i cant believe its the final week in the mtc- its pretty surreal and when i think about being in thailand it still feels super far off, but we got our travel plans this week so stoked on that! we leave monday the 19th at 1:30 pm and take off around like 7 i think. land in LAX for a 5 hour layover then at midnight that night we take off for hong kong, get there a full day later, and finally get to thailand wednesday in the afternoon so itll be a lot of traveling. ill probably be wishing i could be wearing sweat pants or something so thatll probably the the hardest part. stoked on life though its gonna be really fun, and im exciting to be back out in the real world!
The MTC has been so amazing though i cant believe its only been 8 weeks... it has felt like so much longer than that especially when i look back at everything ive learned and done. I lucked out with super chill teachers- i couldnt definitely see hitting them up when i get back, and some will probably have kids too which is weird. Its been really pretty up here and not as cold this week which is good. ill be sending home all my sweaters and jackets and what not momma just a heads up!
we did some fun activities in class this week finishing up getting prepared to get to thailand- super excited to be able to cruise the streets of thailand helping people learn of Christ, its gonna be wayy too much fun!
its funny how every week i feel like im pretty ready for thailand, and for teaching and helping real people, but then after that week i look back at all the things we practiced and learned and think theres no way im ready for thailand! so idk i feel pretty prepared but at the same time im gonna learn so much my first couple weeks there!
had some pretty cool revelation this week in class about teaching and dont really know how to explain it- but how when we teach the gospel, as a missionary my only job is to help them realize the spirit and help them to act for themselves bc conversion almost always comes through what they do AFTER the lesson. and thus in a lesson when we teach, most of what i say should be questions, because even though teaching the material is important its even more important to have the spirit teach the investigator, and that comes through testimony, and having the person being taught think about and respond to inspired questions that will help them grow and realize God in their life- and an investigator knows them-self better than we do- so idk how to explain it but yeah, good stuff.
I think one of my favorite things about being in the MTC is meeting people from literally all over the world its pretty sweet- becoming super close with and elder from sweden, and the phillipines, or japan, a guy from haiti, its just so cool that there are people from all over the world here all for the same reason- pretttty sweet.
I think my favorite moment this week was in class saturday- we were all reading from Alma 26 together- as ammon is returning back from his mission, and he starts going off about the greatness of God and boasts about all the great things that God was able to do and accomplish through him during his mission, and then in verse 26-30ish he starts talking about "the call to discipleship" and all the hardships they endured throughout their time teaching the lamanites, ill just copy past it:
"26 But behold, my beloved brethren, we came into the wildernes s not with the intent to destroy our brethren, but with the intent that perhaps we might save some few of their souls.
27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord bcomforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with cpatience thinedafflictions, and I will give unto you success.
28 And now behold, we have come, and been forth amongst them; and we have been patient in our sufferings, and we have suffered every privation; yea, we have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world—not upon the mercies of the world alone but upon the mercies of God.
29 And we have entered into their houses and taught them, and we have taught them in their streets; yea, and we have taught them upon their hills; and we have also entered into their temples and their asynagogues and taught them; and we have been cast out, and mocked, and spit upon, and smote upon our cheeks; and we have been bstoned, and taken and bound with cstrong cords,and cast into prison; and through the power and wisdom of God we have been delivered again.
30 And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this,that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our ajoy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some."
haha so even though i probably wont get stoned or thrown into prison (hopefully) it was really powerful for some reason when i read this- the joy that comes from sharing the gospel. Even though the endured and suffered all the afflictions, they always remembered to trust in God and remembered there purpose of being out serving and teaching- that they might bring salvation unto even one person. Pretty inspiring missionary scripture, and talking about missionary scriptures ive come to really love 2 Nephi, mosiah, and alma they are just so full of good stuff. Elder Dunnaway compares the scriptures to when he was on debate and whenever he would find a piece of really good or convincing evidence to prove his point how excited he was, and how scriptures i kinda similar in the sense, becuase scriptures are just so powerful in conversion- the word of God just has a way of changing people, weird. haha kidding but yeah i love that book of mormon.
Watched some solid bible videos yesterday on lds.org too and its almost like watching a supper good movie and then wanting to read the book- especially i think it was called "my kingdom is not of this world" and it just helps you visualize what a boss Jesus was, how awesome he was and how much love he had and still has for all of us. i would most definitely suggest watching it- great use of 5 minutes. sooo we had a devotional last night by Elder Heaton i believe and our MTC president had invited Elder Heaton's son with autism, probably about 12 years old named richard, come up and bare his testimony, and that was super powerful. He had his dads phone with what we thought was his whole testimony written on it, but it turned out he just had words like "jesus" and "missionaries" and he bore a super pure and powerful testimony of the savior and the importance he has in his life. Then Elder Heaton's talk had the theme of "minding the gap". Meaning the time in between your lessons with people and investigators- thats the most important time for conversion and growth. It was cool because it was really similar to the things i was thinking about and learning this week. he had all the converts stand up in the devotional of probably close to 1500 missionaries and they made up close to like 10% probably. then he had the people who were baptized within the last 2 years stay standing and then share the short version of the moment they knew they wanted to be baptized, or what was the main factor in their conversion, etc. the point was that almost all of them had some sort of spiritual experience whether through prayer, or through reading the scriptures, being at the temple, or just being around mormon people, where they had the confirmation that they knew they wanted to and need to be baptized. it was a very solid devotional.
a fun fact for bekah, i woke up this morning singing "one week more" in my head- of course to the tune of one day more from les mis. not even a musical kinda guy but yeah.
blakes wisdom teeth videos are hillarious hahaha- such a good kid. aaaand its good to hear that everything went well with Elder Evans this weekend for stake conference it sounded like a huge success love you family! dont know what else to say other than things here are really good, im doing really good, and im super excited to take off to thailand! we got a picture of our new missino president coming this summer- its gonna be a good time. Love you all and hope you have the best week! oh and favorite quote this week was in some guys testimony- something about "when you hit rock bottom, don't get too down because Christ is the that rock at the bottom" and i dont know why it seemed so mind blowing to me but it made me think of the scripture i think D&C 122:8 how the son of man has descended below it all. Christ really is always there to pick us back up, no matter how far we feel like we've fallen or how many times we do, his arms are always outstreched- i feel pretty lucky to be sharing the dopest message there is- nothings as great as knowing you can be clean and free from guilt- but more importantly happy, filled with peace, and with your family forever. Love you fam keep it real!
Elder Chamberlin
P.S. on a lighter note, some new guy moved onto our floor and his companion had heard about the kilt that my companion currently owns (the strongest elder on the floor has rights of it), and so he waltzed into our room challenging dunnaway to the quilt, and ill be honest this guy looked huge and apparently was in the army haha, so of course i was backin my companion up givin him a little massage in preparation for an arm wrestle, pushup, then pull up competition, best of 3 and winner takes the kilt, and dunnaway just embarasses the guy in both arm wrestling and push ups, they didnt even end up doing pull ups hahah. i was pretty stoked bc my companion's success's are my success's, and if hes the strongest elder here, i pretty much am too so yeah no one messes with us. hahahaha
