Today is my last day in the MTC. It has been good. The only thing I will miss about the MTC, however, will be my teachers. They have been great and I'm sad to leave them. Also, being with my district and branch. I have loved all of them as well.
I have had many great experiences since I've been here and I've had my testimony solidified. I have grown so close to my Father in Heaven and to my Savior, Jesus Christ.
I am ready to get out there and get started. I know it is going to be really difficult. But, it will be so rewarding to just work and focus on other peoples' needs for awhile.
For our Sunday devotional last week, Brother and Sister Taylor spoke to us. He was the Philippines' MTC president for the last few years. They spent half of the time telling us all about the Philippines. It was cool. My district felt like their message was just for us, though it may have been somewhat applicable to all of the other missionaries there. Sister Debra Taylor is an amazing individual. She once traveled to Zimbabwe because she felt like she needed to learn about humility or something. She also mentioned that she has served with Mothers Without Borders. She and her husband bore great testimonies. His was classically prepared. He used a lot of emotion in his speech and he quoted from a lot of Isaiah verses. It was pretty cool to hear.
On Tuesday, we had Elder David F. Evans of the seventy speak to us along with his wife, sister Mary Evans. He was awesome. He talked about the progression of revelation on missionary work that has happened in the last year. First, with President Thomson's call for more missionaries and the age change. Then they had revelation to guide them in all the steps that needed to be taken to handle the influx of missionaries. They created 58 new missions this past year where normally they only create about 4 new ones per year. They changed the number of missionaries in each mission. There used to be a maximum of about 250 and now that is about the minimum. They reduced the amount of time each missionary spends in the MTC. They opened the MTC in Mexico which he said has been a huge blessing. And finally, another important revelation has been the creation of sister missionary training leaders. I guess they didn't used to have these. They are like zone leaders but are assigned to watch over the sisters. This is a blessing because zone leaders can't exactly take care of the needs of the sisters like sister training leaders can.
Probably the coolest part about his talk was his telling about the general authority meetings that occurred before last October's conference. I will paraphrase what was said for you:
He said that Elder Holland taught a class about the doctrine of Christ. (How cool would that be to sit in on a lesson that Elder Holland shares with all of the other Apostles!) Elder Evan's said that afterwards Elder Holland came up to him and expressed how he felt he had not done as good of a job as he hoped and that he felt unsure of how he exactly delivered his address. I just thought that was a funny thought.
The next day, they gathered again for more talks and lessons. This time Elder Eyring got up to speak. He told them how Elder Holland had provoked him to study the doctrine of Christ again in 2 Ne 31. He said he realized that the doctrine of Christ is really an expression of love between father and Son. Throughout the scriptures, Christ always references the Father, and whenever you hear the Father speak in the scriptures He always expresses His love for His son. I thought this was a powerful realization and it shows how much love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ possess for each other. They are one in purpose.
President Eyring also said he read on through the book of Jacob as well. He said he noticed something new about the allegory of the olive trees in Jacob 5. He noticed that all of the servants of the Lord up until the last one had asked for more time to do the work they needed to do. The last servant, however, calls for more servants instead of more time. The next day was when President Monson made his announcement. Cool huh?
Today and tomorrow will be very busy for me. I have to finish packing, do laundry, write a talk, and work on composing an accompaniment on the piano for a choir piece that my district will be singing tomorrow in sacrament meeting. I also will be going to the temple today and then I have class. I have confidence that Heavenly Father hears my prayers and will help me this day. One thing that I've gained a testimony of in the MTC is miracles. Miracles happen for me as I exercise faith in God and His ability to bless me. It really does work. He really does love us and desires to bless us. His ability to bless us, however, is conditional upon us asking Him. As we grow our faith, we will have the power to work miracles. I know this is true. The gospel contains all happiness. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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