So let's see what kind of spiritual knowledge I can less your lives
with today! So this week has been pretty great! Just focusing on
learning the language, focusing on the doctrine, it's been frustrating
but it's also been rewarding! We just changed from basic core to
extended core II on Monday and it's pretty difficult! Now instead of
learning 20 words and 3 phrases a day, now we're learning 45 words and
7 phrases! Plus now we memorize a scripture in Spanish every week day,
so by the end of the week we have about 5 scriptures memorized in
Spanish! It's stressful but I feel like right when you start to feel
comfortable in the MTC they just change it up! It's good because you
grow a lot when your in uncomfortable situations and circumstances but
being constantly stressed and frustrated isn't to much fun but I've
been trying hard to stay focused but to have fun and try not to take
it to serious!
Everyone has been sick this week! Our whole district has had like a
cold all week! It's pretty great! I didn't get it to bad, I've just
have had a stuffy nose but everyone else has been like half dead in
class! Not feeling to great has made me pretty sleepy so I
accidentally nod off during class but I really try not to but it's so
frustrating to try to learn Spanish when everyone's not feeling well!
So I just kinda zone out sometimes but yea, that's how Spanish class
is going!
Discussions and lessons being taught between me and my companion have
been getting better and better though! We have made 3 investigators
cry so far and my companion has tiered up a few times (I wrote this
part on Thursday night but on Friday I had the opportunity to role
play with my companion and I bore my testimony and taught him the plan
of salvation and he cried) (so that brings our total up to 4 persons)
but I've gotten to a point while teaching discussions where I'm not
stressed to much about the language but I've been able to truly feel
the spirit! I love being able to feel the spirit while teaching a
discussion but it makes the experience even sweeter when your speaking
another language! The testimonies shared between me, my companion, and
the investigators we teach are so beautiful and the spirit felt while
sharing the truths being told about the gospel is truly unique and
something I've never felt before! The spirit is different, not in a
good way or in a bad way but it's just unique! I don't know if it's
because of the language or because of the environment and the constant
spirit on the MTC campus but during our discussions and during our
opportunities to bare our testimonies we feel a truly unique and
special spirit! Those experiences are the blessed moments when we see
the spirit really play into our message and those moments you pray for
while studying for small miracles in our discussions!
You guys need to send me some more questions because I have no idea
what to write about sometimes! I have been enjoying exercise time! The
gym has two volleyball nets and that's pretty fun to mess around with
some guys who have played and some guys who haven't touched a
volleyball but it would kind of be what I expect intramural's to be
like! I love taking temple trips on Saturdays as well! We're blessed
to be able to spend majority of our Saturday afternoons in the temple
and love being able to serve for a few hours!
On Sunday's devotional we had the Nashville Tribute band come in and
we had a little singing fireside with more of an upbeat feel! Kinda
like Christian Rock but not really at the same time! I don't know, I
really liked them and you could feel the unique spirit they brought to
the meeting but if you have some free time I'd listen to a few songs!
Great to listen to for Sunday scripture study! We had one of the first
quorum of the 70 come in for Tuesday devotional, he spoke with a lot
of love for missionary work!
I really miss some of the free time I had while at home to go through
some scriptures on my own time! At the MTC your day is planned out for
every minute of every day so technically you only get about an hour
for personal study but sometimes if your lucky you'll get an
additional hour but even with two hours it seems like there's not
enough time to go through most of the scripture study you would have
liked to but it really helps you to appreciate the insights you are
able to look through and the notes your able to reference during
class!
During class it's pretty interesting how the language is taught! Class
for language is taught at the same time as class for doctrine! So you
could be sitting in your seat for a 4 1/2 hour block (from breakfast
until lunch) and be going through some of the lessons or discussing
gospel principles but there won't be a word of English spoken through
the whole class! Then when we're not in class were teaching
investigators! And on the rare occasion we're not in class or not
teaching investigators we're either in personal study, companionship
study, or language study! We spend about 14 hours in class and about 6
hours sleeping but sometimes that time may overlap by me sleeping a
bit in class unintentionally!
Sunday's are a bit different, we wake up and have time to study for a
bit but then we have sacrament meeting (all in Spanish) even the
sacrament prayer is in Spanish which kinda threw me off the first time
I heard it but it's pretty crazy to be sitting through Sunday meetings
in Spanish like with priesthood meeting and with Sunday school!
Something I've learned while studying Spanish and learning principles
in Spanish is how truly simple and beautiful the gospel is! Learning
the gospel in Spanish is almost like learning about the church all
over again! I have scriptures and passages/principles of doctrine
memorized that I don't even have memorized in English! It truly is
such a beautiful gospel and I'm fortunate to have been lucky enough to
have the opportunity to learn in such a beautiful language!
Please e-mail me any questions or anything you'd like me to clarify
but really that's about all I can think of as far as what kinda goes
on here at the MTC, at least for this week!
Mucho amor,
Elder Tutton
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| I don't think my Mom would ever believe it herself unless I sent this to her but we got an amazing review of how clean our room was this week! |
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| When we try to take a zone picture but ya, it doesn't really go as planned but most of the guys I hang out with day to day are in this picture and was taken right before MTC choir. Half these guys are off to Nicaragua on Monday and Nicaragua is about to get some freaking studs! |
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| A couple pictures of me and my companion |
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| Took this picture during study time and thought it looked pretty cool |
