An Enchanted Moment

Until today I was the only one in the district who had not heard from the Travel Office but this morning I got scheduled to go to Vegas on Thursday to visit the Mexican Consolate for my Visa and then I'll leave for Hermosillo next Monday. I love the MTC but I´m pretty excited to leave! 

This week I got my haircut and She cut off some hair and asked me if it was short enough and I said "Mmm yeah I think so" and then for some reason she shaved off all of my hair. And she didn't thin it out so now it's really short and poofy and it always looks like I just woke up from a nap. Oh well. I'll probably just want to shave it once I'm in Mexico where it's like 70 or 80 degrees. (It's been freeeezing here in Provo) 

Also this week I set a lot of very specific goals for myself. I've been praying a lot for God to help me have more charity, obedience, focus and patience...but I started wondering how exactly He was going to help me be better with these things. So I decided if I set some daily goals that would help me be more patient, focused, obedient and charitable, God would be able to help me in my goals. Sort of following the principle from James 2:26 faith without works is dead. 

Also this week I did some intense scripture study. Everyday I come to love the scriptures more and more. I read a ton of Paul from Acts and Romans, trying to learn how I can teach better. (He was like the best missionary) Also I read a lot about John the Baptist and how he helped prepare the way for Jesus- by ministering and preaching right before him, teaching several of the original 12 apostles many things and then baptizing Jesus. I think he was probably one of the most humble people ever. He saw his influence and following disappear once Jesus' ministry began and some of his followers ended up becoming apostles while he was thrown in jail and killed. So in a lot of different ways that could have been really hard! But John was very very humble through it all. He did minister to 3 different dispensations though which is pretty cool! Also I've been reading the Book of Mormon just starting with the beginning and it's just awesome. I really wish I had more diligent scripture study before my mission, there isn't a single thing in our lives the scriptures can't help us with. 

I've been teaching my "investigators" here at the MTC that because we're children of our Heavenly Father, he loves us, and because he loves us he has given us scriptures with commandments, words of prophets, and guidance- to help us be happier here on earth and gain eternal salvation so we can return to live with Him. And it is so true. My testimony of this is strengthened each time I open the Bible and the Book of Mormon. 

Also a substitute teacher told us Hermosillo is nick named Hornosillo... Horno means oven in Spanish, so that was nice to hear.

Acts 21:13- Trying to get on Paul's level

D&C 123:12-13- Another inspiring scripture about missionary work

Moroni 7:45-48- Just a great scripture, v.48 is like the most beautiful thing ever

S/o to the Robertsons for the advent calender and also to everybody who helped. It is so much fun to check everyday! I love it!

S/o to the guy in the white truck blasting Hoodie Allen at Brigham's Landing this morning, that was a real treat. 

And a real quick story from this week: Thursday night my roommate Elder Jeppsen cut up his fleece bathrobe to make himself a pair of sweats (because it is so cold) and I didn't really believe he could do it. But it was actually working and I became inspired to try and do the same, so I had a bit of a Giselle (Enchanted) moment where I cut up my bed sheets and sewed myself a new dress shirt. I didn't really know what I was doing because I've never sewed before, and because I didn't have any sewing supplies but I cut up my flat sheet with a pair of scissors and unraveled some thread out of it and used a pocket knife to cut holes and as a needle for my  home made thread. I messed up pretty bad on the collar but overall it was decent. Me and Elder Jeppsen wore our new home made clothes (he also made a vest out of bed sheets) to our service project the next day to show them off to the zone and everybody was really impressed/confused/laughing except the Wyview faculty, who recognized their sheets. I avoided most of the trouble but I admitted it to our Branch President who mostly just laughed and was also impressed with our ingenuity and sewing skills but I might have some damages to pay for. Oh well. 

But other than that my goals have been helping me focus! hahaha whoops

Love and miss you all,

Elder Mitchell

Ps I won't get to check mail next Sunday or Monday so if you want to send me something send it early this week!

Pss Go Bears

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