Week 6 -- MTC

I can't believe another week has gone by already.  Time is really starting to go fast.  I'm going to be out in the [mission] field in no time.

I have really started to buckle down on my Spanish study.  This past week the only really new thing that we have been doing is this progressive-investigator thing with our teacher -- entirely in Spanish.  My companion and I have been practicing a lot for the next one and are hoping that the Spirit can be with us as we teach.

We have also been practicing a lot for our choir performance on Saturday.  By the way, I am going to be wearing the Princeton-colors tie Dad sent when I perform if that helps you see me.  We get up every morning and go to choir at 7 and practice for an hour.  It is a really great way to start our day feeling the Spirit.  The songs sound so good right now, I can't imagine how awesome it is going to be in the Conference Center this Saturday.

One other highlight of this passed week was our Fast and Testimony Meeting.  It was one of the most spiritual testimony meetings that I have ever attended.  Even though everyone is talking in Spanish (and it's not our native language), you can still tell that people aren't just going up there and reciting phrases.  I had the opportunity to go up as well and it was really great.  I was the last one to go up, and as soon as I was done I was so overwhelmed with the spirit, I could barely sing the last song.  I really needed to pull myself together too because I had to give the closing prayer.

We also had another testimony meeting with our District since we had been focused on the Atonement this week. I was able to bear my testimony on the Atonement and some other aspects of my testimony that have been strengthened, like prayer and the Book of Mormon.  I have really been diligent in reading the Book of Mormon while here.  I have just past the beginning of Alma right now, and find that I am so fascinated by the people that are described within its pages.  I get a very powerful feeling that they were real people doing these things over a thousand years ago so that we could learn from them today.

Anyway, those are basically the highlights of my week.  Other than that, it's study and learn everyday.  Last week, I forgot to mention that during one of our devotionals, President Brown (the District President for the MTC or something like that) was talking about the mission where he served -- Glens Falls, New York.  If I am not mistaken, that's the town were your dad was born and raised.  I can just picture that little painting or print that we have in our kitchen of Glens Falls.  [The print is actually of Little Falls, NY, not Glens Falls.]  I thought that was really interesting since it seemed like a really small town.

Love you guys a lot - Mike