape somewhat regularly. We are all safe, nobody could break into this place with an army so we are fine. But there is a helicopter that flies around and sends off sirens just to let people know what is going on. The reason I am telling you this is because one of the guys sitting on the edge of the helicopter carries around a sniper rifle! It was so crazy when we saw it! It was kind of cool though. Haha

Okay, on lds.org there is a MTC video from here. I am not in the video, but there are pictures on the same page as the video and I am in one of those. So you guys should look that up.

Okay, scripture of the week is Alma 34:41. I love this scripture because no matter what God will always provide a way out. It made me think of the 4th watch lesson that Doug gave in Priesthood. I love it. We just need to know that we will be able to have rest. That God will provide. It gets hard at times but we just need to have faith.

Okay, last Tuesdays devotional was disappointing. Elder Holland did not come, which was okay. 

And then we had a devotional on Sunday given by Elder M. Russell Ballard. It was amazing! He talked about the importance of what we are doing and how we have been preparing for this our entire lives. We just need to use our knowledge. It was given this year on February 26th I believe. And guess what? I saw Spencer! (one of Alex’s old soccer teammates) He was singing with the choir in the devotional! It was awesome!

After that we watched two videos. We watched one about John Tanner, and then we watched To This End Was I Born. They were both amazing! I loved them so much. Because I might have to leave early next monday, I miss the video on Sunday because they want us to sleep. So those might have been my last ones, which I am okay with because they were amazing!!!

And finally, today we went to the temple again. It was incredible! I understood almost all of it this time. It was way fun. It was weird knowing I may never be back again, but it was really cool. I would love to have you guys see what it was like. I loved it. On the way back we saw the guy painted silver juggling fire again. It was cool.

Well, that is all for now. I will get my ministry card and my release dates and my itinerary on Thursday. That is really weird. I will write to you when I can. I love you all!

Love,

Your missionary,

Elder Moyes

 

I don´t think there is anything I need right now. I will let you know when I arrive if I think of anything. I don´t have any information from LDS Travel or my Mission President. My companion is leaving tomorrow too, but different time. I leave here at 2:00 a.m. and my flight leaves at 6:30. I should arrive in Tampa around 3:00. I have some cash handy so I should be okay.

This week has been long and difficult. I am nervous to go to Florida. I am excited, but I don´t have any idea what to expect and so there are so many emotions going through my head at one time. I am excited though and I know it will be awesome. I hope my trainer is really good. I want to get off to a great start.

On Tuesday we had a live devotional from the Provo MTC. It was broadcasted to every MTC in the world. It was given by Elder Scott about prayer and communicating with our father in heaven. It was really good. It was cool to know that it was live. I didn´t see anyone I know, but I don´t think any of my friends are there right now other than Jeff. I didn´t see him though. I don´t know if I told you guys but I got my ministry card and my release date. It is weird knowing that date. It is June 22, 2015 so now Emily can get that calendar and know exactly when to count down to ;)

On Friday we had in-field orientation. It was from 9 am to 9 pm. We had classes all day. It was very mentally exhausting, but it was really good. It was just to help get us a little bit prepared for the field. It was really good.

We got new roommates this week because Elder Smith and Elder Wadsworth left. They both look like they are 12. One is 18 and he probably comes up to about my elbow. He is tiny. The other one is 19 and he is a little bit taller. Like, maybe comes up to my shoulder. But they both look 12. It is crazy. They are very quiet and keep to themselves.

That is my update for the week. Next time I am sure I will have a lot more. :) I love you all!!! Thank you for everything!

Love,

Elder Moyes