Hey yeah its my P-day! First one in 10 days, and boy do I
need it! There is seriously no free time. Practically every minute is planned
out, and if it isn't they teach you to fill it with something! Planning
planning planning! There is a lot of it. But its good! My teacher said if you
have free time you can go ahead and write "SATAN'S TIME!" in all of
those spots! lol But anyway, sometimes when doing language study on the
computer we can look at videos on lds.org so I will definitely look at that
link you sent me mom.
[Note: The video he references is called, "Need
answers?
https://www.lds.org/youth/video/origin?lang=eng ]
And about the temple. That so great! [He was commenting on a
visit to the temple that his Mom went on with some other sisters in the ward]
so I wish I could be going as much as we did at home while I’m here but sadly
it’s not the case! The temple will be closed for a month for cleaning after
this Saturday, but luckily we will be able to go today on our p-day. I’m so
excited. You have no idea of how many times I have thought of our times in the
temple together, Mom! I miss that already! All the elders in my district miss
the temple a lot too. We talk about it a lot.
Thank you so much for all of your letters and the package!
like I said, I love them so much and they bring a huge smile to my face every
time no matter what they say!
So here is my full on update: here we go…
So 10 days in the MTC and guess what I am soooooo tired!
When we had our first class (1st day) our teacher only talked to us in
Portuguese. He speaks more English with us now but still they are always
speaking in Portuguese to help us get better at understanding it. It was
soooooo frustrating at first but now I see how much it helped. By the third day
we were teaching a lesson to an "investigator" all in Portuguese! It
was horrible the first time but we had 3 more lessons to go with in that week.
It made it even harder because we had to work together as a tri companionship.
After our second lesson, we had Elder Houston join our district because his
visa hasn’t gone through so he was pair up with elder Woodall for the next 2
weeks which I was fine with because Elder Gardner and I get along great and he
helps me out a lot. So the next 2 lessons went a lot better. On that first
lesson with just us two, I still had everything written out but we still had a
lot more time to teach her and she wasn’t getting what we were trying to teach
here very well. So I attempted baring my testimony without my notes. It was
very amazing but i did it! I bore testimony way better than I ever thought I
could have. And it got even better when I taught her about Joseph Smith in our
last lesson. Even though it was a pretend investigator I could tell the spirit
was there as I taught of the First Vision. It was so cool! I know that the Lord
is helping me even though I felt like he wasn’t that first few days. I just had
to have faith. :)
Also to answer some of the questions I was asked in some of
your letters home. I am indeed living on the MTC main campus, and I am so glad.
My whole building is learning Portuguese. SOOOOOO many people are not able to
get their visas for Brazil! Its crazy! But also cool to relate to so many
people here. And the broadcast was sooo great! It was too late to be in the
choir but it was so cool to be in there as they practiced for it. We had to be
there in our seats like an hour and a half early. It was so amazing to see all
of the apostles come walking in and how everyone just got so quiet and stood
up! It was like the spirit came in like a wave with them! AMAZING! Elder
Baitman, another Elder that I am really close to in my district (from
Oklahoma), and I were freaking out together when we saw Elder Holland and waved
to all of us missionaries! haha But yeah it was so cool to see that broadcast
and be a missionary at this time. All of the mission presidents have been here
all week for training, which has been really cool too.
Oh and Dad, even though google translate didn’t do the best
job, I actually understood a good part of your letter! haha The language is
sooooooo hard for me but I am slowly picking it up and I know it will come.
Thank you to all those who have written me, it is impossible
to write you all back because I seriously have no time other than this short
time on the computer and a few minutes at night before 10:30. So thank you to
Kaycee Sorenson, Momma Edwards, Uncle Russ, Aunt Julie and Uncle Jeff, Gma and
Gpa Landon and Swalberg. And the packages from Tella and Sister Barber! And of
course the many letters and dear elders from you Mom and Dad! I have loved
every one! Thank you, thank you, thank you! It means the world to me,
seriously! So don’t stop! haha
Well I forgot my SD card in my room so I will have to send
pictures next week but I have been taking them!
Thank you so much, I know it sounds silly but I really
wanted it done like that. Thanks for letting me see it! [He was referring to
how his Mom is maintaining his facebook/blog with his letters] I love it! I
love getting letters through dear elder sooooo much and through the mail too!
Dear elder is great! Because I am the DL I have the duty to go and get mail
after lunch and after dinner so its so cool to see all of those letters there.
I will reply to your other email and name who has sent me stuff so you can put
it on my blog with my update email cause I simple don’t have time to reply to
everyone but want them to know how much it reallllllly means to me! They have
be a releif in such a crazy intense week!
I love this gospel so much and know it is true with all of
my heart! God our heavenly father knows us individually and loves us beyond any
comprehension!
Talk to you next p-day, (fridays)
I love you all so much!
-Elder Swalberg
