Week One

Hi Everyone!!!!!!!!

Before I begin I want to give some terms I'll be using in my emails. Men my age serving missions I'll refer to as Elders, the girls are Sisters. Comp is my companion and yeah those are just the ones I can think of now. Oh and I head the greatest example of what the MTC is like. "The MTC is like trying to drink from a fire hydrant, you only get a little bit of water and it mostly hurts your face".

So week one was a total whirlwind. The MTC is a really amazing place and life here has been quite nice. I'll just take you all through my first week here day by day, because if I don't I won't do it justice. Wednesday; This was the drop off day and they didn't waste any time in getting us to work. I was sent off to class right away, and that is where I met my comp. He is Elder Butcher and he is from Clearfield, Utah. He just may be one of the smartest people I have run across. He is already basically a junior in college and will study to me a surgeon. He is a human dictionary and can give full definitions at the blink of an eye. In this class there are four other companionships, one of them being sisters. All of us are going to California, but four of them are going to Carlsbad. This group of Elders and Sisters is the District. So we went through class and then met our Zone Leaders. A zone is comprised of 4 districts. We all got the grand tour of the Luxurious MTC and that was the end of the night. We got back to the residence where we spend the night and we met together as a zone to have prayer. It was amazing because one struggling Elder asked for a priesthood blessing. The Zone leader Elder Baudon gave the blessing and all of us new Elders got to participate. The spirit was so strong there and it really took away any of the nervousness and stress of being a new missionary.

Thursday was so amazing because we had our first morning class with Sister Bishop, and she has been the most amazing teacher ever. They way she presents the information comes completely from love. I guess a rundown of my 16 hour day would be helpful. We awake every morning at 6am. We take some time to shower up and get ready to go. We then go to our classroom for personal study time. Breakfast comes next followed by some much needed gym time. Morning class comes next and is 3 hours long followed by some lunch. After lunch is Class again (this class is taught my Brother Meeter). After the conclusion of the second 3 hour class of the day Elder Butcher and I go to teach an investigator. Dinner is next and after that is 3 hours of personal and comp study before bed at 10:30.

Friday was the first time we actually taught someone, and even though it is Brother Meeter in character as Andrew it is still so meaningful the lessons we teach him. It's really cool because he is in character as himself as a 19 year old. This was the day where I really took hold of the importance of prayer, but not just prayer, meaningful prayer. See prayer can be surface level, but that is just mocking God and He knows the desires of our heart. Prayer cannot just be a one time deal when things are going bad, but a constant line of communication between us and our God in heaven though His son Jesus Christ. I have always prayed in my life but here in the MTC I have learned the true meaning and power of it.

Saturday taught me one of the most valuable lessons ever, and it will stick with me through the good times and bad. JESUS CHRIST IS ALWAYS WITH US, NO EXCEPTIONS. How wonderful is that promise? On this day after knowing Jesus is always with us I felt like he left me, we got put on toilet duty in one of the residence halls and that was a treat ;). After the wonderful service (sarcasm sign) we met with our branch presidency and had some interviews with me. After these getting to know you sessions I was called out to accept the assignment of Zone Leader, effective Sunday. This means that all of the Elders and Sisters in my zone are under my stewardship. It is an amazing honor to receive this calling amongst so many great elders. I am responsible of the well-being of all of the zone members and to hold our zone prayer every night. We also get to take the new members on the tour and introduce them to the MTC.

Sunday was awesome, we had a great sacrament meeting where the spirit was so strong. The speakers are called at random so everyone had to write their talk like they would be called on, I didn't thank goodness. That night I had the opportunity to listen to a video of Elder Bednar give a talk to the MTC a little bit ago. He talked about the true character of Christ. Without going into too much detail he talked about how Christ always turns outward when we all have the tendency to turn in. For example when Christ was finished with his 40 day fast and being tempted by Satan he heard about one of his disciples being thrown into prison and Christ in all of his pain and suffering sent angles to be with the man in prison. After fasting for 40 days I'm here to tell you that I would have taken the angles to be with me.

Due to time constraints I'll say that Monday and Tuesday have been amazing and the teaching of our investigators has gone really really well. I know I am in the right place at the right time of my life. I love you all so much and I look forward to the next time I can write.

Elder Thelander

I'll get better at giving a rundown of my week next time.