August 4th: Whoa ... I'm halfway there ...

4 August 2018

Me w/ Elder Thomas (from my district) waiting for choir. Our choir director is awesome and he is helping put the new Primary Songbook for the Church together!

Elder Cogswell and me

Hola todos!

This week has gone by like a blur! The weeks here are feeling like days. Its pretty crazy! I hit my halfway mark earlier this week, and as of today I have two and a half weeks left at the MTC. If they feel like they have felt the past two weeks, then I will be in Vegas the next time I blink. I have learned a lot this week, especially in the Spanish department. Here is how it went:

Sunday was great, I got to be back in the choir, which was so awesome! Elder Cluff and I taught the discussion in Priesthood, which was about The Great Apostasy and the Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It went really well. I really like our priesthood meetings here, because they are so discussion based, rather than the teacher just teaching a lesson. We had a great devotional that night given by one of the District Presidents here at the MTC(District presidents are just leaders that report to the MTC Presidency here, kind of like stake presidents). Sunday was tough because I had to say goodbye to some Elders that I grew really close to here in my zone. Elder Hansen, one of my zone leaders left early Monday morning. He is going to do fantastic there. I can't wait to hear about his experiences there. He has been a great example of humility and hard work here at the MTC.

Elder Cluff and me at the Provo temple

Monday I had to say goodbye to some more elders and sisters from the zone, all of whom are going to do fabulous in their respective missions. Elder Cogswell left early Tuesday for Washington, he was Elder Hansen's companion and my other zone leader. He was such a fun guy to hang around and talk to with. He will do awesome there. We received some bad news on Monday about one of our elders in our district. Elder Evans has had some health problems that might force him to go home, which would be so sad because we have grown so close as a district.

Tuesday was a tough day because I pushed myself really hard as far as Spanish goes. We decided as a district that we would do an English Fast. This meant that from breakfast until dinner, I only spoke Spanish. It was so hard, but I'm glad I pushed myself in that way. Also our zone fasted for Elder Evans that day, which meant that we went without food until dinner time. This is a way that we come closer to God through faith and prayer. That night we had a devotional given by an emeritus member of the 70, which is a former General Authority of the church, named Elder Kent F Richards. Apparently he is a descendant of Willard Richards, who was in Carthage Jail when the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother were martyred on June 27th, 1844. He gave a great talk. In choir we sang a song called "Hurrah for Israel". It was short but very powerful. I highly encourage you to look it up and the backstory behind it. It is absolutely amazing. Our choir numbers hit over 1000 missionaries that day!

Wednesday was awesome, because I got to host new missionaries! That was so much fun because it took me back to my first day in the MTC. It wiped me out though, and my hip wasn't doing me any favors though so that made it tough as well. It was also kind of a tough day because for some weird reason, the EFY camps that are out my class window pumping music, and that gets me missing home. I'm not sure why. Maybe because it just reminds me of how much the MTC is kind of like a bubble that encloses all the missionaries inside of it, ha ha.

Thursday we had a great TRC appointment with a new person from Ecuador named Veronica! She was super nice and was fun to talk to. Another thing is that she has to be only 4 foot 5. It was super surprising to see her walk into the appointment because I didn't expect her to be that short.

Yesterday was pretty awesome, because we had a great class in the evening in which we had a lesson on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I felt the Spirit so strong, and truly felt the love that the Savior has for me and for the people of the world. It made me so pumped to go to Vegas! Also we had a lesson with Veronica, and my Spanish was all over the place. I walked out of that lesson thinking that we had botched the lesson. I felt like I taught by the Spirit, but I still felt I wasn't able to fully convey the message. When we got our evaluation back, she said that our message was very clear! The tender mercies of the Lord are very real, people. No chiste.

Today has been a great P-day. We were finally able to go to the Temple this morning. The temple is literally the House of the Lord and is the holiest place on earth. It has been closed for renovations lately and we were finally able to go. It was awesome!

Sorry this is coming out to you all later in the day than usual, but you can still email me throughout the rest of the day until 6pm MST. And please send me emails throughout the week! I love getting them and responding to them on P-day!

Your hardworking missionary,
Elder Lovell