Friday, October 7, 2011

Post GC/Hump Week

Hello! 

Yes, that is right it is my hump week this week.  Officially halfway!  Well, we actually had a Devotional on Tuesday from Elder Lionel Kendrick of the setenta who said "it is important that you elders realize that you are not "serving time" here in the MTC like a prison or something, but you are here to serve the Lord on his time."  So...but if I was serving time I would be exactly halfway today!  The Devotionals were awesome this week.  On Sunday, Chad Lewis--played for BYU and helped take the Eagles to the superbowl later--came and talked to us.  He was a really good speaker and talked a lot about making the best of your mission because you "only" get two years to serve the Lord full-time at this point in your life.  Elder Kendrick also gave a really good talk about how thin the veil is when you are on your mission and the complete truth that the Savior is helping us every moment on our mission as long as we stay worthy. 

I don't know if this General Conference was the best Conference in history, but it sure felt like it here.  One thing I did that helped me get the most out of conference was to ponder certain questions of my soul and write them down.  I didn't quite know if they were going to get answered or not or what to expect.  But I know that Heavenly Father is watching over every single one of his children.  I got my questions pretty much answered in the first two or three talks of General Conference.  I'll share just a bit about some of my favorite talks.

I very much liked Elder Tad R. Callister's talk on the Book of Mormon.  The Bible itself can be interpreted in many different ways.  That is exactly why there is so many churches in the world right now, because after the death of Christ and his apostles, wicked people changed the Gospel and many other things about Christ's church.  But(here's the good stuff), put the Bible and the Book of Mormon together and you get a plain and simple truth with one interpretation(Eph. 4:5).  With these two books you get the fulness of the Gospel.  What is that?  The fulness of the Gospel is simply what a child of God needs in order to return back to the presence of our Heavenly Father with our loved ones.  I liked so much more about that talk because I have such a firm testimony of the Book of Mormon.  I don't have enough time to talk more about it though so go watch it yourself on LDS.org.

I also liked Elder Kazuhiko Yamashita's (I know, I can't pronounce it either) talk on what is important in missionary work.  He told a story about an investigator who accepted the message and took the lessons just because of the appearance of the missionaries.  Loving the families is so important in missionary work.  Our main message is to tell families that they can live together for an eternity.  It is a message of love, hope, and faith.  He said to bring 3 things with you on your mission: 1) A desire to preach the gospel  2) A developed testimony  3) Love for others.

All the talks were great, and they can be insighted in many different ways.  No two people think the same exact way. 

Well an update on the week...

I am starting to eat more, solamente because the food is very good here and they have too much variety so I wanna just grab every plate and shove it down my throat.  So...if you have any dieting or self-control advice, don't be afraid to share.

The MTC dance last night was wild.  It was 80's night so I bet you could imagine how fun that was.  The dances are always the best part of the week!

Ping pong in the basement of the residence hall during free time gets pretty competitive!  We play for hours on end with all of our free time.

But really...I met a chinese austraillian elder and it was probably the coolest experience I've had in the MTC so far(well not really).  He looks asian but sounds just like any other Aussy.

Well, I'm just about out of time.

The Spiritual message of the week is found on LDS.org under the General Conference tab...(I don't have enough time to write a spiritual thought this go-around).  Enjoy!

Con Amor,

Elder Larisch