The Last Melon ~

This Email is my last one from the MTC, and that's a very exciting thing to write.

Not much happened this week, we did a lot of training and preparation for the field, and Elder Royal and I made a hackysack for P-Day's with Elder Hatch's old sock and popcorn kernels. In Elder Royals words: "It's a little buttery." 

I think that like a lot of people, I have a tendency to get completely wrapped up in something I'm worrying about, or something I think a lot about, and this week I kind of got sick of it so I decided to make a change. I bought this little leather journal in the store here and when something comes up I just write about it until I can't think anything more about it, and then I can move on. It started when I got the Beach Boys stuck in my head way bad so I just wrote out the lyrics and then it stopped, and it works with any bothersome thought. And that was a massive tender mercy. It's becoming increasingly apparent to me that the adversary has no reservations when it comes to making us miserable, but ultimately we get to decide whether or not to let him. It's not easy but it's surely possible. Do what you can to be happy, whatever that is. Right now for me it helps a lot to get everything I'm worrying about onto a paper, and then it becomes apparent how small it is. Every one of us is lucky enough to be on the receiving end of massively strong love. In Romans 8:38-39 it says "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ our Lord." His love is always there, and we can always have it. Next to God's love for all of you, mine is near insignificant but I love you all a lot as well.     

Arm Wrestles, Last Lessons, and Devotionals (Week 5)

This week wasn't super exciting but I'll see what I can do

Towards the beginning of the week I had what my teacher Hermano Cook calls a "lucha con muerte" or a "fight with death". I got this crazy virus that put me down for a few days. As with every other trial a person can experience, this was a lesson in faith for me. I didn't want to ask for a blessing because I've always felt like if I'm still standing I don't need one. That is false. I struggled super hard for a few days, I could breathe, I couldn't swallow, I couldn't talk, it was horrible. Nothing was helping, and when I finally asked for a blessing, the next morning I woke up with zero symptoms. The priesthood is a great blessing to all of us, and as long as we have the faith to ask for a blessing and the faith to be healed, we will. 

Later that week, my companion chastised one of my room mates, Elder Royal, about how dirty his part of the room was so he challenged him to an arm wrestle. Elder Royal won, and as such declared himself "Galactic Emperor" and started trashing the room and screaming. It was some well needed comic relief. Imagine Andy Dwyer from Parks and Rec with a deeper voice and less self control and you have Elder Royal. He is an awesome Elder and we get along well.

I've been out a Month, and I leave the MTC in 11 days, and as such we are having some of our last lessons with our investigators. One of our investigators, Diana, was having trouble with Faith and wanted to know with a surety that the church is true before she gets baptized. Incidentally, I had been thinking a lot about the third Indiana Jones movie where he has to literally take a leap of faith onto the invisible bridge haha so i asked her if she knew the movie and she did. So I told her that its really hard when we can't see whats ahead but we have to jump and God will catch us. She thought it was hilarious, especially as I described a scene from Indiana Jones in Spanish, but she committed to be baptized. I think there's a reason we always have situations where we have to trust 100% in our Father, be it getting baptized, or leaving everyone you love for 2 years on a mission, or anything. God knows the end from the beginning, and we don't, so in order to really succeed we have to lean on him, we have to let him bear all our weight. I might be wrong, but I think there's like a gap at the beginning of Indiana Jones' invisible bridge so if he just tiptoed out there he would fall, so he had to literally leap in faith. The amount of parallels between Indiana Jones and life is very eerie. Anyway, we have to have Faith and trust in God completely. And then, like Doctor Jones throwing dust out onto the bridge, we can see that the way was there the whole time. We can receive no witness until after the trial of our faith, be it clearing a subterranean canyon or getting baptized, our trials of faith are opportunities to learn. Trust in God, have faith, and he will bear you up.

Another experience that I have had several times here is receiving clear and obvious answers to prayers as a result of listening to devotionals. Since I got here, its become clear to me that the spirit here is far stronger than anywhere else. And we know that there has to be opposition in all things, so there's also a super evident presence of bad. Satan focuses on us here a lot, because he's intelligent and he knows we have a lot of potential to serve and combat misery and sin. So I've been really struggling all throughout my stay here, and I pray a lot, and I pray very specifically now. I was in a Devotional last Sunday with President and Sister Martino (the MTC President and his Wife) and they showed this quote about prayer, and I just thought " Well, I can't stop thinking about this, its really stressing me out, and I know God can help." So I just said a prayer and asked for peace and knowledge concerning this situation. I prayed really specifically and sincerely as I've been taught, and then I paid really close attention to the Devotional. I started feeling horrible, and I suddenly got all these doubts and worries and woes, but I knew that wasn't the spirit so I pushed through it and kept listening. The talk didn't answer my question, but during the closing hymn, "I Need Thee Every Hour" I got the most incredible feeling of just absolute peace, and I couldn't even sing anymore. It was super powerful, and you all can have the same experiences if you attend your meetings and pray with the intention of getting an answer. We all have a Heavenly Father who loves us more than is possible to understand, and as such he's going to help us. Trust in his knowledge and his plan, and think of him always. I know he's there, and I know he loves every one of you.

Birthdays, Break ins, and a Waterfight (Week 4)

This week has been an interesting one for sure. Elder Ki had to
go home for surgery on his ankle but he'll be able to come back soon.
He's an awesome guy, we were super close and I'm sure he'll be back.

Also this week, we had like 3 birthdays in a row, which meant a lot of
cupcakes and even more bad ideas for lighting candles. We tried arcing
electricity out of an outlet, shorting out the iron and rubbing bottle
caps together before we found some matches. Elder Freeze's birthday
was first, and as such it was the wildest. We had hats, noise makers,
an entire funfetti cake, and zero utensils. Thank goodness we didn't
set a smoke alarm off.

Some of the Elders around here were getting a little angsty, and
somehow that led to a garbage can full of cold water being thrown over
me. I told them they'd be sorry and they only laughed. But I had a
plan.

To send elder Ki off, we had this huge waterfight on our floor.
One Elder made cardboard armor, and he and some of the older Elders
were kidnapping people and pouring scalding water bottles on people.
We tried to rescue them, and it got crazy. Eventually we decided to
put all our squirtguns in a box and hide it in the ceiling.

God loves all of us, I'm sure of it. He loves us enough to give us
occasion to be patient, and he allows us to be tried so we might be
able to come closer to him through the atonement. All things are for
our good, even those that bring us down. Everyone has things they're
dealing with so pray for patience and love. That's probably one of the
most valuable lessons I've learned here.

Elder Thomas

The Hospital and New Elders (week 3)

Hola everyone

This week, Elder W and I took a trip to the outside world, specifically to the hospital. If you don't remember, Elder W is the one who jacked up his thumb pretty bad. Apparently, the doctor might have ripped apart all the ligaments inside his hand in an attempt to fix it. Elder Wr had an MRI to get to, and a split was authorized by the zone leaders so we headed to the travel office. Our first driver was a pretty small guy, and I'm pretty sure he had an eyepatch and at least one pet sugar glider. When he laughed, he basically just stuck his tongue out and exhaled real loud. What a guy.

Last time the Elders went to the hospital, a guy named Daniel asked Elder F if he had shingles. Needless to say, I was thrilled to see what might befall us. Unfortunately, the Hospital visit itself was not very exciting. All though I did see an old lady with a shirt that said "I just need a little Coffee and a lot of Jesus."  What a thrill ride.

On the way back, our driver was a real angsty RM who didn't seem very happy to be driving us. He also shouted down a group of EFY Kids, and that was awesome too.

Elder W got a whole bunch of medical news that didn't make sense to me, but the short of it is that he'll be wearing a cast for the rest of his time here but his mission won't be delayed. We were all really nervous for him but he's good to go.

In other news, Elder L sprained his ankle really bad playing basketball but he'll probably still be able to leave to Peru on time. He is crazy. He and his companion built what they call "Megabed", which was two bunk beds pushed together so it was like to queens stacked. Anyway, now he's on crutches. 

The day after Elder L
got hurt, one of my zone leaders, Elder K, was playing volleyball and completely dislocated his foot from his leg and fractured one of his bones in his leg. That one was really bad, He's a huge guy and he came down on his ankle really wrong. I really hope he's ok, we're praying a lot for him.  

 Also, we got new Elders this week. My companion is the district leader so I got to look at their pictures and names the night before, and one of them is Adam Geilman, my good friend from high school. That was pretty wild, and a huge blessing to have a familiar face in my branch.

The new elders in my room are Elderes R y L, they're good guys, and one of them has a fridge for medical purposes so we're good friends. Before they arrived, I migrated to the top bunk above my companion. Originally I was bummed, but I quickly realized that I was right below the vent so I made a tent out of blankets that funnels the cold air right into my bed and seals it in. My alarm clock has a thermometer, and last night I slept at a cozy 64 degrees. It was very nice.   

You all should read Enos 1:15 and pay close attention to the end. I've been sharing that one a lot with our investigators because they need to know that They're heavenly father has the ability to help us and wants to help us as well. And that knowledge is applicable to everyone. 

I Love All of You.

-Elder Thomas

The Thumb Incident (Week 2)

Hola everyone!

This week was pretty wild. On Tuesday we had a devotional and 10 of
the 12 apostles were there. Elder Bednar gave an incredible talk about
the word of God and how we can teach with the influence of the spirit.
Elder Rasband waved at my class through the little window in the door
which was pretty cool, and I was waiting outside the bathroom for my
companion and a huge guy with a Guy Fieri mustache and an earpiece
came and told me that Elder Ballard was going to walk by and that I
shouldn't engage him which was kind of weird. It's been cool to have
the apostles down here with us, and it was even cooler to hear from
them.

Also, I was talking to Elder M., one of my zone leaders, the
other night, and suddenly Elder W., who came to the MTC the same
week as me came into the room and his left thumb was, as the nurse put
it, "not in the right location." He had been throwing a football in
the hall of the dorms and caught it in a way that basically ripped his
thumb out of its socket. It was hilarious, but he had to go to the
hospital where the doctor tried 3 times to get it back in place by
just taking on it I guess and he finally got it. After the first
attempt, the doctor left the room and Elder W., a generally quiet
kid, reportedly shouted "You'd do me dirty like that, Doc?" Eventually
the thumb was fixed, and they came back at like 4ish in the morning. I
have pictures.

Also, there's been real intense water fights in the hallways of the
dorm at night, our zone has the entire bottom floor of one of the
buildings. Elder Mi., whose brother served with mine in Arkansas,
brushes his teeth for at least a half hour a night and so I decided to
join him. Gradually Elder Ha., Elder R. from San Clemente,
 Elder Cr. and more all joined in.
Elder Ha. calls it toothbrush club, and its growing quite rapidly.
I'll send a picture.

  We were taking a break from our class in the new buildings
yesterday, and we walked past a class where the tv had been
accidentally ripped off the wall and some elders were holding it up
while the teacher desperately struggled to cut some zip ties off of it
so they could lower it to the ground. I had my keys so I used them to
twist off the zip ties, but it was pretty crazy.

 In my personal study I've been reading Job and I highly recommend
that you all read it. All of us have problems, and it'll always be
hard, but we always have the choice to glorify our Heavenly Father and
seek to grow. Job lost his kids to a windstorm, his livestock to fire
from the sky, and his skin to boils but he still maintained his faith,
as can we.

I love you all, stay close to the Lord and focus on the good
-Elder Thomas

Do You Even Know Anything About Music Theory (Week 1)

Hello everyone!

These first few days have been incredible. We're learning a lot,
speaking a lot of Spanish, and feeling the spirit every day. I was
just talking to Elder Ki de Idaho falls and he says sunda will
be weird, because usually on Sunday you feel the spirit more than
other days, but here you feel it constantly and powerfully.

My companion, Elder K, is from Georgia and looks nearly identical
to Toby McGuire, and a passion for 4 square. Earlier in the week he 
picked up a duckling
despite my wishes, and earlier today we spent a good chunk of our P
Day at the gym so he could work on "Pinging it", and by that he
essentially means scaring las Hermanas to death with a flying serve.
People usually don't appreciate his fire in 4 square.

My district only has 4 people, us and two Hermanas. We're in the
intermediate class so we have a lot to learn and not a lot of time to
learn it. But we pray in Spanish, we testify in Spanish, and we have
already taught one lesson and planned another in Spanish. It's pretty
intense, but I'm seeing the gift of tongues already.

The new buildings are beautiful. We're on the 5th floor with a view of
the mountains, so I spend a lot of time standing at the window like
batman with elder K quizzing me.

My zone has close to 50 people, maybe more. There's a lot of love, a
lot of potential, and a lot to learn. They always say "esta bien",
like "it's all good". That stuck out to me a ton this week because
really, it's all good. Elder K handles a duckling, effectively
sentencing it to death? esta bien. I can't remember how to say century
in Spanish during a lesson? Esta bien. Basically, everything will work
out as God wants. Thankfully, God's plan for us is one of love and is
the best one for us. Keep faith in him, remember that his plan is
best, and endure through hard times. God is always sending his love
your way, and if you need any more, I've got plenty of love for you
all that I'd love to share.

Elder K was telling me how music is nothing but science and math,
and naturally I had to harass him about that. After I heckled him for
a bit, he asked me "Do you even know anything about music theory?" And
proceeded to describe to me the physics behind music for like an hour,
and it hasn't stopped. Like right now we just invaded someone's
companionship study so he could teach me about music theory with a
piano. I suspected it might be so after the music theory
conversation.

Mail is AWESOME. I appreciate it more than I can express. There's
nothing quite like seeing mail in the box. Packages are even better,
and are appreciated by the whole zone.

I love you all, as does your Heavenly Father. Read the scriptures, be
patient with music theorists, and pray that I can be as well.

Elder Thomas


My camera won't connect to the computers, so I'll send more pictures
next week. For now, I leave you with the picture that finally was good
enough for Elder K.

First Sighting!

Isaac's Cousin works in the MTC and just sent us the photo! 25 hours down...