I am like a star shining brightly

Me and Elder Jeppsen about to FEAST on Thanksgiving

Elder Larsen, Elder Bake, Elder Jeppsen and I.
These are the Elders I live with. Love them to death.

The district saying goodbye to Elder McDougal when he left for the Colombia MTC.
My companion is Elder Bake in the green shirt.

So this morning I found out I actually won't be leaving the MTC on the 9th anymore, but instead on the 16th which bummed me out for a while. But I haven't got my Visa yet anyways so they probably would have just temporarily reassigned me anyways so it's okay. Also today was unbelievably gorgeous in Provo so us and another district had a 2 hour game of kickball with Elder Jeppsen's huge exercise ball which made it pretty hard but it was still the funnest thing ever. Despite my 3 HR's my team lost 16-17 but we demanded a rematch for next week. So that basically got me over the tiny slump I got in after finding out I was being delayed. (again)

So much happened this week again with Thanksgiving and also Mission Conference so i'll try to fit as much as I can.

Tuesday-  Brother Michael John Teh came in and gave us a devotional about consecrating our minds (sort of a theme for me this week) which I loved. He talked about how the more we understand the Atonement the more we will want to spread the Gospel, which I've found to be very true for myself, and also related Ammon's mission to ours. After Ammon became healed through the atonement and converted to the Gospel he had a strong desire to take his testimony to the Lamanites. He gave up his the throne to his father's kingdom to serve a mission because he wanted so badly to share the happiness he found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He left it all behind, just like we have to leave a lot behind to serve missions. However almost right away on his mission, the things Ammon left behind had followed him. King Lamoni offers him to marry one of his daughters and be an heir to his kingdom. Now it probably would have been pretty easy to rationalize that he deserved it, or that it would help him preach the Gospel. But because Ammon's mind was consecrated to his mission and to  the Lord, he instead told the King that he wanted to be servant and went on to be everybody's favorite missionary in the Book of Mormon.  I liked this so much because it's true, many of the things we leave behind follow us on our missions and can be a distraction or an obstacle in keeping the promise we made to devote all our time talents and thoughts to our missions while we're here. The change to becoming a missionary doesn't come all at once. Some of it needs to take place before you leave but a lot of it takes tons of effort and relying on the Atonement everyday on the mission to get to the point where your mind is soley consecrated to your calling. So this week as I've thought about that, I've felt the weight of what seems impossible expectations to get to that point where I'm always only thinking about my investigators and my mission. But I've slowly come to realize that I  just have to improve a little bit each day and have enough faith in Christ that He can help me change! That's another thing we've focused on this week is the Atonement. It's more than just the chance to be cleansed of our sins, but the Atonement is what allows us to change and become more like Christ. It also has made me realize how much more I can use and rely on the Atonement to become a better missionary and a more Christlike person.

Thursday- Russel M Nelson spoke to us on Thanksgiving morning which was great but I don't have much time to get into it. It was a lot about who should be working with in the wards we'll serve in. Also we did a HUGE service project which was AWESOME. It was through a non LDS group called Feed Children Everywhere, basically we made over 350,000 bags of instant soup mix for starving kids which is easily and literally over 1,000,000 meals. I'm sure you can google it and read more about it if you want but it was so awesome to see what a force us missionaries are. There were only just over 1,000 or so missionaries here on that day and we turned the cafeteria from a Thanksgiving feast into a soup factory and back into a cafeteria in a few hours. I've never seen a work get done so fast or seen a group of people so eager to help. And then if you take that workforce and multiply it by 80  you can start to understand the force that is hastening the work (80,000 current missionaries). I also ate tonnnnns of turkey but truly and deeply missed showing up my Dad at the Turkeybowl. :(

Sunday- At mission conference the MTC Presidency talked a lot about Christ and Christmas and it really made me wish I could go back and be in the Woodridge Nativity again. That was such an amazing experience that I'm super thankful for but I'm realizing I took it for granted and probably most enjoyed feeding the goats carrots and cheese. It also made me more excited for Christmas than I've ever been! One thing that really stuck with me was Sister Trost talked about the Christmas Star that the Wise men and shepherds and everybody else saw. She talked about how God had to have very carefully placed that star into orbit in the beginning of time so that on the exact day Christ was born it could testify of the Messiah's birth to the whole world. What an important job that little (idk why I like to think of it as a little star but oh well) star had to do! But as I thought about it I thought about how I (and each of us) are like that little star. God has carefully placed us here on Earth at a specific time to do a specific job. And I'm just super excited to think that everything I've ever done has prepared me to go to Mexico and share my testimony and carry out the job my Heavenly Father has for me. And now that I'm writing this all out I just realized it's a primary song "I am like a star shining brightly." Whatever! I'm excited to be that star and shine and testify of Christ to Hermosillo!

Big S/O to my new baby cousin Kai! Congrats Natalie and Shane!

S/o to Chloe and Quinn (and everyone else who did) for writing me

Anti-Shout out to Carter!!!

Sadly I don't really have anymore time! There was actually tons of funny stuff that happened this week but I decided to finally figure out how to upload pictures and that took some time so if you want to hear about them then just write me...i'll be here for a whole two more weeks -____-

Love and miss you all

Elder Mitchell

Meeting baby Zach!

Hola hola hola.

This past week at the MTC has been great! My Spanish has improved a ton and time here is just flying by. Less than two weeks and i'll be on a plane to Mexico! I still have tons to learn but i'm super excited. A few highlights from this week include running into Travis and Laree this morning at Brigham Square so I got to see baby Zach (adorable) and Mason and Hallie. 

Also Elder Jeppsen's girlfriend wrote me a letter and not him so I got to rub that in his face all week (I did feel pretty bad for him though). Me and Elder Jeppsen also like to make cat/wolf/animal noises during volleyball gym time (its hilarious) which used to sort of freak out the people who don't know us, but everybody is slowly starting to accept us.

Also me and some Elders from the district had another little adventure up to main campus where we got to welcome and help some really cool missionaries from Australia! They told us all about Koalas and Crocodiles and life down under and they even knew these 3 kids I went to EFY with 6 years ago from Australia. They also told us lots of lies about Kangaroos Races and Drop Bears but I didn't fall for those. Obviously welcoming in the new district was great and it was awesome to catch up with Elder Hamilton. It is always sad to have a district leave and I'm especially going to miss some of the missionaries from the one that just left this morning! I thought the goodbyes ended once you left on a mission but I was totally wrong! A ton of people were sick in our zone this week also but I was lucky enough to stay healthy through it all and it was a great opportunity to serve others!

Tuesday Marcos A. Aidukaitis gave a great devotional about "Making the big decision" or choosing TODAY which Kingdom of Heaven you want to inherit. And once you've chosen that you want to inherit the Celestial Kingdom every other decision becomes easier. Like when we're having a terrible day on the mission and we want to punch our companion (sort of experienced that this week :) you don't, because you've already decided you want the CK. This made me think of how in Lacrosse I always had the goal of winning state or nationals and when things were hard at practice or whatever you let your goal motivate you to work harder and get better. However the nice thing is life isn't a competition, there isn't only one team that can win or a designated number of spots in Heaven.The more I thought about this the happier it made me! Because losing sucks! I thought about how hard I had worked to win, and how hard everybody works to win and about how devastated I was after losing at State in HS and at Nationals last year and it is so wonderful to think that you don't have to compete with anybody for your spot in Heaven. This also took me back to the quote I really liked about Jesus not being competitive. 

Thursday me and my companion and a few issues (which are all resolved now) but that made that day pretty tough. I love Elder Bake though and I was able to learn quite a bit from that experience and I'm sure the mission will get a million times harder and i'll have companions much harder to get a long with! Anyways I found some scriptures that really helped me out that day. (The scriptures are good at that.) So Alma 26:12-16 reads... 

12 Yea, I know that I am ^anothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will ^bnot boast of myself, but I will ^cboast of my God, for in his ^dstrength I can do all ^ethings; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

 13 Behold, how many thousands of our brethren has he loosed from the pains of ahell; and they are brought to bsing redeeming love, and this because of the power of his word which is in us, therefore have we not great reason to rejoice?

14 Yea, we have reason to praise him forever, for he is the Most High God, and has loosed our brethren from the achains of hell.

 15 Yea, they were encircled about with everlasting adarkness and destruction; but behold, he has brought them into his everlasting blight, yea, into everlasting salvation; and they are encircled about with the matchless bounty of his love; yea, and we have been instruments in his hands of doing this great and marvelous work.

16 Therefore, let us aglory, yea, we will bglory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his cmercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.

Which is essentially Alma giving a powerful testimony of the greatness of God and of how awesome missionary work is. However only a couple verses later we read that things always weren't so great for Alma on the mission... (This happened before the success of his mission that he was boasting in the Lord about)

 27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to^aturn back, behold, the Lord ^bcomforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with ^cpatience thine^dafflictions, and I will give unto you success.

Things were tough for Alma. He wasn't always having tons of success and at one point he even wanted to go home and what was the Lord's response? Go amongst thy brethern and bear with patience thine afflictions and I will give unto you success. Things aren't always easy, they aren't ever going to be always easy and they aren't supposed to be always easy. But the Lord knows exactly what we're going through and is waiting just on the other side of our trial waiting to bless us! 

A few thoughts from this week I really liked:

"Hope is the anchor of our souls, hope is trust in God's promises, faith that if we act now, the desired blessings will be fulfilled in the future."

"The milk of your mission will tickle your tongue" Elder Jeppsen

"Don't compare yourself to others, compare yourself to the best person you could be"

"If you're having a problem it's not about the problem at all, it's about the attitude you're having about the problem." Jack Sparrow

"If you're having a bad day it's because you're making your mission about you!"- David A. Bednar

S/o to Derrick Rose ;(

S/o to Mama and Caitlin for sending me packages

If anybody writes me I have really cool stickers to decorate my letters with :)

John 16:33- We can always be optimistic

John 15:15- Jesus calls us his friends (maybe already shared this)

Galatians 5:13- just read it 

3 Nephi 12:6- Stay thirsty my friends

There's so much more I wish I could say but i'm out of time!

I miss and love you all so much!

I'm really going to miss being home for Thanksgiving but this is where the Lord wants me!

Con amor,

Elder Mitchell

I knew you were trouble when you walked in

The days here are super long but the weeks just fly by! I can´t believe I´ve already been here almost two weeks. So many cool things happen everyday I can barely fit them all into my journal at night and I can only fit like 5% of that into my email time! So here we go

Despite my best efforts to be obedient and set a good example for the zone (Yes I am trying very hard) I kept getting in trouble this week! First a random ¨maestra¨ was in our computer language study room (Its like a Mormon Rosetta Stone) and she reprimanded me for speaking English...but I was just explaining to another Elder who needed help, so that sort of upset me. Then the cafeteria boss lady got super mad at me for leaving my backpack under the stairs ( I left it under the stairs because I knew we werent supposed to to bring them inside and there were already tons of them under there) and started accusing me of ´¨trying to hide something¨´ and threatened to call MTC Police and my Branch Prez (Uhhh what) (Obviously talked my way out of that) but this also upset me. And later I was speaking some spanish with another elder, using some of the ´¨dichos´¨ the native Mexican Elders taught me during volleyball gym time...(all I said was ´"Que tal, Way?") when an eavesdropping ¨´maestra´¨ reprimanded me for using terms inappropriate for missionaries or something idk she was talking really fast so i barely understood her. But after all this I was feeling pretty down because I'm really trying to do my best to follow the rules and be a good missionary and everything but I just kept getting yelled at randomly. I told Hermano Opoate (MY maestro)  about this and he taught me a pretty good lesson. He said that I shouldnt be upset with myself or any of these women because they don't know the intentions of my heart. My Heavenly Father knows if I am trying to do my best and what my intentions are so I shouldn't take any offense from these people who don't know me and are just trying to do their job. After talking with I felt so much better. Almost like I got a big ole hug from my Heavenly Father. Hermano Opoate is such an amazing teacher I learn tons and tons from him all day. So much more then just Spanish. But what a blessing it is to have a Heavenly Father who knows our name (in the scriptures He is always calling people and prophets by name, Moses my son, Samuel Samuel, Adam, Joseph, ect..) what makes us happy, what makes us angry and knows just what we need and knows who we can become. God truly knows us, understands us and loves us perfectly. 

Despite getting in a little bit of trouble, this week was still awesome! L. Tom Perry came and gave a devotional on Tuesday night which I showed up to 3 hours early to so I could sing in the choir, got kicked out of choir (too many people) and (long story short) ended up being a bodyguard for L. Tom Perry (sort of) but yeah that was pretty awesome. He gave a great talk about the importance of companionships which personally helped me a ton! Also this week we kept teaching "Ruby" which was sometimes very hard but my spanish is getting better and better and I always learn so much from her. Also a district from our zone left the MTC yesterday which was pretty sad to say goodbye to them. We all sang "God be with you till we meet again" in Spanish and it was the coolest thing. I am starting to love the Spanish language  and love singing, praying, and everything in it. I got to bless the sacrament in Spanish too that was cool.

A few funny things that happened.. Tuesday inbetween classes two huge Samoan Hermanas robbed us of all our candy. They asked for some and then just took all of it. When we went back to class Opoate made us repeat "Hermana, NO" ten times and said it was a very important spanish phrase. Thursday: All week Elder Jeppsen had been making me check the mail (DL responsibility) like 4x a day because he hadn't heard from his GF yet. So I decided to write him a fake letter from her and when he got it he was screaming and jumping on my back trying to get it from me and then was almost crying when he found out it was from me. It sounds pretty mean but he laughed about it. Elder Jeppsen and I get along really well and I love him a ton. Friday: To make a really long story really short Elder Jeppsen tackled me into our bathtub and my suit got all soapy so it has to be dry cleaned now. Everyday: Playing vball with the mexicans is sooo funny and I have learned so much smack talk in Spanish already it's awesome! I laugh so much here sometimes I think I'm doing something wrong. 

A few thoughts and scriptures to share from this week:

"Jesus was NOT competitive" Mary Ellen Edmonds (Gave an AMAZING talk yesterday)

"When you're in the service of the Lord you can not keep up with his blessings"- E. Perry

"When you do the very best you can do heaven sends help to do the things you can't" Sis Edmonds

 "Smile and make the world wonder why" idk

Matthew 5:44 - scripture for the haters

Luke 22: 42,43 - even Jesus asked for help

Acts 17:27- The Lord is never far

Matthew 19:29- Blessings coming my way, holla

D&C 100: 5-8 Power of the Holy Ghost (classic missionary scripture)

And S/o to BYU Lax for winning Best of The West in Vegas! I heard you played great Jarby

S/o to everyone who wrote me this week, getting anything in the mail is tons of fun. PLZ keep writing!!!

Spoiler Alert- Elder (Duncan) Hamilton is entering the MTC on Wed and will be in my zone!! SOoo excited for that!

Two things that I find in everything I learn-

Love love love everyone

Be more like Christ

I'm being blessed out of my mind right now

I love you all so much and miss you

I love my calling and I love my Savior

Pray 4 me plz

Ustedes me laten,

Elder Mitchell

SEND YOUR LOVE 2 the MTC

There are a few ways you can write to McKay while he is in the Missionary Training Center.

1) Dear Elder. This is SUPER EASY and FREE. Just select Provo West MTC and enter unit 812,  mission code MEX-HER, and estimated departure date DEC16. Also, they probably think his name is Travis, so enter that for his first name. Just type your letter, send it off, and it will be printed and delivered to McKay the same day.

2) The old-fashioned way. There really is nothing like receiving a hand-written letter. It can't be beat! Send letters and packages/Slab pizza to the following address:

Elder Travis McKay Mitchell
DEC16 MEX-HER
2023 N 900 E Unit 812
Provo UT 84602

3) E-mail! McKay's missionary e-mail address is travis.mitchell@myldsmail.net.

Thanks in advance for all your love and support. I will post McKay's weekly e-mail here for all the world to read.