The Book of Mormon

Prievyet family and friends!!!

 

Life here in the MTC is just going grand...how is the outside world? I hope I haven't missed out on anything too dramatic.  This week was great, and full of ups and downs.  Let me get into last night's devotional...all the missionaries in the MTC got copies of Oct. ensign early, and they told us to have them read and bring them to the devo last night.  We are just singing and guess who walks in with his cute wife...RUSSELL M NELSON!! i swear, we are the luckiest group of missionaries.  his talk was all about the ensign and the book of mormon.  i was so touched by the spirit that was brought into the room.  not only were we in the presence of an apostle, but we were talking about the book of mormon.  he gave us a lot of facts and history about it. here are a few i remember

 

the book of mormon mentions the resurrection more than the bible

 

it is now translated into 107 languages

 

the translators who are continuing to translate into different languages work on it and finish about 1 page a day..joseph smith translated 8-10 pages per day.  wow!!

 

he was so funny and so spiritual.  he had 4 missionaries come up (2 sisters 2 elders) and had them answer questions/bear testimony of the BOM.  elder brinton got called up, it was so funny and great.  one of the sisters is actually a girl that is going to italy, we are on the same floor as her so we are friends.  turns out he is her grandpa!! so it was way cute because he just hugged her and kissed her. 

 

i encourage you all to read the ensign, it is so full of power and testimony and love.  my testimony of the book of mormon has grown so much.  i'm reading it right now, and my goal is to have it finished by october 1.  one cool thing that elder nelson mentioned was that without missionaries, the gathering of israel couldn't be completed, and without the book of mormon, it couldn't be completed either.  the combination of missionaries and book of mormon will bring great success throughout the world.  he mentioned our responsibilites as a church: 1-strenghthen faith in jesus christ. 2-helping in the gathering of israel 3-helping others and ourselves prepare for the second coming.  so amazing!! and we get conference in a few weeks. man i'm so excited.

 

a couple of fun things this week: sister lewis and i sometimes like to do crazy/rebellious things, so this week we decided to do a "sand burial".  i was buried, in the sand, on the volleyball court. it was epic! we have to entertain ourselves in here. the language is still coming slowly...we are told not to compare ourselves with others, but i realized that i'm a little behind some of my district. i feel like it just hasn't clicked yet and it's so frustrating.  i had a couple of rough days last week, but i'm just trying to turn discouragement/frustration into motivation.  i love what i'm learning and how i'm growing.  it has been such a blessing and amazing experience to be here.  thank you all for your prayers and support, i am humbled.  i love you all and thank you for the prayers for the missionaries everywhere.  with love,

 

cectpa demille