Hello once again
family and friends!
A lot has happened
this week and I hope I'll be able to get it all down in time. First off, we
finally had an apostle speak to us! Elder Neil L. Anderson spoke to us on the
21st. It was Amazing. It happened to
have been President Monson's birthday and Elder Anderson talked about ten or so
things that President Monson would want to say to us. I don't have my notes
with me, so I couldn't tell you all the things he spoke on, but the one that
hit me the most was: "Never ignore a prompting." It struck me hard as
a missionary because I always need to be ready and worthy to receive and act on
the promptings of the Holy Spirit. This doesn't apply to just missionaries. All
of us can receive personal revelation at any time so long as we are worthy to
receive it. I don't know about you, but I want to always be ready to act (and
teach) according to the Spirit. When Elder Anderson spoke, it was as if the
Prophet himself was there. Then end was the real kicker though. He bore his
testimony to us. It wasn't elaborate in any way. It was simple and
straightforward, but it was so powerful! You could tell that he knew the things he was telling us. It was an
amazing talk and an extremely spiritual experience.
On Wednesday we got to
host the new missionaries. That was a ton of fun! It was interesting to meet
all these new elders and sisters. I hosted three elders and Elder Davis and I
hosted a new sister together. (Because, obviously a single elder can't host a single
sister.) It brought up memories of my first day. It seems like it was forever
ago! It was kinda tough to see mothers and sisters crying as they dropped off
their sons and brothers. I'll be honest, I got a little homesick, but once I
talked with the elders I was hosting and saw their enthusiasm, I got excited
myself. We get to host again tomorrow and I'm super excited for it. :)
Thursday was
interesting because all the elders going to Cuernavaca went to Vegas to sign
their visas. It was just me, and Elders Dean, Watson, and Perrenoud. It was an
interesting day with only four of us. For our class time with Hermano Piperato
we went outside and had an awesome discussion and learned a lot about his
experience in the MTC. Apparently he was a real trouble-maker! He used to skip
class and do all kinds of shenanigans! One time they broke the top off of a
small pine tree to put in their room (it was close to Christmas time). I never
would have guessed these things of him because he's such an amazing teacher
now. The way I see it, if he can improve that much on his mission, I have some
hope after all. ;)
Because the teachers
rotate according to the BYU semesters, Hermana Arroyo taught her last lesson
with us on Saturday. It was cool because she told us her favorite mission
stories and shared her testimony. I think we're all going to miss her. So
yesterday we had our first lesson with Hermana Call. (Hermano Piperato didn't
end up switching) She's brand new, but she's really good. Her investigator is
way fun to teach too! Her name is Nellie and she's a 58 year old grandma. She's
so funny! When we sat down she said something along the lines of "I love
having two handsome young men to talk to." It's too bad we're only
teaching her for the one week we have left. Which brings me to my next topic:
We got our visas! We
got our travel plans on Friday (I think) and we got news that our visas are
ready to be signed yesterday! So in about an hour we're heading to the consulate
in Salt Lake to sign those! Super excited! This means we're leaving for Mexico
for sure this Monday! We'll leave the MTC at 6AM and head to the airport. We'll
leave for Mexico City at 9:57AM via Delta Air Lines. We'll then arrive
at Mexico City at about 2:50PM to fly to Veracruz via Aeromexico. We'll
arrive there about 6:40PM.
I can't believe my MTC stay is almost over!
It's been kinda tough at times, but I know that I've grown a lot because of it.
I'm ready for new challenges and experiences in Mexico!
I forgot to talk about
a talk by David A. Bednar called "The Character of Christ". It was an
MTC devotional that I don't think you can find unless you work here. It was
amazing though. It talked of how no matter how much Christ was suffering; he
always turned to help those around him. He never gave in to the natural man and
turned inwards. That has been my goal this week: to always turn outwards
towards others. It will take some time, but I think that if I can do this, I'll
be ten times the missionary I am now. As members of His church we should
strive to develop our Character of Christ as well.
I know this church is
true and that the Lord loves each and every one of us. Through faith, we can
overcome any trial thrown our way.
Sorry I didn't have
time for a long testimony, but it's important to me. I love you all and hope
you're all doing fine. The next time I e-mail, I'll be in Mexico! Talk to you
then!
Love,
Elder Sean Horrocks
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