First P-Day

Dear Family and loved ones,

 

I made it! I'm at the MTC. Finally on my mission serving the Lord. The MTC is a lot different than I thought it would be. The days ARE SO LONG. Each day feels like an eternity. By 3 PM it feels like 9:45. And I'm always tired. There is no such thing as enough sleep while on a mission. So sleep and enjoy it and think of me not sleeping. The first few days were kind of a blur to be honest. Everything was so fast and so new so I don't really know how to describe it. I had to carry my huge suit cases up all 4 flights of stairs to the top floor. We've got the penthouse. It's hot, and you're always wearing a shirt and tie, so it gets pretty smelly I guess... #febreeze

My companion is Elder Payne. He's from Pocatello Idaho, and a really good guy. He works hard and is very timely. He's really humble and pretty quiet. He's a typical Idaho kid. Never really been out of Pocatello and he has a little bit of an accent. Haha it's really funny. There's one thing that he cannot stand, breaking rules. He is a letter of the law guy, not spirit of the law. I don't know how I am, but I know I'm different than him. He's helping me be EVEN MORE OBEDIENT. He's really quiet, so at first I found myself talking the whole time pretty much.

Our district has 7 elders including me, and 4 sisters. We're all going to Des Moines, and there's also two more districts going to Des Moines but we don't really know where they are. Dex isn't in my district, or even in my zone. To be honest, it freaking sucks. I still see him everyday, but the days are so long it feels like a week since I've see him, and it's only a hug and a whats up. He's a good looking guy though, so it's always a pleasure, and we're still planning on sitting next to each other on the plane a week from today to Iowa. Elder Day is my next door neighbor, and it's pretty hilarious. Our entire floor is the weirdest combination between meat heads, gamers, and farmers. Not much in between. I don't know if i fall into one of those classes, or on my own... or all three... This Elder in my district falls asleep in EVERY SINGLE MEETING, and has the funniest reasons why. Everything from, "it's so hot in here (makes no sense)" to "I'm really in tune to the spirit."

It's crazy to think that I've already been here for a week. And there is only one week left for me in the MTC. I've learned a lot. Probably too much to even communicate. I can't say that it's fun either. It's freaking work. You have hours of class time each day, study time, and no time to relax. We watch A TON of videos/talks that Elder Holland has given, and they are the most inspirational/inspiring/buttkicking talks I've ever heard. His talks make me want to be the best missionary there ever was, and makes me feel like I can. I propose the MTC be renamed as "Elder Holland Academy of Spritual Enlightenment". The MTC is the most humbling experience up to this point in your life. You don't know anything. You don't know how to convert someone or how to make them believe your message. If you try to convert someone, you'll fail. I learned that pretty fast. If YOU try to do the LORDS work, you'll fail. THE LORD IS THE ONLY PERSON WHO CAN TEACH HIS WORK. You are just the mouthpiece. You're job as a missionary is to learn the doctrine, live the doctrine to exactness, and THEN you can use the spirit to teach. You do not teach lessons, you teach people. You may think it sounds obvious, but you can't realize how hard it is until you try. You have to love the person, think of them how God does. You have to love the person before you can teach them. During discussions, all I think about is I can help them get to be happy, or be comforted, or whatever their need may be, and the Lord tells you what to say. It really is amazing, and if you're teaching by the Spirit you walk out of there thinking, "What the heck just happened? What did I say to them?" I love it. #tunedin

I've already learned so much about myself, the spirit, and his work I can't really express it. In our last devotional which was at the Marriott Center, (it was way weird getting out of there, it didn't feel like I was on a mission anymore), Elder Kendrick (hahahaha KENDRICK LAMAR) from thats high in the church, he's like a general authority or member of the 70 or something.. well anyways he said,"The Lord will never use a floodlight when a flashlight can do the job." I feel like I could ramble on for hours about this so I'm going to stop talking about how to do it haha. #sorrynotsorry

We do a lot of role play. And it might sound really dumb, cause I thought that it was soooo stupid when I first came, but nothing prepares you more to be a missionary then actually applying the things you are learning about to a particular person, and finding out how the Gospel can help them; because the Gospel can and will help EVERYONE. We have small role plays with our companion, then we have a progressive investigator, (which is a teacher who acts like a real life investigator that they know better than anyone so it's super legit,) then theirs a TRC (I dont know what that stands for) which is a REAL LIFE investigator who volunteers at the MTC. Each one is unique, and everyone freaks out about their TRC teaching, but it went way good for my companion and I. #success

We have two teachers, Sister Delaplane and Brother Adjei. Brother Adjei (ah-jay) is the sickest teacher alive. He's from Ghana (obviously he's black) and have the best laugh I've ever heard. Every time he laughs our entire class dies. He knows his stuff. He knows how to teach with the spirit and how to make the person feel loved.

Sorry about all the hashtags, the district thinks their hilarious but I'm sick of them from just doing them right then.

I know that prayers are answered, that God truly loves us and is looking to help us with anything we ask help for. He has helped me COUNTLESS times this week, everything from homesickness, to repentence, to bringing the spirit into a lesson, to giving me things to say.

I love it here, and wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Thank you for all your support. I don't know if I'll be able to write next week because my Pday for the MTC is on Wednesday, and we fly out EARLY wednesday morning... so... we'll see.

Thank you for all your letters, if you want to write me, please do. I love you all, and I love this work

-Elder Hollan