Second Week in the MTC

Sorry for the late update. Derek sent an email on Tuesday, and paper letters (yes they still exist) that we got on Friday. Here are excerpts from both and a picture of him with his companion.

"...this week has been a good one, and time is moving ever quicker. I hope it'll continue to move this fast for the next six weeks, I'm honestly
already sick of the food!..."

"My current goal in the MTC is to become more like Christ as well as learn how to teach, but definitely a greater focus on becoming more like Christ. Last week I focused on patience, this week on charity. I'll let you know how it goes!"

"All the days here blend together, but the general feel of it is pretty good, haha so I can't really tell if I've had any particularly stressful days because the whole last week just seems like one huge day! I've got some letters from some friends though which has been good! Oh, and I haven't gained any weight still! Still 148, and it'll probably start to drop... I think people that are only here for two weeks like the food because they don't have to keep eating it for another six! But it's all good!"

"The days aren't nearly as long now and I'm much more adjusted. You were right Dad, the days feel like weeks and the weeks like days."

 "My Spanish is alright... But I need to work harder at it. We set a goal as a district this week to speak solo en Español. It's a tough goal but we think it's what God wants us to do, so we're doing it. After all we've been called to be Spanish speakers. It's up to us to try as hard as we can so we can qualify for God's help so we can teach people in their own tongue."

 "That's one thing I've especially learned here is that our missions are times for us to become more like Christ  and then bring other people along as well."

 "The devotional Sunday was especially good by Brother Heaton. He had a bunch of missionaries who were baptized less than 2 years ago come and speak with us, or I guess they shared their conversion story briefly. It was awesome! It's incredible how the Lord has prepared people, in all cases the missionaries were just the end of the story. Friends, questions, examples, all led people to want to know Christ and the missionaries just came in at the end and filled in the gaps. In other words it's all the Lord's work. He is aware of his children, and he'll guide us to those who He has prepared. It's really awesome, and it just reminded me of how real this is! It's still almost weird to think I'm a missionary, but it's awesome!"

"In my district there are only 2 companionships. We're very small, the other companionship is two sisters. The missions are Paraguay, Argentina, and me, Washington DC! It's a good district and we're all willing to work hard, though everyone else seems more reluctant to want to take the leap with Spanish!"