Hola Familia!
It's been a month already! I got the package, thank you SO much! I love all the pictures and decorations and food...I'll be decorating my room today with pictures. :) It's amazing how often things change here at the MTC. It's never ending! So as i mentioned last week, our District changed, but differently than we expected. Instead of getting new teacher, we combined with the other District that we are close with. To me, this is super exciting because I love this District and all the missionaries have great study habits. That happened monday, so now we have a PACKED foom full of 13 missionaries, and my new teachers are Hermano Thompson and Hermana Camacho. They speak Spanish SUPER fast, but I love ir because it is getting me used to what i am going to be dealing with. I understand it all, too...too bad I understand better than I speak it! Hermana Ruiz's speed and accent really prepared me for this class. :) Hermano Thompson or Ton-son (as we say it in Spanish) is from Hawaii and he doesn't speak English very well, so Spanish is the only option ha. Hermano Camacho is from Puerto Rico, so she does not pronounce her S's and talks super fast, so her accent is a little distracting, but it makes class fun! They both are wonderful teachers and show they really care. Hno. Ton-son interviewed all the new Elders and made us feel so comfortable, and Hna. Camacho just has a wonderful, upbeat personality. :)
I had another amazing spiritually uplifting Sunday again, as usual. It seemed to be mainly centered on anchoring yourself in Christ and striving to become like him. Mom, this reminded me of helping you with Girl's Camp that one year you made the large sail and other boat things ha...I don't even know if the theme that year was "Anchored in Christ," i don't remember, but it still reminded me of it! So fun, I miss all our projects! :)
Sister Caywood gave a talk in our Sacrament Meeting about having a SURE anchor. She told a story about her cousin. He is a handyman and decided one day that he was going to repair a hole in the roof of the garage. Knowing the roof had a steep slope, he tied a rope around his waist, attached the other end of the rope to the bumper of his car, and went up and over the peak of the garage beacuse the hole was on the other side. He knew that being anchored to something would keep him from falling off the roof. Or so he thought... As he was working, his wife decided she needed to go to the store. So she got in their only car at the time, completely unaware of the "anchor," and began to back out of the driveway! He felt the tug and began screaming and shouting, but he was up that one side, down the other, and into the bushes before his wife noticed. She immediately stopped the car and ran to his side to make sure he was alright, which he was. We need a SURE anchor! Just like her cousin, an investigator can not be anchored in us missionaries. We are not sure, we will eventually leave, like the car. We need to make sure the investigator has a strong testimony of Jesus Christ and rely on him, he is sure. I absolutely love the Caywoods and all their stories and life lessons. :)
That night we were priviledged to hear from President Stephen Allen, the Director of Admissions for Missionaries. He gave a talk about making the correct shoices on our missions and making sure that as companions, we watch out for eachother, too. Mainly moral conduct. We need to make sure we "remember who we are and remember the dignity of our call." Just remember that mere wanting to is hardly the proper guide to moral conduct. If you are anchored in Christ in your decisions as well, you will be safe.
Following the Fireside, we watched the talk Elder Bednar gave last Christmas in the MTC for movie night, "The Character of Christ." If you haven't already, i HIGHLY recommend that you watch it, it is extremely powerful. We were told that there are two talks that play on Sunday nights that are life-changing; this one and "Missions Are Forever" by Elder Jeffrey R Holland (of course :)). And they're not kidding. This talk was phenomenal. He teaches that we must follow the Character of Christ and turn out when others would turn in. In other words, we should think about other instead of ourselves, just as Jesus did. He explained it so much better, so I hope you can find it and watch it.
I know that if I anchor myself in Christ, all is possible. With all this constant change going on in my life, I know that no matter what, nothing else will matter and I will always be able to stay focused on my goal of growing as a missionary. I love Elder Bednar's words when he says, "If you are converted unto the Lord, I profesy, I testify, you will never fall away from the church... The greatest convert on your mission ought to be you." How true that is! How are we supposed to teach it if we aren't living it? I know these things to be true, I am living them right now.
I miss you and love you all so much! Thank you for the letters, packages and support! Sorry I don't have much to say about what I did this week, with the weeks flying by so fast, it just seems like the main highlights are what I am learning, and I love to share what I learn. :) Congratulations to my friend Tiffany Trout for making the wonderful decision to be baptized tomorrow, I'm so proud of you! :) And also to JR Turley, one of my buds from my Primary Class before I left, for also making the decision to be baptized tomorrow, I know you both with LOVE the feeling. Soak in the Spirit, it's a wonderful thing. :) Love you all, I'll continue to stay in touch! :)
-Elder Gallego
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