In which i'm still in the MTC (Part 2)

Well, it seems as though this last week went by even faster than the one before it. Which is fine by me! I've been really enjoying being at the MTC though. If I could stay here my whole mission I'd be tempted, but there are people to save, new places to go, non-cafeteria food to eat, and adventures to be had!

Last Sunday was one of the longest days of my life, though. Meeting after meeting. All good ones, don't get me wrong! It just was so long. 6:50AM to 9PM!

Oh and President Uchtdorf came. 

(I didn't see him, but a couple people in our zone did. I guess he came to tour the new buildings on the MTC campus. For those who don't know, President Uchtdorf works closely with the Prophet, above the quorum of the 12 apostles.)

So while he was here, there was a rumor that he would be the speaker at the Sunday devotional. And then we heard he had gone home already so we were kinda disappointed. But the devo ending up being good anyway. As of that day, there were 1300 missionaries in the MTC,  700 of which were sisters! And then we got 500 new missionaries on wednesday! The sister missionaries are just crazy incredible. Like... I wanna be as good as the sister missionaries are haha.

On Monday, we started meeting with 2 new investigators. Even though they're acting, you really come to love them and hope they keep commitments and feel the spirit and choose to be baptized. Thankfully, it seems we managed to do that this week! 

On Tuesday and Wednesday, I got up with a few other elders at ~3AM to say goodbye to the elders in the district that left the MTC for the field. They're all such great, hilarious, immensely spiritual guys that I look up to a lot. They're gonna be great. The next time I get up that early will be this Tuesday to leave for Little Rock! 

(We got our flight itineries. Leaving the MTC at 3:30 for an 8:30 flight. A little earlier than it needs to be if you ask me, but...)

On tuesday, Elder Nielson of the 70 (The group of people under the quorum of the 12 apostles) visited for the Tuesday devotional. I realized that I had heard about him before from my parents. So my grandparents lived on the same street as them and their kids and my parents grew up together. So after the devo (Which was awesome, talking about how God protects his missionaries and is involved in this work) I made my companion go wait in line with me up front to meet him. It kinda felt like being able to meet band members after a concert? But anyway, I introduced myself as the grandson of the holmsteads and he asked who my parents were. I said Tiffany, and he brought his wife over and she was like "oh, are you Oliver?" So that's cool! She knew me before I introduced myself. We got to follow them out with the MTC presidency into this special room where the speakers and presidency hang out before the devotionals. Got pictures taken with them there and talked a little bit about my family and twin falls Idaho. It was cool to have someone who knows the people I love the most so well!

Another takeaway or 2 from the devotional (actually from sister Nielson):
-Qualifying for, receiving, and acting on spiritual promptings is the single greatest skill we can acquire in this life
-My whole life and the whole lives of my future investigators have been preparing us for this.
-Jesus Christ has called ME.

After the older district left, the janitors came to clean the room. They found a screw on the ground and looked up at the air vent. They found all kinds of goodies in there. We were freaking out next door like a drug bust was going on. Kinda hilarious. 

So this isn't super organized at all, but... another thing I love about the MTC happens at about 9PM. As various districts go back to dorms, some of them will just sing a hymn on the way. As they walk past people chatting, they join in. So its just cool to see that spread across campus. I've sung "called to serve" more times in the past few weeks than maybe my entire life before then haha. But it's awesome when people you've never met before join in and spread the song around! 

So my four square reign has continued stronger than it ever did in 4th grade. We decided to try something else last night. While most of the zone played volleyball again, a few of us tried botchee (sp?) Ball. Elder Miller and I won 6/12 games... and there were 4 teams. So we schooled haha. When it comes to basketball and volleyball etc. I'm pretty lousy, but with weird sports like four square, botchee ball, wallyball... I'm pretty good apparently?

Yesterday some of our district (me, and sisters Gardner, Pollard, and Landon) started practicing the song Nearer, My God to Thee for church tomorrow. To clarify, I'm playing piano, and they are singing and sound really good. I'll have to see about doing a video? https://youtu.be/DSKhtVfsIOo

Soooo that's this week, really. We went to the temple again today. No big impressions today, really, but as I was walking out I just felt really happy and like I'd done the right thing. That same feeling I'm hoping to get on the flight back home from Arkansas in 1.9 years. :)

Got a haircut here this morning, too. It took all of about 8 minutes, but turned out pretty good I think. I've been wanting to get a haircut since before I even reported to the MTC but scheduling an appointment was a pain. But anyway, My head feels a lot lighter now, Yay!

It's weird to think that my next email will be sent from Arkansas! P Day will most likely be on Monday, which means it'll be just over a week til you hear from me again. 

So keep doing good things! Read the Book of Mormon. Pray to your Heavenly Father. He's there. And Jesus Christ is there to make your burdens light! My testimony of my Savior has grown so much while I've been here. I hope you can feel His love for you as much as I do here!

Until next time!
Elder Dahl