Week 4 Mar 31st, 2016

So the new missionaries are all pretty great. The Kiribati missionaries are definitely experiencing some crazy culture shock but they are all just hilarious. They are always making jokes and just constantly laughing.

Brother Cobb and Sister Iler don't have a class this cycle, so they are just resource teachers for our class. They are each really awesome.

On Friday, Elder Solis and I taught each of our "investigators" and both went really well. We are really starting to love teaching, and our Tagalog is getting better every day. Friday night, Elder Collins was walking around in his Star Wars shirt, his Transformer pajama bottoms, a pea coat, and running shoes because he got called down to the front office around 9:45pm after we had all changed for bed. It was quite impressive.

On Saturday we actually got two new elders! Elder Edgely, from Kayesville, Utah, showed up around lunch time. He was here in November, but he tore his ACL playing volleyball, and had to have surgery. So he's back, and will leave with us. He's going to Urdaneta, where Elders Hicks and Knowles are. Around dinner, Elder Palacio showed up. He was driving here from Miami, but got stuck in a blizzard in Denver. He actually got set apart here, by Elder Zwick, of the Seventy, because his family knows him.

For Easter, I got asked to speak in sacrament meeting. Everyone said I did a really great job. then we had an Easter Devotional that was broadcast to all of the MTCs all over the world. We sang "Jesus, Once of Humble Birth" for it, and Maddy Burt said that she could see us on the camera in the Madrid MTC. The speaker was Elder M. Russell Ballard, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He spoke 45 minutes about Jesus Christ. It was incredible. He told us a special, more detailed version of the story of his grandfather -- Elder Melvin J. Ballard, a former Apostle -- meeting the Savior. The whole meeting was just fantastic. His testimony of the Savior was just so powerful.

Sunday night, we also did Peep Wars with Peeps and little swords. There's a microwave in the basement of our residence hall, so we had a big crowd. I had yellow Peeps, and Elder Edgely's family sent him red Peeps, so we did red vs. yellow for awhile. Elder Lowry was absolutely loving it.

We watched the story of John Rowe Moyle, the Stonecutter for the Salt Lake Temple, on Sunday night as well. I've heard it before, but it still amazes me every time.  Basically, he walked 22 miles on Monday morning and Friday afternoon in order to work on the Temple. He did it for over 20 years, including when he lost his right leg from the knee down. He made his own peg leg and harness, and continued to make the journey from Alpine to Salt Lake.

On Tuesday, after service, and before gym time, it was actually snowing here. The Kiribati missionaries were so excited. They were completely entranced by it. It was so cool to see them see snow for the first time in their lives.

For the devotional, we sang "Praise to the Man" arr. Mack Wilberg of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It's the same version that the MTC Choir sang in conference a few years ago. It sounds incredible. The speaker was Elder Terrance M. Vinson of the Seventy. He's from Australia, so he had an awesome accent. He talked about our faith in Christ leading to action. It was really good. He had a lot of really great stories about faith causing people to act in crazy situations.

On Tuesday, Elder Collins had to bne at the Travel Office at 3:30AM to go to Edmonton. He woke up at 3:35, because he's Elder Collins. So after he left our room, a security guard came to see what was going on, because he was late. So he opened the door, and said something, but I didn't understand him. I said "Paki-ulit" which means "please repeat," but obviously he didn't understand me and said "What?" I said it again, and then realized, so I said "Pasensya [Sorry] er, I mean, sorry, can you say that again?" I told my teachers and they were pretty happy. It's cool to know that Tagalog is entering my sub-conscious.

On Wednesday, we hosted again. I hosted three elders. One was from Toronto, going to Argentina, and he was really cool. He actually lives on the floor below us.One was from Prescott, AZ, going to Twin Falls, ID, and he was nice, but a little strange. The last one was from American Fork, UT and is going to Russia! He was really cool, too. As he was being dropped off, his brother asked me where I was going, so I told him, and then he told me that he when to Legazpi -- also in the Philippines -- so we spoke Tagalog for a little bit while the elder said goodbye to the rest of his family.

We also taught "Delony" again yesterday. Our lesson just went so well. We definitely made it easy for the Spirit to confirm to her that what we were saying was true. Elder Solis and I were so pumped. It was the best feeling in the world. We can't wait to teach her again tonight.