Hello lovely people!
Last P-Day in the MTC... this is a little crazy! It's been a great week though. Had a great Thanksgiving... very different than the usual ones but it was quite possibly my favorite!
So, we started off Thanksgiving with an amazing Devotional by Elder Oaks! It was so great to spend Thanksgiving morning with a member of the Twelve Apostles. He spoke on gratitude and being grateful for our adversities.
I was so grateful to be reminded that our adversities are for our own good, and they are the very things that will help us grow. Although our trials may seem overwhelming at times, the most important thing we need to do is to think about the fact that we are not given anything that we can not handle. This has helped me so much, just to know that no matter how hard a trial I am going through may seem, it is never more than I can handle. So that was our morning devotional.
Then we had our service project, where we prepared approx. 357,000 meals in just two hours... pretty amazing. It was so cool to be able to be part of that. Then we had our lovely Thanksgiving cafeteria dinner... okay well it was better than I expected and much better than our sack dinner we had in our classrooms! We also got to watch "17 Miracles"... It was so great to actually watch a movie, but the downside was that I was just crying the whole time!
And then for my favorite part... at the end of the day after our 3rd devotional everyone went for a walk out in the main courtyard where they have decorated it all up with Christmas lights!!! It made me so happy and now it truly feels like Christmas! I make Sister Hall walk past them every night with me...shes such a saint! Well, that was my Thanksgiving... and I loved every second of it!
I was so grateful to be reminded that our adversities are for our own good, and they are the very things that will help us grow. Although our trials may seem overwhelming at times, the most important thing we need to do is to think about the fact that we are not given anything that we can not handle. This has helped me so much, just to know that no matter how hard a trial I am going through may seem, it is never more than I can handle. So that was our morning devotional.
Now for the coolest part of my week. So, last week we got new "investigators"...ours is just one of the other sisters going to Sweden, so we are just each others investigators till we leave. So when you know the "investigator" and you know they are a member it can be hard to realize that you can still completely have the spirit with you as you teach, and it can be just as real as if you were meeting with a non-member.
So our teacher just tells us Monday night that we were going to teach them in like 10 minutes, and we completely forgot! So we were just like, um...well, we can just talk about Joseph Smith and Mormons Bok... so we go in and before Sis. Hall just tells them, "this might just be a mess, sorry!"
So we go in and its a bit rocky--but we just start talking to her about Joseph Smith and how when we was a boy he had a question. We explained more and then had her read James 1:5. Then Sister Hall turns to me and asks if I will tell The First Vision, and feeling completely inadequate to recite it in Swedish, I just said a quick little prayer to myself and then--just said it.
I honestly don't know if I have felt the Spirit stronger than I did right then. After I finished, I explained a little and asked how she felt. I look up, and she just started crying. At first I couldn't tell if it was real, but I very quickly realized it was real as I started tearing up myself.
A young boy at the age of 14 had a question and went to the Lord. His prayers were answered, and I am now entering one of the greatest adventures of my life--serving a mission for Jesu Kristi Kyrka av Sista Dagars Heliga. Because one young boy had a question, I know my purpose in this life, and now I am going to share that with others so that they may know for themselves.
Cool Fact of the Week: Last night we got to hear from Elder Craig C. Christensen, a member of the Seventy's Presidency. He said that there are more prayers here per sq/ft than anywhere else in the world. After the devotional, Aldste Jamsa was talking about that and he said that Provo is the most religiously populated area in the world... why?
Think of the temples, BYU and the MTC. This is a pretty special place and I am going to miss being in such a spiritual place, but as I was thinking about it I thought, here are thousands of teenagers, learning in the most religiously populated place anywhere, preparing to go out to the "least" religious areas of the world. Its pretty amazing to think about.
Yesterday while studying, I came across D&C 80 and saw that is was just 5 verses so I just decided to read it and little did I know that I would just love 3-5:
"Wherefore, go ye and preach my gospel, whether to the north or the the south, to the east or to the west, it mattereth not, for ye cannot go amiss."
That was just part of it so go read the rest but I just loved how much that relates to the MTC. How there are thousands of his children here preparing to serve all throughout the world. That it doesn't matter where we are, just that we are preaching what we know to be true!
Think of the temples, BYU and the MTC. This is a pretty special place and I am going to miss being in such a spiritual place, but as I was thinking about it I thought, here are thousands of teenagers, learning in the most religiously populated place anywhere, preparing to go out to the "least" religious areas of the world. Its pretty amazing to think about.
"Wherefore, go ye and preach my gospel, whether to the north or the the south, to the east or to the west, it mattereth not, for ye cannot go amiss."
That was just part of it so go read the rest but I just loved how much that relates to the MTC. How there are thousands of his children here preparing to serve all throughout the world. That it doesn't matter where we are, just that we are preaching what we know to be true!
Well I guess I will leave you with a few new insights...
1. I now know why bunk beds are called bunk beds... because to get in bed you bunk your head on the bed! Yeah. It's great...
2. English... significantly suffering.... spelling..... way down hill. And it has only been 5 weeks! Sorry if my letters soon become very hard to read! This Svenska is really taking a toll!
3. Oh, and in addition to that, our sense of humor has gone down just as significantly. Its pretty sad actually... just the smallest thing sets us off and we laugh till we cry, and it goes on for at least 10 minutes every time. I blame it on sitting in a class for 10 hours a day and the food. Butt mostly just the food.
4. Pranks in the MTC. So one morning, the elders come into class and they just seem especially happy for some reason. Eventually we make them tell us why. So, apparently during their service time, one of them had an idea. He went outside and grabbed a handful of snow. The other elders obviously thought whatever he was doing was a good idea so they all got an armful of snow, too.
The first elder (Aldste Moulton) walks into the bathroom... as the others stood to the side confused Aldste Moulton just simply motioned that they were to "lovingly" throw the snow into the occupied stalls. Because the other elders apparently did not see anything wrong with this plan, they all joined in, making for a very entertaining morning for them.
We started laughing so hard and then asked what the person did. Aldste Moulton then said, "He didn't react at first, and then just quietly he says, 'Oh man...' and then we ran out!" Haha! The best part is is that they soon found out it was their roommate--another elder in our zone!
We started laughing so hard and then asked what the person did. Aldste Moulton then said, "He didn't react at first, and then just quietly he says, 'Oh man...' and then we ran out!" Haha! The best part is is that they soon found out it was their roommate--another elder in our zone!
Well, thats about it! Last letter in America, and next P-day will be in SWEDEN!
Best wishes to you all! Thank-you for all of your love and support--I love you all!
Med Alska,
Syster Campbell
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