Memories of a Mission – Page 25 – "We will work for the glory of our Lord"

Fireside During the Mission President’s Seminar (Wednesday, June 23, 2004)

Today has been a very full day. We had a special devotional this morning. Pres. Faust spoke to us. It was really a neat experience. How often do you get to be in a room with a member of the first presidency and 2000 missionaries? It was really a powerful experience. Pres. Faust talked about Joseph Smith and his mission. It was a really good talk.

During the afternoon we had SD[1] time. I worked on my 4^th outline for a while and then started translating my second outline into Tagalog.

After dinner Elder Lewis and I had our AP meeting. It also was good. We talked about prophets and apostles. Pres. Gifford[2] teaches and he is absolutely amazing. I always learn so much from him about the gospel. After the AP meeting we had our normal Tuesday devotional. We got to hear Elder Nielsen speak. He spoke about the three pillars of the gospel: Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement. It also was a really good talk also. I wrote notes in my green book.

[1] Self-Directed Time: We had some time every day when we didn’t have a teacher in the classroom and we were to have about 3 hours of self-directed time that we were supposed to use to work on whatever we most needed. Sometimes this time was very useful but other times it tended to be wasted.

[2] Pres. Gifford was the District president for the branches in our district. This was a church district, somewhat equivalent to a stake, and not a mission district.

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Half Way Through the MTC (Monday, June 21, 2004)

This week is the mission president’s seminar here at the MTC. Things are a bit different because of it. Half of the cafeteria is closed off so that they can eat in the other half. We’re having a special devotional tomorrow morning because of it. Supposedly Pres. Faust is going to be there. It should be really good.

Today wasn’t a very productive day for me. For some reason I really wasn’t motivated at all to work. I did get a bit done on my fourth outline however.

I reached my half way mark here at the MTC two days ago. I’ve been here for only a month and it seems like this is the only life I’ve ever known.

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Psych Screening (Wednesday, June 17, 2004)

This morning I had a psychological screening for my visa. It was really easy. Basically we just talked for five minutes and were done. The one problem was that it was right on top of our temple time so we had to go after. The temple was great as always. Dad sent me a few names to do and so we did them. I really enjoy doing family names; there is something really special for doing work for family members.

In class tonight we had Sister Ebanghelista, a sister from the Philippines going to Temple Square, come and talk to us in Tagalog. I was surprised that I could understand so much of what she said. It really helped me to hear how Tagalog is supposed to sound

I also remember that our teachers had Sis. Ebanghelista pray for us in Tagalog. I remember kneeling in our little basement classroom and hearing our first Filipino pray in their native language. The prayer was beautiful and it was awesome to hear a prayer in the language that I would come to love so much.

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Sunday Duties (Sunday, June 13, 2004)

Today was my first real day that I’ve had to do all of the AP’s duties. We have a Presidency meeting this morning and it was good. We also have a leadership meeting with all the district leaders. The meetings with this branch presidency are sort of weird. We hardly ever start with prayer and then the meeting is very unstructured with no one “really” conducting. For example I am supposed to conduct the leadership meeting but I never get farther than the prayer before the person from the presidency takes over. I guess that is just my little trial.

We went to a very good fireside tonight. The speaker was Bro. Hansen. He talked about the scattering and gathering of Israel. He related the history of the founding of America and how it was necessary for the Church to be restored. It was good.

In our presidency meeting this morning we were instructed to limit our letter writing to P-days. I didn’t write to my family today because of it. I hope that I can find time to write on P-day it just always seems so full.

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I’m Supposed To Be Here (Friday, June 11, 2004)

This week has been so busy at night because of my calling and everything that I haven’t really had any time to write. Today has been one of those emotional roller-coaster days. The only problem is that a lot of the day was the down side of the roller-coaster. First of all in gym I got made fun of a lot. I am not very good at basketball and I admit that but the elders I played with today seemed to make it their job to tell me every time I did something wrong. I didn’t play with the same elders that I usually do because they didn’t enjoy playing with the insulting Elders. Anyway, at the end of gym time I was pretty down on things.

Me studying in our classroom

I taught the first outline in Tagalog three times today. We taught once at the TEC and it seemed to go well. Tonight, though, we had to teach at the TRC and as soon as I got in that room all of my Tagalog left me. I didn’t feel very good about it. I guess one of the reasons I’m down is because I’m not doing as well as some other elders who seem to have it all figured out.

One final thing and then I’ll stop complaining. I’m really having a hard time with this leadership position. I don’t seem to have any respect from the elders. I really want the best for them but even in my own district they don’t want to obey all the rules.

Well the church is still true and I know I’m supposed to be here.

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Don’t You Go Home (Monday, June 7, 2004)

Today was an incredibly intense spiritual day. Elder C., this morning, had his bags all packed and was dead set on going home. As soon as I was told I really didn’t know what to do. He is a great Elder and could be a great servant of the Lord in the Philippines. Of course we had to go to class first thing after breakfast and the first thing that we did was have Book of Mormon study time. During this time Elder Lewis and I went out and talked to Bro. Severson about what was happening. We were all very concerned and ended up not getting much studying done. I had bought a card for him at the bookstore and during this time I wrote in it about how much he is important to me and how much the Lord really loves him.

When our little study time was over we all went back to class. Everybody in the district was really concerned and didn’t know what to do about it. We started class by sharing what we had studied. The Elders all had very insightful things to say and the spirit was there as they shared. As we finished reading and sharing scriptures, it kind of slowed down because again none of us really knew what to do next.

As we sat there in silence, Elder Orme stood up and suggested that we all just go around the circle and bear our testimonies. We did so and he started. As we progressed around the circle the spirit got stronger and stronger. Elder C. was right before me and he stood up and basically he said that he was done and that he was going home we all really felt that he was serious and he really was. I stood up and was inspired to share the story about Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail. When I read the scripture about peace and affliction I was completely overcome by the spirit. I’ve only felt the spirit like that one other time in my life and that was at my patriarchal blessing. It was an incredible experience. The whole morning was spent in testimonies and it was great.

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Senior District Leaves (Sunday, June 6, 2004)

Today is the last day here for the other district. They all leave sometime tomorrow. I have to admit that I’m a bit jealous. I got to watch testaments tonight and it really touched me again as it always does. I love Jesus Christ so much and I’m so glad that I can teach about him.

The old district (B. Mulitalo, Campbell, Gurrero, Reese, Anderson, Rasmussen, f. Tuu'u)

The Senior district (B. Mulitalo, Campbell, Gurrero, Reese, Anderson, Rasmussen, f. Tuu’u)

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District Pictures (Wednesday, June 2, 2004)

Well today was P-Day and it was really lazy. We went to the temple this morning. It was especially good today for some reason. The spirit was so strong and I felt really close to Heavenly Father. My district got some good pictures after the session. Later in the afternoon we all had to go down to the student health center to get a chest x-ray[1]. I guess we needed it for our visas.

My district after the temple session. (Back: Cox, Orme, Fairbanks, Jones, Craig, Clark. Front: Lewis, Ahmu, Spaulding, Carbajal, Piper, Arnesen)

[1] This was a really strange experience! The health center was located to the south-east of the MTC just outside of the Wymount housing complex. We had to leave the MTC without a chaperone, walk down the street in public and then come back when we were done. It was a really weird experience for me after having been so very sheltered in the MTC for a few weeks!

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Meetings, Ushering, and Translating (Tuesday, June 1, 2004)

Elder Lewis and I did our first thing as AP’s today. Every Tuesday we get to attend a meeting with all of the AP’s in branches 27-40. There we all report on how things are going in our branches and then one of the MTC district leaders presents a lesson. It is going to be a great meeting to attend each week[1].

Our district ushered for the devotional tonight. It was really easy. All we had to do is stand there and hold up our fingers. The devotional was really good. Elder Merrill C. Oaks spoke to us about our duty as missionaries. One thing he said that really impressed me is that we need to get our investigators to places where they can feel the Holy Ghost. We should take them to baptismal services and like events

I started translating my first outline into Tagalog today. I didn’t think that it was going to be really hard but it is really hard.

[1] These weekly meeting really were awesome! I started to get to play the piano at them and I loved being to sit and play prelude while the other Elders were still coming in. I remember that one week at one of these meetings the brother teaching the lesson pointed out how music brings the spirit. He pointed out that one of the ways that I was able to share my testimony was through my music. I was really pleased that he would notice that and call out my music specifically. I knew that music was supposed to be a big part of my mission and that comment in this meeting was part of the fulfillment of that promise.

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First Leadership Learning (Monday, May 31, 2004)

You will likely notice as I share stories from my mission that I tended to be a bit uptight and judgmental of the Elders that I served with. (I’m sure that those I served with would probably attest to this!) I hope that I have grown beyond that. I hope that as we continue to follow my mission experience, that we’ll see at least some improvement in my attitude! I hope that this post does not offend. I offer it as an honest critique of myself as a young leader and hope that those mentioned here understand my immaturity. . .

I have had a sort of hard day today. I feel better now because I had gym and that let me release a log of energy. The day was hard because of the calling that I received yesterday to be an assistant. I’m a little bit, no really would be more truthful, upset with my district. They are really immature sometimes. They laugh at things that I would expect to hear deacons at a scout camp laugh about. The act like they know they should when the teacher is there but during our self-directed time it is impossible to accomplish anything in the classroom because they are so easily distracted. Elder Lewis and I had a good discussion about what to do about it today during companionship study. We looked to the example of the current AP’s and decided just to, for now, be a good example and fight the good fight. I’m also going to talk to the district leader, Elder Cox, and see if he has any ideas. I really hope we can get it to be better.

Elder F’s Bed. He sure got some great AC in that cave.

Other that thinking about that all day the day was good. Tagalog is coming along pretty well and the gospel study is really good. The spirit is always here and all I have to do to learn is tap into that power. It truly is an incredible experience to be here.

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