Week Two: 4th of July

Happy 4th of July!!! It's my favorite Holiday for anyone that didn't know! It usually has all of my favorite things! Family, friends, food, firearms, fireworks, and freedom! It's really a day to count our blessings! Even though I won't have all of those things this year I have so much to be grateful for and to celebrate!

This week was great! It really showed me how strange time can feel. There were some days that felt really long but the week went by so fast. I've started writing things down throughout the week that I want to remember for when I get this opportunity to write. So I'm gonna start with something funny that happened haha.

So basically it's a running joke with my district about how much I eat at meal times. I won't say whether or not I've gained weight but I'm loving that it's all you can eat ;) so the other day some elders in my district were asking me about when I was a substitute and they were asking me if I taught the kids about plants and flowers and I said "no, I mainly spent time teaching my students how to eat their lunch." and then my companion said "they couldn't have asked for a better teacher! The whole table about died laughing! That might only be funny if you were there but I thought it was worth sharing and I want it to be in my blog haha.

Anyway, I've had a really good week. I can't remember if I said this last week but I think that it would do everyone good to come to the MTC, it's a really good place to learn how to learn and teach by the spirit haha so I guess it's good at fulfilling its' purpose. I feel like I could write a letter every single day about things I learn. I learn from my teachers, my investigators, my companion, my district, the scriptures, the spirit, and even myself.

I think one of the most important things I learned this week was one of the simplest things I've learned. There is a big difference between knowing what is true and being true to what you know.
Many times in my life I didn't live up to that but it feels amazing to finally be doing my best to live by that. I think it helps us reach to our fullest potential. I hope and pray that everyone will be able to come to the knowledge of the truth and then be true to those things they know.

Since last Tuesday so many cool things have happened. One of those things was last Tuesday night. We had a devotional and Elder Bednar spoke about Alma 32:28 "Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves--It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me." He described how we know that Jesus Christ is the word and that the scriptures and His teachings are also the word. So if we will plant Christ and His teachings in our hearts we will know that they are true by the feelings and changes we will experience.

One of the struggles I've come to find is that you can't study or skill your way into being able to teach with the spirit. I now understand that I can put in a lot of time studying and practicing to teach well and clear but if I can't help the people I teach feel the spirit then I won't be helping them as much as I could be. My purpose is to invite and help others and I want to be able to do that as best as I can.

I'll leave you with a realization that I had this week that I know will help me throughout my entire mission and that I think can help anyone who applies it to themselves. We are individuals, God created us each differently and because of that we are uniquely able to help other people. I can connect and relate with certain people you might not be able to just as all of you can connect and relate with people I might not be able to. With that in mind, as I've tried to learn the lessons to teach and I've watched my district learn these lessons, I've seen members of my district and myself lose our personalities as we teach the lessons. It's easy to memorize what to say and when to say it. But if we can combine the Gospel of Christ and those unique personalities we each have, then the magic starts to happen. The Lord is then able to reach countless numbers of people through us. We aren't robots teaching lessons, we're servants of the Lord converting real people, bringing souls back to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

So I hope all of that made a little bit of sense, and if it did I'm going to challenge you all to read Alma Chapter 32 in the Book of Mormon (download the "Gospel Library" app if you don't have it) and then ask in prayer how you can plant the seed that is Jesus Christ and His Gospel in your heart. I want to hear how you will nourish that seed and how it changes you :)

I hope everyone has a good week and stays safe! I'll be praying for you and thank you again to everyone who has sent me a letter, a package, or prayers, they're much appreciated!

Love,

Elder Anderson