First P-day, Letter 1

I can't believe it's already been a week. My first week here has been amazing. I absolutely love it here. I love the MTC, I love the being a missionary, and I love this church!! The flight over here was great. I met up with 8 other elders at the salt lake airport and we split up on two different flights til we would all meet up in London. On the first flight to Dallas I sat next to a guy from Puerto Rico and by the time we were up in the air I had placed my first Book of Mormon and he was reading it. I gave him a few chapters to read and he read it for about half of the flight. In London we met up with other missionaries from California, Idaho, and Germany. In london we had a long layover, but I was able to place a 3 more book of mormons; one of them with Elder Tye.

Once we got to the MTC we were greeted by the MTC president and his wife and got to work. We have 24 missionaries here and the go up to the age of 26. I love the Elders from Africa. I've already have my greeting down in Zulu. They have the most amazing spirit and truly love the Lord. When they pray you can tell they know they are speaking with their Father in Heaven and know that he's listening to them. I've never prayed so much in my life... Prayer is the greatest thing. It keeps the spirit with you always and gets you ready to learn and be taught the things that you personally need.

We have been teaching "investigators" who are our Teachers and it has been so cool. Elder Mkhize and I teach so well together and the spirit has always been there when we've taught. I love the Holy Ghost and how it makes you feel. It really does tell you what to say... We are truly an instrument in the lord's hands. It gets me so excited for Tuesday when I get my companion and know which area I'll be serving in. I can't wait to bring others unto Christ.

On tuesday we were able to go to the temple. It was INCREDIBLE!! The temple was small and plain, yet beautiful and profound. The spirit was so strong. There were five of the Elders here where it was their first time going throught the temple and receiving their endowments. It was so cool to see their faces and to give them all a big hug when they came into the Celestial room. We are so blessed to have temples all around us.

I can't wait to be an instrument in the Lord's hand in the mission field of Joburg. To represent him and to stand in his place. I know that I must rely on the Lord and I can't wait to let him direct me where to go and to help me along the way. I know Christ lives. He is our Savior and it's only through him that we can do anything and return to live with him and our Father in Heaven. In John 15 verse 7 it talks about how we need to abide in Christ. And abide doesn't mean to stay with every once in a while, it means to Stay with him always and to always be standing firm in Christ! I love all of you!