,: MTC 5 - Only 28 Days Left In the MTC!

Here's our weekly letter and pictures from Elder Davis :)

Salut Family and Friends,

I hope you are all healthy and doing well. I had another great week here at the MTC. Now I'll do my best to talk about it in the 30 minutes I have on the computer.

So last Tuesday, Jeffrey R. Holland of the quorum of the twelve apostles (A living apostle and whiteness of Jesus Christ) came to the MTC and gave a fireside. It was probably the most amazing spiritual experience of my life. He gave an amazing message on the importance of our calling as missionaries. He has such a strong testimony of Jesus Christ and he knows the potential we have as missionaries to change lives. The coolest part about the fireside was what happened at the end. The MTC had two buildings on the campus redone and, for that reason, they needed to be rededicated. At the end of the Fireside Jeffrey R Holland dedicated those two buildings. I have never been present for a dedicatory prayer, or even heard an apostle pray before. It was so amazing. I have never felt the spirit so strongly. The things he said were amazing too. He blessed the entire MTC with many things and even asked Heavenly Father that the MTC to be "protected by angels" so that no harm of any kind may befall the missionaries and delay this powerful work. Angels walk the halls in this place.

On Wednesday 1-16: My good friend Sister CaryLynn Jensen reported to the MTC! It was so good to run into her and talk to her throughout the week. We took a picture together that I'll send. We also picked up another investigator to teach. We are now teaching 3 of our teachers. Basically how it works is our teachers play the role of a person they taught during their missions. Even though it is just a role-play, it is great practice and we are really able to feel the spirit as we teach. Our French is getting better and better every day because of how often we teach. We also teach another companionship in our district so we teach 5 different investigators and 10 lessons a week.

On Friday 1-18: We taught one of our teachers and the lesson went well. The person he played is named Edward who lives in Tahiti and he is very humble. Because of his humility and desire to live a good live and follow Jesus Christ. He accepted our invitation to be baptized. Our goal is to commit 2 more of our investigators to baptism this week. Oh, we also had pizza for dinner on Friday night. We have Papa John’s Pizza every Friday night. I can only imagine how much money the Church pays to feed thousands of missionaries all that pizza. Whatever the number, I'm sure the people of Papa Johns are very busy making enough pizzas to feed us all.

On Saturday 1-19: We celebrated our 1 month "anniversary" here at the MTC. Crazy how time flies. We do service every Saturday morning so we got to clean a bunch of toilets and bathrooms at 6:00 am. That was a great way to celebrate. Ok I'm being a little sarcastic; waking up early to clean bathrooms isn't very fun. But I'm thankful for the opportunity to serve and I know I will be blessed for it. I was able to watch another fireside by Jeffrey R Holland on the computer called "Lessons learned in Liberty Jail." It is a great message on the trials Joseph Smith had to endure while he was unjustly imprisoned. If any of you are going through hard trials at this time in your life, I would recommend you watch this fireside. It isn't too long, but it will remind you that God loves you, and will help you through whatever you are going through. Oh also, my companion and I decided on the 19th that we are going to start doing 100 push-ups every night for the rest of our companionship. That may or may not sound like a lot, but let me tell you I'm feeling the burn as I just sit here and type haha. Hopefully I'll come back from my mission in decent shape.

Sunday 1-20 was awesome. Sunday and Tuesdays are the best days of the week here. We have sacrament (A special church meeting where we renew our baptismal covenants and remember the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ) meeting which starts at 7:30 am. That was awesome because I was able to participate in the passing of the sacrament. Oh, and I was also called as the district leader on Sunday. A district leader is an elder who has an extra responsibility/opportunity to serve and help his district be the best missionaries they can be. I'm glad I have the opportunity to help the other 9 members of my district become better missionaries. Oh, on Sunday we also got a brand new MTC presidency! President Brown and his councilors were awesome, and I will miss them, but I our new MTC presidency seem great too. We had a fireside Sunday night and were able to hear them all speak. The coolest part of the fireside was the opening and closing hymn because the MTC president’s wife played the piano and 4 of her daughters and 3 of her granddaughters played the violins. They are a very talented family! One of the granddaughters only looked about 8 years old, yet they all played beautifully. 7 violins and 1 piano total, all playing hymns arranged by the mission president's wife.

The new mission presidency is:

President and Sister Nally

1st Councilor President and Sister Rosch

2nd Councilor President and Sister Hacking (Same President Hacking as the last MTC presidency)

Monday 1-21 was my first full day as district leader. Elder Williams and I also gave two more good lessons. Elder Williams and I are really able to teach well together. I'm grateful to have him as my companion. Basketball for gym every day is always a treat. At first I was pretty out of shape because of the insane elevation here in Utah, but I'm starting to have pretty good endurance. When we aren't playing basketball in gym we are working out or running on the indoor track.

Well, I think that pretty much sums up my week. I can't believe I was able to talk about all that in 25 minutes. Oh, if you've sent me a letter recently, the mail room here in the MTC has been closed since Saturday morning and just opened again today (Tuesday) morning. They are really behind and are sorting through a bunch of mail so I haven't received anything since Saturday morning. I will most likely have to respond to everything else next week.

Oh, also, some of the elders in my district don't get any/ or very much mail. If any of you have some free time and want to make a missionary's day, feel free to send them a little note or letter of encouragement. It’s OK if you don't know them; just a little note of encouragement and/or testimony of Jesus Christ would be awesome.

All of the missionaries I'm talking about have the same address as me. If you want to write them, just address the letter like you’re sending it to me, but put Elder Cowling, Elder Ruby or Elder Platt on the letter/ Dear Elder and they will get it.

Thanks! I love you all. Thank you all so much for your love and support. I know our Heavenly father loves each one of us, I know Jesus Christ is our Savior; I know the Book of Mormon is true and will strengthen your testimony of Jesus Christ.

Talk to you all next week,
Elder Davis

P.S. Can someone please dear elder me Adam and Kenny's addresses??? I want to send them cards for their engagements.

Pictures!!