MTC Week 5: Travel Plans, Back to the Temple, and Studying Prayer

Well I know I always say this but I cannot believe it is pday again!!! The weeks feel like days here. Well this week was awesome yet again!! I saw Elder Turner! When I heard he was here, I kept praying that I would see him at Sunday devotional and BAM!!!!! There he was doing some ASL with his companion. I gave him a gigantic hug and it was awesome to talk to him and get a couple pictures!!!

I just remembered that I forgot to tell you how my cordon bleu challenge was. I ate 7... with a piece of pie... and ice cream:) Dude ice cream for dayssssssssssssss!!!! It’s the best but it’s not Ben and Jerry’s Half-baked but it’s still bomb! They are having cordon bleus again tomorrow and I’m not gonna have pie and ice cream cuz I’m gonna try and eat ten cuz everybody says the most they have heard of is 9, so I gotta beat the record haha.

Monday we had Papa Johns and when I saw the guy get out of the car to drop of all the pizza I ran out and gave him a hug! Some other Elder challenged me to eating pizza and I ate 11 pieces and I went back up to get more and they wouldn’t let me have anymore... That was kinda hard to hear haha! The funny thing is I still have not gained a pound.

Well I have really been trying to work hard with my language study this week cuz I’m outta here in 9 days!!! I am beyond excited! I got my travel info on Friday. My flight is at 11:00 AM on the 28th and I arrive in Atlanta at 4:49 for a 5 hour layover, so when I get there it will be 1:49 back in AZ cuz I think Atlanta is 3 hours ahead, so just be ready to get a call sometime around then, and I have Dad to call and then Mom to call, but I have a lot of time so it’ll be great I’m so excited!!! I’ll call you first dad so I can talk to all you guys and then I’ll call Mom, and I’m guessing if Cameron and Brinkley don’t work they will be over there!!! I leave Atlanta at 9:08 PM and we fly into Buenos Aires at 8:20 AM so we will be flying all night!! And from Buenos Aires to Salta I’m not sure what we are doing. If we fly it’s only a 2 hour flight, but we might have to take a bus and that is a 16 hour bus ride, so I am praying for a flight, but I think a bus ride might be pretty cool! I will be good on the weight of my luggage so I don’t need to worry about that.

I can’t believe I only have a week left!! Well me and Elder Eliason were gonna invite our investigator to be Baptized yesterday and he wasn’t there cuz he had to go to the doctors for his knee cuz he hurt it. We still don’t know if he is a real investigator or not but we got to email our lesson to him which was kinda of a bummer cuz we won’t see him again.

We had a Zone Conference thing yesterday and some of the teachers did a role play so we could see how we could improve on our teaching skills. Holy smokes it was crazy. They were so good! One of them is Hermano Hammond and he is a legend. There is so much stuff I could tell you about him but it would take forever! Lets just say he was the most amazing missionary to ever live. I literally don’t think he is human.

Well my companions girlfriend sent him a bunch of pictures of her for him to have and he doesn’t stop looking at them or going and checking the mailbox for letters. Pretty much every one here has a girlfriend and it is retarded. They don’t stop talking about them and they don’t focus at all and I have been trying to tell my companion to focus and actually study but it’s not working so I hope this week will be better, and I think it will cuz I know everybody wants to make their last week the best!

We got to host the new Missionaries coming in this past Wednesday and that was pretty interesting haha. I hosted one Elder and I was trying to talk to him but he didn’t say a word. I got to see a couple guys I knew from school come in so that was pretty cool! I’m glad to hear that dad and the boys had fun at scout camp! Those sounded like some pretty cool devotionals you guys had at the campfire! I miss camping haha!

I’m glad to hear the backyard is coming along. Sorry I’m not there to help with anything or anything in the front yard.

Yesterday I was outside during study time and there were some guys that had to come fix some stuff on one of the buildings and they were all swinging sledge hammers and doing all the things I love haha. One of the guys was welding something and I seriously wanted to go over there and be like dude... can I weld?!  It was fun to watch them work for a while and it brought back a lot of memories from JME with Spencer and Hunter! Hunter sent me a picture and he is just sitting next to this goat and Taylor told me he ate some big bug this past week and says he can’t wait for me to be eating bugs too. Not a chance!!!

We got to go to the Temple this morning and it was awesome!!!!! It feels like it has been forever since we have gone but it has only been two weeks. But it was nice to go again. Earlier this week I was studying “Prayer” and there was one thing that I really liked. In Matthew 7:7-8 and 3 Nephi 18:20, it says the ask and ye shall receive thing, and ask the Father and if it be right He shall give it to you. Well those aren’t the exact words haha but we have all heard those scriptures before so you know what I’m talking about. One thing I found in the Bible Dictionary about prayer and it says: The object of prayer is not to change the will of God but to secure for ourselves and others the blessings that God is willing to give us. Prayer is work because blessings require work. We can’t just ask and wait. We have to act!!! Gordon B Hinckley said: Get on your knees and pray, then get on your feet and work! Another quote I like is "Those who kneel before God can stand before anyone.”  And another one I like is "When life gets too hard to stand, kneel."  Prayer needs to be a part of our everyday lives and every moment too. Always have a prayer in your heart. The CCM has really taught me how to pray cuz I CANNOT do this on my own. Pray for help and guidance and He will help you but we gotta work!! I forgot which Apostle said it but he said most of the answers we receive to our prayers are in the scriptures. 2 Nephi 32:3 says "Feast upon the words of Christ for behold the words of Christ WILL tell you all things what ye should do." Those are a couple things I liked studying this week.

So Kolby are you still a heat fan? Is K-Love going to the cavs? Are the suns getting anybody good? Ah dude I wish I could see the cavs play they are gonna be crazy good!!

Okay, so I have a few more pictures but don’t be alarmed when you see a picture of me with some random civilian. We were walking back from the Marriott center from our devotional and I took a selfie with him. You will laugh when you see it. Its great.

Well I love you all tons and hope you are all doing great! Thanks for all the letters and dear elders. It’s always fun hearing from you guys! Haha I loved Bailees email. "Hey Kasey we were bored without you" love Bailee. Haha that was funny. Oh and Brother Turner said Jemesa is getting his papers worked on some more! Give Jemesa a big hug for me and tell him I’m so excited for him. I miss my brown brother! Sorry my emails are so unorganized and weird and jump all over the place, you all must learn to live with it!

Love,

Elder Lester