Half way through the MTC



My District

 Hola Mi Querida Familia! (Y los otras persona quien estan leyendo mis cartas) Well, I'm officially halfway through my time here at the MTC! It's week 5 in MTC weeks and man the time has flown. It's like the days go slow and the weeks go fast. This week in particular has felt crazy fast to me. Oh - Make sure you date your dear elders! They print them all on like, long sheets of paper consecutively, not separately by person, so they're like all connected with just a little heading of who submitted them. I can't always tell what order they go in so make sure you date those suckers! I love getting them!! So, a lot of people have been asking specifically about my daily schedule. So, I thought I'd type up my Saturday schedule for y'all 6:30 Get up and get ready 7:00-7:30 personal study (classroom) 7:30 breakfast 8:10-9:10 TALL (our language program on the computer) 9:30-10:20 Gym 10:20-10:50 shower/get ready after gym 11:00-12:00 lunch 12:45-3:45 Class 3:45-4:45 Language study 5:00 dinner 5:45-8:45 class 9:00-9:20 Daily planning 9:30-10:15 personal time/companionship prayer 10:30 lights out And my other days are pretty much just variations on that. exciting, no? My Spanish is coming along well. Our whole district is starting to speak it more and more outside of class and that's helping a ton. I'm constantly surprised at the amount of voacb and words that I actually know, and the things that I can actually say. It's rather amazing actually. SO the real highlight of this week revolves around the special edition of the ensign for October. SO The whole issue is dedicated entirely to the Book of Mormon. All of the members of the 12 and the first presidency wrote something in it, as well as a few members of the 70. There's a timeline and a whole bunch of other amazing things in it. WELL word got out that we were going to have a 'very special speaker' for this Tuesday’s devotional and they wanted all of the missionaries to have read and studied the ensign before he came to speak to us. SO we each got a copy of it early (I still don't think it's been released yet) SIDE NOTE - MAKE SURE ya'll get it and read it and study it and love it Back to the story, so normally when we hear that someone special is coming we get to the gym like, 45 minutes early. Well, this time we were an hour and a half early and we ended up sitting on the first row behind all the senior missionaries (they get to be right up front) so about 8 rows back. GUESS WHO CAME! No, not President Monson, but Elder Russell M Nelson. If y'all remember right that would be 3 apostles in 4 weeks, which is pretty much crazy for the MTC. I am so blessed sometimes! His talk was pretty amazing, he just talked about the Book of Mormon, reinforcing what was said in the Ensign and bearing testimony. But he also had a great sense of humor and was really laid back with all of us. Here are 2 of my favorite funny quotes from the evening: "I bring greetings from the first presidency and the other members of the 12. We're all in town and doing well. We're excited about conference and we're excited that 2 weeks from now it'll be over" When trying to have someone adjust the lights so that we could see a slide on the projector screen "Can you dim the house lights a little, or is that against the Word of Wisdom?" "Pretend that I'm a just an investigator, or that I'm an apostle. Which I really am" Apostles are real people too - I love it! I just want you, my darling family to know, that I now for the first time in my life, have a BURNING testimony of The Book of Mormon. I don't know how to explain it, but a change has come into my heart that I can't deny. I've never read it cover to cover, but I have read the whole book, and I know that it is the word of God. It is truly an inspired book and is the KEY to our personal conversion. YO SE que el libro de mormon testifies of Christ, and that a person can become closer to him and to our Heavenly Father by reading that book than by anything else. I feel privileged to have a chance to share this book with those who have yet to read it, who have yet to feel it's power and influence in their lives. Like I said, I no longer can deny that the book of Mormon is truly the word of God. It's wonderful feeling to have that pillar of fire constantly burning in your heart. I wouldn't trade it for the world - and it's made my days here SO much easier to bear and my time here SO much more enjoyable. Well, I'm also pretty excited to go to the temple today. GO TO THE TEMPLE all of you who are able at LEAST once a month. It's magnifico. I love you all and love hearing from you and can't wait to hear your responses to my life. And about your life. The church is true. The Lord loves us. Life is beautiful. Until next week!!! Nos vemos! Hna Shannon Hensley