Soldier in God's Army

Soldier in God's Army
Soldier in God's Army

Friday, March 30, 2012

Letter #2 3/30/2012

Well, today is my first full P-Day in the MTC. My P-Days are on Friday.
This week went a lot better than last week. The days seem to last a third as long and we are finally starting to learn Spanish in the classes.
I had my first sunday last week and it was pretty awesome. At the end of the day we watched a film on Joseph Smith and the restoration, and I was reminded of all that was sacrificed to restore the gospel to its fullness. My testimony was strengthened to 10 times the strength it had before that video. We also had a devotional that day, and I learned a lot from that, mostly about missionary work and how you can be the best you can be.
The only thing I have really been struggling with this week is staying awake during classes. Sometimes I have to stand to keep myself from dozing off.
Ok, story time. I have never laughed harder in my life than I did Thursday night before we went back to our rooms. Things you need to know: in spanish, "companion" translates to "compañero¨. Our district was in the classroom, and we were about to leave but were going to say a district prayer first. Elder Perry was called on to say the prayer, and he struggles a lot with the language. While thanking god for things, he said ¨nosotros estamos agradecido por nuestros compañones¨, mistaking two words that sound very similar, thanking God for our ¨compañones¨. There was a 5 second span of pure silence when I looked at Elder Farley and we both burst out laughing, and then everyone else joined in. We laughed for the rest of the night, and we tried to start the prayer over again at the residence but we gave up because we couldn´t get past the first work without laughing. If you don't know what "compañon" means, just know that it's not something you want to get mixed up with "compañero" all the time and be saying several times a day. And it's definitely not something you want to thank God for in front of a lot of people.
 
I know that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing by going on a mission. It feels like I have known the people here for a long time. Even on the first day they all looked pretty familiar, almost like I already knew them. I am glad that I made the decision to give up 2 years (a small portion) of my life to serve the Lord and his children, and to bring them closer to Christ by inviting them to take part in the restored gospel and Christ's fully restored church. I know these things to be true, and I say them in the name of Jesus Christ.
 
P.S. Everybody, I NEED LETTERS! If my mom sends you this e-mail, spread the word! Have your family and you next door neighbor's dog write me letters! They make my days here at the MTC.
If you use the excuse that you don't have my address, well here you go! Use it for the next 8 weeks:
 
Elder Tyler Riggs
MTC Box 292
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84062
dearelder.com is the easiest and fastest way to send a letter to the MTC. And it's free. Be sure to include a return address

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