First Week in the MTC

Heya Everybody!!

 

So this week has been amazing, and compared to my last four months in the MTC I have felt an almost overwhelming increase in the Spirit. There is something that is amazing about being set apart as an emissary of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is such a love and a desire to do all that the Lord asks of me. Even in comparison to the first time I went through the MTC there is a new found love and dedication to this work. I know that what I am doing here is true!

 

I can't imagine a better way that I want to be spending my time than being fully enveloped in the Gospel. I am studying constantly and learning new things it feels every minute. I don't know what it is, but I know for certain I didn't have this zest or vigor for the work as I do now a year ago.

 

I got here on the 21st of May, which was a Tuesday, and with Tuesdays here in the MTC comes devotionals where a General Authority comes to speak to us. This week it was Elder Marcus B. Nash of the Seventy. He spoke of the Doctrine of Christ and how it is preparatory to accesing the enabling power of the Atonement. He asked a question that stood out to me, and I have ever since hearing it sought to figure out what it means. The question goes something like this,

How would we have felt, in being in the presence of Christ in the Grand Councils before the world was, hearing Him say, "Here am I, send me."....?

 

I was taken aback by that kind of thinking. Not only is it incomprehensible to think of what is to come in life and eternity, but to think about what I have already done, but since forgotten. It is astonishing to me to think that I have already been in the presence of God and Jesus Christ, so how would my homecoming feel?

 

Anywhosit, the week has gone rather splendidly. French is coming along in the like manner. My new companion is Elder Lynch, and he is from the far off neverland of Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, U.K., Europe, Northern Hemisphere, Earth, Milky Way, etc. He is a cool kid, and now being older than most of the missionaries in this haven, I can call him that. I'm really enjoying my days, and loving life. Two more things to tell you about this week, the first is a humorous note, the second is a somber note.

 

1. Yesterday on the Sabbath, and what a lovely day it was, we were taking our scheduled walk around the Temple's campus. Since Utah has warmer weather than most would appreciate (especially a fair-skinned Scotsman) we were wont for retreat under the shade of trees. It was the common desire for our zone so we all gathered under a tree.

 

Chatting and conversing, laughing and taking in the beauty of the Temple. We were all just "bobbing along" then, as fate would have it, I became the target of nature's cruelty. There above us all in the tree was a lone bird, probably one that was like unto Alma the Younger before his conversion. He stared me down, and with malice in his little bird eyes, he decided to expel his wastes upon my shoulder. Grrr! I didn't find it humorous at the time, but now that my clothes are being washed, I can see the humor.

 

2. We watched the funeral of Sister Monson last night, and it was amazing. Not that I like death, but to see the faith and beauty in appreciating the eternal Plan of Salvation. It is majestic to say the least. We are but strangers in a foreign land here on the earth. Wandering aimlessly, and without purpose, or at least that is how some people feel. God has given us all we need to return home, and I have the great opportunity to share that with people. We have a life beyond this, an eternal one, full of joy and those that we love. I enjoy this life, but I can't wait for the promised one to come.

 

It was a long letter, hope you all can forgive me. Have a great week! Alas, before I go, a poem by Orson F. Whitney:

 

"Jehovah, thou my messenger!

Son Ahman, thee I send;

And one shall go thy face before,

While twelve thy steps attend.

And many more on that far shore

The pathway shall prepare,

That I, the first, the last may come,

And earth my glory share...

 

'Go forth, thou Chosen of the Gods,

Whose strength shall in thee dwell!

Go down betime and rescue earth,

Dethroning death and hell.

On thee alone man's fate depends,

The fate of beings all.

Thou shalt not fail, though thou art free--

Free, but too great to fall.

 

By arm divine, both mine and thine,

The lost thou shalt restore,

And man, redeemed, with God shall be,

As God forevermore.

Return and to the parent fold

This wandering planet bring,

And earth shall hail thee Conqueror,

And heaven proclaim thee King!'"

-[Elias: An Epic of the Ages]

 

-- 

Elder Robert Eugene Haggard II