Week Three

Hi!

I think Mosiah 4:9-12 is what I actually want for my mission plaque:

 9 Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.

 10 And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them.

 11 And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel.

 12 And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true.

I don't know whether it is because I am excited, or because English is hard, but typing is really difficult now. I leave the Missionary Training Center in roughly 2 weeks, though I do not know the exact date. 

The Spanish is coming along excellently, I now know seven (I think) ways to conjugate a single verb, and my lessons are still mostly me talking and explaining things, but I rarely stumble or cannot find a word to express my thoughts anymore. 

Elder B's accent has gotten worse, and he gave a talk in sacrament meeting this Sunday. These short five minute talks are solely in Spanish, and should contain a scripture, a quote from preach my gospel, and a testimony. In Spanish. Elder B walks up, say Hola, and then proceeds to apologize, because he did not bring his scriptures in Spanish. He then gives the entire talk in English, except for a couple of word which were in Spanish. The branch president cut him off because he wouldn't stop talking. He just told him he needed to be finished. And if that is not a humbling enough experience, the president of the whole MTC was in our sacrament meeting. (Oh, just so you know two random missionaries are selected weekly to give talks. He was chosen, he didn't know he would be speaking.) 

Also, during this time I got really sick. I had to leave priesthood meeting earlier that morning because my right eye had come completely red and I could no longer see out of it because it was watering so much. That lasted for roughly three hours, and then it miraculously just ended. Then, as soon as I sat down for sacrament meeting, I discovered that I really wasn’t feeling well. I was going to ask my companion to leave with me right away, but he got called up to give a talk. As soon as the first 2 talks ended I ran past the President of the MTC in the Cultural Hall with my companion. I remained entirely uncomfortable in the devotional and throughout the night, but don’t worry. I’m better now. It sure wasn’t fun, though.

I also learned this week how being blessed with empathy can sometimes be really difficult. I have related to you some of the problems my class has been having with one of our instructors. We finally had a sit down heart to heart with the guy (which would be hard for anyone) but I have been given the blessing of understanding and feeling in part other people’s emotions. The emotions in the room ranged from furious to absolutely confused. And I felt and understood the reasons behind every single one--at the same time. And you know me, when I actually care about something, I become a much less eloquent speaker, and I get really confusing, even more confusing than normal. So there we are in the classroom. My district Leader has been “discussing” with our teacher in private. And we have a heart to heart. We use English because we are unable to express ourselves well enough in Spanish, and he uses Spanish, which many of my compatriots do not understand, which causes more frustration. So, my district now knows more about him as an individual, and can respect the reasons for his choices. Also, he’s seeing a girl that he is in love with this weekend for the first time after she got home off of her mission, and we all wished him luck. I think things will be better between us in the future. 

Well, Love you guys. Hope you have as much fun as I'm having (not possible!). 

-Elder Scott