MTC week 5

Dear Family,

Size 10. Laced up walk around ones. The new ones I bought right before the mission, the gel ones, are already getting worn out so those will be for Sunday/off days.

We didn't do anything for Easter here. Just a usual Sunday like always. Not even a special Easter movie on Sunday.

Yeah. It really doesn't sound like I am really missing anything. Maybe just update me if something big happens.

My P-Day is on Wednesday now and will probably change again in the field. They have made a LOT of changes to the schedules here at the MTC to prepare us for the new missionary agenda. According to our Branch and MTC presidency, these changes will be coming out later this year to early next year and will be along the changes made similar to when PMG came out. So I'll try to keep you updated on what these "big" changes are going to be. For now nothing has really changed for us since a lot of the time slots are empty but we are told will be filled by August. A lot more free time to study what I want to because of this.

The biggest things here were the two General Authorities I got to hear over the past two Tuesdays. Last week, Elder Richard G. Scott came to the MTC. He gave us all a giant virtual hug and taught us about how important we were to God. He even gave a special apostalic blessing to anyone who was learning a new language to receive the gift of tongues. I could feel a huge burden being lifted off of me when he said this. Since then, the language has become easier. Yesterday we were blessed by another special guest, Elder Dallin H. Oaks. He came and talked to us about what our purpose was and what we could do in order to make our mission successful. Just having two apostles come and at the end of both their talks give a powerful testimony of Christ was awe inspiring and has strengthened my testimony.

Another big thing this week, or I guess today, was my companions and I went to witness/proxy for children in Sealings. Wow.... It was awesome. The Spirit was so strong and it was educational. The sealer would stop and ask questions of the missionaries and explain a lot of what was going on in the sealings. For some reason, ever since General Conference, marriage has been a huge thing. In Jesus the Christ (which I read all of last week) it talks a lot about how important marriage is. It also talks a lot about the importance of marriage in Miracle of Forgiveness (which I finished today). Then I also stumbled across Doctrine and Covenants section 132. I never really realized how important marriage was but we really can't inherit the Celestial Kingdom or become gods ourselves without this ordinance. As important as all the other ordinances are, we are nothing without a spouse. Just crazy how that all works.

We also got new Italian missionaries today which has been nice. We sat outside our rooms and just waited for them to show up and gave them huge hugs, helped them into their rooms and just tried to make them feel welcome. They look really young. Instead of weeks younger than me, they look years younger. In fact I feel years older since being here. Just another weird thing about the MTC. We really are blessed for being here.

Not much else has really happened since then. Life goes on. We learn a little more of the language, practice teaching, and go about the day. It is nice hearing what goes on every day with all of you. I might not respond to everything or even respond at all but it really is a blessing just to hear what everyone is up to. I have more pictures to send to you all and I'll get those in the mail soon.

I'll label the picture I want to be my mission pic and the scripture I want used is found in Matthew. Not entirely sure which chapter or verse off the top of my head but it is the one where Christ tells all those that are heavy ladened to take upon them the yoke of Christ. Those 3 or 4 verses right there.

Thanks for the support and thanks for being around. I'll try and write soon to keep you all in the loop of what is going on.

Love,

Anziano Rockwood

MTC week 4

Dear family,

First off, sent out the letters today. Have Tori's letter, a letter to all of you, a letter to Grandpa and Grandma (send that out to them please) and some pictures. Yes I did sick yesterday but I'm doing all right. Just an upset stomach that required some prescriptions and a diet plan for the next year. All of that is in my letter to you guys. Please don't be concerned as I am doing all right. Yeah. It's hard to believe I've only been out for a month. The language gets harder and harder every week but I push on through. So far I have had to teach two entire lessons in all Itailian. The first one went decently but the second one was awful because the "investigator" went off on how his girlfriend didn't want him joining the church so we didn't have a large enough vocabulary to respond. We did commit him to baptism though and he still wants to go through with it. Hopefully we will have a "baptism" before we leave. We just got back from the temple and this time we did some initiatories. That was fun to just hear the words again and get those refreshed. It seems like we have done the endowment a lot already. Really glad we are getting a temple out in Fort Collins too because it is for sure the best place in the world.

I'm glad N+O and Grandma J got their cards. Like I said the rest of the letters are in the mail and I should be able to write more as we get our schedules down. I'd rather have a 5x7 photo book so that I could add photos from my mission into the book. Then I have a safe place to store them and can send some back to you guys. Thanks for making me one. I just don't have pictures of anyone.  And yeah, an address book would be wonderful since there are some people here at the MTC that I want to stay in contact with after my mission as well. Some of these guys I've just really connected with and we all made a promise to be at each other's weddings (thanks to the General Conference talks on marriage, there was about 4 or 5 of them). So staying in contact with them is probably crucial if we want to meet that goal. Plus we will all be going to different places and we want to share experiences with each other.

I've been doing good in terms of being warm. That jacket/suit/coat combo thing is awesome and I wear it whenever it gets cold outside. Plus I look like Neo when wearing that and my glasses transition over. I'll have to send a picture of that when I print out my next batch. Still don't have a good pictures of just me though. I'll try and get one on Sunday during Temple Walk then print it out Monday. As for my scripture....... I really like the one about Alma baptizing everyone in Mosiah 18. Or the one about Moroni/Helaman in Alma 48. I'll try to narrow it down for when I send the picture out.

Other than that everyone has been getting cookies but none quite measure up to Dad's. Any way to send some out here to prove them all on who is the best cookie maker in the land? Other than that I just need the other pair of church shoes, the address book, the photo book, some decent exercise shoes (I almost twisted my ankle in volleyball playing with my vans, so those won't work on my mission), and probably some of those large envelopes that you sent for me to put the thank you/birthday cards in. Those really work for sending pictures and postcards and stuff but they don't sell them here at the bookstore. And I don't think I'll need stamps since I can get them super cheap here and I get about $6 a week for stamps and stuff but maybe just a few to send out. Do you guys want anything from the book store here? There are MTC shirts, candy, snacks, travel supplies, Church material in any language you want, and stuff to keep clean. We don't really get a lot. I did get all the Book of Mormon posters and now we have the Wall of Mormon in our room which is pretty sweet. I'll probably take all of those out on mission.

So yeah. Keep me updated on what you guys are doing. I enjoy hearing from all of you and knowing what goes on back home. Did you already destroy everything in my room or is it all still up? Thanks for the support and the prayers, you are all in my prayers as well and I'm sure the Lord is blessing you while I am out here. 

Love, Anziano Rockwood

MTC week 3

Hey,

General Authorities come every P Day devotional. We all watched General Conference in the gym with the entire MTC there. It wasn't too bad except for the immense amount of heat. We do go to the Temple every P Day and then walk up to it every Sunday. I sent the letters to Nana and Opa, and the one to Grandma Johnson. I ordered pictures today and it takes about 2 days for those to come in so I'm going to send Tori's letter, Grandpa's letter, a letter to everyone, and the pictures when those all come in. So expect those later this week or early next week. By the way, DearElders from Friday, Saturday, and Sunday don't get to me until Monday, so it might take a while for me to get them.

The MTC here is going really great. Some days I forget nearly everything about Italian while other days it just come naturally and easily. The gift of tongues works really strangely. I am writing in my journal everyday and keeping another journal for super spiritual experiences so I don't mix the two of them. I guess that is sort of what Nephi did back in the day with his records as well. I'll send the info for my plaque with the letter and the pictures. Still trying to pick a scripture out since there are a lot here that mean so much. My companions might help me with that. They are both doing well. We don't always get along or want to do the same things but that's why we are learning all of this now instead of out in the field. But I do feel more like I just get along well with everyone in the district equally while everyone else has their companions, I don't particually think that a trio is for me.Each of the guys all have their own strengths and we all try to help each other out. Even after just 3 weeks, I feel like we have all been friends for a really long time.

I did hear about the temple being built in Fort Collins. Really wasn't expecting that either. I am hoping that it won't go up until after I get back so that I can be there for the dedication. Danny and Seth are also both super excited about it when I talked to them. The Sunday dress day thing sounded cool but I already wear my Sunday best here at the MTC nearly everyday, so I guess I participated.

 A lot of the missionaries here though are coming down with the flu as well, so it might just be that time of year. No one in our district has gone down but you never know.

The older district left this morning for Italy. Now we have a 3 week wait until the new Italians get in and we'll be the older district. It's always weird to see people leave on Tuesday then have a brand new batch come in on Wednesday. We're still trying to figure out how to be Hosts for the new guys but no luck yet. We don't really get the opportunity to see anyone else but Italians during our time here at the MTC. The hour of gym and the few hours of meals don't give us enough time to meet anyone new. This is probably why our district has grown so close is because we don't have anyone else.

Not much else has really gone here. We're expecting an apostle or Thomas S. Monson to show up tonight for the devotional since we know they were all here for General Conference. Other than that we just go to class and study. No time for anything else. We do have to teach our first full lesson in Italian tomorrow so that should be fun. It's the second lesson so tonight and tomorrow morning are going to be really hard trying to learn all the words due to us only knowing first lesson words in Italian. But a lot of what we learn can be transferred between different things. We don't learn basic vocab like places or foods or body parts or whatever you learn in a school, but more Gospel principles and Mormon words that are used in a lot of different settings. Just by learning the first lesson in Italian, I've made my prayers and my testimony that much more powerful. Memorizing things such as the baptisimal prayer, first vision, and the missionary purpose have also helped. I think this week we have a goal to learn Moroni's Promise in Italian. Reading the Book of Mormon helps a lot too. I've finished it twice since being here and am already in 3rd Nephi for a third time. After this read through I'll tackle it Italian twice then move on to either the Bible or D+C. Learning the doctrine and reading the scriptures help a lot when learning the language due to the promise we are given that if we learn the doctrine, our mouths will be opened. But I still feel really inadicuate at speaking the language. Going to Italy will really help.

Well, my time here is up and we need to run off to dinner. All of you are still in my prayers and I think of you all every night. I don't have any pictures of anyone or anything. Could you send some of family and friends out in a little book? An address would also really help in getting out more letters. Even though it's only been three weeks, it has only felt like 3 hours. Guess I'll be home in no time at all.

Love to all,

Theodore