Provo MTC: Week 4

 Kumusta po sila!!

This week has been a lot of the same but we've had some interesting things happen.

Word of the week: pagbabayad-sala (atonement)

It's cool because "pagbabayad" means payment and "sala" means sin.

ESPN Top 10 Highlights of the week:

10. We said goodbye to Elder Parker Woodward as he left for Japan. He's gonna do great and he was super excited and ready to get out there.

9. 3 new guys moved into our dorm room and so it's been pretty packed. They're super funny and really cool guys though.

8. On Sunday we had a band come and play to us at a devotional. The songs were pretty good, but it was just a good break from the usual and fun.

7. We had maybe the best meal here, chicken tenders and fries. They were super good, it sounds basic but compared to the usual this was a step above. 

6. An area 70 came and spoke to us this week at a devotional. He was pretty funny and gave a really good talk about the power of prayer and reading the scriptures.

5. The trees on the mountain are changing color and its a high of 62 tomorrow, so I'll be wearing my one sweater a lot.

4. Our dorm building had a giant tie trade off on the top floor where probably 40 Elders came and traded ties, I got a pretty cool new one.

 

3. We defeated our rival Tagalog district in sand volleyball this week 21-8. They were talking a lot of crap so it was nice to finally destroy them. We'll probably come for team USA next.

2. In choir we sang "We'll bring the World His Truth" It was such a good song and super powerful singing with all the missionaries.

1. We gave our first lesson in Tagalog. It was just a practice with our teacher but it went pretty well. We surprised ourselves with how much we knew. Tagalog has been coming along pretty well actually and it's so cool to see how far we've come.

Spiritual thought:

I recently listened to President Thomas S. Monson's final conference address before he passed titled "The Power of The Book of Mormon". One thing I liked in the talk that really stood out to me is when he said:

"It is essential for you to have your own testimony in these difficult times, for the testimonies of others will carry you only so far."

It's so important to have your own testimony of the gospel. That's been one of the huge blessing of being on a mission, my testimony has grown a ton. It'd be really hard to go through your whole life feeding off the testimonies of others, so I encourage you all to gain a personal witness of the truthfulness of the gospel. And one of the most important and best ways to do that is through the Book of Mormon. It's soo important that the Prophet based his whole final talk around it. It's a book full of the the gospel of Christ and of teachings we can apply in our own lives. 

Ingat!

Elder Tyson Smith

Pictures: 

1. Matching fits for volleyball night (not planned)

2. District Study in the grass

3. The music devotional

4. Me and the trio in class