Week 2 ... MTC

Just a disclaimer I'm not good at writing these yet so I'm sorry in advance!

 But thanks for all your support and I love you all!

The first week of my mission has come and gone and that's crazy because it has gone by really fast, but I guess the whole mission goes fast. I can say that day one was weird, it went by so fast that I didn't realize what really happened until I woke up on day 2 and thought to myself, "Crap! It's all real." And day two I had major anxiety and felt really stressed out and Thursday night, I cried when I found my families letters that they had snuck into my bag. They caught me in a moment of weakness, and all the elders of my zone saw me cry so that was awesome!

Now time to talk about my zone, district and companion. So I love my district! The sisters outnumber us elders but it's alright we all get along and all just want to learn. My companion is Elder Askelson and he's from Washington and he's full of knowledge, he can tell you about any point if history so that's cool. Elder Kotter is the district leader and he's from Idaho, then there is Elder Platter. We've grown very well together here in the MTC and all 4 of us are going to Independence Missouri along with 4 of the 8 sisters in the district while the other 4 sisters are going to Vancouver Washington so that's cool! Okay so the other district in our zone, that have been here a week longer, are also going to Missouri but the St. Louis mission so that's really cool too! Elder Holmes, the other district leader, dumped ice on me while I was naked in the shower yesterday for the "welcome to being district leader" thing and it was supposed to be on Elder Kotter so that's also cool ha,  but our district's and zone are all really close and it has really helped me transition to the MTC life and I'm grateful for that!

The classes here at the MTC are cool but crazy and the teachers are all amazing! But they just throw stuff at you all day then you have another class in the night with a different teacher, and they pretend to be investigators so we can practice teaching and its so hard! So I thought until we had to teach some actual investigators which is really nerve wracking. I've been apart of the church my whole life but nothing is harder than having to teach someone who was never apart any real faith and it doesn't really seem that they care what you're saying. The first lesson with my first investigator went that way, what I learned is that if you just try to teach a lesson then you'll get destroyed by the pressure of teaching. My second investigator was different because I was more relaxed and focused just on the person we were teaching and what the spirit wanted me to say so I felt like Elder Askelson and I really connected with our investigator and he committed to pray and read the book of Mormon so that was amazing! Elder Kotter and Platter on the other hand got a sister to commit to being baptized in the first lesson!!! I don't know how that would be possible other than the church is true haha but yeah this is a special work and it's awesome to see success everywhere.

The MTC is an amazing place also it's all new and there are just inspiring pieces 

of art everywhere and they have really built this new MTC to create the best environment possible for spiritual growth and to truly prepare yourself for the field. My Presidency here in the MTC are really awesome too they have shown great love for me and support that I have really appreciated.

Fast Sunday was so amazing! The whole district fasted for all our families and I felt the love from all of them and grateful for all their prayers, but the best part was the movie at the end of the night where we watched a talk from the MTC by Elder Bednar called "The Character of Christ" where he talked about how we need to focus on others and not ourselves and become fully converted to Jesus Christ, a testimony is not enough because even those with testimonies fall away. We need to become converted! He talked about how in moments where everyone including himself would turn inward and be selfish, Christ would turn to others and be selfless and that is the Character of Christ. He shared Mosiah 3:19 several times, if you're not familiar then go read it.

The summary of the scripture is that the natural man is an enemy to God, and when we turn inward that's usually where we sin and give into the natural man. Repentance means literally to turn away, forsake sin so he compared that to turning outward towards others and to serve and love them, to develop the Character of Christ. If we learn to turn outward instead of in and develop the character of Christ and become converted unto Jesus Christ them we will NEVER fall away and that is exactly what I need to do out here on a mission, but you can all do it at home too.

That was pretty my week, I know that is kind of hard to understand so I apologize if y'all want to talk I can email till about 10:30 so love all you guys and talk to you all later!

Elder Andersen