Hello
Everyone!
Another week
down and only a few days left to go here at the MTC! Here's what's happened
this past week.
This past Sunday
Elder Perez, Elder Jackson, and I sang in church "Be Still My Soul"
but since our meetings are in Spanish, Elder Perez translated it into Spanish
so we sang "Amo el Señor´´ which means something different but there
really isn't a easy song to translate so it was kind of our own lyrics. Anyway,
we sang 3 parts and every verse was different and it sounded really really good!
Elders Perez and Jackson have sang all throughout high school and in college
and I just am a closet singer that has never been in a choir. Anyway,
everyone really really liked it and we felt famous because we couldn't get out
of the meeting afterwards because everyone wanted to shake our hands and give
us a compliment. It was a really cool experience and I had the part of
the melody throughout the whole song so a lot of the pressure to stay in tune
was on my back. But it went well and it was a great experience for all of
us.
I don't know
what I have said already but twice a week we go to the TRC (Training Resource
Center) and teach a fake investigator that isn't our teacher. Our
investigator's name is Daniel Limon and he is a legend in the MTC amongst Spanish
elders because he is extremely difficult. In the past we have struggled
to sneak the gospel into our lessons because he doesn't like to talk about
religion and so we have just taught him little things like I taught him about
the law of tithing and the law of chastity on two different occasions because I
could fit them in to normal conversation. Our last and final lesson with
him this past Tuesday we taught him the entire lesson and he actually listened!
Normally he talks the whole time and interrupts (and this is the same with all Latino
people our teachers say) but this time he couldn't say anything and the spirit
was so strong. He even said, "what if my church is wrong and you
muchachos are right?". We really got through to him and we are confident
that if we had one more lesson with him we could commit him to be
baptized. We have in field orientation from 9am to 8pm tomorrow and
normally we would go teach every Friday and Tuesday and we might go and try to
teach Daniel again during one of our 2 hour breaks if no other missionaries are
with him at the time. During one of our lessons we got off topic and
Daniel was asking about our shoe sizes because he knows we do a lot of walking
and elder Perez wears really really old shoes. To this past lesson he brought a
pair of brand new dress shoes he had bought for elder Perez and they are so
nice! Elder Perez has worn them every day since our lesson. Daniel really
likes us and admires our service and lessons with him, which is awesome because
most of the elders that teach him don't get through to him. I am going to
miss teaching Daniel a lot, I love him so much.
Another
district in our branch has started this thing called "spooning" where
we sneak spoons and forks from the cafeteria into people's jacket pockets and
other pockets without them noticing and people find them later. It is
kind of fun to do to other missionaries in our branch and I am proud to say
that I have yet to be spooned by anyone.
I woke up this
morning and I could barely speak. I have no idea why but I'm losing my
voice! I can talk mostly normally now but I can't sing yet. I went to
choir practice this morning and just mouthed the words and pretended to
sing. I hope I get better by Saturday so I can actually sing with the choir
and not just mouth the words. I'll be saying lots of prayers between now
and then.
I finally saw
Elder Woolley his 3rd day at the MTC. His classroom is in a different
building and his residence is right next to mine but we can't get into the
other buildings. I don't get to see him too much sadly but I was so happy
the first time I saw him in the cafeteria. His meal times are about 20-30
minutes after mine start so sometimes I see him right before I leave since he
knows where we always sit but unfortunately not as much as I'd like to.
He got called to be the district leader and seems to be doing well. He
can't understand a lot of the Spanish I say to him but I'm confident that after
9 weeks he'll be just as confident as I am with the language.
I'm getting
ready to go! Only a few days left! Tomorrow is in field orientation all day, Saturday
and Sunday are general conference, and then Monday is our last day of classes
and everything! So sad! I got my travel plans 6 days ago and I will be leaving
Tuesday April 3rd at about 11:20 am. I'm so excited to be going to California soon!
I'm glad to
hear that everyone is doing well and all that's going on in everyone's lives at
home. I hope you guys are getting a few of the blessings from my
missionary service. I am definitely seeing the blessings in my own
life. I love the work and I'm so thankful for every one of your
influences in my life that have shaped me into the missionary I am today.
Les amo
muchisimo!
-Elder John
Gaskill
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