Elder Morley Haley Santa Fe Argentina Mission: Week 6

My last week in the MTC was pretty awesome! I worked harder than I had in weeks before and because of it, I learned so much more and had more Spiritual experiences than I thought possible.

The week started really well! On Sunday, our lessons and classes for Church were really good. During Sacrament Meeting, my District and I sang a special music number. We sang I’ll go where you want me to go, but with a small twist that made it really cool. We would sing all of the verses in English, and then for the chorus, we sang in Spanish. There should be a picture of it coming around. Then, that night Brad Wilcox spoke at the fireside. It was a really awesome and motivational talk about our role and responsibility as missionaries. He also spoke really strongly and powerfully about how we have power and authority over Satan. He also brought one of his friends, a girl named Lexi Walker. She is a really good singer. Like crazy good. She was invited to a lot of really big and important parties, one of them being the Vice-President's first dance. But the craziest part, she was only 15! So that was a good day.

Monday wasn’t much of anything special. We started doing In-Field Orientation (IFO) which is basically more specific stuff about what we are going to do in the Mission Field. So we talked about how to contact people and share really short messages with them. But other than that, we didn’t do much. We had class as usual.

On Tuesday we had IFO again, which was alright. We talked about weekly planning and how to set goals. But the only other interesting thing that happened that day was the devotional. We were blessed to hear from Bonnie L. Oscarson and her husband. She shared a lot of really cool mission stories and lessons that we can learn from them. She left us with 5 different things to remember to help us become better missionaries:

1. Work Hard

2. Learn how to listen to the Spirit

3. We are never alone in the work

4. Learn to love the people and your companion

5. The power of prayer and fasting is real

After every devotional on Tuesday night, we have a short kind of District Testimony Meeting. At the meeting, we all go around and share what we learned and the different thoughts we had. These meetings are always really spiritual and I love them a lot.

Wednesday was just a normal day. The only part that was different was that we had a Skype TRC. So we go to this lab and teach a lesson with someone over Skype. The people we teach are random volunteers from all over the world. Its good because it gives us a bit of an idea of how the people in Argentina are going to speak and how fast the talk. But the TRC's are kind of lame because Skype almost always has problems with the connectivity or most of the time the camera's don’t work. So other than the kind of failed Skype lesson, it was another good, normal day.

The news of President Monson passing away was hard. It was pretty sad. But I feel happy for him at the same time, he had an incredible life of service and love. If you watched the video that LDS.org has, in his very first talk during general conference he promised that he would devote his life to the church. And he absolutely did that. And his wife died a while back, so I know they are very happy now, being back together. We watched also watched the tribute video for President Monson that was on lds.org. It was amazing.

On Thursday, we didn’t do too much different. The only thing I can really remember is that our teacher, Hermana Christensen came back from Christmas and New Year's break. So we got to have a few more lessons with her. So yeah, the day was pretty normal. But it was still good.

Friday was a pretty normal day. Except it was my last normal day at the MTC!! So yeah. We just had class and stuff. But the night class was really cool. It was our last class with HNA Fletcher, and she had us go around and share some of our favorite experiences in the MTC. We also went around and everyone said a few things about what we love about our companion(s). Elder McCown must not know me too well though, because when it was his turn, he said I'm always happy and smiling at people. Yeah right...Ha ha.

Today, basically the only thing that stood out was our session at the Temple. I went in with a question in mind and a prayer in my heart that it would be answered, and guess what?? I got an answer!! It was amazing! So maybe someday I’ll share that experience. Maybe when I’m like 80 or something. I also learned a lot about the promises I’ve made with God.

Thank you for your emails, thoughts, and prayers. And as far as my mission being a sacrifice, I’ve learned two things this week. First, is that missions are a blessing for those that serve them. We learn from Ammon in Alma 26 that we should be grateful for the great blessing that we have been given to go out and serve others. The second thing I learned today was in the temple. I learned more or just understood more about the Law of Consecration. We know that everything we are given is a blessing from God. So my giving back two years of my life and time here on Earth isn’t much of a sacrifice, at least not for me.

Alright, so with this being my last full week at the MTC, I wanted to take advantage of the Spirit that is felt here. So I made a few personal goals that would help me make the best of my time. I just wanted to study harder, pay attention in class better, and work to have more charity and love for others. My studies this week were amazing. I read a lot of the Book of Mormon/Libro de Mormon. During class, I made the effort to participate more and help myself learn Spanish better. And I learned how to show more charity and love for people, which has really blessed me and feel closer to my Savior. I love this Gospel and how much it has blessed my life. I am grateful for the opportunity I have to serve my Heavenly Father and his children in Argentina. I cannot wait to get out of this place and just get to work. I love the MTC, but I can’t wait to leave. I want to be out helping and teaching the people in Argentina and not just talking about it. This next week is going to be one of the most special weeks in my life. I can’t wait to share my stories and experiences with you guys.

See you in a week!

Love,

Elder Haley