Week #3

Tomorrow I fly to Sacramento! I'm so excited to leave. I'm going to miss learning and being with my district everyday though. We'll see each other every now and then in the field. Yesterday I was able to participate in a blessing for Elder Ricks, an elder in my district and roommate. The blessing made me realize how important it is to worthily hold the priesthood. It was a pretty cool experience. He had sprained his ankle pretty badly playing soccer and now he has to stay at the MTC at least another week.

 

Elder Jeffery R. Holland came and spoke at the Tuesday devotional last week! That was neat. His message was mostly about always remembering (even after our missions) who we are--representatives of Jesus Christ. He became pretty heated about it, which was a little intimidating. I kinda wished that Elder Richard G. Scott had spoken instead :) At one point Elder Holland spoke of the people who have sacrificed everything, including their lives, for the work, "most recent of which was only four hours ago." Nobody knew or could find out what he meant by that until yesterday, in our Sunday devotional. The MTC President, Pres. Brown, informed us that it was a sister missionary in New York who was driving and was hit by another car, and died. Sad. In the same devotional Pres. Brown said, "You never know what tomorrow will bring, but you control your destiny by what you do today."

 

One funny thing about these devotionals: every missionary in the MTC attends these, and they ALL bring their notepads and pens. When the speaker seems like he's about to say something important, you see every missionary bend over their papers and click 3,000 pens. Crazy, huh?

 

A simple pleasure every day: peeing clear because I'm hydrated. That's one habit that I can take from home and keep my whole mission :) I've already lost my summer tan, calluses, and bleached leg hairs! I love talking to people about Moab. Almost every missionary is from Utah or Idaho here, so most of them have visited Moab at least once in their lives. "Oh, you went on a river trip for youth conference? That's my company!" :)

 

I don't have any more time, but I wanted to include one more funny thing: when ever an elder walks out of the room or goes to the bathroom, my companion says, "Don't die. That's one piece of advice that will last you a lifetime." Haha, what an odd duck. Anyways, I love you all!

 

--

Elder Chris Andrew

California Sacramento Mission

8267 Deseret Ave

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

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