So some pretty sweet things have happened this week! First on sunday we got to go to the temple re-dedication which was pretty cool. We had to buy our own handkerchiefs. Then we had a devotional by Gordon D. Brown. I've never really heard of him before but it was still really good. One thing he said that I liked was something like, you can be a succesfull missionary if you learn to stay positive. Always staying positive is going to be pretty hard but it's going to be super important too and also in pretty much everything else in life.
So I learned in sundays choir practice that about 1,200 Elders will be trying to get into the choir for priesthood session of General Conference, and only 364 of them will be chosen to be in it. So I pretty much just accepted that I wouldn't be making it in. So I was a bit disappointed about that. Then on Monday I got a bit of a surprise. I got a little letter saying I've been accepted to be in the choir for general conference! Not exactly sure why i was one of the few chosen to be in it because in the survey it asked how much previous choir experience we have had and if we've had voice lessons before and I chose the lowest option for both of those. But anyways I'm soooo excited to actually be in the choir! So dad be looking for me when you're watching it! Practice for this starts tomorrow and we have it everyday for the next week and sometimes twice a day. Pretty awesome!
Next cool thing that happened this week was on tuesday. Because for the devotional M. Russel Ballard came and spoke to us! That's two General Authorities in a row for tuesday night devotionals! He gave a really good talk pretty much just giving us some advise that he had about mission things. Some of those things were, the importance of setting goals every day, staying close to family, how precious is one soul? and the Atonement, and that we are shouting the good word of the Restoration. So that's pretty much the coolest things that have happened this week.
To answer your question, yes, we have been going to the temple every p-day and it's been super nice. Except it's been incredibly hard to stay awake the whole time. But don't worry for the most part I've been able to stay awake the whole time. Just paying attention the whole time can be kind of impossible.
Time here has been going by super fast! I think we only have one full week left! And this sunday is our last sacrament meeting here because the sunday after that is general conference. I still haven't gotten my visa yet so i'm kinda just assuming i wont be able to go to ecuador right away. But getting temporarily assigned to somewhere else wont be too bad i think.
This week we started teaching this guy named Victor. Pretty sure he's not a member. He's studying philosophy in college so he really likes learning about our church and reading the book of mormon. Except we're thinking it's not because he wants to come closer to God and just because he likes having the strait information about things. He has a hard time understanding faith and how to have it. He wants to know where the gold plates and urrum and thumim are because if he could see them he would believe these things alot easier and wouldn't need faith. We told him we dont know exactly where they are but we dont need to know where they are to know that the Book of Mormon is true. And then we shared some stuff from Alma 32 and other scriptures about faith which he really liked. But he still thinks it's going to be difficult to have this faith. We told him to pray about these things to know that they are true and that we know that he'll receive and answer. He said he'll do this and also keep reading the Book of Mormon alot. So that's good!
Well I think that's everything for this week!
Elder Eastman