Week 2 Provo MTC

Hi!

     Week 2 is in the books! And man, has it gone by fast. One minute I was telling people I had showed up not even a week ago the next I am greeting new missionaries in the MTC. From what I've noticed we got a ton of missionaries who got called to Korea includuding myself the week I got here. But this week it seemed to have been mostly missionaries going to Cambodia. Including one I met who went to Bountiful high school. (Shout out to Elder Evans). Cambodian is a crazy looking language by the way. It literally looks like someone just scribbled all over the nametag haha! 

     This week has been insanely spiritual and I have learned a TON about not only myself but about the gospel. The theme for this week I came up with was Repentance and Faith. My biggest experience with faith this week was during our Tuesday devotional. Every tuesday at the Provo MTC a general authority of the church gives a talk to all the missionaries. This week it was Peter Johnson Quorum of the Seventy. He gave an amazing talk on faith and forgiveness. But my main takeaways were these:

-Repentace is not a punishment.

- Live the Docterine of Christ

-Devote every week to study the atonement

-minister to the one who will be led to the house of the lord.

-And finally, help others to come unto Christ.

All of these were an answer to the question he emphisized at least 10 times during the talk which was, "How can we witness the greatest manifestation of the savior's power, while at the same time minimize those feelings of being overwhelmed and exhausted?" I am so glad he asked that and answered it because,

     The most challenging thing I have faced this week has been adjusting to some of the Elders in my district. Some have gotten more comfortable with each other than others and it was really hard this week to try to be myself. Just like the question Elder Johnson asked I was feeling overwhelmed and exhausted... But as soon as I started practicing those answers Elder Johnson gave and prayed about my struggles it got insanely easy for me to relax and feel more confident about myself. But the most important thing I have done, and I challenge each of you who are reading this to try, which is simply be more Christlike. Don't judge people or even pick favorites. Treat everyone like a Child of God. However that was the "easy part" the hardest part for me has been finding self confidence. But like I said earlier I was able to do this and the way I was able to do that has been through repentance and prayer.

A couple beautiful talks I encourage each of you to listen and ponder about are these ones I listened to:

"The Prodigal and the Road That Leads Home." By, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf.

"Burying Our Weapons of Rebellion." By, Elder Todd D. Christofferson

All and All I started the week not knowing who I was but as soon as I started applying Christlike attributes and continued to grow closer to God I have felt the most confident about myself and have spiritually grown exponentially!

A couple of Shoutouts I want to give before I close:

Elder May, Is always the most happy, loving, and empathetic, Elder in the entire district. He has this way of reading people and knowing their challenges but most importantly he knows how to fix that challenge. Take me for example, someone who my own Mother has said outright that I am VERY good at hiding my emotions and insecurities that most people don't notice. Not Elder May. He saw right through my disguise and made an effort to tell me how awesome I was and that I didn't need to try so hard to be someone who I am not. He really did set me on that right path to increase myself through God. W Elder and W roomate. Elder May may just be an Angel sent straight from heaven.

Elder Grawrock, My companion, My District Leader, and my good friend. Humble doesn't even begin to describe this Elder. Everything he does, every decision he makes is for the benefit of everyone around him. The amount of times I've waited for him to stop holding the door for Elders and Sisters is immeasurable. (Especially when he does it when there are Elders and Sisters MILES away from the door! haha!) His example has made me become a better person and to be less selfish. I couldn't have asked for a better companion. He has this amazing ability to source literally every topic to a specific scripture, conference talk, and just general docterine. He has told me that I have the strong ability to share a very personal and spiritual Testimony. Claiming that I am one of the best in the district. So I would say we make a pretty good team haha! Elder Grawrock is such a good Elder and he may not beleive it himself but he really is a good leader and has a very strong testimony.

And I guess my entire district as well haha! even though we are far from perfect. We have some ups and downs and some Elders could be better at following some of the standards but we all understand that we represent Jesus Christ and that we should be following his example. We shouldn't be bringing each other down we should all love each other as he would. I hope to be able to do that myself in the next 6 and a half weeks.

I love you all and hope that this message brings you closer to god.

Thank you,

Elder Christensen 

Tate with a few elders from his district