Week 7 (2/2/10) Email from the MTC

It's good hearing from you. I'm looking forward to getting the packages and letter.:) I really wish we were in Brianhead today tearing it up that sounds like a LOT of fun right now. I love the outdoors and that is probably the hardest thing for me here is being inside ALL THE TIME. I wish I could go on a hike on P-day or something. Oh well I'll get over it. There are only 13 days left in my winter so I'll be okay. I realized a week or so ago that I told a bunch of people my wrong adress (the one I'll have in Argentina) and posted it on my Facebook before I came. I wonder how much stuff is just chillin down there waiting for me. We had a musical fireside on Sunday where we just sang hymns the whole time and the missionaries got to choose. One missionary said he wanted to sing God Be With You Til We Meet Again because he heard news from home that his best friend passed away the day before. It was really sad. It made me think of Jake and how awful it would be to hear about that being him. Or anyone else for that matter. The Plan of Salvation is amazing and a comfort, but death is still a bad deal. No fun. I had a really cool experience in the RC (Referral Center-where we make calls) this week. We set a goal to get 5 sets of missionaries placed in one hour. I won't lie, I wasn't too excited at first. I'm not much of a phone guy as you know. The instructor told us if we had faith and worked accordingly it would happen. I decided I was going to work my hardest and show my faith for the whole hour. A little ways in, our District Leader got a chat-which wouldn't help our goal at all-and all the other missionaries gathered around to watch except for Hermana Kinghorn. I was kind of frustrating since the whole DISTRICT wasn't working hard at all to achieve our DISTRICT goal. It kind of bummed me out to see their lack of care, their lack of faith. I decided that I wouldn't let it bother me and that I would show the Lord my faith by keeping on working. So Hermana Kinghorn and I kept working at it. About ten minutes later, Elder Paxman's chat ended and they all got back to making calls. I called a lady to see if she got the DVD Finding Faith in Christ. Her grandson answered and I testified to him of the DVD-I have seen it in the last couple weeks- and of Christ. He accepted my referral to the missionaries. His name was Antwon and he was 17 years old. It was exciting! I kept making calls and a name came up Tyrone Tutt. I thought to myself this is going to be an awesome black guy. The man answered the phone and I introduced myself. I asked him about the DVD and he said he got it like five years ago and that he had watched it within the past year. I said that was great. I testified to him about the DVD and about how it teaches of Christ. I testified of Christ and how Christ can help people in their lives. How he can bring peace and comfort into people's lives. He said it's one of his main collection of DVDs because he loves how everytime he watches it he learns something new. He was awesome! He was a really nice guy. I asked him if he would like to have some representatives-missionaries come teach him a message about Jesus Christ and his restored gospel. He asked me what my name was and said you know Matt I would really like that but I'm pretty busy with my life right now, but I've really enjoyed talking with you. I would love it if you could call me back and come over and we could talk again and you could teach me. I told him I wouldn't be able to come to his house and he said over the phone would be just fine. He told me he had his calendar out and couldn't tell me which day he would be open for sure, but to just try a few times and he could work it out. He thanked me and I thanked him, I told him I enjoyed talking with him and looked forward to speaking with him again. He agreed and told me to have a wonderful day. He was an amazing guy. I'm really excited to call him back and get to know him some more and teach him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He seemed so ready. At the end of the hour we confirmed our goal and Hna. Kinghorn had placed 3 and I had two. Its hard having people be rude and hang up and not answer. It's tough work, but its worth it for Antwon and Tyrone. I love doing this work and I'm only in the MTC. 13 days and I'll be in Argentina. I didn't get cauterized the ENT said it wasn't necessary. I can't believe I have already been out 7 weeks! I love you Mom and Dad. I hope everything is going well. I have less than a minute so I better go. You guys are the best! Hopefully I can talk to both of you in two weeks! Bye!