First Few Days!

Hello Family and friends!!! I have officially survived the first couple days in the mtc and believe me that is a big accomplishment because it has not been easy!

Wednesday:

So this was my first time flying. It was pretty scary at first when we were taking off, but i got used to it and I stared out the window the entire way. It was crazy because within the first thirty minutes we had already gone over the Grand Canyon. Within about an hour and 10/15 minutes we had arrived in Salt Lake City! Me and about eight other missionaries were on the same flight and we took some group pictures in the terminal and blocked about the entire walkway for about 10 minutes because we had to use each of our cameras! And surprise surprise, i have no idea really how to get the pictures off of that camera onto a modern piece of technology, so thats a lot of fun.We fit seven missionaries along with all of our stuff in a “shuttle” which turned out to just be a minivan and we were basically stacked on top of each other! WE arrived and a ton of people came out to help us with our bags. I got my nametag and a few other things then it was off to nonstop meetings until 9:30 at night. My room is on the fourth floor, so i got to carry everything up the stairs. There are four of us in our room, and hopefully it stays that way because there are six beds, and i stole the pillow and blankets from one of the extra ones. My comp. is Elder Greenhalgh. i will admit we haven’t gotten along too well at first, he kinda has a bad attitude about everything you have to do here, but i am working on him and its started to get better. We met our district, and so far its been a lot of fun with them!

 

Thursday:

So after breakfast, we got all of our Spanish materials, and it has been super overwhelming, but we have learned SO much already! We love our teachers, Hermano Bennet y Hermana Cuevas. They are the nicest people you’ve ever met and they are so helpful. We were just crazy swamped with meetings and workshops, which are when everyone in the mtc that got here at the same time (which was over 600 people and we have been told that that is the most the mtc has ever received in one day).anyway these meetings can be good or bad depending on the teacher, but we have survived them so far. We also had a zone/ branch meeting on this day. We met the branch presidency and had interviews. They are super nice and all of them have been mission presidents, so they know about anything that we would need answers to. We had more class, this is just the district. We all love our actual classes because they are a lot of fun! I did over an hour of personal study in the Book of Mormon and every day so far, so many blessing have come from that. I love getting truly immersed in the scriptures. It cures whatever stress or doubts or feelings of being overwhelmed. The spirit is so strong here and if we truly want it in our lives, we can feel it anytime.

 

Friday:

This was our first (almost) normal day with a normal schedule. We went to breakfast then off to class in the morning. Hermana Cuevas, who is from Chile and is the nicest and happiest person I think I’ve ever met, teaches in the morning. We did some Spanish stuff then went with our district to another workshop. We then went immediately back to class and learned more Spanish. We had a couple of hours of study time after class which we devoted mostly to Spanish because we have to memorize scriptures, phrases and over 50 words everyday, so pray that we can be able to get better at that! We went to lunch then finally got to work out which was definitely needed to re-energize us. We showered then had more study time. Later that night we went to dinner then to class again with Hermano Bennet. I struggled so much with the prayer phrases that we were supposed to learn so I will be studying that more today and trying to practice them. After we practiced a ton of our Spanish, we were tasked with writing a prayer in Spanish. We went with our companions to a different room to offer them once, change a few things, then offer another in Spanish. I know that I will never forget that first time I prayed in Spanish. The spirit immediately overwhelmed me. I got a very strong impression that I am in the right place. I know that this is where I am meant to be. Although i was not the best with learning a prayer, nothing has felt so right to me than praying in Spanish. It felt so natural. I have learned so much here in the mtc, and it has only been a few days!

 

Saturday: 

Well, I got up and showered. Then I did my morning study, then ate breakfast. Now I am in the computer lab typing my email to all of you!

In my personal study, I have been reading a lot in 3 Nephi. I want to share something. To give a little background, in chapter 11, Heavenly Father appears to the Nephites and present His son, Jesus Christ unto them. He then proves himself to be the Savior, and presents the manner of baptism unto the people. In chapter 12, He organizes the twelve apostles and gives the people a new law over the Law of Moses. In verse 6 He says: And blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost. And in verse 14 He says also: Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the light of this people. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Everyone, I want to share that I know that these verses are true. As i have strived to live this gospel, and especially as I have immersed myself in the scriptures, I have already been blessed with the Spirit stronger than I ever have in my life. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and it can bring each of us closer to our Savior in this life as we persevere and strive to become better people every day. With the help of the Lord, anything can be accomplished. You know, in the last few days we have talked a lot about the gift of tongues. The biggest thing we have learned is that we can access this gift, but it will take tremendous effort on our part. This life was not meant to be easy, but I know that by our hard efforts we can be blessed and can reach our goals or even surpass them. I challenge all of you to read this passage of scripture, as it has become very dear and close to my heart. It will bring you peace if you let it.

One of the things we have memorized is Moroni 10:5. I will do this by memory so excuse my typos and I don’t know how to do accents on a computer keyboard!

Y por el poder del Espiritu Santo, podreis conocer la verdad de todas las cosas .I will leave it at that, and I know that that verse is true! Look up that verse in English if you don’t know what it means!

Everyone thank you for your prayers and thought, I can truly feel them here! I Love all of you and I am so excited for this journey that I have in front of me!

Love,

Elder Curtis