Half way mark at the MTC!

Hey hey hey!!! So today marks the half way mark at the MTC! So crazy how fast it goes here, the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days. The spirit has been so great it’s awesome. Some things have definitely changed since last week. Our amazing teachers that were teaching us, Hermano Clarke y Hermano Riboldi, are not going to be able to teach us anymore:( they were so amazing. Hermano Clarke was such an inspiration; he would always share examples of his mission from his journal and talk about how it’s all about the peeps! In my case the peeps in Chile. When it’s hard I just remember that I am doing for those people. But it was so spiritual the last night we sang "Till we meet again" in Spanish and he bore his testimony, it was filled with so much joy and excitement for us, you could really tell he was passionate about us and the mission. We all got teared up because the spirit had such a strong presence around him, it wasn’t fake at all, he is such an outgoing guy and can be hilarious but when it’s time to work he gets us to because we respect him, we weren’t to excited about our new teachers but they are great as well! Not the same but have different great strengths. Another change is I got a new companion. One of the guys left to Spain and we had two Trios in our district, so we had to split up. This will be my 4th companion now and 3rd companionship. I haven’t even left the MTC yet either ha-ha. I was really bummed when this happened; starting to teach with a new companion is hard at first, especially after leaving such a great trio. But we have gotten along great and he is such a great new comp, it will just take time to get flowing together. (btw his name is Elder Pugh). Another thing is I was called as the new district leader. Excited to help bring us more together as a district. Teaching is my favorite thing probably at the MTC! I surprised myself soooo much at our last TRC (training resource center). We taught two lessons about revelation from the book of Mormon. We first taught two guys from BYU that served in various missions Spanish speaking and second taught a Chilean!!! What was crazy is he couldn’t speak any English really I loved it. I got so excited and it really really made me want to get there and teach the people there. He was so friendly and had such a great spirit. It was me and my comps first time teaching and we had nothing planned because of how soon the switch was. But nonetheless we went in with the spirit and I surprised myself COMPLETELY! I spoke the best Spanish I have yet (not saying it was perfect, but hard work really does pay off, testifying of how I have received revelation as well as listening to their comments and responding was miraculous the spirit was so strong, especially when you testify of what you know. Another thing is how great the scriptures are in my life now. I LOVE THEM! My two most favorite times of the day are personal study time where I can just read the Book of Mormon, and Language study time, It is so much fun learning new things because you can use the new things you learn in lessons, it’s not like school where you’ll never us the stuff, everything we learn we use its amazing.
This Sunday we listened to Elder Bednars talk he gave on Christmas at the MTC is was about the Characteristic of Christ. He talked about how we need to be converted which means putting away the natural man. He talked about how Christ now once in his life thought of himself always giving an outward love to others rather than an inward love of yourself. Another speaker this Sunday said how to be a great missionary you need to humble yourself in order to become a great missionary. These words had really changed my thinking of the Mission, This is not my mission at all, I am in place of Jesus Christ, and it is to fulfill his work declared in Moses 1:39 (hey a scripture mastery huh). So I really have made a difference in how I interact with everyone here, never talking badly of anyone or complaining about anyone EVER. Helping others matters so much more then what I need. It will take time to do this, no one is perfect, but I want to become more outward with love, instead of embracing the natural man with selfishness.
Bednar also said "You receive no witness till the trial of your faith." He referred to the story of the Brother of Jared found in Ether. He talked about how he asked God to light up the stones with his finger. As God was doing this the Brother of Jared began to just see a bright light, it wasn’t till towards the end of touching all the stones one by one that he was able to see Gods finger working this miracle. In our lives especially here at the MTC we often do things trying our faith and it’s often not till awhile after doing something where we see the blessing of God in our lives. Especially with the language some days feel like I will never get it, but then we go and teach and the spirit of God is present and through the Holy Ghost I am able to teach someone the Greatness of the Gospel. Brother Monson talked about how the Prophet has very simple faith in that if he is prompted or told to do something through revelation he won’t question why he will just do it. We here need to do that as well regarding obedience because all the rules are inspired by revelation. Thanks Dalan for your letter I actually was able to understand your whole letter of Spanish except for one word but I was still happy ha-ha. I am bummed to hear about how they showed the garments that upset me. I honestly want people to just read the Book of Mormon. Everyone that has fallen away reading the Book of Mormon has trouble denying the Books power because of how true and sacred it is. If everyone just read the Book they would really see who we are and what we stand for. Overall this week was great! I love teaching, can’t wait to testify to the people of Chile

Con Amor,
Elder Carter