Kamusta Ka Mga Higala! This week was my 4th week in the MTC. I am settling into the schedule here but I am excited to go to the Philippines as well. The closer we come to September 23rd the more excited I get to go. This week was fairly straightforward, nothing to out of ordinary happened. It is President Nelson's birthday today so the MTC is putting on the first ever MTC dance tonight! ;) Our zone leaders jokingly told my companion that and he was so enthusiastic and happy that when someone told him it wasn't true his heart almost broke. He said after that usually he doesn't fall for stuff like that but he wanted to believe it so bad that he fell for it. I hear at least twice a week. "Elder Belt,... I miss women". When he looks out the window with a blank and dismal look you can tell that the sister less district is really taking it's toll on him.
Last night during class I was drawing on a white board to show Elder Case my amazing artistic abilities, I flipped the whiteboard around with the marker uncapped to show him what I had drawn. Unfortunately as I did this I accidentally left a inch long streak of expo marker on Elder Case's shirt. The worst part was he didn't know, after I told him he was very upset as you can imagine. I felt terrible, even though I had not done it on purpose I had left a huge black marker stain on his shirt. Than I had the brightest idea ever, to fix the problem I would take an "eye for an eye". Five minutes after I had drawn on his shirt while he was still mad about it, I took the same marker and marked my shirt on the opposite arm in the same place. It worked perfectly. We both now matched with expo marker on our white shirts. To fix our problem we asked to be excused from class and raided the janitor's closet for stain remover, rubbing alcohol, and joy soap. We went into the bathroom and proceeded to scrub out the expo marker for the next hour and a half. It was a party, every elder that walked in the bathroom asked what we were doing. Me and my district had a good laugh about that experience. My favorite part was when my companion turned to me and said in a sarcastic voice, "You know metaphorically speaking, sometimes we are all scrubbing stains out of our white shirts in the bathroom in our lives". I didn't think I could be in a situation like that and learn something that related back to the gospel. Me and my companion had a good laugh about the entire ordeal.
Last night as I was sitting talking to some friends of mine outside a snack shop before bedtime. We happened to be sitting in rocking chairs that had three flat pieces on the bottom. As I was talking I leaned back in the chair. I realized to little to late that I was not on any of those legs of the chair. As I fell backwards I just said, "Oh there I go". All of my friends watched as I fell slowly in the rocking chair directly backwards and crashed to the earth. When I hit the ground I just started laughing with everyone else. It was the slowest fall I have ever experienced. At least I provided a show for those watching.
The devotionals this week were amazing. One was given on a growth mindset and the other was given as a direct talk to the missionaries advising us on how to become better missionaries. My favorite quote was
"God does not answer prayers to satisfy curiosity."
Elder Martino who is one of the Seventy said that as a convert when he asked God questions in prayer he would not receive answers to his questions because he was not sincerely and earnestly asking asking. He was only asking to satisfy curiosity. God will not answer you just because you are serious, he will only answer you if you come with a broken heart and a contrite spirit asking humbly and sincerely for an answer to your question.
This reminds me of a scripture in D&C 9:8-9
it reads,
8 But, behold, I say unto you, that you must astudy it out in your bmind; then you must cask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your dbosom shall eburn within you; therefore, you shall ffeel that it is right.
9 But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a astupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong; therefore, you cannot write that which is bsacred save it be given you from me.
We can take this scripture and apply it in our lives when we pray. When we ask for answers from god in prayer, not only do we need to be humble and sincere about what we ask, we also need to come with a plan to move forward. As you study it out in your mind and in prayer if it is the right thing for you to do you will be able to feel it in your heart, if it is not you will not get any such feeling. I know that this is true. With prayer it is so important to come prepared, to say a sincere prayer, not one that is memorized and barely different than the one you said yesterday. I of all people and not perfect at this, I fall into the bad habit of saying prayers that aren't sincere. As I have studied in the MTC I have learned how to make my prayers not only more sincere but meaningful through praying for others. As we pray for others we forget about ourselves and lose ourselves in the service of our neighbors and our god. I know if we do these things we will be blessed.
The MTC is treating me good so far, hope you all are having a wonderful time, be safe out there
Until next time (Kita Kites)
Jordan
No comments:
Post a Comment