Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Loving the MTC

I love the MTC!
So first of all, this week's pronunciation fail: After our lesson, (our teachers act as our investigators) our teacher nonchalantly asks, "Gwondung wa dim gong 'revelation' "? (How do you say revelation?) And I'm like 'Kaisih.' And he's like, "Yes. Not 'keisih. Which means racism." Me: *face palm*
So I had told him in our lesson "Moses, through racism learned of the Ten Commandments." 





Anyway, Cantonese really is coming along. Besides those occasional very unfortunate mishaps, our lessons go well. Plus, they always know what we mean. We are working on asking inspired questions, as Christ did, and it is amazing how much it helps during lessons. Even though it's hard because sometimes we don't understand their whole response, the Spirit helps us, and we can answer them very simply.
Last night Elder Anderson came and spoke for Tuesday night devotional. It is always so amazing to hear an apostle of the Lord speak. It was broadcast to all the MTCs around the world. My favorite part of devotionals are District Meetings. After the devo we go back to the classrooms and share our favorite thought with our district. We usually combine with one more district, and I feel like I get more out of these meetings than the actual devotional! Things I had missed or not pondered are shared in detail, and the testimonies I hear strengthen mine so much.

My dad mentioned in a DearElder that in Rio, a team of Refugees came in waving the Olympic flag. For the first time in history, there was a refugee team. I thought that was SO cool! In Elder Anderson's talk he briefly mentioned the Olympics. I was thinking 'I wish I could watch the Olympics' but then I thought 'This is kind of like the Eternal Olympics! I am here with thousands of young people who have sacrificed to be here, we are from all over the world, going all over the world, to CHANGE the World!!! It really is amazing. Elder Anderson also talked about not letting our flame of faith dim or die. I know that we are all born with a spark, an ember: the Light of Christ. With Heavenly Father, Christ, and the Spirit's help, we fan that ember into a flame, and then teach them to continue to nurture that flame into an unquenchable fire. I know that because we are children of God, that flame can never really die. We are children of God. We have the potential to become like Him. Our souls are infinite in nature. We have already accepted Christ as our Savior in the premortal world. "Heavenly Father sees us in terms of forever." ~Elder Uchtdorf.  Our job is just to not let anything get in the way of that flame. Distractions, sins, doubts, fears. Do not let them get in the way. Heavenly Father will constantly fan our flames if we allow him, and then we will be able to be a light to others. "We do not condemn others for the amount of light they may or may not have; rather, we nourish and encourage all light until it grows clear, bright, and true." ~Elder Uchtdorf. 
This also made me realize that when other people, governments, and disappointments abandon us, Christ will not. We are all refugees in a sense, but we are all part of one eternal family. I love this scripture: "Nay in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither life, nor death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ our Lord." ~Romans 8:37-39. 
It is true. I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. There was a man that lived upon this Earth that died for you and for me. So that he could understand us and love us more perfectly. So that one day we will return to our father and live forever as the glorious beings that we are. It is miraculous and amazing. It is true. Don't let anything block your flame, it can "grow brighter and brighter until the perfect day." ​

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