So we finally hit our pday and were able to go and do a temple sessions this morning in the beautiful Preston Temple!!! It was amazing, I had the privilege to be an escort for one of the Elder's who hadn't received his endowment yet and I loved it! But the MTC is great and I love it so here's a recap of the first week at the MTC!
Wednesday July 8, 2015
So things were off to such a wonderful start! We boarded the plane and were just about to ready to head out and then of course.... all the computers nationwide for United Airlines shut down. SO!!! That caused us to have a 2 hour delay... After about 20 minutes of sitting there, they deboarded us and told us to return to the lobby until things cleared up and people were not very happy, but I was totally cool with it. (being in a suit and all and in a hot airplane at the time) So yes, had a wonderful start to my mission! It just showed me that there is great work to accomplish in my mission and the adversary doesn't want me or any other missionaries getting to our destination. But finally, 13 hours or so later, we landed in Newark and my Manchester flight was still on time so we boarded and hit the sky.
London and London South Group Picture
Thursday:
WE LANDED IN THE UK!!! There were 6 other missionaries that arrived together and we still had about 12 or so that were still in the US because of the delayed flights. BUUUUUT.... England is so beautiful!!! Like it is so amazing to see and let me say this about the weather, IT IS LITERALLY PERFECT. One thing I need to get used to is still the whole driving on the wrong side of the road deal.
President Preston and Myself
So I began my MTC experience by being called to be a district leader over the Jacob District. It's a lot of work but I seriously love it. I don't know what to do half the time still, but I'm getting the hang of it. But there is an elder here was baptized two months before me so we have a lot of commonalities and we ALWAYS have good talks about how we were converted and why we came to the mission field. We talked a lot about how the Bible and the Book of Mormon literally connect and how everything in this world, is literally connected! that went on for about an hour or so and then we finally got ready for bed. Now I love being a missionary. Everyone at the MTC is so unique. We all come from different regions of the world, speak SO many different languages, but we all share one common goal, invite others to come unto Christ.
(right to left) Elder Sullivan, Burton, Reynolds, myself, Persicke, Yang and Skinner
We continued our introduction day by having a powerpoint presentation by President Preston and it was amazing. One thing that I took from it is that, "participation invites revelation" and its not just for me, its for all of us. Participate and you will find answers.
Friday:
So today was very interesting and also overwhelming.(but in a good way if that makes sense) I got to teach my very first lesson and also conducted our devotional and it went rather well. My district is very open to participation and always having something amazing to share. Later we also got to meet our teachers who basically instruct us on how we should do things and how we can become effective missionaries by applying their teachings. (they are return missionaries) With Brother Webb(served in England Manchester) we learn so many brilliant things that I always go back to during lessons. But we got to role-play (we do it a lot here at the MTC) and it helps us prepare for our first investigator Inta.(mock investigator but she is very good at acting) We went over more of fundamentals to teaching and I was literally so focused that i was just writing everything down that he was saying. REAL QUICK BEFORE I FORGET, my companion is Elder Lorenzana from the Philippines. He is 26 and is a convert for 2 years, but he speaks 9 different languages. YES, 9... its quite the feat. Gonna skip past the rest of this night cause it was just role-play, but before bed, Elder Nakomaha (come from the islands off Australia, or somewhere there) but he asked for a blessing from me to help him with what he needed. I felt so honored to be able to do that and I've seen him progress in just a few days because of that and it makes me full of joy.
President Preston, Sister Preston, Elder Lorenzana and myself
Saturday:
So craziest thing i think about England is that it DOESN'T GET DARK UNTIL 10 pm... like what is this madness. it looks like its 5 outside back in AZ BUT ITS BEDTIME... We've also been hit with showers upon showers of rain thus far and I love it cause you know, rain doesn't exist in Arizona. Today was full again of more role-plays and another lesson with Inta, but I can see the blessings of being a missionary coming to life. I am so comfortable in teaching and being a leader to others. It's just become natural and I seriously love it that Lord has provided me with the help I need in order to be successful.
England at 10:00 PM
Sunday:
Church and loads of fantastic devotionals along with sleep finally and we also went up the temple as a MTC group and took some pretty marvelous pictures. But yeah, just loads of devotionals, one in particular was given by Elder Bednar (video) called, ''is it the spirit, or is it just me?'' His answer... QUIT WORRYING ABOUT IT. haha. But its true... go watch it and tell me what you think! But I'm also picking up on some foreign lanuages from my fellow missionaries! Portuguese is going to be my native tongue if i keep learning at this rate(not really but i do know some phrases now)
Monday:
WE FINALLY GOT TO PLAY Futbol. umm... my soccer skills could be better, i'll keep it at that. But we then again had more training with our teachers and more role-plays. I also forgot to mention the food... ITS SO GOOD, Steve(our chef) knows how to make some pretty delightful meal courses EVERY day. But yeah, more role-plays and learning and studying.
England at 7:00 PM
Tuesday: about the same as Tuesday.
Wednesday: TODAY
Temple Visit and we get to go shopping today and finally have time to relax and plan for the week and again, relax. I'm loving the MTC so much and being a missionary in England is all i want to be doing. It's literally the greatest work ever and I'm still in MTC, Fancy that... but I love you all and I can't wait to be out on my mission and lose myself in the Lord's work. Thank you for the support and emails too!~
The church is true, the book is blue and Jesus will always love you!
Until Next week!
-Elder Rivera
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