High Five...It's week 5!

Another week has come and gone.  They go so fast!  Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there.  Most of all Happy Father's Day to my dad.  I love you and look up to you!

This week had a lot of first for the MTC with more firsts to come.  Tuesday was the first devotional ever to be held at the Marriott Center.  We all made the journey to the outside world and it was quite exhilaration...took almost 15 minutes.

The choir is now over 1200 missionaries sings at devotionals and will be singing two songs on Sunday the 23rd at a devotional called "Hastening the Work of Salvation".  It will be an awesome way to say goodbye to the MTC.  In our short 6 week stay here we have heard from many apostles and on the 23rd, several of the twelve apostles and the prophet.

On Wednesday we got to host as a district and we will get to do it again this coming Wednesday.  There were over 800 new missionaries entering the MTC and the summer wave hasn't even begun!

Also, on Wednesday Elder Rigsby and I had an awesome lesson with Raphael.  It couldn't have gone better.  He even had us teach and share it with the class and he accepted a baptismal date!!!!

On Thursday we taught a member who actually lives in France and is here for work for a year.  They speak so fast but I could understand a fair amount.

On Friday we taught Delphine and it went well.  She wants to come to a baptism to see what it is like.  So what do you know...we had a baptism on Saturday for Eliza.  Hopefully in our lesson tomorrow we can commit her to baptism.

Each week the devotionals are amazing and the spirit is always so strong.  This is what we learned on Tuesday from Mervyn B. Arnold of the Seventy:
"Serve with no regrets and know that one day you will have to give an accounting of your stewardship from your mission."  He gave 5 points for a successful mission.
1.  Understand who you are - Remember you have a divine nature and destiny and that He has an abundant love for all of us.
2.  Each one of us has been given specific gifts and talents.  See the best in everything and everyone and recognize how we are all blessed.
3.  Understand the sacredness of your call and what you covenanted to do when you accepted it.  Devote all your time and talents to service.
4.  Understand and observe the Law of Obedience
5.  Understand your purpose - invite and help others to come unto Christ!
It was an awesome devotional and than on Sunday Steven B. Allan spoke to us again.  He had us watch a series of clips from commercials by the Church called, "The Homefront Series".  Here are a few quotes I really liked:
"It's often life's smallast moments that bring the greatest memories - don't let them pass you by!"
"It's not who you aren't but who your are"
"The people in your heart can't hear it, so let them know it every day." and
"Whatever you do in life, just do your best, and finish every race you start."

This week we have our in-field training, special service on Friday, departing missionary devotional and the Worldwide Broadcast!  A week from now i"ll be at the airport heading to France.  Always remember how much the Lord loves you and with him nothing is impossible!
                                                       

Elder Lambert and me!

My District with the French Flag

Jumping with the French Flag!
I look like I'm in a potato sack race!

Pictures from Week 3 and Week 4

A great missionary quote!

Fast Sunday!

The Provo temple with the roses in bloom...beautiful!

 Pondering my mission!

I

My Shoes all shined and ready to go for another week!

A Sunday Portrait by the Provo Temple

Week 4 - The Fun Continues

This week marks week four and by the end of the week I will have been gone a month!  Crazy...doesn't seem like it's been that long.  This week was a lot like the last few but I'll try to share a few things that were different.

Tuesday we taught Delphine again.  The lesson went great!  We were hoping to talk about the restoration more but she said she believes all of that and had read through 2nd Nephi already.  So we changed our plans a little and talked about faith and repentance.  We were really happy how it turned out.  That morning during personal study I decided to read over some talks and came upon a talk by Elder Tad Callister of the Seventy.  I loved it!  And than that night guess who our speaker was?  Elder Tad Callister and his wife!  He talked about many churches have truth but aren't fully following the blue print of Christ as he laid out in the New Testament.  There is only one church on the earth today who follows all those guidelines perfectly.  It is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  He only used the bible to show how perfectly the church is organized.  It's just as Christ's church was.

Wednesday we taught Raphael again and it went good.  The new missionaries arrived, including Landon, but I didn't get a chance to talk to him until Saturday.  He said he's doing great!  Next Wednesday we get to host!  That means we get to take the "newbies" away from their families and show them around.  Should be lots of fun!

Thursday we had Teaching Resource Center where we teach members.  That's always fun!  A week from Thursday we have field orientation.  This we where we teach non members...scary....on and yes in FRENCH!  Our district will be singing.  The sisters got the music and we started rehearsing the EFY Medley, As Sisters in Zion and We'll Bring the World His Truth.  Later we taught Delphine who said that if we'd asked she would have accepted baptism.  That will be tomorrow's lesson for sure!

Saturday actually feels like a Saturday.  We get to sleep in for an extra 30 minutes.  That means we get up at 6:30 a.m.  We grab a donut, do service and than lunch.  That evening Sister Worsham decided to do a lesson that invovled role playing.  She randomly called people up to play the parts of investigators or teachers.  The spirit was so strong.  It was awesome!

On Sunday we had 10 missionaries leaving and 10 missionaries coming.  We got new zone leaders and our Branch Presidency is really cool.  Our devotional was Brother Heaton and it was good.  We watched the movie, "Jospeh Smith" in French.  Wow!  The French talk fast.  We were looking at each other like, "what is happening".  We were able to pick up some words and phrases.  All in all the French is coming.  It's hard to learn when you can so easily go back to English.

This morning we went to the Provo Temple and did sealings.  It was as awesome experience.  We got to sealed as children to parents and be witnesses.  I'm so grateful for eternal families.  Thanks for all your love and support.  Two weeks from today I leave for Paris.  I couldn't be happier to be than right where I am.

PS  On June 23rd at 4pm on the mormonchannel.org the First Presidency and Quorum of the 12 will have a worldwide broadcast.  Watch for me in the choir of over 1400 missionaries.

June 3, 2013

Hello from the MTC...I hope everyone had a great memorial day!  I have almost been here for 3 weeks.  A lot of what goes on is the same but I'll try to tell you some exciting things that happened.

We have 2 new investigators, which are our two teachers, Raphael and Delphine.  Delphine is a gypsy and Raphael is a devote catholic.  Needless to say we have some hurdles to get over.

On Tuesday night Elder and Sister Zwick from the seventy came to our devotional.  They talked about the fundamentals used to build a temple.  Elder Zwick is the lead contractor for the Portland, Oregon temple so he knew what he was talking about.  The 6 steps are as follows:

1. Start with the end in mind...a blueprint.
2. Have a strong desire and commitment.
3. Be willing and have the discipline to work hard...don't be discouraged because Heavenly Father is always        patient with out efforts.
4. Prepare for challenges - they will come.
5. Structural integrity and physical integrity are important.
6. Total dedication to the Lord in all you do.

It was an awesome talk and I got to be in the choir so I sat up close.

Wednesday we had Elder Vinson from the Seventy observe our class.  The night before he came we did some cleaning, set up pictures and made everything spiffy.  It was pretty funny, but we passed.  We got over 700 new sisters and elders this week.

Thursday we taught two lessons to French speaking members.  It was amazing to see how we could actually speak French and their feedback was encouraging.  You could really feel the spirit.

Friday was another good day and on Saturday we had a substitute, Sister Judd, who served in Paris and just got home 5 months ago.  She told us that having a native mission president has really helped the work to explode.  She told us to cast aside all stereotypes of the French and you will have success and the best mission you could possibly imagine.

Sunday was fast Sunday.  We had a 25 hour fast.  That was a first for me.  I was called to be a District Leader in the meeting.  A shock but exciting.  The rest of the day was District council, District meeting and a bi-weekly leadership training.  Ted Gibbons was our speaker at our devotional last night. He told the story of Joseph Smith through Willard Richards testimony and journal.  It was amazing to hear about the inspiration Joseph received.  At the end we sang "Praise to the Man".  The spirit was so strong!  Be sure to read D&C 135:3 and reflect on how your life has been affected because of Joseph Smith.  This one man changed millions or lives and gave his own life so we could have the gospel and the ability to have eternal life.  Pretty amazing what one person can do!

I am so thankful to be here, learning more about the gospel and strengthening my testimony.  I can hardly wait to share this joy with the people of France, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Thanks for all your letters and support.  You're the BEST!

May 27th, 2013

Happy Memorial Day!

The temple was closed today so I had more time to write.  Preparation day ends at 4:00 p.m. and then it's off to dinner and back to class for the evening.

Last Tuesday 10 Elders, who were all going to Paris, loaded a bus and headed for the airport.  We got to the airport about 4 a.m. and nothing was open, not even security.  We had a quick breakfast at McDonalds and then boarded a 5:50 flight for San Francisco.  When we arrived in San Francisco we were picked up and taken to the French Consulate which didn't open until 9:30 so we waited.  It only took 25 minutes for all 10 of us to give them our passports, take a picture and get finger printed.  After we went to Pier 39 and had lunch and then back to the airport.  When we got to SLC at about 4:30 the airport was bustling!  As we were coming down the escalator there were about 10 families waiting to greet returning Elders and Sisters.  As they saw us they started to cheer for us.  It was hilarious but made me realize how cool it will be to come home and be able to say, "I did my best and I have no regrets" and see friends and family cheer for me.

When we finally arrived back to the MTC it was time for our devotional.  Shelly and Marcus Nash spoke to us and talked about not holding anything back and in Proverbs 3:5-6 we are told to trust the Lord and turn your heart over to him!  He talked about how the Lord knew us and that we were called long before this life to be missionaries!

On Wednesday the new Elders and Sisters arrived.  I saw my friend, Elder Ostler, and gave him a big hug!

On Thursday we got a new teacher, Soeur Worsham.  She returned from Paris in August and is attending BYU.  It is great to have two teachers now because they teach in different ways and so we can all learn.

Saturday was our service day.  It included cleaning and straightening chairs in every chapel.  We learned how to teach the restoration in French better.

Sunday was church meetings and a devotional with Nancy and Steven Allen.  It was awesome.

I leave on June 24th on Delta Flight 89 direct to Paris.

First week at the MTC

May 15th, 2013

I arrived at the MTC today.  I unloaded my luggage and within 10 minutes was in a classroom listening to a teacher who was speaking French.  We had tons of orientations that day, including one where we observed 3 investigators being taught.  The spirit was so strong.

There are 10 of us in our district.  4 Elders and 6 sisters.  We are on a floor that is all French speaking including missions to Tahiti, Montreal and France.

At the President Welcome Orientation we sang, "Army of Helaman" and it was so cool to have us actually be "missionaries bringing the world it's truth."

My companion is Elder Rigsby.  He's a cool guy and we get along.  The other 2 elders in our room are Elder Brown and Elder Garner.

On Thursday we had more orientations, classroom study, individual study companionship study and teacher time.

On Friday we started a little more normal schedule.  We used the computers for TALL, the church's rosetta stone.  We got to go to the gym, lesson from Frere Magre and more study time.  We taught our first investigator Friday in French!!!  We know how to pray in French, bear our testimony in French and know most of the first vision and missionary objective in French!  Sweet!!!

Sunday was different to say the least, but good.  We had sacrament meeting in French and sang in French.  We sing a ton and I think it is one of the best ways to invite the spirit.

I went to choir practice and will be singing in the choir when the GA's come and speak at devotionals on Tuesdays and Sundays.

Breakfast is at 6:30 a.m. with lunch at 11:00 a.m. and dinner at 4:00 p.m.

May 20th, 2013

Well, today is Day 6 at the MTC.  There's a saying that goes like this, "The days are long but the weeks fly by at the MTC."  That seems about right.

We went to the Provo Temple this morning.  Such a pretty temple and I really could feel the Savior's love.  After study time we had lunch and then laundry.  Tomorrow I leave for San Francisco but will be back later that evening.

I know that this church is true, that our Savior mad the ultimate sacrifice for us so we can live with our Heavenly Father again.  I know that Joseph Smith did see the Father and the Son and that the gospel has been restored on the earth today.  May we all choose to be happy everyday and "invite and help" others to come unto Christ.

Love you all!!!

Deux Semaines Pour Aller

Two Weeks to Go! Finals and work are finally over and...Two weeks from today I'll report to the Missionary Training Center at 1:45PM. I can't believe it's almost here! For those of you wondering about my farewell:

Elder Player's Farewell

May 12, 2013 @ 11:00AM

Cottonwood Stake Center

1680 East 6400 South

I'd love to see you all there and afterwards there will be food at my house.

Thanks for all of your support!