MTC-Week #2 January 28, 2015

Elder Fisher has finished his second week at the MTC.  He writes some of his information by e-mail and some is sent by mail—he only gets 30 minutes of computer time a week to read and write e-mails—if there is not enough time to cover everything, he finishes by writing a letter.

“While here at the MTC, I will try writing letters by hand to you so it will seem a little more personal. I did my email this morning in the laundry room but I think I will start doing it in the building computer lab because it is a lot calmer and cooler. Sorry if my spelling is awful, my English has gone way down since I have been immersed in German and I am also capitalizing most of my nouns as well. 

Elder Fisher's district in their classroom--with their teacher.
Everyone in the district will be serving in Germany Berlin Mission.

I am the only missionary from California in my zone (which is about 40 missionaries). I like most of my district, they are enjoyable people and love to help each other with learning.  My companion’s name is Elder Larson. He is from Provo, Utah (very far from home at the MTC). I was put in the position of senior companion for the first 3 weeks and then Elder Larson will have that position the remaining time that we are at the MTC.

I think my high school German may last me a few more days at best. My favorite moment has been trying to find lessons to teach to the “investigator”. Gym time is wonderful--I try running for 10 minutes and I like to play four square the rest of the time. It’s nice to do something besides classroom time. 

Elder Fisher and Elder Larson at the Provo LDS temple.

Elder Alex Nebeker (one of his college roommates from BYU-Idaho) should come into the MTC today (January 21^st) and I hope I will be able to see him.

I have so far had 2 fruits or vegetables a day. The food is starting to get old but it is still okay.  My favorite meal is pizza and it is extremely delicious (this is in response to questions from mom!)

At last week’s devotionals, Elder Ballard talked about how whenever we feel discouraged to think about Joseph Smith and the two others that suffered in Liberty Jail for 4 months. I then started to think about how those men of God eventually gave their lives for the Church and what is two years compared to that?

Elder Fisher's district at the Provo LDS temple.

The brother over all of the missionary department spoke on Sunday and it was a pretty good talk that was very interactive. Yesterday (January 27^th), the speaker was Elder Kacher of the Seventy and he had an awesome talk. He told us that to have a successful mission, we need to keep a positive mindset and also have the willingness to listen to the Spirit. He also talked about how to be the concentrated missionary. I need to give up all my time and energy, follow the Spirit, keep a positive mindset, remember I am an instrument in the Lord's Hand, be obedient, be faithful, and know that I have the authority to invite the Spirit in.

On Sunday nights we watch films here. My district and I watched the “Character of Christ” talk by Elder Bednar and it is a very amazing talk. In the talk, Elder Bednar extended the challenge of reading the Book of Mormon searching for a specific topic or with your current church calling in mind and continue the challenge for the rest of your life. I decided to start the challenge with looking for scriptures related to missionary work and preaching. There are a lot more references and stories about these topics then I thought there would be.

I found a great scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 11:12  “And now, verily, verily, I say unto thee, put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my Spirit.” I love how it talks about being led by the spirit of the Lord and I would definitely recommend reading it.

Dad, thanks for sharing the scripture from you talk, “And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.” Mark 12:41-44 

Love

Elder Fisher"