Last P-Day in the MTC!

March 26, 2015

As the subject suggests this is our last P-Day here in the MTC and honestly it feels like time has flown by! It's been another pretty awesome week here although I have gotten sick again which is insane since I never get sick but it's all good, if being sick is the price I have to pay then I will gladly take it! Last Thursday we had another awesome TRC lesson. TRC IS THE BEST! For real though! One of the guys we had it with was really cool and it was his first time coming for a while and we were talking for a bit after our lesson and he got serious and was like "there isn't a person here who wouldn't trade spots with you in a second if they could so you better make your time worth it." It was like a wow moment like I really do need to value my time out here! Then Friday we got our flight plans! Basically everyone has been waiting for this moment, we all went running to the mail room and pulled out our plans to see where we would be going! We are flying from Salt Lake to Chicago then Chicago to Vienna then Vienna to Tirana! It is a total of 22 hours of travel time so pray for me that I don't go insane! We also got our new name tags which are wayyyy cool! I'll send a picture after this but mine is honestly one of the coolest (not to brag, we don't do that in the MTC) Also like 3 times this week there have been protesters outside of the MTC and its been kinda funny! They are like yelling and shouting at us carrying American flags and crap but everyone just kinda gets a kick out of it! One of the branch presidents here at the MTC told us we should go give them cookies or something for all the hard work they are doing! It has been absolutely gorgeous here so we have been studying outside in the grass whenever possible and it has been soo nice! One thing that we have been running into more and more is the two different dialects spoken in Albania! They are pretty stinking different! Basically the north speaks gheg and the south speaks tosk. Tosk is the language that is written on official documents but neither is considered better than the other, they are just different! So it'll be interesting to see where I spend most of my time and which dialect I end up speaking in! On Saturday after set up we got up on the roof of our classroom building and took some pictures and it was awesome! On Sunday we had an awesome devotional and one of the things that really stuck out to me was he said when he was a missionary his trainer challenged him that when he got on the plane to go back home and to ask Heavenly Father if he fulfilled his mission and he challenged us to do that as well and to serve our missions so that when we ask we will hear through the spirit "Well done my good and faithful servant" That really made me want to make the most of my time out on my mission! I also watched a really awesome Mormon Message which can be found here: http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/you-never-know I really loved the message that it doesn't matter so much what we have planned for ourselves to do in a day but what the lord has planned for us! I want to be the kind of missionary that does what the lord wants not just what I have planned. One thing that I have realized is really important these last few days is setting goals. One of the members of my branch presidency always says success is the achievement of righteous goals! We have been talking a lot about setting goals and I have some time set aside today to not only look at some goals for my mission but for the rest of my life! It's so helpful to have a vision you are looking forward to even if you aren't totally sure. I never really appreciated them like that before! Another follow on my challenge last week to have a Book of Mormon with you whenever possible is this week I set aside some time and prayed to know what to write in the front with my testimony so I could bless someones life and I totally felt the spirit! I wrote everything I felt and then looked back and some things I would have never written without being prompted to do so! How awesome is it that the lord knows how to bless his children! All we have to do is let him guide us! This week we were challenged to make those back home apart of our mission! Even if it's in some small way like if you don't stay super consistent in reading the Book of Mormon I'm out here serving full time for 2 years you can read a couple pages a night! I know it will immensely bless your lives if you think of some way to in some small way be out here on a mission with me! Something really special that happened today was our last temple session. We went as a whole zone had breakfast beforehand in the temple and then went and did a session together and it was the strongest that I have felt the spirit in the temple ever. While we were in the Celestial room I realized this is the last time I would be here for 2 years and I just said a prayer and felt so peaceful. I didn't think I would miss the temple that much but now I know I will! This week I got mail from Kyra, Courtney, Grandma and Grandpa Guymon, Trevor, Austin, Cameron, Chandler, Aanika, Sarah, and Mallory! I love you all! Next letter home is going to be from Albania!!!

I love you and I'll talk to you from the airport!