Monday, August 5, 2013 8:46 AM

Querido Familia, I'm glad you are okay with me only doing one letter because that is what I was going to do anyway haha. Make sure that this gets to Brenda because I won't have time to include the meat of what is happening to me in my e-mail to her. I'm glad to hear about the missionary experiences! since school is starting i definitely expect some missionary experiences from my younger siblings to be included in following e-mails. I start my email with some thoughts i had about school yesterday and some wisdom and advice i can hopefully impart. The MTC is definitely a higher institution of learning and the Lord is here to help whenever I seek His help. However, I would not be ready for this higher learning experience if I had not been diligent in my earthly learning as well as spiritual learning before my mission. My advice is to learn as much as you can, Learning is such a big blessing that God has blessed us with, and I wish I had taken more full advantage of my opportunities to learn during elementary school and high school. Even thing is line upon line poco y poco. If a person does not learn the simple things they can not move on to more complicated things. Especially take full advantage of your sacred time spent in Seminary and In church learning classes such as Sunday School. It is time set aside for learning about the Lord. Especially in the MTC I am finding out how blessed a person can be if they use time set aside by the Lord to complete the task He has set the time aside for. for example If i actually use the allotted time to study the language, to study the language, then my lessons go better, the spirit is more prevalent, and I am able to retain a lot more Spanish. If i waste my time joking with elders or being lazy then everything becomes difficult. Also don't be afraid to make sacrifices for to be able to learn. For example, Elder McKean and I did TALL on our p-day and it was really hard and i don't think we learned much, but I know that the Lord blessed us so much for just making the extra effort and sacrificing some of our "personal" time. So just count your blessings for having the opportunity to learn and try to let the Lord into your learning, He will increase your capacities to levels you didn't know you had. Next I'll tell you about some of the amazing experiences I have had this week. Sometimes it is hard to distinguish between days and the weeks mesh into one, I mean in two days my MTC stay will be half over (Hallelujah!). Anyway, Wednesday I think it was, was a very good day. I got the opportunity as a zone leader to work with Elder Tyler (our district leader) as he interviewed the sister senior companions in our district. I am so impressed by the members of our district and their personal commitment to do the Lord's will. It was interesting to watch Elder Tyler minister to them and try to know by the spirit how to help them, I could definitely feel the spirit and only gave a few inputs. After that Elder McKean and I talked with the sister training leader Hermana Curtis (who actually had been living in mesa for a few years and at one time lived in the condos right by Fry's crazy right! Leadership reppin Mesa whoot!) and she told us how she was doing and concerns that she had, we tried our best to minister and let the spirit guide us in giving advice and I feel that He did. Then after she asked us to give her a blessing and Elder McKean said he had never preformed a blessing before and so would be more comfortable if I was the voice. So I was and it wasn't like the words were flowing straight from Heaven out of my mouth but the spirit was definitely there and I know that The Priesthood can bless everyone according to their faith. It was a very neat and nice opportunity to minister. Administering is part of my job but it is almost just an afterthought to ministering because that is really what’s important. There is a talk about ministering in the last general conference, which reminds me could you please send me my copy of that? sorry to keep asking for stuff, if you already sent the package don't worry about it. Then that night Hermano Rodgers wanted to do a role play on teaching a first lesson and asking questions so that you can really meet the needs of the investigator. I felt impressed that i should volunteer and that I should try and put myself into the persona of Meghan. I believe that i gained heaven sent insight into her situation. I felt bad for not trying to be more understanding and for not really having Christ-like love. I wrote her a letter telling her how I was doing but didn't tell her about my experience. I felt impressed that i should just tell her about my mtc experiences so far and hopefully it can bless her. You could send me coach greg williams email too i guess. I found out yesterday as Hermana Weller and her companion were teaching our district meeting that the role play experience had blessed her with a prompting as well. She said she new a non-member lady and that during the role play she felt a strong impression that she needed to write her a letter and she didn’t' know about what but that she has been studying a lot and is going to do it. I know that I was impressed to do the role play but i didn't think it had really affected anyone but myself. I am learning that if a prompting comes to just act on it, if I ever wait to act on a prompting or let the opportunity pass me by the spirit leaves and I have to work hard for the Lord to bless me with His promptings again. It is hard and can sometimes be a bit scary but I am trying to get over that and just drop everything and act. Yesterday was probably my best day in the MTC. We had a mission conference because it was fast Sunday. During the first musical number (a piano solo to "I stand all amazed") the lyrics from the song, "and for ME a sinner He suffered, He bled, and died" came into my mind with great force and power. That for me, a man that makes a lot of mistakes that has a lot to work on, for me a lowly 18 year old boy Christ suffered bled and died. I felt God's love for me and the Savior's love for me in that moment probably more than I ever have in my entire life. I could feel a warm feeling envelope my body, like a warm hug. The rest of the meeting was wonderful and inspiring and I just kept thinking back to that experience. I used to think that the MTC was some spiritual wonderland but it is much more real than that. I am also coming to understand just how real Christ's atonement, crucifixion and resurrection are. They can literally change my life and the way I face it for time and all eternity. Stay strong Andrew/Lamereaux clan, may the Lord be with you!

Love, Elder Andrew