WHERE IS YOUR COMPANION - MTC Week 2

 INTRO

Saying this week was rough would be an understatement. I don't have much today because I was going through it, but enjoy some good stories, and some cool spiritual experiences.

I MISS AMERICA

We watched a video called Meet the Mormons, and in the video it goes around telling people’s stories. One story that it shared was about a former pilot during WWII. It showed a flyover, and an American flag, and I have never felt more patriotic in my life. He also happened to live in Arizona, so seeing my home made me a little sad.

MENTAL ISSUES

Alright, time to get serious. For some reason, I get super vivid dreams. It has been that way my whole life, and they stick with me throughout the day or sometimes a couple days. Most of the time, this causes me to fall into a kind of depressive state where I just need time alone to think about what the reason for the dream was, and how to resolve it. Back home, I can go to the gym, or go for a drive to figure it out, but being here, I am with someone all hours of the day, and have a strict schedule to follow. Well this week, I had a dream every night, and each dream was a different sin I have committed in the past, and along with them, a person that I have hurt. This caused me to think about it a lot, to the point where I wasn't participating in class or devotionals, and was staring into space thinking about what to do. I just felt so much guilt and shame wondering why I let myself do that. I didn't find an answer in those two days, but I was able to find peace eventually after talking to the MTC therapist and having her open my mind to things that I hadn't thought of before.

TIE TRADING

A big thing here is tie trading. The Elders have decided that Sunday nights on the first floor of building four is the spot. We all headed down, and everyone was down there. It was the coolest thing to see, everyone was showing off what they had to offer, and the energy was up. Then it immediately dropped. All of a sudden, we hear, "what is going on here" in the MTC President's voice. Silence was throughout the floor, and nobody hesitated to shut their doors, or head for the stairwell. THE FUNNIEST STORY CAME FROM THIS, but if you want to hear it, look at my google photos, and watch the video of the kid that it happened to explaining it, because I can't do it justice.

CRAZY EXPERIENCES

One night, I was sitting there thinking about how I wish I could have an experience that would prove the gospel to me. The next day, I got the feeling that I needed to message a friend, I messaged them, and asked how they were doing. They responded that they were stressed out about figuring out what they wanted to do in life, and if they wanted to go on a mission or not. I asked what their concerns with going on a mission were, and they shared that they were worried about having to talk about some past issues. I was able to share my experience with that, and how It was such a blessing to me when I did talk about my issues. They said thank you, and that I helped them out. I felt good, but it wasn't till the next day that I realized that it was an answer to my hopes for wanting a cool experience. When I woke up, I had messages from them telling me that they had opened up their mission portal, and that the conversation that we had was an answer to their prayers. That moment made me feel the spirit so strongly, and I am so proud of my friend for their decisions, and am so happy I got to experience that.

Another experience was during choir practice. Every missionary in the MTC is singing Sisters in Zion/Army of Helaman and in the song, there is a line that says, "and we will be the Lord's missionaries to bring the world His truth," but instead the words were changed to say, "and we ARE NOW the Lord's missionaries to bring the world His truth." When I first read it, I thought that it was cool, but it wasn't till we actually sung it that I got chills running through my whole body. I just thought about how I am a missionary for the Lord, and how if He were to see me today, how happy it would make me to be able to walk up to him and tell him that I am doing this because of how much love I have for him.

My final experience has to deal with family history work. I am beyond bored here, and a form of entertainment I have found is researching my ancestors. One ancestor in particular is John Tanner. He is my 5th great grandpa. He is also a prominent figure in church history, with a video on the church's website all about him. A question popped in my head about if he got any promised blessings for his family members. So I did some digging, and I found a story where he donated $2,000 to the church, and Joseph Smith promised him that his family will never have to beg for bread again. Another blessing for his family was something that is talked about in my patriarchal blessing, and it just shows to me the truth of the gospel, and that these things are not coincidences.

CONCLUSION

I love you all so much! Please message me, I am so bored. Hopefully you guys are reading these and getting something from them.

With my companion,

Spencer

ANOM PITO - MTC Week 1

 

GRATITUDES

I'm going to start each of my emails off with gratitudes. So enjoy. I am thankful for the life I am able to live. Being here, seeing so many people that have nothing, but are still so happy to teach about christ makes me think a lot about how easy I have it back home. I am thankful for the personality that I have, that I can easily talk to people and make friends. I am thankful that I get to be in this beautiful country and learn about so many different cultures.

MY DISTRICT

My district is already so close with each other. There are a few that I am more connected with, and I pray every day that we will be able to stay connected throughout life. We are just the perfect mix of knowing when things need to be serious, and joking around with each other. And when we are serious, everyone has the most heartfelt responses to the questions that are asked. We also have way too many inside jokes already. Back home there is a joke about the number 67, and before I left, that was the only thing I learned how to say in Cebuano, anom pito, and I taught it to everyone, and now we all say it. 

MEALS

The meals here are insanely good. The only meals that I don't like are if they have seafood. I DO NOT like seafood. We've already had chicken feet, heart, and liver, and we had squid. Of course, I tried it all, but the liver and squid I had to choke down. There are pictures in my google photos album. There are these rolls that they feed us, and they are the most fluffy delicious rolls ever (next to my moms rolls), but there is a competition in my district to see who can eat the most this week. One elder eats about 15 a day, mainly eating 6 or 7 a meal to keep up with the joke.

LEARNING THE LANGUAGE

For the first three weeks, we are focusing on “Preach My Gospel,” and then the last three weeks are language focused. That being said, talking to the Filipinos and using the language app, I have been able to learn quite a bit. I know quite a bit of greetings, and I'm almost at the point where I can pray in Cebuano. The language is such a fun language to speak. The words come off your tongue in such a satisfying way. Some of my favorite things to say are, maayong pagkaon, which means good food, salamat kaayo, which is thank you very much, and baboy, which is pig.

FUNNY MOMENTS

So for one of our lessons, Brother Ugay, wanted us to learn the order of the first lesson of “Preach My Gospel,” so he came up with actions for each part. One of those actions was the falling away section, and for this he acted as if he was falling. Anyways, during one of our workshops, which is a lesson put on by another teacher, I was going through the motions, and when I got to the falling away, I acted as if I was falling. The only problem was, I ended up falling completely backwards in my chair, not being able to catch myself. My district thought it was funny. The teacher did not. 

MY COMPANION

My companion is Elder Kuri. He is from Pa Pau, New Guinea. He has such a big heart. The first night he told me and my roommates that he used to be afraid of Americans because we are loud, but he was so proud of us, and so happy to have an American companion. I am beyond stressed though. Since there is a language barrier, he doesn't really understand anything that is going on. Trying to follow through with different assignments we get in class is so hard because he just has no idea what is happening. I have said so many prayers just trying to find ways to connect with him and be able to help him understand. I haven't figured it out yet, but trust me when I say I'm not giving up. 

MY NEW SKILL

In class we were given a goal tracker. One of the things was to read every section of the missionary standards handbook. So I read it. And jokingly Elder Davis told me I should memorize the sections and call them out at people when they step out of line. So, I did. Now whenever someone talks about leaving their companion, I say, 1.1, or 2.2.2, or if someone is complaining, I’ll shout out 3.1, which is about staying positive. I'm almost 100% positive that everyone is so annoyed with me, but I find it hilarious. And when it gets brought up in class, it's nice to know the sections already.

ELDER WILLIAM K. JACKSON

We had a guest speaker,Elder William K. Jackson of the seventy come and talk to us. Before this, the MTC president read off all the countries that were in the MTC, and if we were from that country we stood. The MTC has 249 people from 31 different countries all here together with the intention of making people’s lives better. Elder Jackson chose his topic on how we can invite the spirit. He gave examples like, The Book of Mormon, media, inviting and helping, music, and a couple others. One thing he said was ward missionary counsel. He said that this is a very important part in bringing souls to Christ, and if it's not happening, it needs to happen. He said, and my mom will be super happy about this, that we need to put more effort into retention, that those people we teach, we have to remember them, that they are our members forever. He said that we need to involve the members, because we leave, and members stay, so they can stay to help those we teach after we leave. 

THE TEMPLE

The temple here is so beautiful. It's right across the street from the MTC. We get to go twice a week, on Wednesdays for pday, and on Fridays. There is a tunnel that runs from the MTC to the temple, and during study time, we are allowed to go to the temple grounds. Today was the first time that we got to do a session, and let me tell you, it was such a surreal feeling. The paintings are beautiful there. Also, for those that don't know, I have a somewhat secret obsession with stained glass, especially on churches, and the Manila temple has some of the most gorgeous and ornate stained glass I have ever seen. Maybe I'm just blinded because I'm in another country, but hoooolly it's so nice to look at.

I have never felt the spirit stronger in my life than I have here. I know that this is where I am supposed to be. There have been so many moments, the whole MTC singing Gethsemane, watching a movie about the Salt Lake City temple being built, and so many more. Something that has been on my mind all week is just how personal the Lord is for everyone. Seeing so many people, from so many different places and hearing their stories of why they believe, has just shown me the truth of how our Father in Heaven sees us personally.

And, 

I’M A CELEBRITY

Literally just walking to and from the distribution center, I had probably 20 people ask to take pictures with me. In one of the photos of the temple in my album, you can see a lady calling me to come take a picture with her.

In a state of awe,

Spencer 

LOOK AT MY PICTURES!!! And comment on them

https://photos.app.goo.gl/LUV8Q2aNgr3m2k7M8

First Day

If you want to email me individually, email Spencer.e.lewis@missionary.org or Facebook messenger works. Also, the link at the bottom is for my Google photos album for all the pictures and videos I take.  

Alright, so I'm sending out this email as a first day email. And then I'll send weekly emails after that. 

GETTING TO THE MTC 

The flight to San Francisco went smooth. I had conversations with a few people. I also had a tv on the flight. When I got off the plane, a guy said to me, "You look like a Mormon boy." I said, "I am a Mormon boy." To which he replied, "I could tell. You are all good looking and look athletic. You go to the gym right?" I told him that I did. We carried this conversation all the way to his gate. He told me he was going back to Singapore, and then I got to share why I was headed to the Philippines to teach Christ and bring happiness to others. 

MEETING UP WITH OTHER MISSIONARIES 

After that I walked back to my gate, I sat alone for a few minutes, but then one elder came up and started talking to me, and then another, and then another, and then a huge group of elders and sisters came down the escalator and joined us. We all had 2 hours to get to know each other, and then we got on the plane. 

14 HOUR FLIGHT 

The flight honestly wasn't that bad. It didn't feel like 14 hours. The guy who sat next to me was so wide that his arms were all up in my space, which kind of sucked, but it was ok. The control for the lights were on our tv screens, and I kept falling asleep with my head on the screen, which would then turn on the light. I felt so bad for the people around me, it happened like four times. The food was really good. They fed us three times. The first time was noodles and veggies with salad, a roll, and a brownie. The second time was a chicken sandwich. It was soooooo good. And then the third time was pancakes, with fruit and a croissant. 

THE DRIVE TO THE MTC (MISSIONARY TRAINING CENTER) 

The Philippines is so insanely beautiful. Walking out of the airport was such a cool thing to experience. Driving in the Philippines is not. I don't even understand why they even have lines painted on the street, nobody follows them. There is constant honking and beeping from the cars and motorcycles, and everyone is weaving in and out and cutting each other off. Everyone here is an offensive driver. It's insane. 

THE MTC 

When we first got here, we immediately were brought to the cafeteria and ate waffles, and eggs, and these ham and cheese rolls, and we got lemonade, and tangerine juice to drink. It was so good. We then got our phones, our access cards for the campus, and found out our apartments, and our roommates. Our group is already so close, but I got lucky, and have the two coolest elders in my room . So far there are only three of us in our room, and we find out tomorrow whether we will be getting a fourth person, or if we will be in a trio. 

We then got to have a couple hours to shower and rest. During this time, all the boys went and explored the campus. We looked at the basketball court, and checked out the gym, which I am so happy with because it has some free weights (not a lot) and a bench. And then we had lunch. It was rice, with some really good meat with some sort of broth, and a noodle thing. We also had rolls and a soup. They switched out the tangerine juice with passion fruit juice as well. 

After that we had a little orientation to go to, and then a health check. They then dismissed us until dinner. So with the time that me and my roommates had, and to get out of our church clothes for a bit, me and my roommates went to the gym. The gym is WAY better than what I was expecting. I got a decent workout in with what they had. After that we went back up, showered, and got ready for dinner. 

At dinner, we ate fish, rice, veggies, and the smallest banana I've ever seen. I was super nervous at first, because I hate fish, but it didn't taste super fishy, so I enjoyed it. During dinner, I found out that my companion is Elder Kuri, who shows up tomorrow, so I hope he's cool. 

To finish off the day we did a group devotional with the people in my room, and then went to bed. 

Thank you for all the support I have gotten today. I love every single one of you! 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/LUV8Q2aNgr3m2k7M8

Misson Call Letter