Week 2 The MTC Experience

July 20, 2015 I can't believe that I am leaving this place soon, it doesn't seem like I have been here for as long as I have. The first few days here were soooo long but they have been getting shorter and shorter. I am really doing well now and am having a rather good MTC experience. I don't love it here but I am learning a lot and having a lot of fun. My companion and I joke around all the time especially with the other guys in our room. They are all great guys but sadly two of them are going to New York. I am also sad because I love my district so much and only four of us out of twelve are going to Santa Rosa, the others have been called to serve here in Provo. I will honestly miss them a ton  and have grown really close with all of them over the days and past week and a half. It's just shame that you get close with all these people then go your separate ways for two years.

We are able to have a lot of fun here and enjoy ourselves. I am being myself so don't worry. On Sunday during sacrament meeting Elder Brooks and I were asked to pass the sacrament, and our district had the musical number. Two people were randomly chosen out of the congregation to speak, which meant that everybody had to prepare a talk on faith. Of course I was chosen so I felt like I was super involved in our sacrament meeting. Later that day we heard from Richard I. Heaton about prayer and how you can ask Heavenly Father to renew your testimony, if you still believe but it is becoming commonplace, that you can ask him to renew it and he will be happy that you asked. After that I watched "Character of Christ" and MTC talk given by Elder Bednar and I'm not kidding it changed my life and my whole outlook on missionary work and just being a member of this church in general. He talked about how Christ would always turn outward to help others, even in his times of greatest suffering, and that having a testimony was good, but that we need to develop this character of Christ to truly be converted to Him and His gospel. It isn't enough to believe in Him, but that we need to act on it and help those around us and stop turning inward. FOcus on the ultimate goal of eternal life. It is hard to explain in words, and you can only hear the talk in the MTC, but it was truly the best talk I have ever heard.

We have been teaching an investigator for the week we have been here. We aren't told if they are an actual member or not. It is to give us practice teaching the gospel. She had some deep doctrinal questions about how John the Baptist got the priesthood to baptize Jesus, and if the women in the Old Testament had the priesthood or not, like Esther and Ruth. We came back the next lesson and answered her questions and finished the restoration lesson. I don't know if sh is a real member or not but I asked her to be baptized and set a date and she agreed. So, if she isn't a member I am way pumped. But it makes me excited to to into the field. We have our last lesson with her today so I hope she is getting something from our lessons regardless.

The ipads are great, we have everything on them that we need so we just carry them around a lot of the time. They have this cool thing in gospel library where you can tag scriptures with like "atonement" or "trials", really anything you want then you can go and look at all the scriptures and segments of talks and stuff under that tag. I use it when I need a quick scripture for a certain topic.

Well I love you and miss you all and I will send you a few pictures from this week.

Love,
Elder Hatch