MTC week 2

Hey everybody.

Life here at the MTC is going well. Every day we just have class and more class, then some gym and a devotional thrown in every once and a while.

The schedule is going well and after just two weeks here I can do a LOT in Italian (as long as it somewhat pertains to the Gospol). Already I can: bear testimony, talk about the BoM, say a prayer, meet someone and find out more about their family, plan the next day/week, recite the Missionary Purpose, recite Joseph Smith's First Vision, recite the baptisimal prayer, schedule a new appointment with someone, and a whole lot more. I understand the language pretty well and can pretty much translate anything anyone says but can't say things back yet. Apparently comprehension and speaking don't go hand in hand.

We just got back from the Temple. It's awesome to see all of my district in white and in the temple. We have all grown super close and we all trust each other a lot. We get to go to the temple every week and we go through a session then help for about an hour doing the laundry. It's nice to be able to do service right after feeling the Spirit. Our new District Leader (Aziano Andersen is the new Zone Leader after just 2 weeks), Aziano D'addabo had some family names that he needed done. It was nice to help him out with that. Would it be possible to send out some of our family names? We have 11 Elders (including me) and 2 Sisters. We can get Iniatories done one week for them and then do the endowment the next week. It would be nice to do some family names while here.

The food isn't too bad going into the second week and we always look forward to Wednesday and Sunday since that's when they open up the ice cream bar for us. Friday is also pizza night. P Days are nice to just sit back and write letters/emails. Then go to the temple.

 

We also get a General Authority speaker every Tuesday. We all have our fingers crossed for an Apostle this week due to General Conference coming up. Last week, we had Elder Costa from the Presidency of the Seventy and he was an awesome speaker. We enjoy watching past Apostle talks from General Conference on the computer in the classroom when we all just need to calm down and focus.

 

 

Keep sending me DearElder letters. I get them every day. Please also tell my friends about DearElder through Facebook. Send them the website and my address. I want to hear from more people. The thank you notes may take a while because I'm working on a project here. Hopefully I'll be done with it soon and can tell you all about it. Other than that I will try to write you guys as much as I can. Even with the 30 minutes on the computer, I only get about 15 minutes to use it before I have to get running. Right now I need to be getting to dinner.

 

Last thing I want to share is this super huge vision type thing I had the 6th night I was here. It has really helped me realize that God has called the right people to the right place and that we all are where we need to be for the Lord.

 

I could see my entire district, we were all clad in the Armor of God. Every piece of it could be seen on us. Everyone's armor looked a little bit different depending on their stengths and personality (eg. Anziano Pectol had a huge shield of faith, and Anziano Stromsdorfer had feathers in his breastplate). We were beset upon by many dragons. At first they were small and we could all stand separately and alone to slay them as they came upon us. Eventually, the dragons got bigger and bigger until they were of gigantic size. At this point we all were with our companions, each of us covering another's weakness in order to stand firm before the onslaught. We were victorious until we came upon a wall of fire. Out of the wall of fire came the largest dragon yet. He had red eyes and dark black scales, and his claws and teeth were exceedingly sharp but only one touch was required in order to kill us. His roar called us all to fall to the ground in fear. Anziano Andersen however remained steadfast and raised forth his shield. Shouting out the scripture that was written upon it. The scripture was from Joshua and it was "As for me and my House, we will serve the LORD."

The rest of us rose up in faith and declared unto Aziano Andersen that our faith was strong and that we knew through Jesus Christ we would be delivered. Anziano Andersen then charged toward the dragon, holding his Sword of the Spirit in the air, where I saw another scipture gleam from it which read, "Go forth into the world and preach the Gospol unto every creature." He then thrust his sword into the black dragons heart and slew him.

 

I know that this is where I need to be and that I have a great work to do in Italy. I know God calls the right people to lead us in these days and that we can learn a lot from them and be guided down the straight and narrow path.

 

I love all of you and hope to hear from you all soon, hopefully I will have more time to write you guys in the coming week.

 

 

Anziano Rockwood