Week 4

Wow I cant believe it is already week 4!!

This was a gggrreat week!! So much happened, well kinda. More like a few really awesome things happened.

First of all, every sunday and tuesday someone comes in and talks to us. Sometimes is someone random I have never heard of before...actually most of the time it is someone random. Every devotional I tell my companion ``Its gonna be President Monson I just know it.`` Well this tuesday it was not president Monson. Buuuut, it was Elder Richard G. Scott of the quorem of the 12 apostles!! It was so awesome. We were sitting at the top of the auditorium, so when he walked in we didnt have the greatest view of his face. And so we didnt think he was a g.a., which is okay. But after a while we were sitting there waiting for the devo to start. And ``I was like, that guy looks really fumiliar. I dont know why.创 Well it turned out to be Richard G Scott. And I almost had a heart attack when we finally realized who it was. But anyway his talk was great! He said alot of things that were really cool. He mainly talked about revalation through the holy ghost. He said that the best way to tell between how a personal thought is actually the spirit is if that thought is leading you closer to Christ. Also he said that if you are in tune with the Holy Ghost, most of your thoughts will be in line with the Holy Ghost. Also he said that Father will not give you more personal counsel if you dont follow the counsel he gave you first. Pretty much, if Father gives you any councel or direction, you better do it if you want more. Also he said that having a contrit spirit is being prepared to be lead by the Lord, and willing to do his will. During the bearing of his testimony...WHICH WAS AWESOME!! he said that he knows without a doubt that each and everyone of us is going to the place the that we should be going. Because the way that they choose missions isn磘 by trying to fill missons. But by looking into the eyes of each missionaries picture and then praying where we should go. Then the Lord will reveal it to them and they will call us there. That was cool cause it testified to me that the Lord knows each of capabilities and where we can best 1. serve others and bring them to him, and?2. grow personally ourselves. He said alot more but I dont have the time to talk about it all. Sorry.

Something else that was really cool that happened this week was our lesson with Roy. It was such a simple lesson. All we did was tell him that he was a Child of God and that God loves him and wants him to return to him. The spirit was so strong. We told him that the best way he can come closer to the Lord now is by reading the Aklat ni Mormon and praying to God about its truth. We also told him to ``magdasal taga puso ni Diyos`` which is grammatically very incorrect. Cause thats saying pray from heart to God. But the taga...means 'from' which is 'from' as in a location, not like from me to you. I guess though that there are alot of really deep words in tagalog. And that all their words are very very deep, unlike our language, where every word is not necessarily deep or meaningful. Sooo thats good to know by the vocab they are using, that when they say something deep...they are meaning it, or else they just wouldn't use deep vocab.. Anyway....he agreed to pray everyday and read the Book of Mormon everyday. He also said the closing prayer, which was awesome cause he hasn磘 for any other of the missionaries that have been teaching him....not trying to brag or anything...cough cough. haha no but that was a very spiritual experience and he took a major leep forward in his progression.

Also something that happened this week is on wednesday, new missionary day, a whole bunch of new missionaries in our zone came in, cause we had like half our zone leave for the Philippines on monday and tuesday. But it was exciting because for one, our zone isnt the youngest anymore. Two it marks the half way point for being here at the mtc. And three it was awesome talking to them in tagalog and seening their expressions. We went up to this one missionary and all we said was "Kumusta po kayo" which means how are you....hahahha he gave us the most blank stare in the world and was like "Uhhh its my first day" hahahaha...sorry if thats doesnt seem funny, but his expression was hilarious. One missionary in our district bore his testimony to them in Tagalog because honestly we still cant say that much other then missionary talk. And so he just said what he knew...which was his testimony. Eventually though we spoke to them in English. They seem pretty cool, the real test will be in gym during 4 square. If they cant hang there then idk bout them. Something kinda scary that happened yesterday though was, it was just their 2nd day and a tricompanionship disappeared. The zone leaders went looking for them, and they couldn't find the newbs anywhere. Finally at 10:30 they walked back in to the residence, apparently they were sent to the outside world, for some hospital appointment, that took them all day. And the mtc health clinic forgot to tell the front office where they were. But oh well, they are back.

Oh and my pinky is doing much better, it doesn't hurt at all! I can bend it, half way, for some reason I bend it down and it just doesn't bend all the way..hopefully I can bend it all the way soon. But something I have decided is that I am not going to play basketball at the mtc again. Its not worth the risk of getting injured. But 4 square...that I will play alllll day if I could. Before the mission I would have never thought that 4 square could be so competitive or fun! But now I have realized that it is both! hahaha

The tagalog is coming along pretty good, we have finally gotten into verbs and how to create your own sentences, so I am very greatful for that. Even though the conjugations can be very confusing sometimes. But I know that if I work my hardest and am faithfull the Lord will bless me with kaloob ng mga wika (the gift of tounges). This week I kinda had a wake up call, we had a evening class, and no one was really really trying their hardest to get the new verb down, cause we were all tired. So he gave us a 3 min break and when we came back into the classroom. He then said that you will not receive the gift of tongues unless you try your hardest, including when you are tired and all you want to do is rest, but instead of resting you work more. And we cannot receive a true witness of faith until it is tried, and if we dont work hard and have faith alllways even when we are tired, then the Lord will not bless you with kaloob ng mga wika. That really struck me, and that was a very powerful and spiritual experience, now I am trying harder then ever to learn this language! The cool part is I think the Lord saw that or something, cause another elder, in the district that had been here 3 weeks more then us asked if I wanted to have 10mins of syl every night. Which would really really help with vocab and grammer..syl is "speak your language". So we are doing that and I am learning alot from him.

Anyway thanks for all of your love and support, I really appreciate it.

Ingat Kayo at Mahal Kita?

Elder Ryan James!