Day 31 (that's a month)

Well, today believe it or not is day 31 in the MTC. That means a month. I guess technically it is a month tomorrow since today is the 13th... but still. I've heard that the days are long but the weeks are short and that is definitely true.

We moved to the West Campus on Tuesday. I love it. Our apartments in Wyview are so nice with two bedrooms (a companionship in each), a living room, a kitchen, and our own bathroom. We go to class in the apartments at Raintree, so our classroom is in a living room. It's kind of different, but it's all good. We get to cross the street to go to class, go to the creamery every day, and go to "Brigham's Landing" on P-days. It's a lot more free over here, and it doesn't feel so much like we are locked in. Overall, it's a pretty great place. I did get a new address turns out, but my mail will still be forwarded if it is addressed to the old place. Here it is:

Elder John William Garrett

SEP 23 ARG-BAN
2023 N. 900 E. Unit 888
Provo, UT 84602

As far as the language is concerned, I´m feeling pretty good about where I am. I don´t know everything, but it is coming a lot easier to me and I am better able to share my thoughts and feelings. As I just try and listen to the investigators and ask inspired questions, I find that I don´t have to think about what to say and it just comes out, and fortunately for me it has been coming out in Spanish.

I've had some really incredible experiences this past week. Last week we got a new district, and one of the Elders, Elder Hall was having a really really tough time. He gave up a lot to be here, he's about 20 and he was never very strong in the gospel to begin with. He's really missing his family and his almost fiancée. He emailed his family last week that he wanted them to come and pick him up. Anyway, on Sunday after our Temple Walk, Elder Stout and I decided that we should talk to him. We sat down with him and talked for about an hour. He did most of the talking and we mostly listened, which I have realized is how missionary work should be anyway. If we just listen to them and ask inspired questions we will always be told what to say, and I definitely felt the Spirit talking through me during the discussion. I was able to share some things about faith and some scriptures that I didn´t know I had memorized. Elder Stout and I asked him if he would like to receive a blessing, and he said he would. I had the privilege of giving the blessing, and it was one of the coolest experiences I have ever had. The Priesthood really is the power of God and I feel very privileged to hold that sacred power. After we got done talking with him he said that he felt a lot better, and he hasn´t gone home so I think he really is doing better. It definitely wasn´t because of anything I did though, because it was quite obvious to me that the Spirit was working through me.

Another cool experience I had was on Wednesday night. Every time new missionaries come into the MTC, they have this "teaching experience," where a large group goes into a big room with an investigator. These are mostly converted members, but they are playing their own conversion story, so it is a lot more real and some of the stuff they say is stuff that is very recent. Two missionaries come in and kind of get to know them and get ready to begin teaching, and then right when it starts getting really good, the mediator pauses it, makes the missionaries leave, and turns the rest of the time over to the new missionaries to talk with the investigator. Well, Elder Stout and I were chosen to be some of the missionaries in the beginning. Our first investigator was really good, we got to know her and asked her a lot of great questions that allowed us to talk a little bit about the gospel. When we were going for round 2, it was with a person named Daniel. The sister missionaries that demonstrated with him in the first round said he was really mean and he yelled at them and that the spirit wasn't there at all and it was just a horrible experience. This gave Elder Stout and I a lot of confidence as we would be going in to visit with him in about 5 minutes. Elder Stout and I prayed a lot to feel the spirit and be able to be led with the things we said and the questions we asked. As we went in there it was totally fine. We got to know Daniel really well, we learned a lot about him, and I was really disappointed when the mediator made us stop and leave, because I felt like Daniel would be one of those golden investigators. This really strengthened my testimony on the section in Preach My Gospel that is "How to Begin Teaching," and how important the first five minutes with an investigator really is. It surprised me how much it can really make or break the experience with the investigator.

Well, yesterday I had to go to the police station to get fingerprinted. We weren't really sure what it was for, but we found out today when we went to the Travel Office that we are getting travel visas and our travel plans should be in our mailboxes today. We should get our real visas within the next three months while our travel visa is good, so... I'm going to Argentina! I'm really excited because I wasn't sure if I would be going right away.

That's about it, I love you all!

Elder Garrett