Week 7: I Love Elder Osthed

Hiii!  3/4ths of the way done with MTC! Crazy to think about! I hope you all are doing fabulous. The fall leaves have started to change in the MTC and they just planted new flowers, life is good.  

Spiritual Thought:  

This week I have been thinking about hard things

In Genesis 22:1-14 (please go read right now… it is short) Abraham is told to do probably the hardest thing a father could do, sacrifice his son Isaac. 

As the story goes, Abraham has complete trust in the Lord. There are many moments where it is said “Here am I”, which is translated to “Hineni”. Abraham and Isaac both have Hineni moments as they prepare to do God's will. They both put themselves out into the complete unknown for the Lord.

Then in verse 14 everything changes. Abraham has a Jehovah Jireh moment. If you go look at the foot-note it means “The Lord will see or provide” or I see you. The Lord saw Abraham's faith and he was greatly blessed because of it. 

I know that when we put ourselves in hard situations, our “hineni” moments, where we say, "Here I am” Lord, we will in time, see the pay off “Jehovah Jireh” moments where we realize the Lord could see us all along.

We might not know where we are going but the Lord knows where we need to end up. That is the marvel of his perfect plan. 

Kristen M. Yee said, “God puts us in places where we are sufficiently overwhelmed that we sufficiently rely on him instead of relying on ourselves.”

I really do believe that the most growth we will ever experience happens in hard places because we learn to depend on God. We make his ways… our ways. 

It is my testimony that as we turn over what we love most to the Lord he will see us and lead us to places and people we never would have thought. His plan is perfect! 

Short Version of Email: Still at the MTC. I love hearing from all of you! I love it here. Trust in the Lord! Lots of sports. Learning how the spirit works in unusual ways. Musical Number. 

5 Amazing Things of the Week:

1: Update on last week's musical shenanigans/spiritual opportunities. We got chosen to play from our audition. So we played at another MTC devotional which was fun. The Calderwood’s (MTC Pres) now know me by name because I have been playing so much. It is terrifying but also cool. 

2: General Conference was so awesome! So many good talks. As I am writing this the talks just came out on gospel library so go check them out! I loved “God’s Favourite” by Karl D Hurst!  

3:  There was another MTC concert this week! Emma Nisson came and played for us. She plays piano and sings. It was really good! And the best part was we were front row seats (like I could not have been closer to her if I tried). I got to meet her BF. He was also a cool dude! Some cool videos of that on google photos

4: P day means we get to go to the temple again. Feeling extra grateful for it this week. It is such a blessing to have been able to go each week here! (Along with my Costa Vida afterwards) Only one more week of getting to go into the Lord's house until Finland. 

5: Finnish has been starting to make sense! A little. We can start to say small sentences and actually express the things we are trying to say which feels so rewarding because man is it so hard.  

 

Miracle of the Week: As we were coming back from the temple we met this guy who started talking to us about missions and missionary work. He served in Guatemala and we had a great conversation with him. He testified that what we were doing was the right thing to do, to the point of tears, and gave us some good advice. The advice was exactly what I had been thinking about all week. I know God puts people in our lives to help us grow and feel comfort. That was just one example. 

Where I am Right Now: Right now I am in the Provo MTC (This section is mainly for my mom and is boring until I get to Finland)

Scripture of the Week:  Helman 10:5

My thoughts: This scripture really stood out to me this week. I like the end of the verse when it says, “thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will.” 

It is so cool that the Lord promises Nephi that he will have power to do all things because he trusts him. We trust God to come to know him and as we do, we can often come to understand Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and align our will with theirs. 

Talk of the Week: A Summer with Great-Aunt Rose     By Dieter F. Uchtdorf  OCT 2015

My Thoughts: This was such a great talk. I invite you to read it and take your own message from it. I know that I will always remember Great Aunt Rose.

However my favorite quote is, “There is enough that doesn’t go right in life, so anyone can work themselves into a puddle of pessimism and a mess of melancholy. But I know people who, even when things don’t work out, focus on the wonders and miracles of life. These folks are the happiest people I know.”

Enjoy the little things in life. Missions and life are hard, that's for sure, but if we focus on the good like our Prophet has said then we will find the joy in life, because it is there. 

I hope your week is spectacular! Email me if you want! Give your families a big hug and tell people you love them! Always remember what matters most!  

-Elder Balls

Week 6: Treasure Hunting

 

Helllooooo!  Each week the days go by faster! This week has been exciting as we get ready to head to Finland in 3 weeks. Time really flies. A lot happened this week so here's a couple bullet points before the rest of the email. 

• we fasted 2 meals

• had a crazy Dutch substitute teacher

• snuck some hotdogs in people's pockets

• looted some classrooms 

• stole some couches

• found a treasure map (no treasure though)

• found some treasures in the ceiling of our dorm

• made a lit facebook video

• felt the spirit a ton

• we also learned 8 hours of Finnish every day 

 

MTC is our little village. We are like villagers from Minecraft. We wake up, wander around the village and then go to bed every night. What a life indeed. I'm just kidding. I love it here so much. I am really going to miss this place when I leave. 

 

Spiritual Thought:  

I always thought the Atonement was just for bad people to become good.  I never thought it could be for good people trying to become better.  

I listened to a BYU Speech by Elder Bednar this week which gave me the idea for this. I’ll keep a lot of quotes from him because he is much more eloquent than I am. 

I never realized the full extent of the enabling power of the atonement but Nephi did. 

“In 1 Nephi 7 we recall that the sons of Lehi had returned to Jerusalem…Laman and others traveling with Nephi from Jerusalem back to the wilderness rebelled…It was at this point in their trip that Nephi’s brothers bound him with cords and planned his destruction. Now please note Nephi’s prayer in verse 17: “O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound”.”

“It is especially interesting to me that Nephi did not pray, as I probably would have prayed, to have his circumstances changed. Rather, he prayed for the strength to change his circumstances. And may I suggest that he prayed in this manner precisely because he knew and understood and had experienced the enabling power of the Atonement of the Savior.”

“I personally do not believe the bands with which Nephi was bound just magically fell from his hands and wrists. Rather, I suspect that he was blessed with both persistence and personal strength beyond his natural capacity, that he then “in the strength of the Lord” (Mosiah 9:17)...was enabled to break the bands.”

“As you and I come to understand and employ the enabling power of the Atonement in our personal lives, we will pray and seek for strength to change our circumstances rather than praying for our circumstances to be changed.”

 I love this, “in the strength of the Lord” (Mosiah 9:17) and through the enabling power of the atonement we can overcome all things. Not by ourselves but through the power of Jesus Christ. 

Short Version of Email: Still at the MTC. I love hearing from all of you! I love it here. Remember to use the enabling power of the atonement in your lives often! Lots of sports and learning how the spirit works for each of us. Musical number and auditions.

5 Amazing Things of the Week:

1: Somehow people here realized I play the piano so I have gotten quite a few emails this week asking me to accompany people. It has been fun to meet new Elders and Sisters. Who knows, maybe we will get chosen to play in front of the whole MTC again.

2: Having a birthday in the MTC was so awesome! A different type of birthday for sure but it was a highlight.  

3:  We had the Semi-Annual MTC cleanse on Monday which pretty much means we cleaned all morning on Monday. I never thought cleaning would be one of the highlights of my week. We moved some couches into our room so that makes everything so much better!

4: Our district left the MTC on Wednesday to go to the Provo City Center Temple. It was such a weird thing being out of the fortress walls. We may have grabbed some food after which was incredible.  

 5: We taught a great 25 minute lesson in Finnish this week! We are starting to understand the things we hear in Finnish. It is so hard to learn this crazy language but progress is progress. 

Miracle of the Week: I got to play another musical number in church this week with Elder Crossley. I was very nervous because we had like no time to practice. It ended up going well and we only had time to practice for about 20 minutes.  

Where I am Right Now: Right now I am in the Provo MTC (This section is mainly for my mom and is boring until I get to Finland)

Scripture of the Week:  1 Nephi 4: 1-18 and 2 Kings 5: 1-27 

In a devotional this week I heard this thought and it really made me think. Read each of the sections before you look at my thoughts or it will spoil the surprise.

My thoughts: Assuming you have read the story, I won’t summarize each like I usually do. But someone pointed out to me this week that it would have been so easy for Naaman to kill Laban and so easy for Nephi to jump in the river. God, I’m sure, knew that. It was a good reminder to me to not compare my challenges to other people’s and realize that hard things make us grow. 

Talk of the Week: In the strength of the Lord by David A Bednar. Oct 23, 2001

My Thoughts: This BYU speech is kinda long but it is amazing. I based my spiritual thought this week on it so go read that. 

Also prepare for General Conference this week with a question! 

I can’t believe it's been a whole week. I miss you all! Please email me and add me to your email list if you're a missionary! Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday! Even though I couldn’t respond, it made my week getting all the texts and emails! Byeee

-Elder Balls