Leaving the MTC

So. Coolest thing that happened this week was Elder Holland coming on Tuesday for the devotional. I took three pages of notes and tucked them in my journal. It was the best. I have been to conference before and seen the apostles talk in person, but with Jeffrey R Holland talking to the missionaries it seems so much more personal.

He started by talking about God's love for us all. He is grateful for us and stuff like that. Eventually he got way passionate about us. He said "You dont have the right!' he kept saying that. You dont have the right to taint the good image of the missionaries. he said "Its almost painful how perfect people think you are". and he was almost yelling at the stand. Telling us that we didnt have the right to be anything less than perfect in the members/investigators eyes and we shouldnt do anything stupid to change that.

He opened it up for questions too, which reminded me of Grandma C and her letter she sent me. grandma, send me more letters like that. It was awesome to read about Elder Oaks and the questions that he answered. Elder Holland answered about 6 questions after going about 20 minutes over his time and then he departed. It was really really awesome.

I leave tomorrow. After spending three weeks in here its hard to believe its over. It went so fast. Like I told mom in one of my letters, the days move like weeks and the weeks move like days. Creative, huh? I'll be packing today, I hope I'm under the weight limit for my bags and that they dont get lost on the flight. Although I'm not terribly worried. I will be able to call for 15 minutes tomorrow at the SLC airport and I have everyones number so be by your phones around 10:30.

Today is p-day obviously, but we didnt get to go to the temple. It's closed for labor day. So we went twice while I was at the MTC. I loved going, the Provo Temple is really cool.

So, no more MTC basketball. we had gym time every day and I either played basketball, volleyball, or bocci. Is that how you spell it?? Bacheeee. botchee. we played bocci. That is a fun game. Elders wouldn't get too competitive in basketball. it was relatively tame. There are rules that you cant touch the net, backboard, or rim ever, and only half court basketball can be played.

We sang come thou fount as a district on sunday in sacrament meeting. the departing district from the zone always sings a musical number the sunday before they leave. it was awesome to sing. I had to sing the harmony most of the song, but luckily my companion is a music master. He is way good at singing and swimming. Any other sport he kinda sucks at. Oh well, I love him anyway.

Off to bigger and better things hopefully. what I've learned from the MTC is that missionary work is impossible without the Holy Ghost. I am slowly developing a better relationship with the spirit so that I can be in tune with the investigators needs and show them what God is trying to tell them.