Second week at the MTC!

Dear family and friends,

The second week here at the MTC was great! I am really starting to love it here and I'm sure I am going to miss some parts of it, especially the people I met here. 

Lots have happened this week and I don't even know where I should start... We (Elder Hoffman and I) have been teaching an "investigator". My teacher pretends to be her and we teach her lessons. Her name is Lauren and we teach her about every two days. At first the lessons  were rough. Elder Hoffman and I just didn't have any teaching experience and we were worried. Surprisingly the lesson went really well. After two lessons of teaching and helping her make commitments, Lauren finally agrees to get baptized on the third lesson after my companion and I bore our testimonies. Even though this is just a practice, I could feel the Spirit was very strong when we testified of the things that which we know are true. I was very happy that she promised to be baptized. It was an amazing feeling. 

Another thing I learned this week is to trust in the Spirit. I know that if I follow the Spirits promptings, God will put words into our mouths. We just can't fail because God is on our side. I know he loves his children and he wants every investigator to feel the Spirit and to follow Christ. I also learned to love our investigators. We should be friends with our investigator before we teach. When Lauren finally said yes to Baptism, I really felt like my sister is going to be baptized, it was amazing.

Apart from that, I have been hearing a lot of mission stories and testimonies from my teachers. I am so excited right now and to serve God. With faith, I believe I can help Him achieve marvelous things.

I have learned to develop a great relationship with my companion. We have companionship inventories three times a day and we just try to help ourselves and each other improve as much as possible. I'm going to miss him.

I would just like to tell everyone that you should never forget to pray. Just remember that our heavenly father is always there to listen to our problems. So pray! It's like calling your best friend, just talk to Him about whatever is in your mind and he will help and bless you. If you haven't prayed before, pray! Your best friends has been waiting to talk to you since the day you were born. He will be very happy to talk to you.

I'll email you again from Toronto next week. Don't forget to pray!

Elder Lee

Letter #1- First week at the MTC!

Dear family and friends,

How are all of you? The first week at the Missionary Training Center is great! 

I arrived the Salt Lake City International Airport on Monday Afternoon. Michael and Pili picked me up and then dropped me off at the MTC. That was it! I'm not going to see any of you in the next two years. I will miss you.

So the first two days were relaxed because I was just waiting for other missionaries to come on Wednesday. My first two roommates were Elder Gouttin from France and Elder Tubban from The Philippines. It was exciting to see missionaries coming from all around the world to serve God and preach the gospel. I met my Zone Leaders on Monday. They are Elder Faber and Elder Higgs. They are going to Mongolia next week. Coincidentally, I knew both of them before their missions. Elder Faber from Bountiful High and Elder Higgs from Helaman Halls at BYU. Small world!

After two days of waiting. I got my first companion! He is Elder Hoffman. He is from the bay area of California and he is going to Berlin, Germany. He is also 19 and he went to BYU-Idaho before he came here. He reminds me a lot of my roommate from last semester, Adam Hastings. Anyway, in my roommates are Elder Hoffman, Elder Ojeda(our district leader) from Paraguay and Elder Lucerna from the Philippines. These Elders are also in my District. There are also some sisters in our district(class): Sister Nikatina from Lithuania, Sister Rodelas from Calgary, Canada and Sister Bautista from California. 

I really like spending time with international missionaries in my district and zone. It reminds me of why I am here: Enter to Learn, Go Forth and Serve. 

Classes are good but I get nervous when I try to teach (fake) investigators. However, I know that I am getting better and if I do it in Cantonese I will have more confidence.

I have been praying a lot. Everyday I wake up and pray, I pray before breakfast, lunch, dinner, classes, companionship study, meetings, before I go to bed and I do companionship inventory three times, which starts and ends with a prayer.

Through prayer, I know that God lives! He loves us and he wants us to learn the Gospel. Always have faith in him and he will bless you. 

This is probably going to be the longest letter I will send during my entire mission. Even Preparation days are very busy. 

I have to go! Good luck and may God bless you with all your endeavors.

Elder Lee

Elder Lee-me!

Our room

Me and elder lucerna

Some Elders from our zone

Me and Elder Hoffman at the temple.

Me, Elder Hoffman, Lucerna and Ojeda (left to right)

Some of our zone (sister Lau tze hei from HK!)

Elder Hoffman and I 

Some Elders from our zone

Some Elders from our zone