Email #8-Last one from the Provo, MTC

Dearest Mother,

Hello hello! Thank you so much for the cookies, they are delicious! I also loved getting all of your letters, they made my day so much better! I will be sure to keep the pocket luck angel with me. You guys are the best. Hayden is doing well, he's loving it here and I got to orient him and it was awesome! He won't be able to email until next Wednesday, so maybe you could tell his family he's doing great? I got to show his district around and bare my testimony to them in Japanese and it was way fun.

This week was pretty normal. We got released as zone leaders so the new elders can have a week or two of experience before their kohai arrive. It was such a blessing to be able to get to know everyone better through being zone leader. The new elders are going to be awesome! This is our last p day in the MTC! Next time I email you, it'll be from Japan! So wild. I probably won't be able to email until next Monday, because we fly out this Monday and we'll miss that P day. I'm so excited to get to Japan and teach the people there! Christmas there is going to be awesome. Oh, also, I get to call at the airport, so be expecting a call sometime on Monday! 

The highlights of this week were probably our devotionals and orienting the new Italians and singing for our branch presidencies. On Sunday we had mission conference because it was fast Sunday. Everyone gets together and the MTC presidency talks to us all. It was pretty good, they shared a lot about the new Church video, "He is the Gift." You should watch it, it's really good! This Sunday, my testimony about faith really grew. Ever since we had the devotional in which Elder Golden said that faith is personal righteousness, I've been really praying and working to know if I really do have as much faith as I thought I did. Faith for me really grew in importance after that and I have been thinking about it all the time. James 2:20 has also really changed a lot in meaning for me. Before, I thought that it meant that unless you follow your faith with works, by acting upon your faith, you might as well not have faith. But now I think it also means that you can't have faith without works, because if faith is personal righteousness, you have to act and make sure that you are doing everything you can to be as righteous as you can, and that for sure includes working. My testimony of faith has also grown a lot because of the people in my district. I have learned so much about becoming better and progressing and just being a better person because of all of them. They all have traits that I need to improve on, and I know that Heavenly Father put me with them so that I can progress. I really have the best district and companion and zone ever. They are all such hard workers and such great examples to me on how I can be better. We bare our testimonies a lot, after devotionals and on Sundays, and I don't think I've ever cried more often than I have here. I feel like I'm cried out and then I bare my testimony again and I can't help it! It's awesome because I'm feeling the Spirit so strongly so often but also the worst because it's crying. 

On Friday, we went and sang to all the branch presidencies. They were having a big thank you dinner in the gym because of all the hard work they do, and as a surprise, the MTC Presidency arranged to have the choir come and sing to them. We sang, "Silent Night" and it was incredible. The Spirit was so strong and really testified to me that Jesus Christ really is my Savior! It was an amazing experience. Sunday was also really neat because President Butler interviewed me, and as we were talking, he answered all the questions that I had been struggling with that I hadn't told anyone or even prayed about. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus know me individually and love me individually and care about me. It was a really powerful, sweet experience that I'm incredibly thankful for. I think that the two things I have come to love the most here are prayer and the scriptures. I have become genially more thankful for the blessing that I have received and for all the things that Heavenly Father blesses me with. I remember there was a challenge sometime early in my young men's where a leader challenged us to pray for 5 minutes. I tried and didn't even come close! Now it's really hard to say one less than 5 or 10 minutes, I have so much to be thankful for and so much I need Heavenly Father to bless me with every day that it takes at least that long! I have also really learned to love scripture study. I am going through the Book of Mormon and really trying to get as much as I can out of it, and because of that I am reading incredibly slowly, but I am also learning so much. There is so much to learn from the scriptures and the Book of Mormon really answers so many of the questions I have. 

I'm out of time for the week, but that's about it for this week. I forgot to bring my journal and my devotional notebook with me, but the devotionals this week were really great. We listened to the First Presidency Christmas devotional on Sunday, and had the Zwick's come on Tuesday. Both were really good. On Tuesday we also heard this little 12 year old girl sing who was amazing. I forget her name, but she has been to Carnegie Hall and is really talented. She sang I Know That My Redeemer Lives, and it was so powerful. Really neat. The MTC is wonderful, and I'm going to miss it. I love all you guys and am so thankful for all of you! Next time I email you, I'm going to be in Japan! So crazy.

Love,

Calhoun Choro

カラフン