Week 5: WE BROKE OUT OF THE MTC!!

 Hello one and all,

This week was awesome.  Last saturday, we played kickball with another district, which was super fun, and we won hahaha

On Sunday, we watched a talk Elder Bednar gave called "recognizing the spirit" which was awesome, super inspiring.  Unfortunatley,  we can only get them in the MTC /:

 Then, on Monday, the real fun began.  We had to go to the Provo Towne Centre Mall to get glasses at LensCrafters, which was so stinking awesome.  When we got out of the car, we heard our first normal music in a month, which was strange, and then the mall was crazy.  As soon as we walked in we were like celebrities, and everyone wanted to talk or wave to us.  It was strange.  Then, a man who is a member of the church came up to us to explain a problem that he had, and we talked to him for a while and I shared a personal experience with him that I felt like I should share, and he said that it gave him so much strength, it was pretty cool!  We went into Lenscrafters, and while we waited to get my glasses, the real fun started....

We started walking around trying to get enough courage to get a real contact, which we have not learned yet, and we were terrified.  While we were walking around a guy tried to give us money to go buy dinner, but we arent allowed to so we couldnt take it, but it was still cool nonetheless.  Anyways, we had no idea what to say to anyone, so we found a corner in the mall, said a prayer that we would have the courage to do a contact, and that we'd know what to say.  We then honed in on this one Latino family we found, and we just went for it and started talking.  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDDDDDD we did the whole thing in Spanish!!!! It was soooo cool.  It went well, and we have a mini lesson about prophets, and gave them the restoration pamphlet in spanish.  Definitely the highlight of the week.  When we act in faith, the Lord truly does guide us and give us strength and guidance

On Tuesday, Elder Hendrickson had to go to the doctor, so we  broke out again for a little bit.  Which was just a little for icing on the cake hahaha.

On Wednesday, we found Kolton right after he got here, which was so awesome, and now we are all here!!  We also got some bouncy balls and were throwing them at each other in the residence halls tuesday night, and our zone leader got beaned in the head really hard, and another elder got hit in the cheek and his face was all red and on fire for the rest of the night hahhaaha

On Thursday, we got to teach a lesson over skype a man named Gabriel who is from Chile, which was kinda scary, but it went well and I was surprised how much he understood and how well we could communicate actually. It was a really cool experience.

Anyways, WE GOT OUR FLIGHT PLANS YESTERDAY!  We leave October 5th, and we will probably get to Mendoza the night of October 6th.  We are all super stoked and none of us got reassigned!

 This week, as many of you saw, we met Stephanie Neilson, who is on a mormon message and was in a horrific plane crash.  Apparently her nephew is in our district, and she comes to the MTC to work once a week so we just went to her office and talked for a little bit, and she took a picture and posted it.  I guess that's my claim to fame here in the MTC ;)

I love being a missionary and the blessings and challenges that come with it.  This is such an amazing experience and I havent even entered the field yet.  I am so grateful for all of your prayers and letters, and I know that in the strength of the Lord we can do all things!

With Love,
Elder Conover

Week 4: And The Bed Comes Tumbling Down!

Hola todos!!

3 1/2 weeks in the MTC done, only about 2 more left!

This week was really awesome, and many blessing came to pass.  

Sunday was very inspirational and uplifting, as it always is, but I got called on to give a talk on recognizing the Holy Ghost in sacrament meeting.  In Spanish.  Kinda rough, but it was kinda nerve racking.  

The language is coming so well, and I definitely am improving each day.  What is amazing is that when we are in a lesson, I can basically just ramble on and on, and then not quite as much outside of the lessons.  The gift of tongues is so stinking real.  I love it!!

This week we got to teach more members, who are just from Utah, and speak spanish.  Almost like a family home evening.  We got these two super awesome old men, who were the nicest guys in the world.  One of them told me that I spoke really good spanish, and said that I have a slight Brazilian-Spanish accent.  Thanks Dad ;)

On tuesday, the general primary president spoke to us, which was super inspiring and uplifting.  In the choir, we sang "Hurrah Hurrah for Israel," one of the most powerful songs I've ever heard.  It left me in tears and I felt so good for so long and the Spirit of comfort was so amazing.  

So I had a very powerful experience this week.  One of the Elders in our district struggles with Spanish really bad, and he has dyslexia.  One day this week, he didnt seem like himself and was just super down.  I took him outside and we talked for like 15-20 mins, and he opened up and basically told me what was getting him down, and said that when he was 14 he almost committed suicide.  I was overcome, it was so hard listening to that.  I talked to him for a while and tried to help him, which felt great.  I had an impression to take him one on one into another classroom to go over specific basic spanish concepts, it was amazing how he started understanding things, because it is very rare that he understands any spanish.  Following class, while I was getting my food, I got a giant manifestation from the Spirit that the reason that I remember so much Spanish from school is so I can help him specifically, and I was bawling like a baby.  I feel so blessed by the Lord and it has been amazing seeing him progress.

Now for the funny stuff.

In spanish, the phrase, "es un chiste" means "its a joke."  One of the elders in our district misheard us, and when he was in a lesson, he said, "es un cheese-steak" hahahaha we all got a good laugh out of that one.  

Also, the mom of an Elder in our district sent him a wireless doorbell, so its been super fun hiding it in people's rooms waking them up in the night and hiding it in the classrooms, the teachers never figure it out and it drives them bonkers hahahaha

And now, for the subject line.

One of my roommates, Elder Ogden, brought a hammock, and he had it tied to the beds.  While he was sitting in it, I was messing around and barely sat on it, and I heard him gasp, when I turned around, me and elder hendrickson's bunk bed was flying to the ground, hit the ground, and blew up, dropping elder ogden, and then a bar hit elder ogden, one of the funniest moments ive ever had.  it took forever to put it back together, but it was so stinking funny haha.

I love you all so much and I am so grateful for this opportunity so serve the Lord for two years!

Elder Conover

Week 3

Hello All!

Week 3 and everything is good!  We've been working hard and although challenging, there have been some great miracles as well!

On monday, we got to teach our teacher, Hermano Andreason, as an investigator, and we went in unprepared.  It went bad.  We couldnt speak well, and the spirit wasnt really there.  Afterwards, my companion was super down and emotional, and I didnt feel my best either.  We went outside and we had a big heart to heart, and the spirit was so strong.  We cried together for a little and then got back to work.  It was awesome and we felt much better afterwards.  On Tuesday, we taught Jose again, and the spirit was super strong and it totally guided the conversation.  Everything went well and Jose cried again.  Even though we didnt use the plan that we had made, it went great, and I realized  that when we make a plan, and do our part, the Lord strengthens us and puts the words into our mouths, even if our plan isnt exactly what he wants.  

Yesterday, another elder in our district came out of a lesson pretty down and was beating himself up about the language.  As people were trying to comfort him, I wanted to show him a scripture.  As I was flipping through the pages, I came to a scripture in Alma, and I felt a very distinct impression to show him that one, even though that wasnt the scripture I was going to show him.  It totally applied to his exact situation, and I just so happened to have it highlighted so he could see it.  He told me how much it helped him which was awesome and such a blessing to be a tool in the Lord's hands.

So the funny parts of this week:

One elder in our district was trying to say "Jesus Christ came to the Earth," but instead he said, "JesuCristo come tu tierra," which translates to "Jesus Christ eats your Earth."  Classic.

Another elder, elder Clarke, went to bed the other night, and at 1:40 in the morning he woke up outside, without the key card to get in the building, in his shorts and t-shirt, and no way to get in.  He went and found some guy on a tractor to let him in, and then the branch president called him the next day to figure out why he was out at 1:40 in the morning haha

I love being a missionary and seeing the blessings of it.  I can feel the spirit working inside of me and helping me receive the strength to do all things.  This is hard, but I wouldnt give it up for the world!

-Elder Conover

Week 2: Mountainous Highs, and Valley-Like Lows

Hola Todos!

Yes, I have indeed made it to my second P-day!  This week had its challenges, but I also had some of the most amazing experiences as I have labored diligently.  

On Sunday, we had an amazing day, and felt the spirit so strong, and it was so uplifing.  We watched a talk by Elder Bednar, called "The true character of Christ" literally the best talk I have ever heard.  I felt the spirit so strong and it was a great strength listening to the talk.

Yes, the rumors are true, Elder Oaks came to speak to the MTC's on Tuesday, and it was amazing!  Here at the MTC, the choir is just open, so we can just sign up whenever we want.  I was in the choir on tuesday, along with about 600 other missionaries.  It was extremely empowering.  While we were singing in the devotional, they recorded the choir general conference style and broadcasted it to every MTC in the world!  Anyways, at one point, the camera focused on ME, and stayed there for a while.  I thought that was pretty cool.  After the devotional, we had a review class of the devotional.  Earlier in the day I had felt kind of down and tired and what not, and I sat and thought about everything, I was overcome by this feeling of love, and I started to tear up.  I suddenly realized that Heavenly Father sent a message to me about his infinite love for me and that I'm doing the right thing through the camera men in the devotional.  He singled me out, and he showed me his profound love.  

Wednesday was extremely difficult.  I felt like I couldnt do the stuff I had to do and was super long, I got pretty down and felt so inadequate, and felt like my tiredness was gonna kill me.  But then we had an amazing experience the next day!

We had an amazing lesson with a man named Jose this week, who we dont know if he is a member of not.  We were teaching about the plan of salvation (in spanish), and I mentioned agency, and he said that he didnt believe in that, and that there are so many people that cannot choose things because they are handicapped or what not, like his daughter who is in a wheelchair.  Kinda threw us for a loop and derailed our lesson.  However, suddenly the spirit overcame me and the gift of tongues kicked in, and I started talking to him about agency, and how even though his daughter is in a wheelchair, she has chosen to live a life of love and making good decisions.  Suddenly, Jose started crying, and it was AMAZING.  He committed to pray with his family for peace and love in their home, and that he would pray for us on our next visit.  After that I couldnt wait to go to the field!  

Funny moment this week:  this week, our district leader was talking to our teacher, and was trying to say that he shares a room with his companion.  He said, "yo compartir dormir con mi companero," which roughly translates to "I share to sleep with my companion," he didnt realize that he said that he sleeps with his companion until I pointed out, and we all had a good laugh out of that. hahahaha

I know that this gospel is true and I am so honored to be a representative of Jesus Christ!  I cannot wait to proclaim this gospel to every that I can!

With Love, 

Elder Conover