MTC Week 6

2 Nephi 25:26

" And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for remission of their sins"

HOLA!

This week has gone by so fast! Seriously, this place is like Limbo! One day takes FOREVER and then it's been a week. I totally remember writing in my journal, "Its only been 2 days!" and now it's been 6 WEEKS! Insane.

Well first off I got the package! Thank you so much! I loved the scripture case! and I love all the other stuff! Thank you so much! It totally made my day. And I may or may not have secretly listened to Carrie Underwood right away...haha. But really! THANK YOU! I love getting packages cuz I feel like its a little piece of home. Oh and Mom remember when you called the clinic to pay for the shots?! Well, I WAS IN THE WAITING ROOM! When she hung up she called me over and was like, "Your mom loves you! I just talked to her on the phone!" So close but so far! But, I get to call you guys in 18 days! I'm so excited! They have call cards here for pretty cheap, so I'll buy some.

Sunday was great! That was so cool to hear that Dad got up and bore his testimony. The whole "airport scene" was so surreal, I'm glad that the ward got to hear about it. I just thought of it as leavin my earthly father and entering into my Heavenly fathers care. On sunday, we had mission conference and heard from 6 different people. The whole thing that I got from it was OBEDIENCE. Heavenly Father loves us so He gives us commandments to help us find happiness, and we obey cuz we love Heavenly Father. John 14:15 "If ye love me, keep my commandments" and were promised blessings by doing such! I'm so grateful for obedience because it's such an important lesson. We obey out of love! Everythings out of love!

So, this next week... WE DONT GET "DEAR ELDERS" until Thursday night! So tomorrows the last day I'll get em... hint, hint. The mail room is movin, so it's gunna be a little crazzyy. THANK YOU TO EVERYBODY THAT WRITES ME! I love getting mail! It always makes my day!

So, this past Saturday we had a sub teacher and we talked about what we want to get from our missions and how we plan on acheiving that. I said that I wanted to come back a better man, son, brother, and friend. She then asked me how I plan on acheiving it and I was kinda stumped. She then told us that in order to change, we have to invite love into our lives. We need to learn to love Heavenly Father, then people closest to us, then it's a domino effect from there. From then on I've tried treat my companion with love and look at everybody as Heavenly Father would look at them. It's definately a challenge because it has to be on the top of your mind ALL the time! But, I really have enjoyed it because you feel better, and they feel better! But First we have to develop our Love for Heavenly Father and Christ. I invite all you guys to try a little harder, to be a little better every day in the way you treat and look at other people!

So something that I haven't gotten to talk about is the Service that we do once a week for an hour. On Tuesdays, we wake up at 5:50 and have to go to another residencial hall and basically do chores! Haha from cleaning the bathrooms to vacuuming, to takin out the trash, we do chores! It's really early but it's also pretty fun! We just talk the whole entire time and clean! Pretty sweet!

This week in personal study I've studied a bunch of things but I've started to read the Book Of Mormon in spanish for 20 min a day. Our teacher said that if we do that, our comprehension and speaking abilities will improve and be mastered by 6 months! I think it's worth a try! I still am struggling with my R's. I blame my high pallet. But it's gunna take time, so it's all good. Other things that I've studied in personal study is the life of Christ! I started reading "Jesus the Christ" again and it's so great.

My spanish is comin along but it seems like I'm at a stand still, but I know I'm learning a little every day. We started learning about a new tense called SUBJUNCTIVE. It's pretty much insane. We realized that we need to use it like half the time we speak...haha so that should be interesting. But again...with time I know it will come.

The other suggestion that I have for you guys is to read 2 Nephi Chapters 31-33. Chapter 31 is called "The Doctrine of Christ." I love these chapters because they're very straight forward. I love how it says that we need to follow the example of Jesus Christ as best as we can! Another of my favorite verses that I found was 2 Nephi 25:26, " And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for remission of their sins". Christ is the center of the gospel! Just like he is the center of my name tag! It is only through Him that we find pure JOY! He provided the way!

I love you all so much! You're all awesome! I miss you so much! Oh and I decided when I get back I'm not goin to fall semester cuz I just want to be home. :) haha

And congrats to Adam Pulsipher! Chile will be great and spanish is the best! I can't even IMAGINE learning chinese or something. Props to Bro. Lundquist.

LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

Elder Hjelmstad

LOVE YOU! MISS YOU!!!