Elder Amoni Ka'ili Mission Journey: Most spiritually fed week in the MTC...

WEEK 4!

Most spiritually fed week in the MTC! We had like 5 devotionals and 2 of them we listened to apostles! I already talked about Christofferson but then we had the opportunity to have David A. Bednar come to the CCM(Mexico MTC)! I've never been more excited in my life for general conference! I CAN'T WAIT! Lol but His spirit that he holds is so powerful! When he came into the CCM it was like a celebrity came in! Haha all the missionaries surrounded the minivans he and his wife came in! Then our MTC president got mad at everyone and so we all went to dinner and then he came to the cafeteria and everyone freaked out again! He still looks so young it's crazy! So the devotional was at 6:15 and the MTC presidency came around and told everyone they need to study and go to dinner before lining up. And told everyone don't line up before 5! So me and my district went to dinner at 4:45 so we can go line up and make sure we are in the auditorium so we can actually see him speak and not be in the overflow watching him on a tv. We get to dinner at 4:45 and look at the auditorium and there's already like 400 missionaries in line...haha so me and Elder Hammer skipped dinner and ran to the line because the auditorium only holds 600 and we didn't want to be in the overflow! Haha when they opened the doors it was like there wasn't even a line anymore everyone just started running to the doors and there was people like "hey no butting" but I NEEDED TO SEE BEDNAR SPEAK so I grabbed hammer like a football and we ran to the doors with everyone else! Haha he was kind of scared lol but it was alright we got a seat and the devotional was amazing!!!!

Sister Bednar spoke first and she is literally the sweetest lady ever! She spoke to us about the language and to be patient with it, it will come! She also touched on us missionaries being in the field and missing our families, she shared a scripture in D&C 84:87-88, she said " the lord will be with you all the time on your left and on your right, and when you are sad and down he will send angels to lift you up". It was so nice to hear that! She also made it clear and evident that we are in the gathering of Israel, we are born at this time for that specific reason and we are out here on a mission for that specific reason! Her talk was short but it was so spiritually strong and so sweet!

Elder Bednar.... man oh man right when he walked in you could tell that he is one of God's strongest servants! He did an open talk with all the missionaries in the building! He would talk and then have people ask questions and then talk again. It was 2 hrs long but it was so nice! He started with some jokes! Funniest speaker, I never would've of thought! Haha but he started out his talk with " I don't get why everyone writes down everything I say when I speak... You guys do know it's going to be on LDS.org 5 min after I sit down... it's just dumb" haha i couldn't believe he said dumb lol. But then he said I don't want any of you to write down anything I'm saying because I'm not the teacher or the speaker to you all right now, the Holy Ghost is. Write down what the holy ghost teaches you that is not said out loud but it is said through personal revelation. He said during talks we should not be writing big plates of scriptures(copying down everything the speaker is saying). We should be writing down the small plates of scriptures(what the holy ghost is revealing to us. What we are feeling that is not being said out loud but quietly inside). He talked about looking for the holy ghost and acting in faith. He said WE ARE NOT OBJECTS WAITING TO BE ACTED UPON. We are agents, agents with free agency. We determine how we react and act to different situations! We must go and act and find out for ourselves what the holy ghost is and if this gospel is true. He talked about our testimonies and how they need to be strong when we are missionaries because how are we going to teach someone about this gospel if we really don't even believe in it! He said " if all you know about the gospel is from someone else, we will not have enough for the latter days" My favorite thing he said from his talk was "BE WORTHY, BE DESIROUS, AND BE SEEKING FOR THE HOLY GHOST...... Don't be mad when you don't get your answer right away, God will send revelation/answers when the time is right, we must be ready and prepared to receive it though!" He shared a story about Gordon B. Hinckley and his dad when he was on his mission. He wasn't having success on his mission and things were going bad and he was telling his dad these things and the only thing his dad replied back to him was "Get over yourself and get to work" Over these last 4 weeks I've learned that the only way to have success in the mission field is to lose yourself in the work. It's never about you! Bednar said " When you get lost, that's when you find where you're going" He continued and said "just like how we are not OBJECTS the investigators aren't OBJECTS. He said we are not the teachers the Holy Ghost is. We need to teach them to fish instead of giving them the fish to eat. Our investigators have to find out for themselves if this gospel is true. We cannot give them all the answers!" Ahhhh I wish everyone could've been here because it truly was one of the best things I've experienced in my life! My email would be too long if I talked about everything he said so I just put my favorite parts! Haha but a couple last things that stuck out to me:

-These 24 months is a boot camp for the rest of our lives!

-Don't go looking for trouble because you will ALWAYS find it!

- We are blessed with spiritual gifts not for us but so they can be used through us for someone else!

-Answers come when we ACT(Simply praying don't do anything)

-Don't falsely charge god, everything comes in God's timing not yours, don't be selfish, be patient and humble!

Another big thing that happened this week was I gave my first talk in sacrament meeting in Spanish! Haha it was alright.... lol but i can't wait till I can actually speak the language so I can write a better talk! But it was awesome and for some reason I wasn't nervous at all. I feel like I would've been more nervous speaking in English... it's weird!

But yeah the days in the MTC are coming to an end and I'm way excited actually because I want to be out in the field already! The days in the MTC get repetitive, but I guess that's good so we have a set schedule in our minds! But yeah it's gonna be weird when I get back in the states and I don't hear gun shots, car crashes, dogs barking all day and all night haha! Maybe I'll finally be able to get a good night's rest! Haha

We also did promix this week twice! Which is we do splits with the latino companions for the whole day! My companions name was Elder Perito from Colombia! Haha his Spanish was so fast but it was so good for me. I felt like I learned more in those 2 days of just trying to speak Spanish and hearing his Spanish all day then the other weeks I've been here. I low-key wish we did promix more but everyone hates it because the districts get split up but I like it haha! We do it again this Saturday and hopefully more our final Week!

I love part of this quote my grandma sent me: "May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith." It literally fit in perfect with what I was feeling this Week!

I love you all and challenge you all to continue to read your scriptures each day and say your daily prayers! I know that if you do those 2 things your lives will be blessed immensely! Follow the small prompting of the holy ghost and act in FAITH. I LOVE YOU ALL! Adios!

Amor,

Elder Ka'ili