MTC: Last Week in the MTC

Mom,

I did get the cookies and they are delicious.  However, Elder Polatis has seriously gotten like at least 1 package a day for the past 2 weeks all with candy and other junk food. so there is no shortage in junk food in our dorm. 

As far as a mission scripture for my plaque goes, Alma 36: 24-25 is a scripture i used in my farewell out in Utah and it has kinda just stuck with me.  

Today we got some new missionaries and I actually ran into Jesse Pyne on my way here to write this email so that was pretty cool.  I have seen a few other people but no one that I am terribly close with.  I did get a picture with Jake Peterson from Chamber though.  

I was sad when i heard about the Super Bowl from the Janitors... yeah, the Janitors... But at least Kaepernick has Super Bowl experience now! I bet they get back there soon.  

I am sorry to hear about the Allred's. I sort of remember them but that is just tragic news.  

As far as the Provo temple goes, we get to go every P-day at 9:00 as a zone.  I really is the best part of Pday (sorry, but trying to fit everything into a 30 minute window  for this email is really stressful). 

Provo UTAH Temple

On now with the stories! I saw Brother Gibbons today! No worries, it wasn't in his office so it is all good.  It is great to see a familiar face now and then.  For our devotional we had Elder Clark of the seventy come in and what he said was really cool.  He said, "If you worry about somebody else's less-active friends and family members, then God will be sure to have someone else worry about yours".  I thought this was really cool because I have already seen this in action.  

You see, I was pretty sick the past week (oops, did i forget to tell? :] ).  so I had to go to the urgent care across the street and get an antibiotic.  Unfortunately the doctor on duty didn't believe me when I said if I didn't get an antibiotic in me then I would have an Ear infection within 24 hours.  So 24 hours later I had to go back and show the next doctor that I really did get an ear infection. When we went back I found a familiar looking guy that I knew I had seen somewhere before.  It ended up being a guy who's son plays on the LP basketball team (Zack Frampton) who knows Cameron.  He expressed to me that He was concerned for him too and that the people on the team were trying to help Cam as much as possible.  It was just amazing to see that maybe this was the reason I didn't get my antibiotic right away, so I could see this man and know that my friends would be helped while I am here just as Elder Clark said.  Oh, and by the way, after a few blessings and a small miracle, I am feeling COMPLETELY better after just 3 days.  That is the quickest I have ever recovered from a sickness like that.

Here in the MTC we have investigators we teach as companionships.  We have 2 that are our teachers (Chris and Sipunu) and one that is part of the MTC Staff (Belinda).  They act to be investigators from their mission and as we meet with them, we get to see their progression and teach them as a companionship.  It is great experience and is by far the best way to be preparing us for the field.  

This week we were meeting with Sipunu for the 4th time and we had been having trouble getting him to pray to know if the BoM was true.  So we didn't know exactly how we were going to go about it but we were going to have a whole 10 or so minute lesson all based on getting him to pray by the end of the lesson. So, as Elder Polatis and I walked in and sat down I kinda did some follow up on the past commitments we had left with him, we said a little prayer to help invite the spirit, then Elder Polatis just caught fire.  Every question he asked was the perfect question.  I just kinda sat back and let him do the talking because he was on a roll. Normally we work great going back and forth but whenever I would go to add something the Spirit would stop me. Anyway, We got him to kneel and pray with us there and we sat there for a little while and just let the Spirit witness to Sipunu.  Our teachers are really good actors but even our teacher (Sipunu) started to cry.  He couldn't deny that the church was true and he commited to baptism!  

Even though it is just a fake scenario, it is so incredible to see how powerful 2 teenagers with the help of the Spirit can be.  It was amazing. afterwards in feedback, our teacher said that we did amazing and didn't have much to add. 

Just a reminder, I leave on the 12th and so I was going to call you around 6 or so in the morning (your time) from the airport.  In closing I would really appreciate it if I could get some pictures of you guys and some of my friends from school.  I miss you all a lot so some pictures would really help.  Other than that, things are going GREAT.  I love the constant Spirit that is here and can't wait to teach real investigators in San Diego! 

I love you all!

Elder Ethan Rowbury