So basically, this week was the greatest week of the
MTC so far. Why? Aunt Kristy's homemade
rolls. She made about 40-50 of
them. I received them Friday night and
between the four of us in our room they were all gone by Sunday mid-day. Simply fantastic. Thank you Uncle Tristan for having a surgery
and needing a reason to come up to Provo so Kristy could drop off the rolls. I really hope you are feeling better though.
So as far as teaching our investigators this week,
it went really good. We were able to
really teach Michael the Plan of Salvation and this time around it really
clicked for him. Then on his own in his
scripture study he found this scripture in what we assigned that he really
liked about Christ being able to make us feel complete and whole. He never really heard of the idea that we
could be blessed by Him to have relief from our mental anguish. Things improved dramatically with
Patrik. He still does not like to speak
up during lessons very much, but we've been trying to ask more thought
provoking questions which have helped.
This last lesson our German was really poor, but he seemed really
enthralled by what we were teaching. We
had the idea to tell him about baptism and ask him if he would prepare. As we expected he told us how he was baptized
as a kid in the catholic church, so we then explained how we now have the
proper authority of Jesus Christ, the Priesthood, and how he can truly know
that he would be in the name of Christ.
He was really interested in this idea of the proper authority of Jesus
Christ and all that comes with the Priesthood.
He was going to pray for an answer and get back to us next time.
On Sundays there is usually a period of about an
hour after dinner where I can play piano.
This last week for half of the time I actually gave Elder Davies his
first piano lesson. It was really
fun. Right now I am the only piano
player in our zone so I get to play for sacrament and priesthood meetings each
week. Not this Sunday, but two Sundays
ago I was able to play my arrangement of "Praise to the Man" for a
musical number. The branch president's
wife told me I should try out for the Sunday devotional musical number. This last week I wasn't able to make it to
the try-outs, but I'll see if I can make it this week.
I don't know about you guys, but time seems to have
flown by. I'll be heading to Deutschland
and Österreich in less than 3 weeks. I
should be getting my travel plans here soon.
And Mom and Dad, I'll be able to call you from the airport before I go,
I'll get back to you on that when I know exact details.
German word of the day: Doodlesack.
It means bagpipes. It's just
really fun to say. Also, this last week
we went through and tried to figure out how we would have to spell our names so
that it would sound the same pronounced in German as it sounds when we
pronounce it in English. So to make Edward Houston Bodily sound the same in
German as it does in English, it would have to be spelt (keep in mind Germans
don't make the W sound): Eed'w'öd
cheüstin Badulie. Just thought that
might be interesting.
There wasn't a whole lot of particularly interesting
things that happened this week, but it was still really good. My knowledge of the Gospel is really growing
and I'm becoming more and more comfortable with speaking German. I'm so grateful for this opportunity. It has blessed me so much. I can tell I'm growing each day and it's
really making me happy. I love this
Gospel and I'm so grateful for all that Heavenly Father and Christ have done
for me. I say these things in the name
of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Gott sei mit euch bis auf wiedersehen.