Week 2 in the MTC and Loving It!

August 23, 2014

It is sooo good to hear from you again today! Thank you for all the pictures! I LOVE ALL OF THEM!! It is such an amazing blessing to have such supportive family and friends. It really makes the time go by a lot quicker! And that is probably a good thing! The MTC is getting a little dull and I am ready to get out into the field and get to work! But I do love all the things I am learning here!  

So there is a saying here at the MTC that goes like this, "The days feel like weeks, and the weeks feel like days."  At first, I was like yeah, yeah… whatever.  I thought it was the stupidest thing I had ever heard!  Well, now that I have lived it, I can tell you that it’s legit!! I mean WOW, this week has FLOWN by for me! I hope it was the same for you! :)

So in my last email I talked about teaching investigators.  Our teacher was our mock investigator and then we went to the The Teaching Resource Center (TRC) The TRC gives missionaries some experience teaching the gospel to volunteers. They can either be members of the LDS church or people of other faiths. The crazy thing is, as missionaries, we don’t know whether the volunteers are members or actual investigators who want to learn more about the church!

 My favorite teacher Brother M.

I loved teaching in the TRC! It was the most spiritual experience I have EVER had! Me and Elder Eilers taught all 4 lessons to both investigators! Our investigator’s name was Kitty and she was from China! She didn’t really have any understanding about the gospel so we started from the very first lesson! We taught her all about Christ and his teachings while on the earth, the Atonement, the Plan of Salvation, the Fundamentals of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and lastly the commandments. Here is where it gets crazy, on the last day we were teaching her, I invited her to be baptized and she said YES!! This was a great experience for me and such a confidence booster!

It’s crazy though! I really only memorize scriptures and gospel principles... no word for word lessons because we are supposed to teach in a way that will help the investigators be taught by the Spirit.  The Lord knows all and as missionaries we are supposed to understand the doctrine so whenever we feel prompted to share it... BAM! you share it! :)

Lots of studying but lots of fun. Elder W's Tie has fun written all over it!

I have learned this week that I need to trust in the Lord and submit to his will 100%. The minute I realized this it was crazy how my studies changed. I love the Lord and my mission! I am getting so much knowledge from this gospel! I am almost like a gospel wizard:) hahahaha!

Last email you asked me what Sundays are like in the MTC. They are really great. We don’t have so much regular class but we do have lessons and priesthood and sacrament meeting. There is lots of time for personal gospel study. It is definitely different from when I used to run downstairs after church and lay around watching golf and reality TV... but it is a good different:)

I have to teach a lesson on repentance this Sunday! Fortunately, it is just  to my district and it shouldn’t be too bad:) However, I am thankful for the challenge :) because then I grow even more!

My District at the Temple. 4 elders and 2 sisters are going to Australia. 

The other 2 sisters are going to Kirtland where G-ma & G-pa Steele were missionaries.

My District has grown really close and we love our Branch President.

WE ALL NEED TO HAVE FAITH IN WHATEVER WE DO!! Faith in Jesus Christ and Faith with the power of prayer is essential to missionary work! This is the Lord’s work and I am HIS missionary. I teach through the Spirit of God and sometimes I feel like HE is teaching the investigators not me! It is a crazy, cool experience!

I Love you all!  You mean the world to me!

Elder Steele