Week 6

To start, I could not be more grateful for my super suppportive and loving family. Thank you so so so much. This week has been pretty great! I did a lot of studying, and have been eagerly trying to complete a task in Preach My Gospel. I'm looking for a scripture to relate to every sentence in the lesson sections. It's actually pretty hard for some, but worth it. It makes me think and search really hard.

On Tuesday night we were lucky enough to have Elder Neil L. Anderson come and speak to us in the MTC. He shared 9 things that he said President Monson would say if he had been there. It was also President Monson's Birthday! The nine points were

1) "Follow the Prophet"--The Lord has called us through the Prophet Thomas S. Monson and He needs missionaries. He expects it of us who have been given so much [Mosiah 4]. We must keep ourselves clean, and pure, and worthy. 

2) "Do your duty"--"Do your duty, that is best. Leave unto the Lord the rest" Obedience leads us to the treasures in our lives. 

3) "Trust in the Lord: You will be an instrument in His hands" [Proverbs 3:5-6] We speak of things unseen for things which are seen are merely temporal. We are all required to know what we are capable of, and prepare to do it. We are all instruments in an assembly, we don't always know where we fit in the process. 

4) "Let the Lord shape your back"-- We need not preoccupy ourselves with comparisons. "Whilst we are on the Lord's errand we are entitled to His help." We would never be able to do this alone, only through the help of Jesus Chirst are we able to do this great work.

5) "Smile, enjoy yourself" -- Look for the positive. Laugh. Find joy in life. "Life is not meant to be only endured, but to be enjoyed"

6) "Love the people you serve" -- See Section 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants.

7) "Never ignore a prompting"-- The Lord will trust us the more that we heed His whisperings. Never, never, never ignore a prompting of the Spirit. Follow these promptings and pray for them.

8) "Testify of the Prophet Joseph Smith"--No matte our pre-conceieved notions, never turn down an opportunity to bear witness of the greatest man to ever live, save Jesus Christ. Be unafraid to testify of him.

9) "Become converted to the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ: Witness the power of the Savior" Let Christ penetrate our hearts unto the deepest part of our understanding and let him change us. I know He lives. He is risen. As the angel said to Mary when she came to tend to Christ's bodym: "Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, for He is risen". The Fall of Adam was redeemed through Him. We have the light of His revealed truth. He knows us, He loves us. He has carried our crosses, He has experienced all pain that He may be able to heal us.

District 12A is doing well. We're all getting along for the most part and Elder Morris and I have gotten pretty close this week. I saw Elder Mike Trauntvein yesterday and my friend Elder Spencer Payne. They're both doing well and getting used to the MTC. They have no idea what they're in for yet! haha. I have received many nice letters and DearElders. I pray every night that they don't stop! Shoutout to the lovely Walton fam and all the support they give me! Hope the trip is going well if you're reading this! and the Jane McGill, thanks for the letter! hope the arm heals soon :)

Sadly, a lot of my good MTC friends left this week, but it made me so excited to get out of here. I love the MTC, but the field is white all ready to harvest!

The everday life has been easier this week than last, and I'm sure that is thanks to the many prayers I receive from all you that are reading this. I love you all! Please keep me in your prayers!! I need them.

Anyway, just picked up a nice sack lunch and can't wait to eat this yogurt, so until next week, I love you all and keep the faith!!

Elder Bolton

Dear Dad,

I have heard it's been crazy hot in Texas this last week. I'd love to relax in the evenings. I kind of do after class ends at 8:30, but I still have 14 hours of stuff to do before that. I'm always so ready for bed when it's time for lights out.

It's work. Spanish is work. But I've learned a lot, through the help of the Spirit. There are really only like two tenses, (past and present subjunctive) down. I can teach a lot in Spanish, and I'm loving the language. My companions are great. I love my teachers. One of them knew Elder Doughty from his mission.

I got a haircut today, and I'm not sure how I feel about it, but it is free.

Been studying the Book of Mormon a lot and the first book of Nephi is so great. I love it.

Anyway, Love you lots,
Elder Ben

The MTC days are so very long, but after 9:00, life's good. We all just talk and laugh and plan and get ready for bed. I've been journaling a lot and I've found it to be good for me and it's good to remember things for the future.

I love my district with my whole heart, and my companion. My companion a great guy...I hope I can help him. He's a bit like this guy...from my school ward. He is #9 out of 12 in his family. And you thought the Trauntvein family was crowded.

I love teaching. My Spanish is getting better and better each day and we, with the help of the Spirit almost have out first investigator committed to a baptismal date! (Editor's note: The missionaries in the MTC practice teaching pretend investigators. Sometimes they are successful, and sometimes they are not. It is to mimic how it would be in the mission field.)

All my friends hear are such an example to me and are so fun to see basically everyday. Elder Doughty is turning into a really great missionary and I am super excited for him.

I love you so much!

Love, Elder B.

August 10, 2012

Day 23

¡Hola familia! Life has been so good in the MTC this week. Time spent here is so tough at times but so very rewarding. I'm exhausted after a full day here, and it's so nice to get to my dorm and my bed every night. I've received so much love from the outside this last week. Auntie AnnMarie sent me some wonderful pumpkin cookies and a nice card, the Sancher family sent me my favorite British sweets, and Sister Tilby sent me Capri Sun, Tapatio Doritos and some cookies!! SO good! Thanks to everyone who has sent mail, and to those who've received mail from me, a really easy/more convenient way to respond is using DearElder.com. It's super simple and has same-day delivery.

 

Fast Sunday here is so tight. We had an MTC-wide mission conference with all 2450 of us training here right now and man, it was awesome. I forgot my notebook, so I don't have many specifics, but I felt so edified and uplifted afterwards that I felt like anything in path that day was an easy thing. My path was clear.

 

I've made friends with some Polynesian Elders and they love me! It's so cool. One of them, Elder Ete, a Samoan, gave me a lava lava. It's so cool! I wear it 100% of the time I don't have to be in missionary attire. There's only one other white guy in the residence who has been given one, and he's in my District. Some of the guys make fun, but it's just because they're jealous.

 

Teaching has been going well, my lessons are become a lot more streamlined and effective as opposed to the like 50 minute lessons at the beginning of the time here. Spanish gets easier every day. I am starting to grasp when and how to use subjunctive, and use it in lessons. It's difficult, but I'm getting the hang of it. Reading in Spanish has become almost as easy as English for me, I can barely believe it. I dream in Spanish a lot, too, which can be very strange.

 

TRC is the more fun experience ever!!! My comp and I were blessed to teach a convert of 3 weeks and on Sunday he received the Aaronic Priesthood. I hope he's there again tomorrow. I also met a man who served his mission in the Leeds England Mission, took one look at me and went "Do you know Kenneth Bolton?" and proceeded to tell me about how great my Grandfather was, and it made me a bit sad really--not knowing him and all--but made me so excited to see him in the hereafter. Forever families rule.

 

I can't believe it's already Friday. The week went by so quickly. I don't have much to write about, but it has been wonderful. I love the letters and the emails. Please keep sending them! Pictures are worth 100 times their weight in gold here, too, so they are also greatly appreciated. Thanks, Jess for sending some! You're the best.

 

Everyday is a struggle, but everything is possible with faith. I love this gospel, I love the Lord, and I am so grateful to be here.

 

Also, Braden, my district comp's name is Elder Van Woerkom, and his aunt runs the MTC mail room so if you run into her, you can relay messages to me through her. I see her every day. She buys us treats and whatnot. She's the best ever. Y tambien, yo no se como nada chistes en Español, pero yo se uno. Es muy simple, pero es un favorito en mi distrito. ¿Que hizo el pez en el mar? ¡Nada! jajajaja. Es muy tonto, y si tiene más chistes para mi, me gustaría escucharlos. Yo uso la frase ´´Usted es el tontísimo´´ con frequencia. ¿Lo tradujo de ´´the dumbest´´ en Inglés bien?

 

Sorry I didn't have much to write about this week!

 

 

¡Todo con fe!

Lots of love,

July 21, 2012

 

This week has been nuts so far! Thursday might have been the longest day of my whole life. Wednesday, we had some getting-to-know-you time with my District (12A), and then we went to class where our teacher, Hermano Smoot, used maybe 3 English words. It was a little much at first, but I've come to enjoy the learning by immersion program. We speak very little English in class, and yesterday my companion and I taught two leassons to "investiagtors." We were only supposed to teach one of them, but the admins kind of messed up our schedules and has us teach both. Oh well! It was all good practice. The Spirit is so insanely strong on campus here, it's hard to believe it at times.

 

My companion is Elder Morris of San Diego/Lehi, UT. He's a great fella. He's a big guy, like me, and his name is Ben, too! How crazy is that?! Anyway, we've been getting along really well, and I hope it lasts like that. For now, I'm the Senior Companion, and that's proven to be basically meaningless in our relation with one another, I just get to lead our inventory meetings and planning sessions. My District is soooo great!! We're comprised of now 7 Elders and one Hermana. Elder Van Woerkom (a mouthful, at first) and Elder Arroyo (fun little guy) are comps going to the OK Tulsa Mission, Elder Webb (District Leader and friend of Elder Doughty) and Elder Duncan (math/finance wiz) are going to the WA Kennouic (no clue how to spell that) Mission, Hermana Johnson is the only other person I've met going to the CFM, and Elder Morris is heading to the Mississippi Jackson Mission. We just got a new Elder last night, his name's Elder Rowley (pronounced ROH-LEE, he hates it when people mispronounce his name). He's going to the Houston South Mission, like my boy Elder Case.

 

My Prep Day is on Fridays, but today, we have a little half-Pday thing where we can do laundry, but we don't have laundry time until 8:40 so we had lots of time on hand between breakfast and then so we decided to e-mail. I'm stoked for P-Day though, they sound so fun!! I was told I can even take a nap if I want to on P-Day which sounds sooooooo good right now. I've been sleeping well, but I'm still tired most of the day. Gym time everyday is so nice. I love being able to get my blood pumping and do something fun outside or in the gym instead of just sitting like 90% of my day.

 

My Spanish is coming along swimmingly, I'd say. It's still difficult for me to remember some of the tenses and forms, but I'll get it. I'm just trying to give myself as much credit as possible and be really easy on myself because, you know, it's hard. It's hard to learn a language you don't spek everyday, but I know with the Lord's help, all things are possible. So, I'm just taking the Spanish one day at a time, trying to get closer to fluent and speaking as much Spanish outside the class with my friends and District as I can. I also had to write a talk for sacrament meeting on repentance, and it's pretty much as if a 12 year old wrote it, so I hope I'm not called upon to speak, but it's pretty dece.

 

I've seen literally 1,000,000 people that I know here. I stop probably 6 or 7 times whenever I go anywhere because I run into people from my ward, from byu summer, from home, you name it. I also have an astounding amount of connections through these people to total strangers. I'll always ask people where they're from, and if they know anyone I know from the area nad usually they do! It's so nuts to me. I dind't see Elder Doughty until my second day here, but I've seen him probably 10 times a day. The joy is so great when we see each other. I just feel so happy to see my brother! Seeing Elder Case every day is pretty mucht the same experience. He's just such and amazing man and he's come really far with the language. Elder Ruelas and I talk at prettymuch every meal and during class breaks a lot. His class is just down the hall. I see Elder Elmer a ton, and it's so cool!! He's just as funny and just as Elder Elmer as ever. I see Sister Elmer on ocasion, and it's good to see her too! I can't really write everyone I run into because it seriously happens so often. My comps kind of get a little frustrated with me because I'm always talking to people instead of hurrying somewhere. Oh well hahaha.

 

I'll try to send some pics soon, I don't really know how to do that right now. Mom, can you send me Grandma's address so I can write to yall? I don't remember it exactly. Dad, I love you! Thanks so much for all the help up til wednesday, a lot of the lessons and lectures about missionary work have really helped. Braden, thanks for your example and trying to help me get here! Siovhan and Miki, stay beautiful! Can't wait to see yall in two years!!!!

 

I hope all is well, and that you guys keep praying for me. I need those prayers desperately. The Church is true, the Gospel is good, and the rewards for our efforts are going to be so, so sweet.

 

 

Love,

Elder B