June 25 MTC Heavenly Father Cares About Everyone and Those Lips Were Made For Better Things Than Clarinet Playing!

Hey Everyone!

This week has been kind of crazy everything is starting to blur together and my weeks go from P-Day to P-Day so Wednesday is the beginning of the week and it's really throwing me off.  First of all, the Norwegian Elders were taught how to sing "Let It Go" in Norwegian so now that's all I hear in the residence halls which sounds pretty cool for the first 50 times or so.... after that it's not my favorite not going to lie haha. In other news, we have consistent gospel rap circles as well as pokemon tie battles and poorly sung renditions of Katy Perry singles in the showers. It's pretty cool. Oh and Aldste Higby said I'd make a pretty girl so I'm going to take that as a compliment and run with it haha.

All of the Mission Presidents have been receiving their training here this week so it's really crazy and the whole campus is on lock down mode.  However, I have seen some General Authorities around campus and the other day we saw President Uchtdorf and his wife get into a car and drive away waving at us. They have so much security though that we couldn't even try to get closer than 100 yards away it's intense. On Sunday, we had a giant sacrament meeting that I had the opportunity to pass for and there were so many people we needed 4 sacrament tables so it was an ordeal to try and get everyone the sacrament. 

Sunday night though was easily the best time! We had a devotional and the key note speaker was Janice Kapp Perry who has written most of the primary songs and she was absolutely amazing. She wrote new verses to "As Sisters In Zion" which you should all check out they are super cool and she made them specifically for the sister missionaries. So at one point the Sisters sang those verses while the Elders sang the Army of Helaman and the spirit was sooo strong I'm not sure I have felt it more than I did in that moment. Childresn's hymns are so simple and so powerful. Each of them teach simple doctrine of Christ and it brings the spirit faster than almost anything else I loved it. Ok, Quote of the devotional.

Janice Kapp Perry

She was talking about how her and her husband met and she said she was sitting in her clarinet class and sucking on her reed to make it ready for her solo. While she was doing that he leaned over and said, "I was thinking, those lips look like they were made for better things than clarinet playing." Right when she said that he got up in the middle of her devotional and this 80 year old man walks up and kisses her on the stand. Pretty much the funniest thing ever, and there's a new pick up line in case anyone was curious or running out of there own.  After the devotional on Sunday we watched a movie and this one was the life of Joseph Smith.  I wear I felt the spirit really strong 4 or 5 times in a row and by the end of the night everyone had  tears in their eyes (except for me... I don't cry:)).  Anyway, it's amazing to contemplate the faith and the trust that the early saints had in their testimonies of Jesus Christ and in Joseph Smith being a prophet of God.  It makes all of my trials seem a lot less signigicant.  

On Tuesday, we were blessed to have another devotional and the speaker wah Elder Christofferson and Elder Nelson, Oaks, Bednar, Anderson and Ballard were there as well.  We sang Praise to the Man as a choir and I swear most of those missionaries cannot sing at all but somehow wen it comes time to perform it;s some of the svest music I've heard or put together ever - it's incredible!  He spoke on the importance of souls and our worth is our capacity to become like God and since our capacity is infinite, so is our worth.  It was a fantastic talk and it was so good to hear from one of the illusive apostles that have been on campus hiding out with the mission presidents haha.  

On Monday, we were able to meet our Mission President which was one of the coolest things ever.  He's an awesome man and I can already tell there is so much that I am going to be able to learn from him.  He graduated from Utah State so we'll get along and he recognized my name and talked to me about Megan and their good friends that were her mission presidents.  It was really cool to talk to them and bear my testimony to them even if it was only for an hour.  

Lessons are getting easier but we also have more of them.  In the next couple of days, I have 5 lessons with differend people that Aldste Archibald and I will teach but it is the best way to imporve with Swedish even though it is probably the hardest.  Sometimes the work is incredibly frustrating but the language is definitely coming and I am so excited about going to Sweden even though I still have a month left.  

Ok, I'll share just one of the little miracles that happened this week.  So Monday, we get a new Sister from Aruba who is going to the Netherlands on her mission but since she is an international, she comes a few days early.  The sister training leader's are in our district so she's been staying close with them.  She had to go with the Japanese sisters to go do something during the Tuesday devotional and she tracked me down to make sure that the Sisters knew she was with the Japanese Sisters and that they would find her once we were done.  I assured her that they would and thought nothing of it.  After the devotional, we couldn't find her so the Sister Training Leaders said they would go look for her and Aldste Archibald and I went to our building (like we have a hundred times since we got here) to put our stuff away before dinner.  We walked up the stairs and she was right there and we were surprised but she was so happy we found her.  We went and got the sisters and she went with us to dinner.  When they came out of the building though she asked us why were in that building.  It took us a second but we realized that we weren't in our building but in some other random building without realizing it.  This isn't something huge but it was cool to realize how much our Heavenly Father cares about each one of us.  Even when we're just nervous or scared to be in a new place.  He looks out for each one of us and if we open our eyes to it we can notice little things He does everyday to help us along.  

I love you all and I lvoe this gospel!  I can't wait to share it with Sweden!  
Aldste Israelsen