Great inspriation from leaders

Tuesday night then was the devotional. It was a little different as... ELDER BALLARD WAS THE SPEAKER!!! SOOO neat right!? We all had a little idea of maybe something unusual was up. Before they let us in they made sure we had our nametags on, and they were diligently saying NO backpacks. Then on the slideshow where they usually have the speakers name, please be quiet, don't forget to do this, etc there was no slide for the speaker. There were also security guys at all the doors. The front row of people was all old people. Forgive me, all seniors and no young missionaries like usual. So there was talk about that maybe we would have a guest of honor aka a member of the 12 or First Presidency. When Elder Ballard walked in we were singing prelude songs and everyone stood up and continued to sing. The Spirit when he walked into the room was incredible. It was an instant testifyer that THAT was an Apostle of the Lord. It was so exciting! He gave such a great talk, the Spirit taught me a lot. Some of the things he talked about...

-We know a lot about the gospel and this message already, we can explain a lot

---by this he asked how many of us had gone to primary, ym/yw, sunday school, FHE, etc. we've grown up in the gospel most of us-we know it already

-PMG ch 3 was revised many times by the First Presidency and Q of 12 and is divine in the way that it teaches us how to teach clearly and simply

-We need to capture the vision of what it is we have, and share it with the world

---we don't need to be afraid, we need to capture the big picture, internalize it so we know it and when we know it we will not be afraid to share it, we will have confidence

-(My FAVORITE part of his talk...) is that I was sitting at the feet of an Apostle of the Lord and listened to his testimony and he gave all of us an Apostalic blessing

---He read from the scriptures from 3 Nephi 11 and the way he held his scriptures, the way he read those verses from the Book of Mormon, especially the words of Jesus Christ was an incredible testimony to me that he knows our Savior. He has a relationship with our Savior and I want to have that same relationship with my Savior.

-He taught that the sons and daughters of God need the message. the Lord is preparing this generation to take the gospel into the future

--kind of a big responsibility that the Lord has given us and has blessed us with which I am grateful for.

 

I loved listening to Elder Ballard. SO much. I'm so blessed he was able to come to speak with us. I'm grateful that the Spirit was able to speak and teach me those things which I needed to hear and learn. I''m especially grateful I had this opportunity to learn right after learning about Jr. What a comfort it was to me that the Lord knows us and He has confidence and trust in us to take care of His children. He'll take care of Jr, and of Savanna and Ryan. :)

 

Okay so next-Brant my cousin in AZ on his mission!? I was thinking about him and is his mission going to be affected by the new Gilbert Mission? Is that true info that I heard is there will be a new mission in Gilbert? Also to Tyce-I'm so excited to see him in a few weeks! I hope he is doing well. I know the few weeks before coming here were really hard and I know that is because Satan did not want me out here. Tell Tyce to keep pushing on, it is worth it to get here. I want him to be here sooo badly and can't wait to see him! What day does he come in? the 17th? Ohh tell Tyce to get out here and he will be blessed! :) :) :) The MTC is great!

 

Funny random story. The other day an Elder in my district farted and it stunk SO badly. it was the Tongan Elder in the district and holy cow it was BAD! My kasama and I NEEDED to leave the room and the smell just permiated ah man it was terrible. I'm thankful that that hardly ever happens because if it did I would need to invest in a face mask breather thing of some type.

 

Also funny thing. Ha ha so we cut my kasama's hair last night. About 3-4 inches, using scissors that belong in an elementary school pencil box. Yep. She wanted her hair cut and told us to do it so we did. The first girl just cut straight across. Then Dad thanks to you, I was able to take over and it looks a lot better because of the skills you allowed me to build while cutting your hair for so many years. No joke I'm impressed with how well we did! ha ha this morning there are a few places that need fixing but it won't be that bad. We just sat on the ground with the garbage can at her back and using those tiny scissors (it cramped up my fingers) we cut her hair and it looks great!

 

Also something I'm discovering. You become very similar to the people you are around.  For good or for bad. I mentioned it before, but I've picked up on some of the things my kasama does and I don't even think about what I"m doing until it comes out and I think to myself, wow that is my kasama right there. For example, my kasama always snaps her fingers ha ha whenever she forgets something or something like that, and I've started snapping my fingers. Or the way she talks, the phrases she says (rubbish instead of trash) I'm picking up on it. I remember Mom always telling us how grateful she was we had good friends and I always overlooked that. But she was right, I was incredibly blessed to have good friends so I picked up on their good habits. Oh ya, all the Pacific Islanders use their face to talk and I'm doing the same thing. The whole raise eyebrows thing. Yep I do it all the time and I'm not even in the Philippines yet. But the way you raise your eyebrows means different things at different times i'm finding out. I noticed in AZ Jared raised his eyebrows a lot, now I know why.

 

Sunday ngiht after the devotional (given by President Daines president of the provo Temple and SOOO GOOD!!!) we watched a talk given by Elder Bednar that he gave on Christmas day 2011 here at the MTC. Cool fact, I was going to work that Christmas day but decided against it and Elder Bednar after his talk went into the cafeteria and was talking to all my friends! Anway, he gave a talk that I really learned a lot from. The Spirit taught me a lot. The biggest thing I learned was I learned a mere fraction of the character of Christ. Christ turned out when the natural man would turn in. How incredible of a statement this was, and Elder Bednar repeated it over and over again and the Spirit touched me everytime I heard him say that. Christ turns out when I would turn in. That is one reason why Christ was great. Christ is perfect! He turns out when I would turn in. The mission is not about me. Elder Bednar gave the funny analagy that the natural man is like Cookie Monster. "I want cookie now!" Then he related how we can be like the cookie monster sometims..."i want baptism now! I want investigator now!" Ha ha it was really funny and really true. I need to get over myself. After this talk I started realizing how selfish I really am all the time. I think about myself WAY too much and I need to become more like Christ and turn out when the natural man wants to turn in. I need to be more like Christ and turn out when it is easier to turn in. I am so grateful for the Atonement and for Christ and His willingness to allow me to repent of my sins and to come unto Him again. I'm so grateful that He extends this invitation to all of us. He loves us so much. I can attempt to repay Him for what He has done for me by turning out with love and charity for those around me like He would turn out to them. I'm so grateful for the things the Spirit taught me on Sunday night and continues to teach me all the time!

 

I've hit the half way point. Everyone around me keeps counting down the days to when we leave. I'll be honest I like the MTC and it is my new comfort zone. I'm afraid to leave for the Philippines. I'm scared because I feel unprepared! As I continue to learn SO much I realize more and more how much I don't know and how much I want to know. I know that I'll get there though, I don't ever think I'll feel fully prepared however I have faith that I will be adequate for what the Lord needs me to do in the Philippines, and I"m excited for that. I'm excited to get out and serve people. I'm excited to try to stop being the cookie monster and say to myself  "I want more knowledge, more preparation now!" instead I want to turn out with what the Lord has taught me and try to serve those around me, serve the people in the Philippines.

 

My time is up and I didn't even say all I wanted to say. But I love you all so much! I'm grateful to be here. I'm grateful that I'm a missionary for my Heavenly Father. I know we all can be missionaries in everything that we do!

 

Thanks again for your letters and I apologize I didn't get to respond to everything that I wanted to! PLEASE continue to tell me all about your lives! Dad I hope the Jeep Safari goes well! Darla I love getting your little messages nearly every morning, thank you so much for making me feel loved. Savanna thanks for your example of faith and I wish I could talk to you all the time. Our classrrom got switched so now we're in the nice building (we have a whiteboard and fancy carpet and 3 stalls in the bathroom!) and our window looks out over Wyview and the Student Health center and it makes me think of you all the time. Ryan good luck choosin which grad school to attend. I guess that's a bummer for being so great and having so many different great schools want you-you have to decide eh? and good luck with Jr.!

 

Mahal po kayo pamilia!!!

 

Cordially, Sister Davidson :)