This week started out pretty good. Sunday was pretty solid. We were able to go to the temple and walk around it, which was really nice. There is something really calming about going to the temple, even if you cannot go inside. The devotional was also really good. It was about temples, as on Tuesday the temple opened back up [it had been closed for renovation]. The two biggest things I learned and stood out to me were: One, how openly and freely both President LeSueur, the president of the MTC, and President Durrant, my branch president, talk about how much they love and admire their wives. I have seen Dad, Caleb, Mark, and Charles [his two brothers and brother-in-law] do this as well. It may be a few years until I am able to put these examples to use, but it was just very powerful. Two, President LeSueur quoted President Gordon B. Hinkley and the message was this, temple work is about as close a work we can get to that puts us in the shoes of the Savior. By no means do we even come close but we can get a taste of it. Just as the Savior’s Atonement was for us because we can not become clean ourselves, when we do temple work we do what the dead can not do for themselves. I really liked that comment because it also shows us how important it is that we do temple work. [I think the quote is this one: “I think that vicarious work for the dead more nearly approaches the vicarious sacrifice of the Savior Himself than any other work of which I know. It is given with love, without hope of compensation, or repayment or anything of the kind. What a glorious principle.” For more on the work done in temples, click here.]

Monday was also a really good day. It really start to hit me how little time I have left in the MTC. As of next Monday, I will have only a week left, because I will fly out on Tuesday pretty early in the morning. It is kinda crazy. I am all for it though. Funny moment was Elder Durbano and I had to practice our Spanish, and we practiced to two sisters who are going to Hungry. As we walked away I said, ” I hope they feed you there,” because you know it’s Hungry… Elder Durbano was literally dying. It was a pretty bad joke but hahaha. We started a TRC with a new sister. She is from Columbia and moved to New Jersey 5 years ago and Utah 2 months ago. She said that she heard the voice of God tell her to move to Utah. So the next day, she packed up and got ready to move. Wow, the faith she had to do that. She said that she wants to go into depth into some of the verses of the Book of Mormon, as she says she already reads it everyday, and that she wants to know for sure that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. She was very happy to hear that we have a living prophet, as she thought it was weird that there were so many in the Bible and none now. She just finds it hard to believe that Joseph Smith at fourteen had the First Vision. Overall, she is very friendly and talkative, which differs from our last TRC in the sense of being talkative. And the best part is I can actually understand what she is saying! TRCs, if I had not already made clear are actors, who act like we are the only missionaries teaching them right now, but that does not always mean they are members, and you never know who is and who is not a member. We also met our new teacher, Hermana Estada. She is pretty good at teaching; crazy thing is she just got off her mission in May. She is a native speaker, well kinda. She was raised in the US but spoke Spanish at home, but said that she learned a lot when she served her mission. 

Tuesday was a pretty interesting day. We learned on Sunday that about 2/3 of the MTC would have to switch rooms, whether to another room in the same building or to another building entirely but that we would know by Monday morning if we would have to switch, and the switch would take place on Wednesday morning. The goal of all of this was to make sure that a branch was all in one building and one floor. Previously, rooms were assigned based on language, which would split some branches up a bit because they were composed of missionaries speaking so many different languages, because some languages only have a few missionaries training at a time. Anyways, we found out Tuesday morning that we would have to move, but literally just down the hall. It is not that big of a deal, just mildly annoying. However I do feel bad for [Elder Kitchen], as he has to pack up in his suit case, where I can just move my stuff with out packing, because he has to move buildings. On top of that, he only has one week left, so he has to unpack his stuff for five days just to pack it up again and leave Monday.

On Tuesday, we also were encouraged to make a covenant with the Lord by Hermana Olivares to be obedient and ask for blessings in return. It was a powerful experience, but it was just a reconfirmation to myself that I want to be an obedient missionary that my mission president can point to as an example for others to follow, rather than a missionary who he feels like he needs to have a constant eye over. The Devotional was really good, it was a missionary Q&A from Elder Gifford Nielsen. His wife spoke for a couple minutes before he did, and I really liked what she said, “God and Jesus Christ are in charge of this marvelous work and want to bless all of God’s beloved children, and they do that through you all as missionaries.” I really liked that because we are called to serve, not called to proselyte. Whether or not they accept our message of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, the service we do for others is pleasing to the Lord as we read in Mosiah 2:17. The other part that I really liked was what Elder Nielsen said about companions. We are on the same team as our companions, they just like us, left their families, had a desire to serve the Lord, and want to serve the people in the area that we are in. We should not criticize our companions, but rather work together in love to serve and have the Spirit.

Wednesday was pretty good and chill. We had to move halls that morning, it was a little hectic but it all worked out. Two sisters in our district were not informed that they had to move though, so they were surprised when a group of sisters came and told them they had to move. But it all worked out. We had a TRC, and it went pretty well. We kind of taught the Restoration but only in the last 5 minutes because she likes to talk a bunch. I understand much of what she says, which is good, but at one point she got really emotional, and I could not understand. We record our lessons and listen to them during companionship study, and we realized we did not understand what she had said, but upon translating what we said, it was, for the most part, what she needed. It was a great blessing. Later that night, I had to act [in my capacity] as district leader to help resolve a conflict. I won’t go into details, but needless to say I did not enjoy that. I am second youngest in the district, so it feels weird to have to [mediate] a discussion of people who are older, and I would suppose are more mature than myself. Elder Durbano reassured me I did a good job. I am thankful for such a good companion.

Thursday was also pretty laid back. Elder Durbano and I decided to go to breakfast earlier than normal, and then go study before class. It was so nice, because rather than this hour and a half of broken half study interrupted by breakfast, we had breakfast and then a focused hour of personal study. We are learning more grammar and conjugations, which has been so useful when speaking because we can now express more precisely what we mean. We had another TRC, we had a loose plan but not too much because we wanted the Spirit to direct, and we felt together that she already seemed to know the lessons well and know a lot about the church. We went in and even that loose plan did not even happen. We checked if she had read the talk we asked her to read by Jeffery R Holland called “Safety for the Soul” (I recommend reading it highly). She had not. I now will mention that Hermana Olivares decided that she wanted to observe how we were doing in our TRCs. We told our TRC it was okay that she had not read the talk and our teacher stopped us. She said, “No! It is not okay, tell her that you need her to read it and why you want her to, even read a little with her.” After the TRC she told us that we had to show our disappointment, because otherwise they might not keep other commitments, and it is important that they should if they want to progress. She related it to how she reminds us when we have not been speaking Spanish as much as we could that we can be better, and she is disappointed that we haven’t and how we see that as an act of love. It reminded me of Alma 38:12 which I read this week. It talks about how we can be bold and as long we have love we will not be overbearing. Anyways, we resumed and we shared some of our favorite parts with her from the talk. We continued to testify of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith as both being of God. We then shared how we had gained our testimony of the Book of Mormon through studying it and praying. We then shared Moroni 10:3-5 and asked how she felt about it. She said she felt that just like Moses had asked and gotten answers, she could too, and this scripture confirmed it. We told her that most members got their testimonies through reading and prayer and that it was a process just like we had shared on Monday when we shared 2 Nephi 28:30 about learning line upon line, as Elder Bednar loves to share. Elder Durbano then asked if she knew how to pray, and she said she did kind of. He then taught her, and then confirmed the parts that she did know how to do to be right, which Hermana Olivares loved. I then extended the invitation for her to pray about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and to read the talk we had given her Wednesday, and that on Monday we would ask her about her experience, which Hermana Olivares also loved. After the TRC she pulled us away from the district to talk to us about how she thought we did. She told us that we brought the Spirit and liked how well we worked together and confirmed the testimony of the other and bounced off each other. She also said that she was so happy to see us show her we were listening and tell her we would follow up with her. Finally, she said that she had chosen to sit on our TRC “because the best way to tell how the district is doing is to see how the best two missionaries are doing.” She quickly followed with “Now don’t get all prideful on me.” Elder Durbano is not too bad about that stuff, so I knew that that was directed at me. It is kind of stressful to have her say that because it echoed the words of President Durrant when he released Elder Durbano and called me as district leader, saying that we work well together and are the strongest companionship and strongest missionaries in the district. It just makes me feel like I could be even better, because I don’t feel quite adequate, and I worry it will go to my head. I know how prideful I can be. So please pray for me to humble and have humility and use this knowledge to help strengthen my district. 

Friday was pretty solid. Elder Durbano and I focused on getting up early, and getting right to work. We woke up at 6:30 and then instead of waiting for our district like normal, we went when we were ready and when breakfast opened, which was at 7:00.  We then got our hour of personal study out of the way. Currently, I am in the war chapters of Alma which are some of my favorites. In Alma 48:17 it talks about how if all men were like Moroni, the very powers of Hell would be shaken forever. Alma 48:18 then proceeds to list who Moroni is like. Now when I see that it says that someone is like Moroni I mark it. Like it later says in Alma 53:2 that Lehi is like unto Moroni. So by doing so, I can find examples of who to be like, besides the Savior obviously, who is the perfect example. Also, we got our travel plans for Tuesday the 27th! We leave the MTC at noon, and then our flight out is at 5 and then we arrive in Seattle at 6, so like a 2 hour flight. After we land, we have no clue what happens from there, because we have had no communication from our mission president.

Saturday has been decent I guess. This morning I for the first time shined shoes, and it makes me happy. I also with Elder Boyle did an insane ab work out because he has been begging to go to the gym and do abs with someone. So I did. And then after I got some stuff for Elder Durbano, because I am OCD and he had no where to put his ties, an oil vial because he doesn’t have one and then an orange tie I had, because he loves orange. On the back I wrote From your OCD companion Elder “Tanto” Tonkinson.

We then went to the temple, which I was grateful for, but it took 4 hours, because the session was filled, 2/3 with Elders, and on top of that they did not have enough temple workers. Then, after we helped with folding laundry at the temple and helping those workers. Elder Durbano and I want to do that again next week and hopefully for longer.

Finally, last night and this morning were bad, just awful between a companionship, and I am trying to figure out how to help. I will talk to them individually tonight and then talk to President Durrant for some suggestions tomorrow. 

Elder Durbano has a girlfriend who sends him stuff and she usually includes a small thing for me. So one of those Krispy Kreme hats has my name and then other has his and I was entitled to some of the donuts.

Questions-

Is there anything in the MTC candy or food wise that you can’t get that you would like?-Nope not really, just wish I had Reese’s in bulk. I love Reese’s.

How is your Spanish coming along?–Pretty good I guess, I mean I can get my point across decently given enough time, with some grammatical mistakes.

Are you starting to dream in it?–I can’t even think in it yet haha, I’ll let you know though.

It’s a month in, are you a little more acclimated to the change in communication cadence?–Yeah, still really weird sometimes. Or having someone email you, and it would take 2 seconds to answer the small questions, but not being able to. Other than that it actually is pretty good, gives me lots to talk about when I do email home.

Things you wish you had?–Hmmm…. more music. Or at least high quality versions of some of my favorite songs from like BYU Vocal Point. I don’t know what else. I have pretty much everything I could need here at this point. 

Are you recovered or still struggling with illness?–Uh nope. At this point all good, no coughing or anything 🙂

Did your new shirts arrive?–Nope, I was going to ask about that, but only allowed to email on preparation day, unless given specific instruction

Pants hemmed?- Yeah for freeee, because they have a machine that does it. I walked in, and they did it in 30 seconds and said okay bye.

Share a time that someone served/blessed your life this week.–Wednesday, when we had to move that morning, right at 6:30, when we have to get up, the zone leaders were already up, knocked on the door and asked how they could help us move. That was pretty awesome.

Who won the prize for speaking the most Spanish this week, you or Elder Durbano?–We both did awful in all honesty so no one . . . It wasn’t that we weren’t speaking Spanish just not as much as we had planned. If we remember to speak it is actually pretty easy.

Favorite food to eat at the MTC?- Graham Canyon ice cream from BYU creamery, cereal, they order Papa Johns on Friday nights, and the sack lunch line sandwiches. Everything else here makes me pretty sad, especially any attempt at breaded and fried chicken . . . its a disgrace to Bojangles.

Share a moment/ time this week that your understanding has been broadened and enlightened- You (mom) and dad ask very similar questions. As I type this, I guess I realized that, just like it is painful to lift weights (I am a little sore from yesterday) to make you stronger, trials are hard and can be painful and make us stronger. Wow look at me I am so very wise 😉

Did you receive any helpful emails from friends this week?  – Got some emails from friends. I have sent the Book of Mormon to, saying that they would start reading it. I have no confirmation that they have, but either way it felt good that I had sent them.

What touched you most in your individual study?–Touched? I am going to interpret that as being something that I enjoyed because touched . . . I just do not get very “touched.” I really liked Alma 34:32 which says “For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.”I find it interesting how it says that it is a “day” because in Genesis it also says that creation took place in days, but obviously this life is more than a day. Rather, that a day means a period, and not all periods are the same. It also makes clear part of our purpose is to prepare to meet God, by being faithful to the commandments we have been given.

Did you learn any fun Spanish words?  Independientemente – independent or regardless of, it’s just kind of fun to say.

What clicked for you this week?- That I am on my mission, and that only partly.

Love,

Elder Tonkinson