Drinking from a fire hose...

He'll be in the MTC for another week.  He hasn't given us a date, but I'm guessing he'll leave next Wednesday, January 18th.  DearElder will be a free and easy way to write him until then!   It will still be easy when he's in Washington, it just won't be free any more.

Dear Mom,

Holland compared learning at the MTC to drinking from a fire hose.  Enough said. 

I can't believe its been two weeks!  It's true what they say, the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days.  Thank you so much to everyone who wrote me, I can't tell you how happy it makes me!  Maybe the best way I can describe it is through an analogy.  Getting mail at the end of the day in the MTC is kind of like working a 16 hour day without any alone time, and you worry that you won't be good enough as a missionary or a leader, but then at the end of it, you get a letter from someone and you just feel completely re-energized and happy!  Just an analogy. :)

If this was the end of my mission, I would come home and share all my experiences with you and it would be great!  However, I'm about 1/48 of the way through (I think)  and won't be home for awhile, so I'll just share what I can in the limited time that I have.  Let me tell you though that anything I write down is just a fraction of what happens here!  Every day the spirit can be felt so strong, every day I feel the Lord's tender mercies, and every day I laugh my head off at least once. 

As I mentioned, I have tons of spiritual experiences I want to share, but first, guess what?  On Monday mornings (get up at 5:25, be there by 6:55) we have service projects, and you just work for 75 minutes.  I love it because you and your companion actually work in different rooms, so it's alone time!  Plus the work (janitorial stuff usually) is pretty fun if you have a good attitude about it.  Anyway, as you know the MTC does not allow you to bring in musical instruments.  But then they went and handed me a vacuum and left me alone in a building.  Pretty inconsistent, right?  As it turns out, the vacuum hums a G!  For almost an hour I sang a medley of every Hymn and Primary song I could think of, and then just played with harmonies. 

Let's see... This timer in the corner makes this hard!

Well, at Devotional last night Russel M. Nelson came!  The minute he walked into the room, the air became so thick with the spirit you could almost drink it.  It was an amazing experience to have things such as Love and Light, which are thought of as intangible, become so real and full.  It was like the Spirit just came down and told each of us  that this was an Apostle of Jesus Christ.  (I talked to a lot of people afterwards, almost everyone felt this way I think)  His talk was on one of my favorite subjects, the Scattering and Gathering of Israel! Anyone familiar with Brother Hank Smith's Book of Mormon class understands why I love this topic!  (Thought of you Justin- write me!) It was absolutely incredible, I won't get into content, but I loved it when he pointed out that the Book of Mormon is the key to the Gathering of Israel.  It has been prophesied about and written about for thousands of years, and now it is being fulfilled, and I am so happy to be a part of it!

The time goes so fast!  Either that or I write really slow.

In TRC, we were teaching Junichi (awesome guy.  He's a member (I think), but roleplay here feels really real!   And the spirit can be there just as strong!) and he would NOT let us teach about the gospel.  The first day there he almost didn't let us in.  It wasn't until I think the 3rd time that he was interested in what we believed.  But without any Christian background, it was a little difficult to get concepts across.  But he loved the idea of primary, and asked us about Book of Mormon stories, so we each shared our favorites.  We also mentioned that primary children sing lots of songs about these stories, and THAT intrigued him.  He wouldn't let us go any further til we sang to him.  That wasn't a problem for me, I opened my mouth and sang Army of Helaman for him :)  The Spirit just felt like a warm blanket. 

Oh! Speaking of the Spirit, I want to share another TRC experience.  Shoot, the time is getting low!

We were teaching an elderly couple, who were self referrals (I really don't know if they were roleplaying or not) and wanted to know about us!  So, we started teaching, and it was just going great, the spirit was so strong, and they could feel it.  We were talking about the Restoration, and it was my companion talking at the moment, and he led up until Joseph Smith, and I thought he was going to continue, but he turned it over to me for the First Vision.  My mind went completely blank, I couldn't remember the First Vision for the life of me!  I don't think I could have even told you my name at that point.  Anyway, I opened my mouth and the words just flowed out.  I finished ("This is my Beloved son, Hear Him!") and the moment those last words were out, the Spirit hit each of us.  I felt an explosion of chills go through my body, starting in my heart, and moving outward through every limb (I could feel it in my legs all the way back to class afterwards haha)  and the lady started crying as she described the exact thing I just described to you. 

Time really low.  This isn't even 1/10 of 1% of the things I want to share, so I'll try to get more in on letters later.

Thanks again for all the mail, it is so wonderful! If you Dear Elder me today, I should be able to write a letter back to you today!  Next week I'll be out in the field!  I'll try to answer all questions and things like that in personal letters, sorry you won't get them for a few days! 

I love you so much!

Elder Lonas