catch- up, MTC, March 6, 2012

March 6, 2012:

It’s about 9:30 so this will be short so I can hopefully get some sleep tonight. It’s been a chillier day today. We had a devotional tonight. Elder David Evans from the seventies talked, of course, about missionary work. He said the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion. He told us to stay active in the gospel after our missions. It is so neat to be around so many young people and all the enthusiasm they generate.

We had to buy a new charger for the cell phone. I don’t know if we left it home or what, but we couldn’t find it. We couldn’t find the Verizon store but ran into a T’Mobile store, so I went in to ask where the Verizon store was and they had a charger, so I just bought it there. Two of the clerks ask where we are going on our mission and were quite enthused when I told them Nauvoo. They were both converts. It amazes me how easy it is to ask people if they belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-saints. I’ve always been so hesitant about doing that. It also amazes me how many converts I’ve encountered since we got here.

This young man who helped bringing our luggage up to our room and we now have an ongoing conversation about him committing to be baptized. Yesterday we were coming up to the room in the elevator and I asked him where he is from. He said Kenya. Then out of my mouth comes, “Are you a member of the church?” He said his family has been baptized but he is still thinking about it. Well, at that point, I didn’t have a clue what to say to him. I just mumbled something about was he doing things to work toward it or something like that. I’m not even sure what I said. Well, today, part of our training is how to do exactly what I needed to do last night. I saw him this afternoon and ask him if he had committed yet. He said he was still thinking about it, but sounded more enthused about it. I asked him if he was reading the scriptures and praying about it and he said yes. I told him if he committed before we left he has to tell me and he said he would. I told him it would be really neat if that happened. It’s like we are truly brother and sister, we just talk and laugh like we’ve known each other our whole lives. I am really feeling “set apart” for our mission. I don’t know. I guess you probably had to be there, you know. It’s like our lessons today were exactly what I needed to know how to communicate about the gospel with him.

Willie and I are struggling with the lessons and yet I know we are learning. There’s just not enough time.

Well, I’m going to bed. It’s now 10:10 pm and I am beat. I just wanted to record somethings before I forgot them.