Week #7 - Last Day in the MTC

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, the time has certainly passed by fast! As of writing this email, I will leave the CCM in 11 hours and fly to Dallas, then to Salt Lake where I´ll be shipped down to Provo and begin the actual mission! Thus my P-Days will be Monday from now on and I will be at a different address, I´ll let everyone know next week where I´ll actually be.

But yes, how the time flies! Last night I said goodbye to my district, and when I woke up it was only Me and Elder Jones left, and he left today a few hours ago. It was a rather heartfelt goodbye to everyone, more than I thought it would be, and particularly to Elder Jones, who I have become very close to. My time here at the CCM has been short, just 5% of my mission really, and will be way different from everything else I experience, there won´t be anything like it again for me. But after being around so many people, and some of them nearly every waking hour, I have made some new friends that will probably come up again. Indeed, since my last newsletter, nothing much has happened beyond the usual, other than the classes became more chill, and yet more important. The field is waiting, and that´s where the real test is. Six Weeks, and all the years before, of talking about a mission is finally going to start being put to the test in a matter of hours - I cannot wait.

We watched the Joesph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration Video last night, and I was surprised to see that the part that affected me the most was the scenes of those first Early Church Missionaries preaching in the United States and England: That´s going to be me soon! Granted, I don´t think I´ll find myself on too many soap boxes, but regardless the message will be the same.

And so, as many have asked, how was the CCM? It was a once in a lifetime experience, and a necessary step into the missionary life.  But it´s time I moved on, any longer here would be a disservice to everyone involved. I met many other missionaries, learned of their lives and testimonies, and then saw how they lived and acted as missionaries. But now, it´s time to throw myself into the fire, make mistakes, and get forged. I will admit that coming into the CCM I thought it wouldn´t be as important, the friendships I would make not as lasting as those in the field, and the things I learned not as important as those I would learn while actually going and doing, both language-wise and gospel-wise. All have been thoroughly disproved, and I am really glad that I was able to spend time here, cherishing even the day to day routine of everything.

But now, it´s onto Provo and the work. I really don´t have much to say, which is an ironic situation: Here I have all the time and nothing to say, and in the field I´ll have no time and everything to say. Thank goodness I´ve been doing well with daily journal updates, but expect the emails to be a lot shorter henceforth, but letters will be entirely possible and much easier to send. Many pictures to come this evening. By my next email I´ll have much more interesting stuff to say. And so, Onto the Winter and Snow!

Elder Martin

 

Email #6 - Fifth Week in the MTC

Hello friends and family!

I apologize for my lame-sauce short email last time, I did not play my timing with P-day well at all. As of today I have four days remaining here in the CCM, and then on Tuesday I fly out early morning and go to Provo, where I´ll begin right away as far as I can tell. Luckily for me, since most of my district here is leaving on Sunday, I won´t have classes, just time to pack and email on Monday, so I´ll still get some sort of a P-day instead of going for more than a week to get everyone updated.

But yeah, things have been getting better and better here.  It´ll be sad to see some people go, I´ve made a bunch of friends here. Like Elder Jones, my companion, we´ve gotten real close and since he plans on going to BYU Provo after his mission, we´re bound to hang out again sometime. Since he´s a surfer, he was teaching me the other day about how waves work and all the different variables and factors that count in to make a wave good or bad, plus some of the surfer lingo they use to describe things. I got it all written down, made me miss the coast a lot! Like I realized this summer while at BYU, being landlocked is kind of weird feeling, and I´m surprised how much I notice it. Ah well, better get used to it, I won´t see the sea for at least two more years, minus my upcoming flight! I´ve been learning stuff from other Elders too. Elder Blood, who left a week or so ago for Albuquerque, New Mexico, had an amazing conversion story and completely turned his life around so that he could come on his mission. He´s kind of a building-genius tool; he wants to make a invention company when he gets back, and turn ideas into reality. He´s a really cool guy, hope to see him again. Elder Ballard in my district is a 2nd degree blackbelt in Tang-soo Do, and I´ve been learning some basic self defensive from him, as well as ambushing him from time to time to see how he would react. Luckily, he is merciful and I don´t always get thrown to the floor. We´ve been becoming good friends too, and since he lives close to Cedar City, we´re planning on meeting up at the Shakespearean festival down there post-mission.  That should be fun! In fact, Hermanas Hatch, Pearson, Hammond, and Buys from my district are all going to Provo after their missions, and since they´ll be in Provo they´ve promised to hunt me down and try to be members for my lessons. We´ll see, it looks like I´m already making friends for life in Provo afterwards haha!

Onto more events of this week and the last, my favorite is probably the priesthood blessing of comfort I was able to give to Hermano Fernando, who´s picture I included in the last email. He was out this week and last because his wife was giving birth to his first child, a little girl named Abish. While the baby was born healthy and fine, his wife was having some difficulties recovering from the C-section, and when he finally had to return to work and we first saw him, she had been in the hospital for 10 days and was preparing for additional surgery. He was feeling very worried and troubled, and so he asked us for a blessing. We said of course, and asked who he´d like, he said anyone would be fine. My companions both looked at me, and said, "Well Elder Martin, you do have the best Spanish". So, translating what I could as I went, I gave him a mixed-language blessing, and the Spirit filled our hearts and led me to say things I would never have said to anyone. It was a great experience for me, and Fernando said he felt much better afterwards. We saw him later that day and he looked much better. We continued keeping him and his wife in our prayers, and just a few minutes ago I ran into him and he said his wife was home today and recovering just fine. What a blessing the Lord has given me to come, if only for a short time, into the life of this wonderful and faithful man. It makes me even more excited to get into the field do things like this all the time!

Though this is likely my favorite, there have been numerous spiritual uplifts here for me, and plenty of fun times as well. I will suffice it to say that I challenged a Cara De Niño, aka Jerusalem Cricket, a few nights ago, and gained $20 in the process. I will divulge the full story some other time. Frisbee has been my gym time go-to, and while my performance is inconsistent, I am getting better as a whole. I´ve been making friends left and right, some of them Latinos who only stay here for two weeks, like Elder Mendoza from Mexico who plays drums and is a big Radiohead, ZZ Top, and Red Hot Chili Peppers Fan. Some nights our district will go to the building with piano rooms, and I´ll take request for songs, figure them out, and play them while we all sing along, it´s a lot of fun.

But, I do miss you all, and want to hear more about what´s going on at home with everyone. Thank you for all your prayers, and please know that you´re in mine. I have many spiritual thoughts and new things that I´ve learned since I´ve been here, but I think I´ll close with just one at random: I´ve been reading in Alma recently, and I just hit chapter 30. Right before hand though, the Sons of Mosiah reconnect with their old partner in crime (literally) Alma as they return from their seemingly-impossibly successful missions to the Lamanites. As they share the blessings and miracles that they have witnessed in their own lives and others, Ammon, who feels so much love for his new brethren in the Church, who are faithful beyond anything they have seen among their own people, is so overcome with joy that his body literally cannot handle it, and he falls to the earth out of lack of strength. I quote from Chapter 27:


17 Now the joy of Ammon was so great even that he was full; yea, he was swallowed up in the joy of his God, even to the exhausting of his strength; and he fell again to the earth.

18 Now was not this exceeding joy? Behold, this is joy which none receiveth save it be the truly penitent and humble seeker of happiness. 

Thus, along the lines of the goal of my mission to not only bring others unto Christ, but to do so with as much love as I can possibly muster, I now have a new maker by which to set my goal with: I would like to feel this way, or at least a portion of it, every night before I go to sleep. If I am penitent and humble, and of course if the Lord sees it fit, I would have my strength so wrought out of me unto others and suppressed by so much joy of serving the Lord and my fellow man, that by the time I finish my closing prayer each night I am literally zonked to sleep by the sheer force of my experience. We´ll see if I can make it work!

With love to all,
Elder Martin

 The District at the Mexico City Temple

  Elder Martin & Elder Martin!

Elder Butler, Elder Martin, & Elder J

Pday with Elder Ballard

Email #5 - Fourth Week in the MTC

Hello Everyone!

My time is short today and it appears this will be as well! First though, thank you for your prayers and support, and I´ve only got 12 days till I´m outta here! The Spanish is coming along and I´m making a lot of friends, but really I´m so excited to get out in the field.

But oh how the river rolls! Real quick I´ll share some experiences from this week: My first anointing of the Sick for an Hermana in my district, a lot more great Frisbee games, a talk in sacrament meeting all in Spanish, saying goodbye to crazy-conversion story inventor genius friend Elder Blood, and the time speeding by as fast as ever! More spiritual thoughts and learning from class and different devotionals, this week´s by Elder Oaks. But really, events have been as regular as ever, though I am still growing and changing bit by bit.

But, since next week is my last here, I´ll save some of the more full told out stories for then, a kind of best of the best. In the meantime, here´s some photos, which have really taken most of my time because technology can really bite sometimes.

Thanks for everything!

-Elder Martin

 

Email #4 - Third Week in the MTC

Hello everyone!
  
It´s been another exciting week here at the CCM, and it also is the mark of my halfway point here - three more weeks and I´m Provo bound! But as for life here, the Spanish is coming along well, and I´ve been putting a lot of effort into using different tense and throwing myself at las escrituras and recorded Spanish lessons to learn how to handle more realistic Spanish. The Spirit continues to manifest and testify as it will, in ways big and small, strong and soft. My companions and I are all getting much closer and working out differences that now seem far behind us. I was able to give another blessing this week to an Hermana in our district.  My first time doing a blessing of comfort and it gave me a strong witness about the service power of the Priesthood.  This made me all the more stoked to head out into the mission field. Gym time has been filled with ultimate frisbee as well, which makes every day that much more enjoyable.  And our P-day Eve party last night cemented my tradition which has spread around the CCM.  #leavingmymark  #yolo-swag  #ridiculous-aspects-of-youth-culture-such-as-hashtags.

The main highlight of this week, of course, was General Conference, which we were able to view in its entirety in English (thank goodness, I ain´t nearly that good yet). The most important points, in my humble opinion, were the LDS World Reports afterwards where they did a special on the CCM (look it up!) and Elder Valenzuela´s talk where he talked about the CCM. Needless to say, cheers erupted from the otherwise quiet congregation of missionaries when it showed up, but otherwise I was able to get a lot from Conference. I came into Conference with 5 different questions, all basically centered on How could I become a better missionary, with emphasis on being Christ-like, loving others, teaching skills/styles, and utilizing the spirit. In the end, all my questions were all answered perfectly, and I wrote an extensive answer to each in my journal, from which I´ll share a few thoughts now:

President Monson mentioned that Christ was the ultimate teacher, which I realized means both in style AND method (for example, having charity and boldness, and using parables/stories and deep, provocative questions and statements). Thus emulating him becomes our ultimate goal as a Missionary in more ways than one, as Elder McConkie talked a lot about. President Eyring said that God has devised a plan to save each of his children, and promised us that the Lord will give us, if we ask for it in prayer, the same feelings of love for others that He has for them.  This is a mighty powerful tool for anyone, but especially a missionary. Additionally, the concept of patience and time as a constant that we must both endure and rely on in learning and teaching was conveyed to me by many speakers. The Love of Christ and the reciprocal drawing near that he does as well serve him was also very prevalent to me. Elder Ballard mentioned praying for missionary opportunities, which I must admit completely slipped my mind, at least in that explicit of terms. Elder Maynes compared life to an endurance race, which with cross country experience behind me brought up a whole host of metaphors and connections, like spiritual stamina and toughness, pace and rest, and many more that I didn´t even get the chance to write down. Elder Holland and Uchtdorfs talks were great, as usual, and gave advice and perspectives on topics that I could easily encounter out in the field, and there were many other spiritual gems that I picked up from almost every talk.

All of this was cemented by Tuesday night's devotional, which was a recording of a talk Elder Holland gave to the Provo MTC. It was a great experience, coming both post-conference and at my literal halfway point in the CCM. The biggest point he made is that we are to come back different forever after our missions. I had never considered that as explicitly as it was stated, and it was great to review my life before and the person I was, who for all intents and purposes I thought would be the same person as when I finished.  So, I considered all the things that would be better, and all the things I would add to the personality I already have developed. It was a moment for reflection and pause, and has fueled more diligent work efforts here in the CCM.

And so, I barrel on, hoping to pick up as much as I can know before I´m thrown to the wolves. Thank you, as mentioned in Conference several times, for the support, love, and prayers from all of you. As only one Elder of many missionaries, I will do my best to take that genuine and precious sentiment and divine responsibility as far as I can.

Thanks to all,
Elder Martin

Email #3 - Second Week in the MTC

 Companionship Trio: Elder Welker, Elder Jones & Elder Martin

Dear Family and Friends,

¡Hola! Everything has been just great out here in the CCM, and I can´t believe how fast time has already gone by. Just to get right to it though, this week has been full of experiences. Elder Welker was sick for four or so days with a cold of sorts, so it was mostly just me and Elder Jones in a normal duo companionship. I was able to seal an anointing for Elder Welker though, which was my first priesthood blessing ever. I´m not sure what I said, but I know that the Spirit was saying stuff through me, and that was quite the experience. It was a great way to serve my companion as well, and he is feeling fine since yesterday! Indeed, spiritual blessings have been abounding this week.

A few days ago, my Spanish Teacher came up to me and promised me that if I was obedient and clean, I would be fluent by the time I left the MTC. High praise, let´s hope I don´t make a liar out of him!  Reading the scriptures has been a whole new experience as an Elder too, I have been learning everyday here. But otherwise, things are going along rather normally, there´s not much else to say. Things with the compañeros have been great, and we´re getting along really well. I forgot to mention last time by the way that Elder Jones is going to El Salvador and Elder Welker to Dallas.

I have been making friends with other Elders in my Casa though, like Elder Ballard (no relation to the apostle) from a small town in Utah who's a second degree black belt.  We´ve had a lot of cool conversations about martial arts and history and what not.  He´s headed to NYC.  Also, Elder Nelson, who is an author who is planning to publish his fantasy novels upon return from his mission. We´ve been talking frequently about his plot lines and philology, and the creative process in general. It seems I´m learning just about everything here at the CCM!  I´ve been making a bit of an impression on the place though.  Elder Jones is the most well known Elder here, he has that sort of funny guy air about him and he relates stuff I say to others, like the tradition of our "P-Day Eve" for example.  Last night we had a¨"Fiesta" in our casa as a P-Day eve party, with everyone binging snacks they brought from the little store they have here and sharing them (they give us a small amount of funds every week, I save mine up for P-Day eve).  Apparently the tradition is spreading, as we were invited to another P-Day eve party a few days ago, and it was quite fun.  Ah, Missionaries, crazy, aren´t they?

This isn´t to say I haven´t been working a bunch though, we have classes all day from 8 to 9:30, and we´re doing something at nearly every moment.  Gym time is really a nice break though, I´ve been getting a lot better at volleyball and little bits of futbol.  But I´m way stoked for Conference, we´re watching every session and I´ll never get the chance to watch Conference from an MTC ever again, so I´m gonna take full advantage of it.  Feel free to send me your own favorite thoughts from conference, I´d love to hear them!

Regards,

Elder Martin