2nd MTC email

All is well here in the MTC. I've been sick for a fair while, this time with a cold, and I was really worried yesterday that I wouldn't be able to sing in choir, as I've got a horrible cough and had almost lost my voice. But right before we were about to sing, my throat cleared and I was able to sing with full vigour and conviction. As soon as we finished, my voice dissapeared again. This was clearly the answer to the fervent prayers I'd been saying, pleading with the Lord that I wanted to praise him in song, but needed his help to do so. The choir director is a great man - as well as teaching us to sing the hymns, he also has a laugh and a joke with us, and ALSO manages to get across a spiritual point. This week it was on that exact topic - giving your all to praise the Lord. He said how when we give an offering, it has to be the best we have to give, like burnt offerings in times of old, and the Lord blessed me that I was able to sing with all my might as an offering to him.

We taught a pretend lesson in the Teaching Resource Centre last Saturday. It didn't go all that well - my companion likes to avoid using scriptures and just tell people things with a very sombre attitude, while I want to do the opposite; use scriptures to back up our points, ask questions that provoke thought, and present the material in a way that makes it engaging as well as spiritual. It's tough to balance, so for the most part, I'm just letting him lead the way. Being a Utah boy, he's had a lot fewer opportunities to hone his teaching skills, and certainly never had anyone like Stuart to temper his doctrinal sword. It will be interesting to see which style resonates more with the people we teach once we get into the field - but as he's going to Australia, Cantonese speaking, and I'm going to Hong Kong, we won't actually get a chance to teach together.

Everyone in my district is Cantonese speaking, and with the exception of Elder Dallin, are going to Hong Kong. It's not been easy for him to be the exception, but he seems to be coping okay. A new district entered our branch last week who are going to Australia, so he has some common ground with them. He's just frustrated that they arrived after him, but will leave before him.

I volunteered for a wonderful opportunity this Sunday - I get to teach the Plan of Salvation in District Meeting (kind of like Sunday School)! I've been working on some visual aids to map out the plan that are very similar to the ones Murray made when he was on his mission for the same purpose - tell him I said thank you for the idea, and for him teaching me that lesson in Seminary.