Logan: 5.5.2023 Man I Have No Time

 This last sunday was amazing. It was my first Sunday in the MTC, and doing all of the sacrament meetings in Spanish is really difficult. I had to prepare a talk for sacrament meeting, mostly because they choose all the speakers AT RANDOM! Wouldn't that suck? You go to sacrament one day and the Bishop walks up to you and pulls you up onto the stand without any warning. Afterwards we had a couple of lessons, some personal study, some more meetings and then we had a devotional for all the missionaries in my district. Afterwards we went home, got ready for bed, and then we had another devotional. This one was great because it was the last one with all the latino Elders in our house. It was a really spiritually moving experience to feel so much love for people whose language you barely spoke and you just met, and yet I do love them a ton.

Monday was pretty unremarkable. Besides my personal and companion study with Elder Pomares, in which we received many inspirations and different ideas, nothing really special happened. I was feeling way better than the week before, so my lungs were finally starting to get used to the basically toxic polluted air down here.

Tuesday followed suit. With so many of the same things going on everyday it seems to go by so slow and yet all too fast at the same time. We had some pretty profound thoughts in our district, and I learned a lot more about Spanish grammar, which comes in handy, because otherwise I sound worse than a three year old.

Wednesday is a day I'll remember. Something had been bothering me for the past few days. I was a little frustrated with myself, and a little frustrated with some of the elders in my district. At one point in the day we were at lunch eating and making jokes and enjoying each other, but something kept eating at me. I knew something was wrong because some of the Elders in my district had the same look in their eyes. Later that night we were talking, and Elder Jones brought up that we weren't really on our best behavior. The second he mentioned it I understood what he was talking about. We had become a little too comfortable with the consistency of the schedule, and in the end we had been less obedient than we should have been. It was really great to kinda rededicate myself to the mission. Also on Wednesday my companion and I got called as Zone leaders. He and I are now incharge of all the elders in three districts, and the weight of that has only recently settled in.

Thursday was really cool. I was a little frustrated in the morning with how seemingly slow my progress in the language was, but by the time night came I realized that maybe I was being a little too hard on myself. In fact, when we went to the evening class, which is all about preach my gospel, we had the opportunity to teach each other in spanish. When this was going on I felt the spirit take over, and to be honest I said a lot of things in Spanish that I didn't know I could say. It was almost as if it wasn't me talking, and I could tell that the elders that I was teaching could feel the spirit in my lesson, which was a first. 

Today started early; at 5:30 to be exact. I woke up so early because today our whole zone got the opportunity to go to the Mexico City temple! We woke up, dressed, got breakfast and we were on the bus by 7:00. The bus ride was about an hour, and the whole time I talked with my companion and we did some singing. When we got to the temple my jaw dropped (metaphorically). The contrast with the bustling busy city filled with dirt and people in a rush going from place to place to a clean calm temple, with respectful people, was phenomenal. Plus the mix of the modern and ancient Aztec/Mayan architecture is fantastic. It makes for such a historically rich place that carries the spirit like none other. Plus, because this city was the seat of power for most of the Laminite people, it makes the Book of Mormon so much more significant and real. Before I go, I just want to share that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that the events that took place therein are both true, and applicable to today (yes, especially the war chapters. In fact, I think the sheer quantity of wars that are told about in that book should raise a few red flags for our day and age). I know that the Book of Mormon was brought about on this day by a true prophet, and that we have the same authority Christ had in his day in ours as well. Anywho, I love you all, and I hope you have a great week!