Hi mom and dad!
So serving a mission is like the greatest thing on the planet! This whole week has flown by! I love being able to have this opportunity to be a representative of Jesus Christ.
So this week has been insane! Let me explain!
On Sunday, we had priesthood meeting, and then we had sacrament meeting. During sacrament meeting, they split our branch and we became the newest branch in the MTC. We are branch 70 and we have an awesome branch president, President Nielson. We then had our Sunday night devotional, and Steven B. Allen was the guest speaker. He gave a talk on how to be a successful missionary, but I forgot to bring my journal and notes with me to write this email, so I'll just have to tell you about it another time. So I will try my best to tell you about this week because I'm just doing it by memory. Monday was a pretty typical day other than the fact that I started to get a sinus infection. I prayed really hard to have Heavenly Father bless me to be able to continue to work without any problems, and as of today, I am doing fabulous. Tuesday, we taught our investigator Carlos, who is a teacher here. During the lesson, I kinda struggled and it was really hard for me to communicate what I wanted. I was really discouraged after, but at the same time I was happy because Elder Hatch did really well and that was good to see him be able to communicate what he wanted because he's had lots of ups and downs. We went back to dinner and I prayed so hard that Heavenly Father would help me not feel discouraged, and after dinner we got our letters. I received a letter from my awesome churchball coach/brother/neighbor Robbie. I couldn't read the letter until later that night. I'll tell you about it in a second.Wee had another devotional and Lawrence W. Corbridge was the guest speaker. He talked a lot about different things. It was a great talk, but it was about 55 minutes long so it was really hard to pay attention towards the end. After the devotional, we had a district devotional, and that was so awesome. The branch president came into our class while we all took turns bearing our testimony and telling them what we learned from the talk. The Spirit was so strong, and it felt so good to feel it. We went back to our residence and I pulled out that letter from Robbie. He shared with me an experience during his time in the MTC where he got discouraged because he couldn't learn the language. It was such an answer to prayer. Please tell him that I appreciated it so much and I hope to hear from him again. His letter definitely made me get teary eyed. On wednesday, we were having an english fast. we had gym in the morning. We played basketball like normal but we were just shooting around. Elder Hatch all of the sudden told me in English, that he could not really feel his legs and that they were all tingly. I told him to sit down while me and Bitnoff ran to go get the trainer. By the time we got back, he was laying on the ground and he couldn't feel his legs. Bitnoff, Heward, and I went back to the storage closet and said a prayer for him. The ambulance came and took him to the ER. The MTC paramedic told me to stay with BItnoff and Heward. We went and did our service project, and then we went to class. The second I walked in the door, they called me down to the front desk. The lady got upset at me because I didn't go with my companion, even though the paramedic told me not to. Maybe she was having a bad day, so I didn't take it personal. She told me to take the MTC shuttle to the ER so i did. I arrived and they took Elder Hatch in for an MRI because his CT scan didn't show anything wrong. Before I got there, they had given him a blessing. He was able to start to barely wiggle his toes. While he was getting an MRI, I was sitting in the waiting room and I met this lady who was a member. She told me about her life and how hard it has been. She has a grandson that is now atheist, an adopted son who is now gay, a daughter that has been disfellowshipped, she's single and lives with her mom so that she can take care of her. Towards the end of our conversation, she told me that she knew heavenly father had a plan for her, but she felt so lost. So. I took the initiative because I am a representative of Jesus Christ, and I testified to her that if she went into general conference with a question in her heart, that Heavenly father would answer her. I had to leave right after because Elder hatch was done with his MRI, but when i was leaving, it was so amazing to see the renewed light that she had in her eyes. We went back to his room, and the doctors did a lot more tests while they waited for the results of the mri... The results finally came back, and they couldn't see anything wrong in the CT scan, or the MRI. We were there until about six, and I sat next to him the whole entire time and tried to calm him down because he was really scared. He started to get some feeling back, but he said it was just really tingly, like they were asleep. the doc said that it's possible that it was a pinched nerve or something, and maybe his body was just rebooting like a computer. We had to take the MTC shuttle to walgreens to get his medicine. While we were waiting, we had people tell us that they would pray for him. Even a lady that was smoking outside of the hospital said that she would pray for him, which was pretty stinkin awesome. While we were waiting outside for the shuttle to come get us, everyone would walk by and smile, non member or member. It was so neat to be able to just have my big goofy smile on my face, and I loved seeing people smile back at us. We had like 6 different people offer us a ride. When we were leaving, a little kid walked by us and he waved and gave the biggest smile to elder hatch. it was quite possibly the cutest thing. We went back to the mtc and we went back to the room because the doctor ordered that he rested for a couple of days to see if it'd get better. so we had a ton of people come visit us in the room, and everyone was so worried for him. someone told elder hatch that there isn't a better place to get injured because EVERYONE is praying for you. on thursday we kinda just hung out in the room. he had a doctor appointment but (CONNER BITNOFF says hi) that was about it. our branch president came and visited us and he told me that i could go on splits with someone so I wouldn't be missing out on so much class, but i told him i would be alright because i love elder hatch and we have been bonding really well. he seriously is my ideal first companion. he is in a wheelchair and i push him around and we go on walks so we can get out of our room. we have had a lot of heart to heart conversations, and i love being able to serve him. he is the stud of all studs.
other than my crazy week, I am loving my life. I have never been so happy in my life. THIS is the place to be. I cannot wait to actually get out there and serve people. Tell everyone that i am doing great and that i am loving every minute of it because i only have "two years to live it" (that was for you mom because you put that on an envelope.) I am constantly smiling and i am just trying my best to help everyone keep a positive attitude. I would love to continue to hear from everyone. getting letters doesn't make me homesick, it just makes me so happy to have such an awesome family and an awesome group of friends. I love you all, especially you mom and dad. thanks for all that you do. this church is true. Eu amo voce!
DEUS E OTIMO. (GOD IS GREAT.) this is my new saying because, god is of course good, but he is most certainly great. so start using this saying, in english or portuguese so we can all start spreading the good stuff. I love you guys! Stay phenomenal and whenever you are having a bad day, just smile because this big goofball told you so. I love you and remember to keep elder hatch in your prayers. thanks for all of the prayers, i can definitely feel them as i go throughout the day. I love you I love you I love you. GOD IS GREAT. Hope to hear from you all soon.
