Things are still going well in the MTC, this week has just been so awesome, an don't even worry, I'm 100 percent focused on the work, it's just nice to know what's going on at home and how everyone is doing and stuff. One of my favorite things about the MTC has been personanl study time, I love having the time to just study and remember that I'm not studying for myself, but that I am actually studying to help find answers to my "investigator's" questions. This week, me and Elder BAker got a new investigator, we taught him yesterday and he is an awesome investigator, I think that things will go well with him. Spanish is starting to come along more naturally and I feel like I will be ready for the field in 4 more weeks as long as I work as hard as I can and go to work. One awesome thing that I learned this week that will help me throughout my mission is that the message of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ is truly the most spectacular event in the history of the world, besides the atonement of course, but in a workshop this week we learned how we can share this message with investigators and help them to feel the happiness and awesomeness that the book of mormon brings into our lives. Words aren't able to express the feelings that I now understand and feel for this wonderous event, that 14 year old boy decided to listen to the scripture in James 1:5 and act on it, we have so many blessings today because of it, and our Heavenly Father truly does answer prayers in our day, I've felt that in my own life here at the MTC when I have prayed for help with the language or for patience with others or for help to teach the investigator and help them to understand the wonderfullness of the gospel. This week, me and Elder Baker made some new goals which we have been keeping up with pretty good, we made the goal to try and talk in only spanish for at least 25 minutes every day, so far it has been going great, I'm actually starting to find that I like talking in spanish more than in english, spanish definitely will come, I know it will, one thing that they have always taught us is to take advantage of everything that we have here in the MTC, spiritually speaking like the following: plenty of study time(more than in the field) teachers to help explain stuff to us, awesome devotionals every sunday and tuesday, a branch presidency, being surrounded by so many other missionaries with the same desire and goal in mind, and the oppurtunity to go to the temple every week. These are just some of the things that I get to have here that I wont have in the field, basically they teach us to not get so stressed over the language because it will come as we study the language and live in another culture. You have to understand the doctrine and principles first in english and in the spiritual context, before you can understand it in spanish, otherwise it is just saying a bunch of memorized phrases and information, which is not nearly as effective as having the spirit be the teacher. We are called to teach people, not lessons. One other quote that I really like is this: "We are not simply giving information, rather we should be offering salvation" As I have thought about this quote, I have developed a greater love for the people that I will be serving, I need to be able to adjust my teaching methods to fir their needs, to be able to help them understand that this church is the way to receive salvation and be saved in the last day. I've learned to forget my own problems because there is no room for me to feel sorry for myself, I have to focus all my efforts on others, especially my investigators needs. It definitely is nice to have Preparation day though, to write letters and stuff, and to have more time to relax, because you learn so much more when you are relaxed. Still though, there is a time and place for everything and I am trying to get better at using my time more wisely, we have tons of time to study the language and study the gospel, sometimes I get distracted, but I have gotten a lot better at focusing and learning how to recognize the spirit more. Soccer has become increasingly more fun for me and I love gym time, gym time is so nice because it helps me to stay awake and be more alert afterwards for my next class or lesson. I have learned so much in the one month that I have been a missionary and I can't wait to get into the field and share what I have been practicing and what I know to be true, even if I struggle with spanish, the spirit will help to express my message and help others come back to the gospel. One of the highlights of my week though was me and Elder Baker's object lesson that we did with one of our investigators, we got a combination lock and compared each number in the combination to a certain thing that you had to do to receive answers to questions and to know the truth of the gospel for yourself, the three things were: faith, read scriptures especially the book of mormon, pray with real intent/come to church. It was so cool, even though I'm not perfect at teaching or at spanish, I know that our investigator was able to feel the spirit of our message and understand the importance of reading and praying together. It was such an awesome turnaround for our investigator though because in our last lesson with him, he didn't want to pray in front of us at all, he just kind of sat there, but during this object lesson he was much more alert and he listened, and he prayed at the end of the lesson, it was so awesome! I love seeing the change in investigators as they start to realize the truth and plant the seed of faith and let it grow, I know that the investigators that I'm teaching right now are just roleplaying, but the spirit is still there and you still feel awesome when you see that they are starting to understand what you were trying to teach them, I'm so excited to go out into the field and teach others. Another thing that I'm excited to do in the field is to be able to plan more, here att he mtc everything is scheduled out, but in the field you have to listen to the spirit and plan, I'm excited for that. Plus, I'll have more things to talk about haha, like experiences and stuff, there isn't that much more I can really share about the MTC, other than that it is exceedingly awesome, but I really do love the chance that I have to committ myself to serve the Lord with all my heart, might, mind and strength, and I will always give my best effort to help others because I have to, they need this message. Being a missionary is the best thing ever, I love it so much. I now appreciate all the things of the gospel so much more, it's the greatest feeling. My time is out, I hope to hear from you soon, thanks so much for taking the time to write to me and for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers.
Adios, Love Elder Daniel Limb
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