Hello Everybody!
Another great week gone by. Already into Week 7 and only 8 days till Christmas! It's a fun time here at the MTC. Though I am excited to leave. Three weeks from tomorrow I will hopefully be on a plane to Mexico. It does not seem very likely though. We have another district in our zone who was supposed to be departing this week. None of them are getting into Mexico. Three are being reassigned and four are staying here. We will not know for another couple weeks whether or not we are getting our visas. I will keep you all posted on how that is going.
So I am no longer district leader. This week the branch changed around all of the leadership positions since the oldest zone is leaving. It was also time for me to be released as district leader. So now Elder Visker is our district leader. He is going to do a great job at it I am sure. Now Elder Love and I have been called as Portal Coordinators. It is going to be a really fun job. Basically we will go around to all of the districts and tell them to do their computer work that we do each week and teach the new districts how to do it. It will be really fun!
We also got a new district this week! They are a good district. There are 11 in the district, 8 elders and 3 sisters. I do not know them very well yet though. The one I do know pretty well is Elder Obi. He is from Southern California and is going to serve in the Dominican Republic. I have gotten to know him pretty well. He also likes to play basketball as well though the two of us have not played each other yet. His roommate, Elder Rudd, I have gotten to know as well. Most of the others I have not been able to talk to them much yet. Though I did talk with one of the Hermanas during lunch one day. She is from Idaho Falls and she knows my cousins Chelsea and Michelle! It's a small world.
Not too much else happened this week though I do have a pretty funny story! I was leaving the room earlier this week and as I saw Elders Grunniger and Chamberlain down the hall. They started waving at me so I started waving back. Unfortunately my ring was a little loose. It flew off, through the only open door in the hallway, into a class, where some Elders were teaching a lesson. I had to walk into the room and retrieve my ring in the middle of the lesson. Elder Love could not stop laughing.
I had two really great experiences this week. One actually happened today as we were cleaning the Provo Temple and the other was yesterday during the weekly Sunday fireside. So this morning we got to go help clean the temple. We got there and changed into some white scrubs and went and sat in one of the chapels to wait for someone to tell us what to do. After a little bit one of the temple workers came in and said he needed two people so Elder Montierth and I volunteered. He was one of the security personnel for the temple and he took us into one of the locker rooms. There we went through about 700 lockers to make sure they were empty. It went pretty fast and we were done in a couple hours. After that we still had a while left so the Brother that was taking us around took us to get some pie and then we went on a tour of the ENTIRE temple. It was so cool and he told us about all of the work that had been done. It was really fun!
My other experience was yesterday in our fireside. The MTC presidency invited the Brett Family to come perform. They have done a lot of musical events and have performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They were extremely good. They sang four songs. The first was a German folk song. Then they sang the song Hallelujah in Spanish. That one was really good! And last one of the brothers sang Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. It was very spiritual and really brought the spirit. After they were done, the speaker Brother Heaton got up to speak. I pretty much wrote my testimony during it and I would like to share it with you.
The Role of the Savior in Missionary Work.
We give investigators the knowledge that they lack. That through the Savior we can overcome all things. What power in the message we have. Through the Savior we can all be forgiven of our sins. Our guilt will be forgiven and forgotten and will be equally replaced by joy. We must focus on the Savior. It is not the gospel of Joseph Smith. It is not the gospel of the Book of Mormon or of the Bible. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are his Latter-day Saints. We are his servants. We must devote our lives unto him. Be saved through him. There is no other head under which we can be saved. We can do all things in his name. As now I wear this name tag, I have his name near to my heart and as such I have his name in my heart at all times. My life has become like unto his life. Devoting all of my time and effort to bring His brothers and sisters unto Him. To bring my brothers and sisters unto him. To change their lives and bring the joy I have in him unto them. What a wonderful purpose. What a wonderful mission.
Elder Lightheart
Another great week gone by. Already into Week 7 and only 8 days till Christmas! It's a fun time here at the MTC. Though I am excited to leave. Three weeks from tomorrow I will hopefully be on a plane to Mexico. It does not seem very likely though. We have another district in our zone who was supposed to be departing this week. None of them are getting into Mexico. Three are being reassigned and four are staying here. We will not know for another couple weeks whether or not we are getting our visas. I will keep you all posted on how that is going.
So I am no longer district leader. This week the branch changed around all of the leadership positions since the oldest zone is leaving. It was also time for me to be released as district leader. So now Elder Visker is our district leader. He is going to do a great job at it I am sure. Now Elder Love and I have been called as Portal Coordinators. It is going to be a really fun job. Basically we will go around to all of the districts and tell them to do their computer work that we do each week and teach the new districts how to do it. It will be really fun!
We also got a new district this week! They are a good district. There are 11 in the district, 8 elders and 3 sisters. I do not know them very well yet though. The one I do know pretty well is Elder Obi. He is from Southern California and is going to serve in the Dominican Republic. I have gotten to know him pretty well. He also likes to play basketball as well though the two of us have not played each other yet. His roommate, Elder Rudd, I have gotten to know as well. Most of the others I have not been able to talk to them much yet. Though I did talk with one of the Hermanas during lunch one day. She is from Idaho Falls and she knows my cousins Chelsea and Michelle! It's a small world.
Not too much else happened this week though I do have a pretty funny story! I was leaving the room earlier this week and as I saw Elders Grunniger and Chamberlain down the hall. They started waving at me so I started waving back. Unfortunately my ring was a little loose. It flew off, through the only open door in the hallway, into a class, where some Elders were teaching a lesson. I had to walk into the room and retrieve my ring in the middle of the lesson. Elder Love could not stop laughing.
I had two really great experiences this week. One actually happened today as we were cleaning the Provo Temple and the other was yesterday during the weekly Sunday fireside. So this morning we got to go help clean the temple. We got there and changed into some white scrubs and went and sat in one of the chapels to wait for someone to tell us what to do. After a little bit one of the temple workers came in and said he needed two people so Elder Montierth and I volunteered. He was one of the security personnel for the temple and he took us into one of the locker rooms. There we went through about 700 lockers to make sure they were empty. It went pretty fast and we were done in a couple hours. After that we still had a while left so the Brother that was taking us around took us to get some pie and then we went on a tour of the ENTIRE temple. It was so cool and he told us about all of the work that had been done. It was really fun!
My other experience was yesterday in our fireside. The MTC presidency invited the Brett Family to come perform. They have done a lot of musical events and have performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They were extremely good. They sang four songs. The first was a German folk song. Then they sang the song Hallelujah in Spanish. That one was really good! And last one of the brothers sang Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. It was very spiritual and really brought the spirit. After they were done, the speaker Brother Heaton got up to speak. I pretty much wrote my testimony during it and I would like to share it with you.
The Role of the Savior in Missionary Work.
We give investigators the knowledge that they lack. That through the Savior we can overcome all things. What power in the message we have. Through the Savior we can all be forgiven of our sins. Our guilt will be forgiven and forgotten and will be equally replaced by joy. We must focus on the Savior. It is not the gospel of Joseph Smith. It is not the gospel of the Book of Mormon or of the Bible. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are his Latter-day Saints. We are his servants. We must devote our lives unto him. Be saved through him. There is no other head under which we can be saved. We can do all things in his name. As now I wear this name tag, I have his name near to my heart and as such I have his name in my heart at all times. My life has become like unto his life. Devoting all of my time and effort to bring His brothers and sisters unto Him. To bring my brothers and sisters unto him. To change their lives and bring the joy I have in him unto them. What a wonderful purpose. What a wonderful mission.
Elder Lightheart
Elder Lightheart: Your testimony was so complete (perfect means complete)...I am going to put it in my journal from 2013. Look up Brandon (chicago mission) he would be so happy to see you, his farewell was so special to me. who is the hermana that knows chelsea and michelle..her last name. Te felicito por sus nuevas assignaciones. don't correct me on my spanish, I know you are better than I at this point. You have done so very well. We love and are proud of your focus. It is wondwerful to have Riely home. Good man. Besides you must be loseing weight if you can throw your ring into a missionary meeting by waving your arm. we love you elder gg
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