It's great to get a letter!

January 21, 2008

Dear Family,
Hello, this is my weekly letter. The MTC is Fantabulus. I'll start off with a light story to get things rolling. The other day we had a health orientation scheduled, so my district and I walked to the nurses office at the MTC. Once we got there we sat down in the waiting room where the nurse came to speak with us. It turned out to be no health orientation at all. The first thing that the nurse said was,"Ah! you are the elders going to serve in Tawain, are we prepared for our stool samples?" .....I couldn't help myself, I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard, and the other elders followed suit. I didn't know she was being serious. I quickly found out how serious she was once she tossed me a cup and paper bag. HA! Anyway, that's the end of the story.
Besides that, the MTC has been nothing but AWESOME! I have learned so much. I can bare my testimony, pray, and carry on a 3-5 minute conversation in Chinese!! The gift of tongues is real... I promise you that.
My companion and I make a great one two-punch when it comes to giving the first lesson, I dunno if I mentioned that before. I am very grateful for him. It turns out that he was born on December 9th, 1987! (Jonathan was born Dec 9, 1988). He did a year and a half of school at Palomar to get his A.A. in preparation for medical school. He will be attending U.C.L.A. when he gets back..... (And trust me, he may not have watched the Las Vegas bowl, but I told him Every single Detail about the game). He's a good kid, he worked hard to be able to serve a mission and he's been a wonderful companion and a wonderful missionary.
Elder L. Tom Perry came to speak at our Devotional and it was FANtastick, he talked about the restoration of the church and it was so powerful. I am so excited to be a missionary and serve the Lord. I have the feelings of Alma, in chapter 29, when he speaks "oh that I were an Angel"... I wish I had the power to call forth to all nations, but that is not possible. Like Alma, I've learned to be content with the blessings the Lord has given me. That it is up to the desires of the investigators to open their hearts and come unto Christ. I love working in the R.C. where I can make outbound and take inbound calls from people interested in the church. It gives me a chance to work with REAL investigators, rather then the "role play" (which is what we practice the most, here at the MTC). I Love the feeling that comes when the spirit can help me influence the investigators to have the missionaries come by their homes and leave them a message. Its hard when they "aren't interested". I wish I could help everyone see the light and feel the spirit... but that is not possible... I can't wait to serve in Taiwan and teach the discussions in real life, in Chinese. Sacrament meeting is so powerful when its in Chinese... and I can understand a lot of it, until a native speaker starts speaking, haha, but I will learn.... well, I have 33 seconds to finish so I will.... I miss you, and love you.

Elder Daniels