Week 2 From the MTC

Date: July 07, 2011 Area: Provo MTC Companion: Elder Eves

Hola Familia!

How are you all doing? Thanks for the letters! I love getting mail here! Its definitely something that I look forward to everynight and I'm leading the district with 3 packages (thanks Lindy and Spencer) and like 13 or 14 letters!! =) But dear elder is definitely the best way to do it, that or regular old snail mail cause I only have a half hour on the computer on my P-Day for emailing so there isn't time to really read anything.

But this week was definitely much better than the last, time doesn't move at snail pace and its always seeming to go faster which is good because 8/9 weeks (however long it actually is, is a long time to be here!!). But my district is definitely getting closer, we have fun with each other - its not nearly as awkward anymore which is definitely a good thing. Speaking in spanish all the time is tough and we have honestly been slacking a little bit during meal times and stuff cause the conversations in Spanish are limited and we want to actually be able to talk to each other and get to know one another. I think class with our teachers is probably the best part of the day though. We have 1 to 2 threee hour blocks of class with the teachers a day 6 days a week. In total we are in class 30 hours a week with them but honestly I wish it was more because I really enjoy listening to them speak Spanish. Its better than the personal study time too because its actually structured and I'm more productive during that time but I guess the personal study time is a great prep for the mission and for life, really. I just need to learn how to do it right haha.

So something cool and exciting! The first counselor in my ward, Brother Jenkins, was the mission president of the Zambia/Zimbabwe mission while Scott Fitzgerald was there!! I had a little interview with him and asked him about his time as a mission president and found out that he actually knows the Fitzgeralds because Heidi and Berry were some of the only ones to have gone to pick their kids up from their mission and they stayed with at the mission home. He said he loves Scott and that he was one of his best missionaries so way to go Scott!! He is definitely a really cool guy and I like him a lot. He taught our district on Sunday and on Tuesday night after the devotional and wow does he bring the spirit into the room! He seriously brings the spirit with him and you can feel it when hes around! Its really cool!

Like I said, this week was definitely much better than the last. It started getting tons better like right after I had sent my last e-mail on Saturday. That night we had a 4th of July celebration/devotional and the key note speaker was some bishop here in one of the branches but his occupation is some government position where he advises the President- like he works just outside of the oval office so that the president can get advice whenever he needs it! It sounds so cool! He travels EVERYWHERE too! But he just told some really cool stories that he had from his job that were really just about regular people that had extreme situations and had the opportunity to protect freedom. The stories he told were incredibly powerful like this one about a family in Serbia who was running from the government because they had helped the U.S. I think it was. There were 16 of them and their neighbors took them in and were protecting them from the government. Some police officers came to the house and the family was hiding downstairs, their little baby of 4 months started crying and the father knew that if it made any noise then the whole family would be killed. The father couldn't quiet the baby and made the impossible choice and killed it so that the rest of his family would live. I can't even imagine how difficult that was but the point was that freedom often comes at a great price and we need to appreciate that price. He also said we need to know who we are and what we stand for. That really got me thinking and I think its an important question that everyone should ask themselves.

On Tuesday we had a devotional with Jenny Oaks Baker as the guest. She is a world renound violinist and she plays the most amazing music. It literally was one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard and I know that its not simply because she can play but because of the spirit she plays with. She would tell us different stories of her musical career (she got a masters from Juliard. She said "I guess I got a pretty good musical education"!) but through her stories she bore her testimony of how much God has helped and made a difference in her life. She has such a strong testimony and I was lucky enough to have been able to feel the spirit through her music.

I know this gospel is true and that the spirit is real. It is the greatest feeling to feel of the spirit. I hope everyone can feel of the spirit.

Con amor,

Elder JHolland