Hope everyone had a fantastic week. So the time has finally come for me to head out into the mission field! I leave Tuesday early morning! So this email is actually my last email for almost 2 weeks because my next Pday won't be until 2 mondays from now but I can't wait…
Some pretty awesome stuff happened this week but I'll start with a big thank you for all the birthday cards y'all sent. It made my day! They got here early and my birthday isn't til Sunday so I still expect birthday emails from all of you ;) I'm not allowed to have my camera until I leave because of some otro estupido personas en el CCM (MTC). So i won't get any pictures with Elder Mg or C or any of those guys so sorry mom... but I'll be sure to take plenty of pics when I get out in the field.
So I said in my last email that I was called as district leader, and in the MTC they switch them every two weeks. So to toot my horn real quick I had a meeting with President which I thought was going to be about my release but he said he thought that I did such a good job that he wanted to extend my call for the rest of my time in the MTC so basically I'm the best missionary to ever come to Guatemala ("God resisteth the proud James 4:6) jajaja. But honestly it doesn't matter to me at all and regardless of what position or calling I have I'm always going to be the same missionary.
Next I'll go ahead with my funny stories of the week and they're some good ones jaja .... First, there's this supervisor here who's under 5 feet and probably weighs 240 and has a super high squeeky voice. I was changing in my room when without knocking or anything he just walks in and sees me changing and I'm just standing there not really knowing what to do and he says, "I can see your................
Another one is we have this freaking crazy Latino in our room who has said multiple things like "I hav monee por jew to merry my seester." I don't think he has enough money for me to do that.. but anyways he's got this Latino crush on one of the North American girls named Hermana C. Every single night he starts singing this love song and at the end says "Oooooh Hermana C...chee is my stawr. Chee ees my salbation. My exaltation. My Eberything." Doesnt get old. Last one! Elder K is this funny guy in our district. This other guy from one of the newer groups was in our room telling us a story about this guy and he said he was from Canada. So without any hesitation K gets up and goes across the hall and says, "Who's the kid from Canada?" Someone raised his hand and K looks at him and says, "I'm better than you." And walked away. Had me rolling jajaja
So last week we got to go to the big City market. Pretty crazy experience. We get there and first thing we see are big slabs of meat for sale just sitting on the counter with flies everywhere. I now realize why we can't eat at the members houses.. lol. But I ended up buying a few futbol jerseys and some other things. As we left they warned us that we were going to be driving up on this hill overlooking the poorest part of Guatemala. So we get to the top of the hill and it was one of the most spectacular things I've ever seen in my life. Unforgettable. Just shack houses stacked on top of eachother one by one up and down every mountain for miles. It reminded me of what I think Brazil would look like or like out of that scene of the Bourne series. Pretty humbling to say the least. So dangerous that only certain missionaries can go down in to that area.
We also had the awesome experience of watching General Conference in the MTC. It's different watching it here than at home to say the least. First time I've really been attentive and takin notes and what not. I loved so many of the talks. A few that stuck out to me was Elder Neil Anderson's. He mentioned about non members seeking the truth of our church from valuable sources. I could definitely relate to that because I know of all the crap about the church that's out there for the world to see that isn't in the least bit true. If y'all have questions ask me or other missionaries or other members of the church! We aren't hiding anything. It's not like we baptize people and then say 'oh by the way we also believe in many many Gods and you can't eat crackers on Sunday.' no that's not how it works. Elder Anderson said, "You wouldn't interview Judas about the life of Jesus Christ." Great quote. But ultimately if you really want to know you can ask whoever you want but you have to gain your own testimony by reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know if it's true. Moroni 10:3-5. One thing I wasn't a huge fan of was the choir second session with all the women in different colored rainbow trout colored shirts who quite frankly looked like Sister Wives straight from a compound of the FLDS church. But... I also like Dallin Oaks' talk about being peaceful in all your doings including when you have a difference in political or religious opinion. Lord knows I can work on that lol… It sounds really gay but I got to thinking about how much I hate Obama and I kinda took a step back and realized that he's a son of God as much as me or Mitt Romney. Just because I disagree with basically everything he says doesn't mean I have the right to hate him or any other democrat. "The devil is the father of contention; Christ is the Prince of Peace." Last one was Elder David A Bednar's talk. My favorite by far. Directed to all those who were watching that weren't members of our church. Again encouraged those to find out for themselves if the church was true through prayer and scripture study. I would encourage all of you to watch it! (Mom please insert the link of his talk here).
So onto my coolest and best experience in the MTC. On Thursday last week our teacher had this prompting to walk to the temple for whatever reason. When she got there, there was a family of 4 standing there. They weren't members but their brother was going through the temple during that time. Our teacher encouraged them to come back to the MTC with her because it would be a good opportunity for a companionship to teach a real lesson. Luckily, our teacher came back to class and grabbed me and Elder D and told us what had happened. I was so unbelievably excited. I have had trouble the whole time in the MTC not really feeling like a real missionary quite yet and I felt like it was an answer to my prayers. We began to teach them about the Atonement. About half way through the family started crying and the spirit was so strong in that room. Elder D was unbelievably nervous from the get-go so I was doing a lot of talking. For that next hour I spoke the best and most pure spanish I've ever spoken. I felt like I was saying words that I didn't even know what they meant. But they understood every word. After about an hour, I asked them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and they accepted. Everyone in the room was crying with pure joy. Since I'm not in their area we got their contact information and set them up with the missionaries in that area. They're going to be baptized in the beggining of November! One of the greatest moments and maybe the happiest moment of my life. From the beginning I felt like the MTC was just a necessary evil I had to get through before going into the mission field. I still feel that way lol. The MTC was really hard and there were A LOT.... of rules that we had to follow that were pretty ridiculous and annoying at times that we don't even have in the mission field. But I did my best to follow every one of them and I feel like I was blessed for it. I made some great and hopefully life long friends. I learned a lot of spanish! I learned how to work hard and study. I've learned that if we aren't anxious to search the scriptures or go to church or pray or anything that we are really doing something wrong! Those things should be some of the things that bring you the most peace and joy in your lives. My knowledge of this gospel has grown tremendously and so many of my questions have been answered.
Most importantly my testimony has grown and is the strongest it's ever been in my life. I know with all my heart that this is the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that he died for my sins. I know that if we follow his teachings and keep the commandments and be everything we can be that we can feel truly happy in our lives and live with him again. I know through the Restoration that the fulness of the gospel is on the earth today. I know that God and his son Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith in the sacred grove. I know that through the Holy Ghost and the help of God he translated the gold plates into the Book of Mormon. I've read this book and I know it's true. I only share this gospel not because I think it'll help my life but because I want others to share my joy for my Savior. "Death hath no sting. Grave hath no victory. Because of Him."
I'm out of time and took the full hour to write this so unfortunately I probably cant get back to any of your emails this week but I'll have much more time in about 2 weeks from now! I love all you guys back home and especially my family I'm so grateful for you and all your support! Ya boi G is finally a missionary! Adios MTC!!
Texas Forever.
Elder Gurksnis
Here is the link to the talk that Sam wanted me to post. General Conference takes place twice every year in our church. We stay home and watch some of our church leaders speak on the BYU network and it's broadcast around the world.
Elder Bednar's Talk: Come and See
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