If you have time look up the January 15, 2013 MTC devotional by Jeffery R. Holland. It's got to be my favorite talk by him of all time.
Tomorrow morning at 8 am I leave for the mission field, where I'll be assigned to the first area I'll be serving. I really will serve wherever the Lord sends me, but it wouldn't hurt to send up a few prayers humbly asking if I can serve in the islands.
Have you looked up the definition of miracle? Miracle: The natural result of correct application of true principles. So when people say, I need a miracle! we really ought to be saying, I need to apply true doctrine!
I'm all packed up and will leave in about 18 hours to the actual field. I don't really know what to put in these emails. We haven't done that much so far. Just classes for nine hours a day.
I tried working on the New Zealand accent the first few days, and had it down pretty well, but then I just started annoying the heck out of myself and started speaking good ol' 'merican again.
There is a kid in my district who is the 19 year old version of Dan Hedlund. He's a crack up. The MTC President is from Samoa, and has served 7 missions and is the bluntest I've ever met in person. He says it exactly how it is. He looks like Grandpa Tibbitts, polynesian version.
They took half the missionaries from the Auckland Mission and half from the Wellington mission and put them into the Hamilton Mission. That means they are going to have a flood of missionaries come into Auckland this week, and a flood into the Wellington in two weeks. There are a lot of slots to fill, hopefully they need one in the islands.
My advice for Jake and Hyrum and all the young men back home is this: You can get over your "greeny stage" before you leave to serve. If done correctly, you can skip over completely the greeny stage. There will be culture shock, and genuine homesickness, but effectiveness as a missionary and teacher can happen before you come out. No joke!! In the Morgan, UT stake you can be trained to be a missionary unlike anywhere else in the whole world. I kid you not, Morgan, UT stake is the best place to get trained to be a missionary, if we will take advantage of the opportunities our priesthood leaders give us.
I LOVE YOU GUYS
I'm not missing you too much, I'll wake up sometimes and forget I'm on a mission and it will hit me in the shower or something. We don't have hardly any time to email in the MTC, hopefully I'll have longer out in the field. Or not, if I go to an island I won't be emailing at all. So if that happens, it's okay, because it is a dream come true. Not because the islands are tropical, but because the people there are humble and isolated.
I love you guys lots, and I think I've gained weight. I now go one notch farther than I used to on my belt. I don't think that made sense. Anyways, I'm fattening up.
I love ya'll a whole lot, listen to Mom and Dad, and try to love each other. The secret to the mysteries of heaven is love.
Much love, :)
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