September 19, 2012

hola familia. como estan? the things i need that i can think of. i want a new copy of my patriarchal blessing. on the back page of the copy i have now the first line or 2 got cut off. next, i kind of want you to send me my backpack. that would be so nice and helpful for traveling because i have at least 10 pounds of books to take with me to panama that i didnt have when flying here so if i could throw those in my backpack and take a carry on too that would be great. also, maybe and ipod with lots of church music and some small speakers. i really enjoy church music now. we arent allowed to listen to music at all in the mtc cuz every mission is different but having that would be nice so i dont have to hear myself sing anymore. thats awesome to hear about grandma, i actually put her name in at the temple i think 2 weeks ago. id never done that before so i did. hopefully thats alright. this week... what did i even do? i can hardly remember. all the days blur together and while in it it seems long but looking back on the week it goes by so fast. hows my spanish? its ok! im not too frustrated with it. i know im not that good at it but it will only come with practice. we are actually completely done with all the language lessons and principles, we finished that up monday. so now its review and the opportunity to go over what ever we want. i love my teachers here at the mtc. hermano warburton is awesome and loves being with us and helping us out. and hermano roberts looks like hes 16 and is probably the goofiest person ever. he told us the other day how sometimes he will be sitting in sacrament meeting daydreaming about jedi battles(we were talking about importance of sacrament and recieving revelation through church attendance). my best teaching experience this week, was last saturday with Edgar(hermano warburton) and we went in and decided to sing an opening song and so we sang Señor, Te Necesito. me and my companion are not that good at singing and i kind of have to take the lead if we sing which is scary because im bad. anyway, we sand and had him follow along and we got to like the 2nd line of the 2nd verse and i sang the first verse again on accident and my companion just stopped and started laughing so i didnt even know what was going and then i realized and held it under composure and switched back to the right verse and we went on singing and finished and the spirit was definitely brought through the song. it was perfect for edgar and after we taught him, at the end of the lesson he said "wow during that song you guys sang at the beginning i felt something that i really liked." it was awesome and a good testimony of how the spirit can be brought through hymns as well. its my new personal goal to sing an opening song at all appointments. we had a charla fogonera sunday night with w. tracy watson who is the proselyting director of all missionaries and was the mission pres in mesa a couple of years ago. his topic was the BoM and it was really interesting. he showed us a clip from that play, The Book of Mormon on broadway. it was interesting. it started off really catchy with a missionary knocking on someones door. the missionaries name, Elder Price. so i obviously laughed and so did my whole district and we were sitting about 4 rows back of the speaker and he was not laughing at all. the song then kept going and it was poking fun of mormon missionaries and it was just pretty disrespectful. many people were offended but i was more kind of just glad for the opportunity i have to show people we arent like that. anyway, this play swept the tony awards and is huge. what i got from the speaker was that in a way its almost been a blessing because when the play hit broadway the church paid for that huge jumbo tron in times square and put the Im a mormon things everywhere. in taxis, on sides of taxis, lining the whole insides of taxis. basically all over new york. he told us that the missionaries became overnight celebrities and everyone wanted this book of mormon. all stores in new york city were back ordered on book of mormons an they just couldnt have enough for how many people wanted them. and now the play is about to go to LA too because it was so big and in the playbill(he showed us) the makers of the play called the church and asked them if they wanted pages in the playbill for this play making fun of the missionaries. the church obviously accepted and put in 3 full page Im a Mormon ads. the best one they put was Alex Boye the singer with a huge smile on his face and at the bottom it says "The book is always better!" the speaker went on to say that this isnt "the time of the mormons" as some refer to it because of the elections and the play, but it is the fulfilling of prophecy. thats so true and im blessed to be a part of it. we can become closer to Jesus and our Heavenly father by reading the bom then we can by doing anything else and i know this because i have seen it in my life even just here in the mtc. this morning i finished the BoM again here in the mtc and i love it. im really gaining a love for it. in english and spanish. its awesome and i challenge each of you to read 5 pages a day from it. if you read 5 pages everyday for 2 years you can finish it around 7 times in 2 years. do it. I love the gospel and it is so awesome. i dont know where i would be without it. it answers all my doubts and concerns in life and gives me peace in my life. im so lucky to be a missionary even though at times it is hard and i dont think i can go on. a scripture i came across in my reading this last week was mormon 6;17. go read it its awesome. it hit me because it says "how could ye have rejected that Jesus, who stood with open arms to recieve you" that one fires me up. How can we possibly reject Jesus who is perfect and is just waiting for us with his arms open waiting for us to come and give him a hug or hang onto him. he will guide our steps in all that we do and we need to take that step into the dark and trust that he is standing just beyond the darkness waiting for us. so, i am expecting my travel plans anyday now. my expected departure date is october 2. thats crazy. less than 2 weeks! ill let you guys know for sure by next wednesday when i leave! im excited and nervous! yesterday like my best friends from the mtc left. elder clark and elder medeiros. theyre serving in slc-s spanish speaking so they had about a 30 minute ride to their mission home. they were awesome and helped me alot in the MTC! i love you guys and pray for you guys. thanks for the prayers and everything, i feel them. elder adam price