ONE WEEK IN THE MTC AND STILL LOVING IT!

Mi Familia!!!!!! Como estan ustedes!!!

First of all, thanks for the package that I got!! I didn't actually get it the first night I was there even though it was sent to the MTC the same day. We didn't have a district leader yet (the one who picks up the mail for us) so I didn't know that I even had a package waiting for me! The candy is great, but I find that I really don't have all that much time to eat it. The only time is like at 9:30 at night and by then I'm getting ready for bed and about to brush my teeth really, so I haven't had the chance to fully enjoy the candy yet. (although I do use the chocolate covered cinnamon bears to keep myself alert and awake) And the Ammon action figure is sweet. I especially like the machete, but even more, I like the sheep. It's cool. Also I wanted to thank Jack for his awesome testimony in my first letter. It basically made me cry! I'm so glad you have such a strong testimony Jack and want you to know that I do too. This church is true and you are a good kid, so keep doing what you're doing and keep strong in your faith ok buddy? KINZIE! You better write me you little stinker.

Sounds like you guys were able to keep it together ok after I left which makes me happy! Sorry about leaving the downstairs closet and the upstairs closet such a mess. But I'll make sure to keep my mission closets extra clean. I'm really loving the MTC here. It's such a great environment here and I feel the Spirit really strongly. My district is really really awesome they are all really strong in faith and they are all nice and service minded and want to work hard. So I love them a lot. There are 12 of us in our district: 4 hermanas and 8 elders. All of them are going stateside except for Elder Hogan and I and we're both going to the same mission. It's pretty hard to believe it's already been a week! Everyone has told me that the first few days/ first week are the slowest and hardest, but I haven't had a dull moment! Time's been flying by and I'm trying to keep up with it!

So here's a little more info about mi comanero. His name is Elder John Hogan and he's a convert, like I said. His parents are not members, and as far as I know are not investigating the church at all at this point. So for that, I really admire Elder Hogan and think that it says a lot about his character that he's out here and choosing the serve the Lord. So it's a blessing to have him as a companion to help remind me not to take things for granted and to serve with all my heart.

So here's a little how the MTC works nowadays. I guess  they actually just started doing this a couple mounths ago. We actually use "key indicators" which are like lessons taught, lessons taught with a member present, baptisms, confirmations, investigators with a baptismal date, contacts, referrals recieved and contacted and a few others. How do we do this in the MTC you say? Well we use roleplaying. So Elder Hogan and I have been teaching a bunch of people and they pretend like they are investigators. The idea is that when you play the role of an investigator, you are supposed to think of someone you know that is less active or a nonmember or someone you know if they didn't have the Gospel. And then we practice teaching on each other. At first I didn't know how I felt about it because it seemed like a strange idea. But the Lord blesses us with the same Spirit that he blesses us with when we teach actual lessons. Plus it's supposed to give us insights on how to help the people we are pretending to be. So it's really very cool. Yesterday we taught a lesson to an Elder Stoner in our Zone. (He's one of my favorite people ever and he's going to Madrid Spain in a few weeks) And he just made up a character to be. He was a 20 year old college student who had had his best friend die in a drunk driver accident and he prayed to God and said he didn't feel him or his help. I don't know exactly why but I felt the Spirit so strongly and Elder Hogan started to move on to talking about prophets (he was just really sticking to the lesson plan) but I stopped him and just started talking about prayer and God and I told him about the scripture in Alma 14 where they have to watch the people getting burned and I testified to him that I know God loves him and that he cares and then we invited him to pray again and ask God if he's there and he said he would try to and during the closing prayer I was crying. He told us that it was an outstanding lesson that that he really appreciated me steering the lesson to meet his characters specific needs. It was awesome and I felt the Spirit. I really love it here and I'm so happy. It's a little bit ridiculous how much I've changed in the past week and I hope that I can keep changing and that the Lord will keep changing me to be a better person. I love you all tons! Can't wait to hear from you again.

Con mucho MUCHO amor,
Elder Norton