Week 3

Hey guys!

Well tomorrow starts week 4 out of 6 of the MTC! Only 3 weeks left, thank goodness. its honestly getting harder to stay studying, my daily schedule is exhausting. Im in the classroom from 7am - 9pm... with breakfast,lunch,dinner, and exercise breaks in between. The time is broken up into 3 blocks really. the schedule goes like this

7:00 - in class

7:30 - breakfast

8 - 11:45 : block 1, can be either Spanish class, study time

11:45 - 12:15 - lunch

12:30-2 : exercise and prep time.

2 - 5:30ish : block 2

5 -9 - block 3

its alot... and i never get enough sleep to not fall asleep during the day hahaha! The MTC is great but i cant stand being in a classroom for 12+ hours a day. 

Speaking about sleeping during things....

The Nashville Tribute band came here to the MTC! They are soooo good! Here in the MTC, you can come early to a devotional and be in choir, its a great way to get good seats, and its actually pretty fun! However, i was super tired on Sunday, and as we practiced i was already fighting my fatigue. our choir that day had 1700+ people in it, crazy right? When it finally came to the devotional, they dimmed the lights (that didn't help) and they went on singing. The Nashville Tribute Band's music is way to angelic, and with the dimmed lights i couldn't help but gracefully fall asleep... and by gracefully i mean sitting straight up in my chair with my head bowed and my hands clasped, because hey, who can get mad at you for looking like your praying am i right??? My Companion woke me up maybe 10 minutes before we need to sing, thank goodness for that!

I always like to give you guys an update on my Spanish! its coming along real well now. Although I'm no where near fluent, i can keep conversations and i teach lessons without Spanish notes, which i think is some pretty great progress, because my first week, id write down everything down that i want to say in Spanish, because it was super nerve wracking! But now i no longer get nervous about teaching in Spanish, its actually my favorite thing to do here! 

This last Sunday i had a wonderful spiritual experience. My zone was given the responsibility to give a sacrament meeting to some staff members. i was asked to give a short talk, and of course i agreed. My companion was also asked to give a talk, and he went before me. We could have chosen any topic, but we both chose to give a spiritual thought on repentance and the Atonement. As he gave his talk, he was prompted by the spirit to bring up a certain object lesson: The push-up/doughnut lesson. In this lesson, you would have a young man come up to front for you. Next, you would ask everyone in the room, one by one, if they would like adoughnut. If they choose to accept the doughnut, that young man would do a certain amount of push-ups, usually around 5-10. If they chose not to accept a doughnut, that young man would still do the set amount of push-ups. if more people came into the room, they would be asked also, and the young man would have to push ups for them.

 Do you see the Symbolism???? My father did this lesson back home, and he chose me to be the young man. I remember that lesson so clearly. At the time, i had no clue what my dad had in store for me. As he began the lesson he explained what i had to do. He asked me if i would accept his plan, and of course i did. The First 10 people weren't so hard, easy even. but as i went on it became harder and harder to do.Many accepted the doughnut, many declined, but i still had to do it. I remember the agony i felt as i struggled to do the push ups for each person. it almost became unbearable... i asked my dad if there was some way it could be lessened, but he persisted that i kept going. Many people came into the room, and even tried to escape so i wouldn't have to do it for them, however i still had to. i cannot tell you how sore i was after that night hahaha!

Now back to that sacrament meeting. When my companion finish i got up there. I decided to discuss the same lesson, since i had experienced it first hand and also because its such a great lesson to explain the Atonement of Jesus Christ. As i started to explain it, i became so overwhelmed with a feeling, and I couldn't help but start to cry. I HAVE NEVER DONE THIS IN MY LIFE.  it really hit me because is i was relating it to the lesson i realized that the pain he felt was 100,000,000,000,000 times worse than what i went through, and I realized why he wanted "the cup to pass him". Because of that lesson 2 years ago, i felt like i had a tiny fraction of an understanding of what he did and how he felt, but in no way am i comparing the 2, because what he did can never be compared to any thing we experience here in life. 

The Holy ghost testified to me that what Jesus Christ did was real,  and he suffered and died for our sins because he loves each and every one of us, even if we don't want his sacrifice. Also, that God loves us and knows us all personally, because he wouldn't have sent His only Begotten son to be tortured and killed if he didn't. 

But let me tell you it was hard giving the rest of my talk because i was so choked up haha. 

This last week was kinda bittersweet because a lot of friends i made here in the MTC left for the field yesterday. it Reminded me of leaving you all, and i hope youre all doing really well. i love and miss every single one of you guys. Shoot me an email telling me how your doing, i want to know!

Elder Bailey