Week 2 (MTC)

It’s crazy how fast things have happened at the MTC. I can’t believe I only have one week left. I will be on the same plane as my companion and the other elder going to El Salvador. The food is really amazing but there is so much of it. I don't know how people can get seconds. Every dinner I have to get salad because I am not very hungry because the meal for lunch is so big, and the lines are super long for the other stuff. But their salads are really good. I actually think I’ve lost weight here. Also I have had chocolate milk for every meal ha-ha. Recently though with the newest missionaries the lines have been crazy long, like on Friday we were 30 minutes late to class because they kept running out of food and the line took so long. I also sprained a kid’s ankle this week. I was playing volley ball for exercise and my district really gets into it, so I go up to spike the ball, and Elder Galarraga goes to block me but I end up scoring, and I land first, and then he bumps my knee and that made it so he rolled his ankle super bad, he had crutches for 4 days ha-ha.

Also we had an investigator through this TRC program they do at the MTC and me and my companion  have been teaching a guy named Sergio Hernandez, and the first two lessons went alright (He seemed to be more interested in learning about it than wanting to join because he expressed it was an interest of his to learn about other religions). But on Friday me and my companion were reading in the scriptures with him, in Nephi chapter 2, he already read the first, and my companion related him to Sam and his older brother Nephi, who Sergio’s brother recently got back from a mission, Sergio said he saw his brother change and was a lot happier and we wanted the same happiness, I then bore my testimony to him that he could feel the same happiness and about other things, and my Spanish was nearly perfect and I didn't even stutter. It was really cool because after this lesson I saw a change in him, he realized that the gospel was for him specifically. We have the next lesson with him tomorrow so we will see how that goes.

Neil A. Anderson came to speak and it was broadcasted to all of the MTCs around the world and I was in the choir for that, we sang, more holiness gives me and it was really cool. He spoke about being a missionary and it was really cool. He said learning how to be a missionary is not complex, but it isn't easy, he talks about how people are waiting for us, and that no matter where we go there are people who are waiting to be baptized. "You have to believe they are there, where no one can see them". He talked about wherever we go to not let our flame burn out, not just for the rest of our mission, but for the rest of our lives.

I and my companion were supposed to teach priesthood this week about repentance but I guess there was a little mix up. Apparently our district leader told us we were teaching the wrong lesson, we were supposed to teach our district meeting about obedience, so when we were about to teach our lesson, another companionship came in claiming they were teaching too, and Hermano Flores (Third counselor of our branch) was in there and he told us we were actually supposed to teach the district meeting, which we just came from and we didn't have a teacher, because apparently we were supposed to teach it. So long story short we had a really good lesson that we weren't able to give, but we got to share a lot about it because they want the lessons to be a discussion.

I am excited because I am almost positive that Jeffery R Holland is coming because he is speaking at BYU at 11 on Tuesday and last week we learned his favorite song, more holiness give me. And everyone has been talking about it. Hopefully it happens

I might not email you next Monday because my flight leaves on Monday at 1 am. So I might be able to call you around 10-12 on Sunday night when I’m in the airport. I leave the MTC 9:35 pm on Sunday to the airport. I don’t know I will be able to email though. We will see. 

Love Elder Blanchard