He Has Arrived!!

Early Monday morning I got a phone call from Jacob. It was so good to hear his voice!  Later that day I got an email telling me he had arrived safely.  And today I got an email with photos!  Jacob looks great, happy and ready to serve!

All is Well at the MTC

Hi Mom. I'm loving the MTC, it's a great experience. Easter Sunday was the best Sunday ever! President Uctdorf talked in the Easter Sunday Devotional! I liked how he talked about the Apostle Peter after he denied Christ three times. He denied Him because of fear and ever since that day he went and preached having "fear of no man" and because of President Uctdorf's talk, my fears have faded away.  Sunday Afternoon we went on a temple walk with our zone. Ever since Monday, our district is pretty much our whole zone. No new missionaries are going to be in our zone. Sunday night we watched a film called "Because of Him" spoken by Elder Bednar, his talk was powerful. He talked about putting off the natural man. He made a connection to Cookie Monster and the natural man. He made that connection because we as missionaries need to stop being selfish and prideful.

Elder T (my companion) and I are getting along pretty well. He was a runner back in high school and we went on a run once during gym time. The rest of our gym time was playing four square, one of things I played back at Jackson School. I saw Trevor Blanchard! He's one of the teachers at the MTC. I also met one of the Elders that I saw at In 'n out burger, his name is Elder Eden serving in the Madagascar Mission.

Yesterday night, Elder Oaks spoke in the devotional. The MTC has devotionals every Tuesday night. He talked about being effective missionaries. One thing that he said that every one (especailly ones who are preparing to go on a mission) is to be yourself and not someone else.

At the MTC we have classes and we teach acting investigators. Elder Tapp and I taught a sweet elderly man named Arnold. Is he Mormon and acting as an investigator or is he a real investigator? That, I don't know, as a missionary preparing to serve in NC, I'm just going to say he's a real investigator. Arnold is a very observant man, he knows that I'm a quiet man. He asked me some specific questions like "Do you missionaries force people into joining your church?" I've answered that it's not that we force people in (that's not our purpose as missionaries), the investigators choose their own paths and we (missionaries) are there to help them make righteous decisions. Yesterday he asked why we can't just sin all our life and be forgiven when we die and enter into the spirit world. While Elder T was trying to explain, I came across a scripture (Alma 34: 32-34), and I had him read it and he actually pondered about it. In this passage I've learned that when we die, our spirits will have that same personality. 

This Morning we went to the temple and did endowments.

I hope everything is going well, and I wish Joseph a happy (belated) birthday. I leave the MTC on Monday morning, so I won't have a P-day until the 5th of May. I think it's different for every missionary, but My P-day is on Wednesdays at the MTC.

From, Elder Stafford

P.S. thanks for the immunizations records.