Boy, I can honestly say that the life I am living right now is a roller coaster. You never know what will happen next, and you can be at a highest of highs, then in 2 seconds be at the lowest you have ever been. Very humbling. I have had many amazing experiences this week though, and I would like to tell you ALL OF THEM haha:)
The food is killing me. I feel like there is nothing to eat except for milk, and that is only in the mornings. And yes, eat milk. Sometimes they have rice and I get like 2 bowls of that good stuff. I eat cereal and bread. That is Elder Bitter's diet right there. Oh ya, and I buy a lot of Doritos and Lays chips at the store here. We are given 100 pesos every week for the first four weeks we are here. So I am taking advantage. I can already hear all of you guys saying, "Yup, he's still Bruce." and yes, I still am.
OH MY WORD, Mia is the cutest baby. She looks so different. haha She looks 50% like Brooklyn and 20% like Chris. Where is the other 30%????? Crazy. I think she kinda looks like me a little bit. Just kidding, I just thought I'd give you guys a little laugh there haha, but really, she does kinda look like me. Anyway, her first word better be Bruce. But I am so excited for Brooklyn and Chris. I love you guys. I am so happy for you. You now have something to bring you closer to each other and make you love each other even more. And now you're thinking, "IS that even possible?" Yes, it is.
How is Breanne and volleyball? MVP. Tell me about it sometime.
Every time I look at our family pictures I miss you guys. When I look at those picture of Maycee and Lyla, I die a little inside knowing that I won't even see them like that ever again. That was a hard sacrifice. But let me tell you, obedience is greater than sacrifice. As long as I am obedient, God will pour out blessings, and I have already begun to see them.
Not to be bipolar or anything, but everything I said about my companion last week, scratch that also. I am so grateful for him, he has helped me grow in every single way. For this I love him, he is sent from God to me to help me learn patience, diligence, and love. But let me tell you, when I get home, my tolerance has grown tenfold. I could marry a crazy wife and still get along. That is how much this guy, this big lovely bear has helped me with my selfish self. He has helped me, more so, put off the natural man and come unto God, and be willing to submit to anything the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon me. I will do anything he wants me to. I love him.
First I would like to talk about teaching. This is the best thing here. I love teaching with the Spirit. It is so amazing. Things just work out with the Spirit, you feel it and you say words that are brought into your mind and it is so amazing. Sometimes I get my point accross without using English. I love it here. It hasn't even sunk in yet that I am going to leave here to go to Panama. I feel like these elders will be with me for my whole mission, even though we won't see each other for over 2 years.
But anyways... I had the privilege of teaching a (pretend in a way....) investigator called Angela (An-hela). Let's just say this is one of the best experiences ever. On the third lesson, I decided that we should ask her to be baptized. The other elders thought we were crazy. But we did it. At the beginning we followed up on if she had prayed whether the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith were true. She said that she prayed about them and she didn't really feel anything about Joseph Smith, and that nothing really big happened like a vision either, but she felt okay with the Book of Mormon. I asked her if she felt good when she prayed in her heart, and she said 'yes', and I told her that was the Spirit telling her that they were true, and she said yes it was!!! We taught and somwhere in the middle I asked her to be baptized, and she said something I didn't understand... So we talked more and I shared the scripture Moses 1:39 and told her that the only way we can return to live with God is through baptism. So I asked her to be baptized again... hahaha:) She said she couldn't be baptized because she didn't know Joseph Smith was a prophet, so I challenged her to pray that night about it and she accepted. So that was a crazy lesson... haha but wait til you hear the next lesson. We decided to teach about the plan of salvation. At the beginning we asked her if she had prayed about Joseph Smith and she said she did and that she felt the Spirit. HOW AMAZING IS THAT! Anyway, we started into the plan of salvation, and I had the worst feeling ever. I felt like something was so wrong. My companion had bought a puzzle of the plan of salvation, and started into it, and I had the distinct impression: BAPTISM. Ask her to be baptized. I thought that was the craziest thought ever, and that we had already prepared something, and that I would ask her at the end. But I decided to ask her, because I felt it so strongly, and what we were doing felt so wrong. So after my companion kinda tripped over his words and looked at me to catch him, I shared with her the scripture Moses 1:39. I asked her to be baptized. She said that she didn't know if she wanted to. And after that, let me tell you, the Spirit took over my thoughts. I said: Sister Olsen, do you know that the Book of Mormon is true? She said yes. Then I said: Sister Olsen, do you know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet because of the Spirit you felt when you prayed to know? She said yes. Then I said: If the Book of Mormon is true, and Joseph Smith is a true prophet, is not the Church of Jesus Christ also true? She thought for a few seconds, then said YES. Then I said: Seguir el ejemplo de Jesucristo al ser bautizada por alguien que posea la atouridad del sacerdocio de Dios? Just guess what she said.... She said YES. I couldn't contain my happiness. It was so amazing. It felt so real, I know she felt the Spirit. I know all of our testimonies were strengthened. It was so amazing. I love the church. It is true.
If there is one thing that I have learned in the MTC, it is that God cares so much for us, that he is there, and that He answers our prayers, every single one. Now, I didn't say that he answers our prayers in the ways we want him to, in fact it is just the opposite of what we want. And the reason for that, is because he loves us so much, that he answers us in the way that will help us improve and grow in faith and testimony the most. Believe it or not, this hard companionship is an answer to all of my many prayers. I have been praying for a while, for increase in testimony, for increased faith in Jesus Christ also, and to have a better understanding of the love that Jesus offers me. Let me tell you, it is so hard to explain this the way I want to, but I always have short comings, vices, immaturity, vulgar words, and many other things to God, yet he forgives me, is patient with me, and helps me improve. I am going to do this with everyone I come in contact with, especially my comanion. Jesus forgave those who took his life, even berfore he died when he was on the cross. I can forgive my companion for bugging me at times. I can forgive him for doing anything. I need to love everyone with the love that Christ offers me. I have been praying to be more like Christ. And let me tell you, I have been shown the way, now I just have to follow what I have learned.
Thank you for all of your prayers. I literally could feel them earlier this week. It is so amazing. I love you guys so much. I am growing so much. Sorry if I sounded prideful last week by saying that I would be already out in the field. I apologize. God has many lessons to teach me still. Remember when my patriarchal blessing said that my mission would change my life for eternity? It already has.
I almost forgot to ask you guys, but I want my setting apart blessing. Could you try to remember the things, and type it up the best you can, maybe talk to President Thurgood a little about it. Just give me something I can read that states the blessing I was promised. It is hard to remember and to write them down when I have so much to do all of the time. I can't focus on anything else really. If you would do this, I would be eternally grateful.
If you haven't yet read the books in the missionary library such as: Our Heritage, Our Search for Happiness, or Jesus the Christ yet, I strongly exhort you to read them.. Our Heritage, even though we learned so much in Palmyra, I have learned so much more from that book. It talks about the beginning of the church until now; how much the pioneers sacrificed. How I wish I could be like them. I love them, with the love of Christ. The love of Christ is a love that burns in my heart. I wish to give it to all and everyone, and I can, by loving them with that love.
Last Sunday we had a devotional by Elder Richard G. Scott. It was for me. Everything, every devotional is directed toward me in my time of need and I love it. But he talked to us about how we need to pray. Prayer is how we strengthen our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Maybe Heavenly Father is having the same thoughts that you are having. You should focus on pouring out your heart to God first. That is what has helped me in my dire situation. Once you know that God is near and you feel peace and joy from your prayers and are feeling the Spirit, you can conquer anything (1 Nephi 3:7) That scripture is getting me through the MTC. Though I am weak, I can be made strong through God (Either 12:27) I do not boast of myself, but I boast of my God (Alma 26:12) When you are having a hard time, turn to the SCRIPTURES and to PRAYER, Liken all scriptures to yourself (that is in 2 Nephi something haha) But remember that God is always near. If we feel far from him, it is because we are hiding under our own pavilion, not God covering you with it (D&C 121) So pray. It is our connection with our Father in Heaven. He loves us, we only have to do the simple act of kneeling down and speaking to Him.
My testimony is simple yet firm. It is small, but built upon the rock of my Redeemer. He is my Savior, my friend in the hardest and highest of times. He would be there if I were rich, or if I had nothing. He is Jesus the Christ. The only begotten of the Father. He sacrificed his life so that I could have mine. Oh, I will go to the end of my days singing hosanas to His name, and declaring His message to the ends of the earth. That is my responsibility. This is His work and glory. I am a servant of Christ. He is my God. Some day I will feel the prints in his hands, wrists and feet. I will thrust my hand into his side. I will look into the face of my true friend, my God, my Redeemer. my Savior, my friend. I shall not know then, any better than I know now that he is God's almighty Son, my Redeemer. That he atoned for our sins, and that he is the Christ.
I love you all so much. Strengthen your testimony by bearing it.
Love, Elder Bitter
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