Goodbye MTC!

Well it has been a long 10 weeks, but I finally did it! I made it out of the MTC alive! haha wow though this week has been a blur. We have been so focused on leaving I don't really remember what happened. I just know that we have been working hard and trying to stay focused but the excitement is almost tangible. Today I leave for the Philippines and I don't know what it is going to be like. I am kind of nervous, but nothing can hold me back now. I can't believe it though. Well this week went on as usual as it could but like I said last week we had some special guests appear in our class. Tuesday though was an awesome P-day! That night after I sent my last blog entry, Jeffrey R. Holland came to speak to us again! I have seen that Elder TWICE here in the MTC! Man he is so cool! He basically gave his usual speech about how nobody loved their mission more than him and we need to find that passion for the work because he says "This is Real Life" dont think you are going to serve for two years and just come home to your normal life. Nothing is greater that God's work. He also said he and President Gordon B. Hinkley could not bare to live, seeing return missionaries come home and become inactive. He said, "You missed the point" you cannot go on a two year mission and come back without converting yourself or you missed the point of your mission. haha He than said that you would regret meeting him in a dark alley if you came back home from your mission with tattoos and a pony tail or something. haha I love the apostles I really understand now that they are called of God and Jeffrey R. Holland is just the man! Than Last wednesday the newly called MTC president for the Philippines stopped by our class and taught us a lesson to help his wife and him prepare and train. His wife gave a brief lesson and what she said really touched my heart. She asked, "what is God's greatest sign of love?" I for some reason thought of a hundred different things thinking this question has so much about it and all the different blessings he has given us. The answer though suprised me because of it's simplicity, she said "Jesus Christ, his Son." I kind of had a humbling moment about how simple the gospel is and like how Nephi says, "I glory in Plainess." It definitely was a good experience to have that click in my head ... maybe a little later than hoped for but, That is a very important truth I think we should all know. Anyways afterwards The president, who's name I cannot remember, gave us a discussion about the Doctrine of Christ. Wow though, this guy used to be a big time lawyer and also I guess he trained the coast guards or something so he would shoot questions at us like gun fire. Wow I couldn't answer a single one of them because before I or anyone in my district could say anything, he would ask another one! But eventually his discussion lead to this, The doctrine of Christ consists of: Faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost. Through that we build our temple is what he said. It basically meant, that is what we need to do to work towards temple covenants. After temple covenants we stay on that strait and narrow path and endure to the end. It was very good and he explained it way better than what I just wrote. But ... yeah I can't post the picture he drew either so haha SORRY! Anyways the next day was kind of stressful because the ambassdor of the Philippines for the U.N. and Richard G. Hinkley was supposed to come to our class. When they showed up only the Ambassador and his wife showed up. i was a little sad that Ricahrd G. Hinkley didn't come but that is ok because the Ambassador was such a funny man. He was like 5 foot 3 and he was kind of blunt. Haha I guess that is the culture there, reminds me of my parents. Anyways he told us as Long as we are honest and ourselves, the filipino's would love us! He didn't even know Tagalog that well though haha he spoke a different dialect. Anyways it was way cool to see him and an honor. I can't wait to meet TONS OF FILIPINOS SOON! Well Monday night was emotional for me. I said goodbye to a lot of my good friends, some of my future best friends probably. We are leaving a day later so I said goodbye to my whole zone except 8 of us in our district. It was harder than I thought to say goodbye to them. I served for 10 weeks with the Elders who were a major role in my conversion and now they are gone. I hope we stay in touch! But I love this work and I will sacrifice my time with those people so that people can be as happy as I am knowing that God is our Heavenly Father, Jesus is the son of God and our Redeemer. Also I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I can't wait to give that challenge to people so they can come to know for themselves the things I know are true. Well this is my last entry in the MTC! THE END MTC!!