Week #2 - Provo MTC

Family and Friends,

So the week started off with Thanksgiving.  They had a super cool dayplanned for us so that was dope. After breakfast and class we hadthanksgiving lunch (whatever that means) and it was decent.Definitely wasn't a Thanksgiving at Grandma Rass's house but it wasokay, and at least they tried to offer us a similar experience haha.We had turkey and stuffing and potatoes and stuff but I think half ofit was fake... who knows.  But I'm happy we all got some of the foodbecause it at least felt like Thanksgiving. And then after that we dida service project and I'll post a picture of us at it at the bottombut we made small meals for families that were in need and for hungrychildren! And it was so fun! We like formed assembly lines andeveryone added an ingredient and then the last people taped andpackaged everything. And my district was the first one done... I meanwhat can I say? Haha but it was really fun and humbling.  As an MTCtotal we made 359,000 meals! So then later we went to the devotionaland Elder Neil L. Anderson gave a really cool talk and the coolestthing he said was "If you're struggling with forgiving yourself forpast sins or you don't feel adequate, forget about yourself and go towork and serve!"  It was so good and I needed to hear it.  He thenpromised that if we did this, we'd feel the love and forgiveness fromour Savior. and then at the end he was going around shaking people'shands and he got like 5 feet away from me and my comp but he didn'tshake our hands. Stressful. I was hoping he'd see my name tag and thenwe'd have a moment or something but nevertheless it didn't happenhaha.  But yeah the devotional definitely made up for the port excuseof a Thanksgiving dinner.   And then after we watched the "Light theWorld" video and we were the first people to see it! It's one of thenewest videos on LDS.org and it challenges us to like the world andfocus on a different characteristic of Christ everyday!  The video isreally good so everyone go watch it and join us in the 25 dayadventure to come closer to our Savior.  During this devotional, theMTC choir sang Come Thou Fount, the same version Mac Wilberg composefor the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and it gave me the chills.  Music isstill my favorite thing in the world.  Except now I love hymns insteadof J Cole and Young Thug.
So after that we kind of had a normal week of getting up and eatingbreakfast, exercising, studying, classes, lunch, classes, dinner andthen more studying haha.  Surprisingly we aren't going to have anyculture classes which is disappointing but I'd imagine my first weekin Africa will be my culture class.  We had two really gooddevotionals though so I'll share the thoughts I had from each ofthose.  The first was by Stephen B Allen, the Managing Director of theMissionary Department,  and the big thing I got from that was when hesaid "If you're having trouble forgiving yourself, SHAME ON YOU, forthinking that YOU performed the Atonement!"..... this like shook me inmy seat.  I was still thinking this way even after Elder Andersonstalk so this was an amazing reassurance.  And such a profoundstatement!  And then the next Devo was last night but Jorges B.Zepallos and he taught that we don't invite people to "go" to Christbut to "come" to Christ. So we need to be as close as we can to ourSavior at all times. And as Elder's, it's our responsibility toproudly and worthily represent the name of our Lord that we literallywear on our chest every day.  I've felt the spirit so much and it hitme hard that I need to be as obedient as I can and come close toChrist myself.  And then after that devotional we were talking as adistrict and we had Brother Ricks (of our branch presidency) who isalso related the the Ricks that Ricks College was named after. Andhe's friends with Steve Young.... crazy. Anyways he was talking to usand reviewing the devotional and for some reason he started talkingabout the first chapter in Moses when God appears to him and tells himthat he is God's son and was formed in the similitude of his onlybegotten son. And then when Satan appears to him right after and tellsMoses all this stuff about how he isn't good enough and tries todeceive him and make Moses worship him.  he declares Satan to "getthee hence" for he is a son of God formed in the similitude of Christ,the only begotten son! And Satan roars and weeps and cries throughoutthe land because of it.  As Brother Ricks told this story it allfinally hit me.   I had been praying to know that I was supposed to behere and to know I was adequate enough and worthy enough to serve theLord.  I finally realized that my prayer was answered through thesethree people that taught me.  I realized all the thoughts ofinadequacy and unworthiness were from Satan.  After the devotionalreview last night I felt so happy and knew the Spirit was helping methrough this mental struggle of mine.  Really builds my testimony thatif we pray with real intent like Moroni teaches in Moroni 7:6,9 thatGod will answer us.  I finally felt that influence in my life stronglyand now I know that God loves us.  Such a cool week now that I lookback on it.  Another cool thing we watched was Elder David A Bednar'sstory of the 20 mark bill in Germany.  If you haven't seen it youshould watch it.  He tells an amazing story about how we can't alwaysworry about feeling the spirit but just go to work, be obedient, andcome close to Christ and we'll look back and notice the Spiritsinfluence on our lives.  Crazy that the same week I heard him saythis, I learned it for myself.  The church is true haha.  Love it.
Anyways, on a less serious note, I've kind of started to eat a lot offood.  The other day we had Subway cater our lunch and they just gaveout 6 in subs and told us to take one.... I ended up eating 4 and thenfinished off my companions..... and had a few bags of chips.  And thento make it even better the next day for dinner there were two options,either bacon hamburgers or personal pizzas.... I had 1 1/2 personalpizzas and a hamburger and the dessert... I was so happy.
Also this week I had a chance to give my first priesthood blessing toa sister in our district.  She hadn't been feeling well and wasgetting pretty sick and I just gave her a simple blessing that she'dbe comforted to sleep and that the sickness would pass speedily.  Itwas really cool! Amazing how I'm 18 and am still pretty immature butcan still use the power of the priesthood to help a sister in need.And I'm happy to say she's been feeling way better recently!
In other news I shaved my legs from the knee down for the first timein my life last week. I don't know if I shared that in my last emailbut now you know haha.  Good bonding moment for the elders in ourgroup as 5 of us participated.  A Picture will be attached.
It snowed here! Snow ball fights break out at random times and it'sreally fun to just chuck one at some kid I see. Hahahaha just to do mypart in the festivities.  Makes me miss throwing water balloons atcars. And throwing the football around.
It was super cool seeing The Connor Rockwood here! For those of youwho don't know, he was one of Austins companions in Spain and now heworks at the MTC here in Provo.  It was so crazy and out of nowherebut I'm glad he got to send a snap chat home to you guys!  He's socool.
Despite what I said in my first email, I've really come to love mycompanion.  When I got over the little things that annoyed me, I juststarted to try to learn as much as I could about him and we have somuch in common from our taste in music, to an amazing appreciation forspace and the mysteries of the cosmos! We've had long convos aboutspace and how science and the gospel are very different but when youthink about it they go well together! Also listened to a talk about itin Sunday during our spare time and it was awesome. So yeah I love mycompanion a lot and love my district so much. There are no hardfeelings and it's just always a loving and happy environment.  Whilewe're on the subject, Elder Aldous and I have realized soooo manyweird similarities between us.  Like it's crazy. I don't wanna take hetime to explain all of them but from music, to favorite movies andcandy and sofa and foods, to weird songs we know about, to How we bothover analyze everything, to weird mutual friend connections and wejust always like think the same things. It's crazy. But so cool. He'san amazing missionary too. All of my districtis.
We finished teaching Leyla and we committed her to live the Word ofWisdom so that was cool! And now we have two new TRC investigators.Samuel and Kouji. Kouji is a Buddhist.... with no Christianbackground. So it has been hard but kinda fun to teach him. He's likean Asian uncle Matt haha. Love it.
Fun fact, Elder Aldous and I planned a road trip to drive up toWelling in Canada to hang out with Elder Bullock after we get off themission.  Like it isn't an idea, it's a plan. So that'll be fun.
Also saw 12:34 a few times this week.... still haven't figured outit's meaning. Stay tuned.
Well sorry for the long email. If you made it to this point i commendyou and appreciate your patience with my way of writing.  Sorry forthe scattered ideas but I hope you understand how cool this week wasand overall how fun the MTC has been for me.  I'm so happy that I'mhappy.  Haha and as a lot of you know, I love talking about thehappiness this gospel brings.  It's been fun to already practiceteaching it! You guys all stay in my prayers and I hope that all isgoing well!  Thank you so much for the packages and the emails lastweek. It all means so much to me and I can't thank you enough for allthe support.  Elder Johnson (my companion) and I just saw an updateabout our mission and they had 86 baptisms last week..... whaaaaat.The church is growing so much and it's so cool to see how it canchange lives even with just a little bit of faith.  We all fall shortbut through Him we can have eternal life and eternal happiness.
God bless!
-Elder Anderson.
I will admit it's weird. It hearing my first name. Reminds me of thebeginning of each football season when we had to write our last nameson our helmets so the coaches could tell who was who.
Okay now for some pictures.

Elder B and Elder Myers

Elder B Provo Temple

Packing meals Thanksgiving 2016

The District Provo MTC

You Will Be Here!!