Prison Can Change You. Week 3

Hola,

This last Thursday was a great experience. Elder Berryhill, Elder Bradshaw and I had to take a trip to get some things taken care of for our visas. It was nice being able to get out into Salt Lake and walk outside of the campus for a while. We road the Front-runner to and from Salt Lake, which was a nice ride. The highlight of the trip was Elder Berryhill and my trip back to the MTC on the Front-runner. We walked onto the train and decided to sit on the second level of the train. When we got up there and started walking to a seat that was open near the back of the train this man offered two seats across the table from him. We decided to take him up on the offer and sit with him. Once we got settled down we started talking. He asked us where we were from. Then he told us that he had quit his job working a steal facility. He said he had quit so he could go back to working in dirt work. He then surprised us by telling us that the job at the steal place was just something to get him off his feet from prison. We learned that he just got out of a three year sentence in April. He talked about how in prison most people come closer to Christ but when they leave they just leave behind their new found relationship with him. He told us that this time he would rather keep that relationship and the feeling that comes with it. He talked about the church's twelve step program and how it helps so much since it incorporates gospel principals. He told a story of his brother who a year after being in prison was able to cut all ties with his old friends and be sealed in the temple. This man emphasized how friends can manipulate you and affect how you act even though you think you control your future. We also learned that he has been a member for his life he just made some bad decisions and ended up doing drugs and getting into prison. It was such a great time being able to talk to him even though we never got his name. I just hope he is able to get on his feet and turn his life around like his brother was able to. Elder Grange and I were able to have a TRC meeting with two members where we taught them a gospel principle and got to know them. It was a great experience and really fun.

We have been able to teach cristofer some more and have gotten to know his concerns and other things about him. He is a great kid and considers us his friends. We just have to work on getting him to come closer to Christ and realize that god loves him. Our lessons with ester are also getting better. We recently talked about the godhead and how they are three different people. Another lesson we shared Genesis 1:27 with her because she didn't understand that god had a body of flesh and bone. She understands it now and has accepted a baptism date. On Sunday Elder Grange and I were made zone leaders in addition to Elder Voss since Elder Weening was going to be leaving the following day. But Elder Weening did not end up leaving so we now have the four of us as zone leaders in our branch. Gotta learn more about my role as zone leader and make the most of what I can do. 

This Monday Elder Grange and I started progressing investigator TRC. This is where we teach someone who could actually be an investigator. The lessons have gone well and it helps with our teaching. Yesterday Emilce (our investigator) ended up asking about rules/commandments we have in our church. We focused on that and were not able to get to our planned lesson of the restoration. It was a good experience since in the field we will not be able to teach what we prepare every time. We need to teach people not lessons and make sure they learn what they want to learn. 

Mom - Learning the language is getting easier and easier. I feel like I can understand a lot of the Spanish. When I talk with our investigators there isn't really anything I don't understand. The only problem I have is learning to speak with correct grammar and express myself in the language. Its really surprising to imagine that I have less than three weeks left here at the MTC. It gets closer and closer. So the exchange student is not going to be living with the family he was planned to live with? He is going to be at our house the whole school year? Could you also do me a favor and send me a bunch of different Disney song lyrics? Mainly the ones from frozen, but any would do. And if possible send it through the mail because I am limited on what I can print. And if possible send some sort of picture book from home. A bunch of the other elders here have picture books and I think it would be nice to have one.

Dad - Go ahead and eat it. No real reason to ask me now that I won't be back for a while. The MTC is defiantly different that what it was for you. At least from what I can tell. We teach a whole lot more and are able to immerse ourselves in the language before entering the mission field. We have a great district and I feel like all the missionaries in our district will do great. The weather is nice and it doesn't get too hot here but it is still hot on some days. I've realized that time flies here at the MTC. We look back and can't believe that we have been here for as long as we have. Thank you for the scriptures. And if you could thank great aunt Becky for me. She sent me a package of donuts but did not put a return address on the package. It was a surprise when I got it in the mail since I don't really remember great aunt Becky that much. 

- Elder Boren

Provo Temple

Train ride to Salt Lake City

Week 2

Week 2 at the MTC in the Provo west building. Seems to be adjusting really well. We sent him a few packages with sweet treats and a new tie. The Randell's who were in our ward a few years ago bumped into Dylan at thr Provo Temple. Small world. --Sherrie

               

Its been another good week here on the west side of the MTC (CCM). Last Thursday we taught our last lesson with Fatima. We set up a baptism date with her and talked a lot about the purpose of baptism and the example that Christ made for us when he was baptized. Elder grange and I also we able to get a mini lesson on planning for teaching better. The little lesson really helped us and I think it will help us teach with more power and we will be able to help the investigators more. Later in the day when we were having study cycle I was studying in Jesus the Christ and afterwords some of us elders had a discussion and testimony meeting. It was me, Elder Grange, Elder Umpierrez, Elder Berryhill, Elder Ruddy and Elder Bradshaw. It was a nice little meeting and we could all definatly feel the spirit. Thank you for the package you sent. I think the tie is now my favorite tie. And the candy is definitely a nice thing to have.

                                         Elder Boren and Elder Berryhill. Jamba Juice

Friday morning we found out that the investigator we finished teaching (Fatima) has now become one of our two teachers. Its a pretty interesting concept and now it makes me wonder what she thought of our teaching. We also got introduced to our two new investigators. Who are just our teachers acting out investigators that they met on their missions. The first one is Chris. Christ is very depressed and doesn't feel like he is loved. He lost most of his family and grew up in an orphanage. The other one is Ester. Ester is a very christian lady who wants to know more about our church. I was finally able to go and play some soccer during gym time. I went on splits with Elder Bradshaw and we played four on four with some other elders there. It was fun and a good work out. 

Saturday we began teaching Chris. He is lacking lots of self-confidence and feels like everything bad happens to him. Its very different to teach him and some what harder because we can't relate to him. He is the kind of investigator I think I will run into often in Mexico. Just have to find a way for him to feel the love of god and know that he can turn to him for help.

On Sunday the districts that were here when we got her were leaving. That includes our zone leaders Elder Kirk and Elder Ferrin. We went over to their appartment after the devotional and talked of a while and got a bunch of pictures taken. They are all going to Costa Rica. We also got our new zone leaders, Elder Voss and Elder Wennig. The devotional on sunday was given by Jenny Oaks Baker. She is the daughter of Elder Oaks and is a professional violinist. She played us some music with accompany from her kids and also talked on the importance of faith. After the devotional we went and watched a video on the Doctrine of Christ given by Elder Oaks. It was a good talk and really enjoyable. 

   Saying goodbye to Zone Leaders

                                            Elder Boren and Elder Berryhill

This Monday we got to teach Ester. I think this lesson went amazing. I think we were able to get across real well what we wanted to teach and we were really able to get to know her well. She seems really open to our teaching and wants to know more. We left her with a Book of Mormon and invited her to read the title page and the introduction. Later Sister Dicarlo gave us a coaching session on how to study for Spanish. She said to get a better understanding of the language by reading the Spanish version of the Book of Mormon for at least ten minutes a day. 

Yesterday we played four-square and found out how intense the games can get. It was fun and was defiantly something I would do again during gym time. I also decided to start a photo log which I will do every night. Nothing much happen yesterday besides Elder Umpierrez being weird as usual. 

If you do end up making the peach salsa I would love it if you could send me some while I'm here in the MTC. I'll be sending a letter in response to Jacob and Riley later today so expect it to get there about Monday. Oh and today while entering the temple I saw The Randell girls. They are here for education week. It was nice to see people from home.

First week at The MTC

After waiting for a whole week to hear from our Elder and Brother I've finally received his email. Oh what joy.

                                             This is his district in the MTC

                                            These are the elders who will be going to Mexico


The first week of the MTC is over. My companion is Elder Grange. He is from the Logan Utah area. He is going to be serving in the Renosa Mexico mission. The other two elders in our room are Elder Umpiereze and Elder Berryhill. They are both called the the Monterrey West mission with me. Elder Umpiereze is quite a character and keeps us laughing during personal time before bed. We are on the west campus since we are going to Spanish speaking missions. So this whole campus speaks Spanish and gives us a chance to immerse ourselves in the language more. The cafeteria may not be as good as the main campus but that is the only thing the other campus has on us.

The first day was interesting. We arrived at main campus and walk through getting all the stuff we would need to start learning the language. Then we all hopped onto a bus and we shipped over to the west campus. After we dropped our suitcases off in our rooms we went to our classroom. Our teacher only speaks Spanish to us as to help us learn the language. The first day was a bit confusing since I wasn't completely sure of everything he was saying. But it wasn't a bad first day. We also got to meet our zone leaders; Elder Kirk and Elder Ferrin. They are fun zone leaders and we had a get to know you session with our district and the other district in our zone. The first day seemed a little long but now it seems like it happened so long ago. The rest of our district is Elder Wening, Elder Voss, Elder Ruddy, Elder Bradshaw, Elder Stirling, Elder Lavrey, Hermana Leonard and Hermana Tune

Day two we jumped onto the daily schedule and started with class with Hermono Raspenson. This is when our teacher learned that we were going to be teaching a lesson to our first "investigator" on Friday in Spanish. It was a bit surprising to find out that we would be teaching on only our second full day at the MTC. We had our study cycle that day to somewhat prepare what we would be teaching our investigator; Fatima. Thursday wasn't that bad. We have a daily gym time so that we can get a work out and do something rather than sit in classrooms all day. We have been more recently playing volleyball with our zone leaders. 

Day three we had class in the morning and then our lesson with Fatima at 4:20. We had some more time to prepare after lunch and it really helped when we got into the lesson. I think the lesson went well but it was defiantly not the best of lessons. Its hard to teach a lesson when there is a bit of a language barrier and your not really used to speaking in the language. We were still able to teach about gods love and about the book of Mormon. Friday we were also able to meet our branch presidency. One of the presidency members served in the Dallas Texas mission and knew where Melissa was. The branch presidency held inter views and told us who our district leader was; ours is Elder Voss. He will be our district leader for our first three weeks here and then we will get a new district leader. And once our zone leaders leave this upcoming Monday we will also be getting new zone leaders.

Saturday we had another lesson with Fatima. This lesson went a whole lot better and I felt that we were able to understand her a whole lot better. We had class and basically just a usual day. Nothing special really happened. 

Sunday was great. We had our district meeting in the morning and the presidency finished up getting to know us individually. Then we had our priesthood meeting followed by sacrament. I found out that Sister Jenson from our stake in Allen is in our zone. Our sacrament meeting was nice and in sacrament they randomly call up people to give on spot talks just that they have to be in Spanish. The ones that got called had been here for a bit longer than us. After sacrament and lunch we had time to take a Sunday walk and study. Being able to just walk around the campus was nice. After we had dinner we went to the Sunday night devotional. The speaker on Sunday was Richard I. Heaton. He spoke on discovering christ and the role god plays in our lives.He shared a great mormon message with us called "The Hope of God's Light". I invite you to watch it if you haven't and think of when the young man in the video discovers god for the first time. I also invite you to share the same challenge with the Priests quorum. Brother Heaton's talk was great and really brought the spirit.

Monday we had another lesson with Fatima and we focused on 3 Nephi chapter 11. We had invited her to read it on Saturday and decided to discuss it with her. Think this lesson went well and we got closer to her really accepting the gospel. We then had some more Spanish time and another study cycle later that day. Tuesday was pretty similar in the fact that we had another lesson and studied more. Yesterday we also went to the Tuesday Night devotional and got to hear Elder Evans of the seventy speak on repentance. It was another great devotional with lots to learn from.

Well today is our first p-day. We were able to go to the Provo temple this morning and attend an endowment session. It was a good time and we were also able to spend time on main campus. I hope you guys are doing well

-Elder Boren