Elder Hijo....letter posted after pictures...

                                           

Celebratory Sangria (non alcoholic) after our first lesson with our first real inverstigator

Pretty big rainstorm in Provo on 9/27/14

What Elder Miller and I put on our door so we can have peace and quiet...

Look towards the temple in times of darkness (picture taken this morning walking to the temple)

OK, so we have weekly room checks to make sure our rooms stay clean...we may OR may not have bribed the room checkers with Swedish Fish...(Notice Bottom Left)

Hello Y'all,

Hope this letter finds you well...I am hoping and praying for Grandpa Child's quick recovery...

It has been a great week of learning and progressing...everyone including my teachers and sometimes even my Branch President calls me Elder Hijo which is kinda funny...However, when our teacher's lesson is about putting childish things behind us and become men (this lesson was mainly for those still very immature Elders in my district that like to waste time) But it was still all good haah:)

Last Sunday we were able to attend the Ogden Temple Rededication...it is quite the experience when yuo are among 2,600 other missionaries doing the Hosanna Shout and singing the Spirit of God, for the closing hymn.  The Spirit was soooo strong, it was amazing...So the MTC is providing a Priesthood Choir for General Conference..and last Sunday they kind of had try outs.  It was a survey asking your experience singing and if you were in H. S. choir and which part you sang and so on.  So I marked that I had done Ward Choir and I was a Bass...and apparently they had ALOT of people singing bass and even though I had extensive experience singing in choirs, they did not choose me, which is alright because the elders that are in the choir are practicing like 3 hours everyday next wee during personal study time so God wants me to focus more on studying:)

We also gained a new real investigator on Monday...his name is Javier and he is a very nice guy:)  We have been moving quite smoothly through the lessons both with Spanish and with Doctrine;)  One quick experience we had on Wednesday as we were finishing up the Restoration, it went to the Apostacy, then to Temple Work and how everyone has a chance to accept the gospel either in this life or the next...and the Spanish was there and I was able to explain everything...I felt bad afterward because I talked so much that my companion didn't say a lot...that is my goal for this week, to let him talk more haha:)

Ok, I know quick letter I will write more next week

Love,

Elder Child

Prayer & Personal Revelation...

What a wonderful long week...haha.  Congratulations to Bronson Dille for getting the Aaronic Priesthood and Jake for being ordained a Priest...We are truly blessed to have the Power of God here on the Earth.  Before I get into the Spiritual Stuff, let me talk about a few things...
1.  Food...mmmmmmmm...The food here is great--even though a lot of missionaries don't like it...I seriously don't know why they are saying that...Last Saturday for dinner we had Blackened Chicken and Alfredo for dinner it was so yummy:)  We have had Cordon Bleu once and yesterday for lunch we had Steak!  Really?  Fancy lunch haha:) But it tasted soooo good...We get BYU Creamery Ice Cream every Wednesday and Saturday.  Every other day we can have ice cream bars...I usually don't get one because I am usually stuffed...Whenever we can get away we head up to the  Main Campus for lunch...they just have a HUGE selection of food to choose from...we have 2 choices here and I usually pick, ummm both!  Haha, yes I know two main courses every meal...I am also trying to drink a full glass of grape juice a day (Heaven on Earth)...So for the beverages I usually have chocolate milk or juice...You can tell which missionaries have been here by what they drink.  The newbies still drink soda every meal and the missionaries that are about to leave usually have a couple of glasses of water.
2.  Thank you so much for the wonderful packages from The Dille Family, it came at a much needed time:)...And thanks Mom and Dad for the packages also...All the Elders in my district are wanting you to send them a package so that they will feel "loved" haha
3.  Thank you Mom and Dad for getting me high quality white shirts that don't wrinkle easily...haha one of the Elders in my apartment has a lower quality white shirt that wrinkles so easily and STAYS wrinkly, like seriously!  We cannot get them to straighten so he is borrowing some of mine until he gets some more from his parents...

Ok tomorrow we are able to attend the Ogden Temple Dedication, which is exciting :) even though, because of scheduling, we have to have Sacrament Meeting at 7:45 haha:)
We received 2 more investigators this week and taught them every day...they aren't as easy as our first but we are progressing well with both...

So this whole week has been about Prayer and Revelation.  On Tuesday night, at our devotional, Elder Richard G. Scott came and talked about prayer and how essential it is in our lives...One thing I really liked about that talk is that he said that we always have expectations for Him whether it is blessing our food or needing help with our problems...But what we never think about is what are His expectations for us, when we pray..what does he want to find out about us and what does he want to know from our lives...Even though He knows everything in our lives we need to tell him what we are feeling and he summed it up in one phrase, talk to Him like you talk to your Earthly Father...It was a really good talk:)

Last night we had a class with our main teacher, he partnered us up with different missionaries other than our companions and asked us to pray and ponder and search the scriptures for about 15-20 minutes.  We were supposed to be searching for what the other Elder needed in his life without asking him, and then after we were to discuss with that Elder what our impressions were...so he started splitting  us up and because there is a trio in our district, I was the odd elder out...So, he told me that I was to be partnered up with him...my teacher...What?!!  I thought to myself, how in the heck is this going to work...I could help any elder (I thought at the time with a motivational missionary scripture) but our teacher?????  How was I supposed to do that...I knew nothing about his life and what he struggled with...So I started out with prayer...lots and lots of prayer..and I wasn't getting anything until I thought, "Oh, he's a teacher and he's in school, maybe I will look for the Section in the D&C that talks about the School of the Prophets and I will thank him for helping my whole district out with Spanish and Gospel Doctrine...So I turned there and I felt that that wasn't the thing I should tell him...So what now?   5 minutes left in our allotted time and I had nothing..So I was flipping through D&C trying to find something last minute...and I stopped at Section 88 and I am not sure what verses they were but they discussed having patience and Trust in God...I felt like I needed to share those verses so we sat down and I started discussing with him what scriptures were on my mind and how he needed to trust in the Lord and have patience whether it be with school or whatever...Then in that same section in verse 40 (I read this one a lot) it discusses what we need to be looking for in Future Spouses haha and it just hit me that's the one I need to share...So I shared all that I had, including verse 40 and he looked me in the eye and said, "Elder Child, that is exactly what I needed to hear."  He told me about how he has been home for about 4 years, had 6 girlfriends and liked a girl last semester but she went home for the summer but she came back and lives across the street...and my teacher is actually rooming with her brother...he told me that verse 40 was good for him because that is what ne needs to be seeking for and the verses about patience is very applicable because he has changed his major 4 times and has been getting frustrated that none of his plans with lady friends or with school are working out...

Whoa, did that actually happen...I just received revelation for my teacher, someone I have never known and barely even met 3 weeks ago...
(I hope that came through clearly I am writing really quick)

Well, now it was his turn to teach me what I needed to be taught he turned to the story of Ammon (when he cuts off the arms of the people who stole his sheep) and told me to read through it...the verses before he cuts off the arms and after the bad guys steal his sheep of all the guys that were with him were super scared because of the bad guys they didn't want to die...and Ammon tells them that they shouldn't worry..kind of a Nephite attitude..great story...It relates to me because I have been kind of scared to go to Northern Mexico because of the drug cartels and such and it just reminded me that God is in charge and everything will be alright and we are going to gather sheep to return them to the Shepherd...

Just a really cool experience about revelation...Ok I will be sending pics shortly. Sorry if the wording is kind of choppy...that is two things...my Spanish is kicking in and I am typing really quick to get this all in...
Love you all,
Elder Child

P.S. Sad news the MTC West Campus will be closing 2 weeks after I leave...sad day haha. Everyone else will be consolidated on the main campus, just FYI


Dille's package :) Thanks Again!

Trying to see the BYU footbal game from our apartment...

The river...a place we can come and study...it's so nice :)

So I got a haircut yesterday and BOY is it short...Good thing I got cookies to cheer me up!

...Say Freeze...

Hello Everybody!  I am doing very well.  We taught our last lesson to our first investigator on Thursday.  Which went very well.  My companion had to go to the Consulate to get his Visa...so I was on splits with some different Elders...I felt bad because I didn't give them any warning about my comps trip so going into this lesson I didn't want to step on their toes because this lesson we were supposed to invite her to be baptized....So we get in there and sit down and I give the opening prayer and the one of the Elders from the other companionship was struggling quite a bit...and I don't think the other Elder knew what he was trying to say. So we sat and waited for the one Elder to find whatever the heck he was searching for in his Scriptures for about 1:30 but it seemed like forever haha So I took a step and started explaining to her about Christ's Baptism and how I was baptized like Christ was...she told me about being baptized as an infant in the Catholic church and I explained about the priesthood and I believe about the apostasy (I really am not sure what I say half the time it just comes what a blessing) and how we needed to be baptized by the proper authority of God....To say the least the Elder never found that scripture and we continued without it or Preach My Gospel and we all bore our testimonies once more on various topics and I closed the lesson with my Testimony and I told her that we had not taught her everything she needed to learn before baptism but in the upcoming months I promised she would be ready to be baptied by the proper authority of God...and she ACCEPTED!! Muy Bien.....The investigator said the closing prayer and we walked out of the room little did I know we took up about 40 minutes teaching :)  Later on I was talking to one of the Elders I taught the lesson with and he expressed to me the problems his companionship has been having and how he was not wanting to help the one Elder (who was searching for the scripture) because of the Elder (who was searching for the scripture for half an eternity) has been pretty cocky with him and all of the missionaries in our district.  And he said that by me sharing my testimony made him forget the things his companion had done and focused on Inviting our Investigator to Christ and that he really appreciated me butting in to their lesson.    Haha so crazy lesson but my real companion and I's lesson on Wednesday was super fun haha He is an amazing companion haha but in this lesson he was supposed to talk about the atonement and I was focusing on how the atonement makes it so our families can be together forever.  So my companion said the prayer and had me read a scripture haha and after the scripture I looked at him and He just FROZE he couldn't say anything he had the funniest look on his face hahaha it was certainly a Kodak moment I looked at the investigator and she was about to laugh as well so after having some fun I went on with my lesson....he still never said anything through the whole lesson haha It was still a pretty good lesson.    So many things to write sooooo little time I am attaching some pictures about the MTC West Campus.... The big white "bubbles" are our athletic bubbles one has basketball and the other two have volleyball courts and free weights and such....I am getting pretty dang good at volleyball haha FYI one of those bubbles has 6 full sized volleyball courts in it...the other pictures have the cafeteria and BYU Bookstore/Mailroom in them....West campus is made up dorm rooms...lots of dorm rooms haha our classroom is in the living room of a dorm and are desks are a vaccuum head apart haha very tight :) I am also attaching my mission plaque picture so if you could send that to Weiser....Also I saw Sister Larsen I have to try and send it to Wendall Walker haha  Great to see someone I knew :)  Thanks for all of your support  I love you all Elder Child

Proof a handwritten letter is still possible...

Also just so you guys know 600 missionaries entered the MTC on Wednesday :)

Good night :)

Hello all! Today is My Preparation day! It has been such a crazy 2 1/2 days...I don't know where to even begin....

On Wednesday when I was dropped off, and after saying my final goodbyes...I left the drop off area with my missionary host...We went straight into one of the buildings here on the main campus and received our badges, Companion assignment, and Room assignment.  We then went through a line to get all of our necessary learning materials...We were then shoved into a 12 passenger van we then headed over to what is known as MTC West Campus.  The MTC West Campus is where most if not all of the spanish speaking missionaries go for training...I believe this is the only other campus other than Main Campus where the rest of the missionaries including english speaking missionaries go to training....

We then dropped of our suitcases at our apartment and took our little blue bag of essentials (books from the BYU bookstore) and headed straight to class.  First day of class was a very nice refresher course of what I had learned in high school and thought I had forgotten... after that we had a devotional with our branch presidency....haha we sat in front of a few Sisters, which was just fine until we started singing....The sister right behind me is fearless in her singing and I suffered from deafness for the next couple hours lets leave it at that hahaha jk :) The next morning we went to class started learning so much spanish...its insane and I know I couldn't learn that much material in a small amount of time by myself....There spirit is so prevalent everywhere...

We have just had Spanish classes up to this point....Yesterday my companion and I taught our first lesson in spanish to a Mock investigator about the Plan of Salvation....we didn't have a lot to say (being greenies in the MTC) but at the end of the lesson we said a prayer and she said she could feel the spirit throughout our lesson....We are taught that even though we stink at spanish and will for a while the spirit still teaches those we talk to...Very good testimony to me that the spirit converts those investigators not us...We have another lesson tonight at 6:30 with Elizabeth, is her name. 

My companions Name is Elder Miller and he just graduated from high school in Northern Utah....He is a very interesting guy haha :) I think he was a little home sick the first night because he was tossing and turning all night (he is on the top bunk because he is junior companion Mwahaha :)) 

We have a Elder in our District who, when we got here, spoke Spanish like Dad.....VERY AMERICAN haha :)

He has been struggling with spanish but last night he said our closing prayer (in Spanish) for our night class and he spoke with such clarity with few mistakes...you can just tell his intent is pure and that he has the gift of tongues...Seriously though that prayer sounded like it came straight from a Latino it was amazing!  

There is 9 in our district, 8 of them are going to my mission and 1 is going to the Guatemala City East Mission...he didn't go to the Guatemala MTC because of his VISA....

Real Quick we had an opportunity to go to the temple today....Amazing day...Amazing Temple....While there I was reading in the Bible dictionary under 'Temple' and it says that "...it is the most holy of any place of worship on the earth.  Only the Home can compare with the temple in the sacredness."  So whoever you are reading my letter let me challenge you to make your home as sacred as the temple, let it be a spiritual uplifting and a learning environment.  Also after the temple we were outside on the grounds and a young man came up to me....truly reminded me of Bronson Dille...he shook my hand, looked me in the eye and said Thank you Elder, Have a good day....just a little reminder to me that I need to not only be the best Elder I can be for Heavenly Father but for those younger men that look to missionaries as examples....

Well better be off thanks for everything,

Elder Child 

P.S. Muchos Gracias for the Cinnamon rolls We are eating them tonight...Thanks again

Left to Right: Elder Batin, Elder Elmer, me, Elder Miller

First weekend without Dave and anxious to hear from him on his P-Day!

Drop Off Complete!

So it has been almost 28 hours since we have dropped off Dave at the MTC.  My thoughts over those many hours have been of gratitude, joy, fear, love and apprehension.  I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father, that trusts us, as silly, incompetent parents, to raise one of His stripling warriors.  I am not sure all of the credit goes to us as parents, it goes to all of our family, along with his 2 older brothers, and friends for helping Dave have the confidence to be "Called to Serve."  I am so grateful that our Heavenly Father knows Dave...his strengths, weaknesses and optimism.  We know, that as Dave serves his mission, we will be strengthened by his testimony and gain a greater desire to be more Christlike.  Here are a few pictures of us dropping off Dave, we missed Ben & Allysha, but hopefully you will enjoy...Love to all & Thank you for joining Dave and us on this journey...