April 14, 2011

Hey! Sorry again about last week and the whole mix up. Thanks for the package mom! That will help out a ton haha. I hope that ring comes soon. Its been about 6 weeks so im hoping it does this week. Well, this week is has been a really great week here in the MTC. A lot has happened and I'm hoping I can type everything before my 30 minutes are up. To start, something really ironic happened this week. I have two Armenian teachers, Brother White and Brother Dixon. Brother White has been back for a year and a half and Brother Dixon has been back for about 3 years. Brother Dixon is taking an internship in Las Vegas this summer so hes not going to be our teacher anymore after this week so they hired a new guy. The new guy is Brother Carlson and hes been back for about 4 months so hes fresh of his mission. He is a really great guy and I love learning from all of them. Well, I was talking to Elder Frost (Dan) about us getting this new teacher and he told me that his brother's roommate from before his mission went to Armenia and that his brother and that other Elder were best friends. Well it turns out that Brother Carlson was Dan's Brothers friend who went to Armenia. Small world. I thought it was pretty cool though. Also, a miracle took place this week between us four elders learning Armenian. Every Thursday night we plan for all of our mock investigators and set goals for the next upcoming week. The past couple of weeks our goals have been absolutely awful and we hadn't kept any of them. So last Thursday Brother White and Brother Carlson gave this huge lesson on the importance of planning and the impact that it can have on missionary work and on our weeks. So after this big talk we planned really hard for all of our investigators and we set some pretty tough goals. And at the end of all this Brother White got up and he made us a promise, that if followed every single goal we made every day, that we would feel the Spirit more in our lives throughout the week and that our language would double. We all kinda looked at each other and were like, for real? haha. But the Spirit was so strong and we all knew he wasn't just saying it. So this whole week we all worked very hard and we kept every single goal. We could all see improvement but we couldn't really tell how much or if it was anymore than any of the other weeks. But it truly did happen. Elder Hall and I taught the 3rd lesson in the TRC last night and we did so much better than any other week. Afterwards, the returned missionaries that we taught were so impressed. They could see the difference and Brother White and Brother Carlson could too. It was hard for me to really see it cause Elder Hall and I still struggled throught it but I sat back and thought about it and they were right. We understand so much better and we were able to answer all the questions they had. We taught the entire lesson and not just parts of it and most importantly the Spirit was so strong. It was such a wonderful experience. It truly was a miracle. And I know that it could have been done without the Lord and the Holy Ghost. I'm so thankful for their presence and also for amazing teachers that know exactly how to push us and to help us feel the Spirit. I'm running out of time unfortuntately. Mom and Dad I hope that the Temple tours go really well for you two. I think you said you had some shifts tonight or tomorrow so I hope you can read this before then. Mom I know you said you were nervous and I just wanted to let you know that you are going to do great. I wanted to tell you something that brings me great comfort when it comes to teaching and talking in front of people. Cause as you know its not my favorite thing to do. But one thing I've learned thus far on my mission is that as you put in the work and sincere effort, the Lord will help you with the rest. We're promised that in several places in the scriptures. (*D&C 100:5-8 is my favorite). I know that you and dad have put in the work and I promise you two that as get on your knees and pray for help and guidance in what to say that you will remember the things that you need to say. I love you all so much and hope that everyone has a great week!

 

Love,

Elder Fairclough