2012.09.25 email

Dear Home,

Lot's to go over today, and I know there's no physical way to get to it all. So, I'll make a list of topics first, and fill them in as I have time. Some will have to wait for the letter.

MTC life: Tricks of the trade (This will definitely wait)

Priesthood Blessings
So, with all the illnesses going around, we've been trying to give each other Blessings more. A while back I helped with an anointing, and a couple days ago I gave a blessing to my companion. May I just say, I forgot how good that power felt. It's different than how you normally feel the spirit. It's moving; You can physically feel it channeling through you. Before my mission, I grew to have a very powerful testimony about Priesthood Blessings. But coming out here, and being able to give one as an active representative of Christ, with His Authority, there's no describing it. Words come to you that you can't explain, and you'll later be told that they're exactly what they needed to hear. You'll promise blessings and see them fulfilled.  That happened even before I came out here, but the words come faster here. They feel natural. I've missed being able to give blessings. The spirit that you feel afterward is incredible, and it takes a long time to go away.

New Districts
These guys are intense. Day three, they were asking about one of the most complicated forms we've got. Ambitious fellows, that's for sure. We told them some tricks for vocab that we've learned, and within the hour they were using them in their language study. Looks like I'll have to work a lot harder to make sure I'll be able to help these guys. Luckily I've been finding some great ways to study. The trick is to pick out what you want to study, then save it for the next day so you have the whole day to work on it. For vocab, it works wonders.

TRC experiences
This one isn't actually mine, it's Elder Quist's and Elder Gerszewski's. My companion's and my TRC lesson was good too, and I was able to recite the first vision for the first time-- really felt the spirit through that-- but theirs was incredible. Three non members came, and they were teaching them. It started off as normal, but pretty soon they realized that they weren't understanding what they taught, and one of them got the impression that they needed to start over. They had a RM there who was able to help interpret a little, but they went back and retaught the first lesson from the beginning, ending with their testimonies about the Book of Mormon. By the end of it, they didn't have the chance to ask them to take a copy of the Book of Mormon, the investigators were asking /them/. Pretty awesome. They were bouncing off the walls the entire day afterward, with good reason. I knew those two were going to be great, and I know it was no accident that they were paired off with the people they taught.

Sunday
Temple Dedication: Brigham City
Second one I've been to, and I've loved them every time. I think they might explain why The Spirit of God was always my favorite song back in primary. Powerful stuff.

It's hard to follow up on what happened Saturday at TRC, but I got a pretty big shock on Sunday. Brother Perriton asked to speak with me after District Meeting, and asked me if I would be willing to serve as the new District Leader for our district. Between Elder Quist and Elder Forbes, I've got some big shoes to fill, but I'll do what I can. Unfortunately, this also means I'll have no time for the next three weeks, so these letters (I've got to write about eight or so) will be rough. Our district is incredible though, I'm not even joking when I say ours is the closest district here. We've seen the others, and ours is the most family-like out of any I've seen. It'll be hard to say goodbye to these guys...

Teachers
Almost out of time, so I'll wrap up with this. First off, one thing I wanted to mention was that one of our teachers reminds me so much of Miriam. If she spoke Korean-- have I wrote about this already? This feels very familiar... Anyway-- I could see her being a lot like her. Very fun personality.

The other teacher, Brother Perersen, is a thick book to read. I'll write more later, but we've been trying to discover the secret life of Petersen for weeks. (If you want to Facebook stalk Thomas Shiloh Petersen and let me know what you find, that'd be crazy. We tried it with my companion's brother-- he works at gym--, but facebook wasn't working) But we all want to impress him. He's a kid genius when it comes to Korean.

Best moment ever: Getting a testimony I wrote back, and getting a compliment from him when I altered a form he gave us to share scriptures so that I could talk about Joseph smith.

Anyway, times up, but thanks for everything! Sorry no pictures today, but I need all the time for writing I can get. Love you! I'll get that letter in the mail soon!

~Elder Robarts.