Week Two/MTC

Hi Everyone!,
Thanks for all your letters and packages and what not, they've been awesome.

Well to get into everything, this week has had its ups and downs. It started off pretty lame because I got this nasty virus that was going around the MTC and have had a really bad cold/chills/aches and occasional fevers for about 4 days. But I got some medication a few days ago and I'm feeling a lot better, thankfully. It is difficult to concentrate when you're sick.

Well lets see, lots has been happening, between studying, teaching, learning and loving- its been a rush. I've had a lot of awesome experiences though. One was with a man who I telephone from the referral center. I was doing confirmation calls (making sure they received what they ordered from the church). He had asked for a bible and when I talked to him he said he did and that he loved it and was reading it every day and night. He was so excited to read about the gospel and he wanted to know more, so I gave him the necessary info and got to bear my testimony to him, it was a neat experience.

What else...we had a elder from our district go home because of some issues before the mission, it was sad but necessary. So every, keep yourself worthy all the time!

We had a fireside on Sunday and had some random district president in the MTC talk to us, it was good, but the best part of that evening was probably the hymns. We get to sing hymns about 30 minutes before firesides and devotionals to get the spirit flowing, heh. We got to sing "Bring the World His Truth"(Army of Helaman), it was awesome. Then that followed with "How Firm a Foundation", all verses. What a powerful hymn, especially the last verse. Then afterwards we got to watch the church movie "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration." Its one of the movies they show at the Joseph Smith Memorial building. It is such a powerful movie and testimony of this man and I am so grateful for him, his example and his dedication to the Lord.

Well we're studying Lesson 2 at the moment, or the Plan of Salvation, and it is really fun to teach and study. Its a real privilege to do so. And yesterday we had the opporunity to practice teaching it to a member who volunteered at the TRC. She was awesome and really did a good job playing the investigator's part. I felt the spirit so strong as we got to center our lesson around the Savior and His atonement. It is such a powerful message of comfort and joy and it was awesome being help to help this lady with her needs even though we were teaching to a character she was playing. I love missionary work.

I know this has been a long letter, but I have one last experience to share that is really dear to my heart. Last night we had the great opportunity to hear from President Uchdorf and his sweet wife. At first I was excited but not ecstatic, because I don't know him all that well yet. But Sister Uchdorf was really funny and cute and has a pretty thick accent. She told us to have courage and "not be spiritual weaklings!" But President Uchdorf's talk was the single most powerful talk I have ever listened to in my life. I wish I had a video of it so you could all watch it. Look for it if you can, maybe the MTC posts videos of the devotionals.

Anyway, he talked about a whole range of topics ranging from humility, to diligence, to managing our time, to our purpose and everything. There was so much in it I only was able to take notes on about half of what he saying, it was all so good. Anyway, some of the gems he said was "don't speak with eloquence of the mouth, speak with eloquence of the heart" and "knowing something by heart is not the same as knowing something with your heart." He focused a lot on teaching by the Spirit and teaching to people's needs, because that is the mission of Preach My Gospel. Theres a lot more really good quotes and I have them all in my journal so you can read it later, but I want to end with my favorite quote. I want to preface this by saying, I know we're told not to tell cast our pearls before swine...(not saying any of you are swine), but this moment is one of the most special moments of my life, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Well anyway, he was talking about the power of our calling and the authority of it. Then he talked about how this same power that we have Jesus himself gave to His twelve apostles when he was on the earth. The President Uchdorf made a most powerful connection and told us that we are literally "the extended arm of the quorum of the twelve." Right at the moment I felt like I was lifted up in the air by the Spirit, I felt like I was floating above my seat. It brought tears to my eyes and I knew that what he was telling me was true.
I have a new found love for this great man and I know that he is a prophet of the Lord. I know the Brethren and President Monson are all prophets and they do have a very special witness of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Treasure their words and their counsel. It comes straight from God. I love this work. I love being a missionary. I am so grateful for this calling.

Anyway, I have 30 seconds until I get kicked off.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Love,
Elder Fitt