Week 3- M-T-See Ya Later!

Hi again everybody!

Well the time has finally come, I'm flying to Yakima, Washington as I write this email and I'm super stoked. My three weeks of MTC has been a blast, I've been able to grow a lot there. The spirit just continues to speak more and more to me and I'm loving it! Here's a condensed recap of last week for y'all:

Throughout this week I have gotten even closer and closer to my awesome district, which has honestly surprised me a lot. At the start of MTC when I was still at home, and partaking in tiring 3-hour zoom calls, I didn't like small things about practically all the members of my district. I was looking inward rather than outward, always thinking about myself for very small but selfish reasons.

Over these past weeks specifically I've totally changed that however, and God helped me to realize this as I sat on a rock, pondering my Missionary Training Center experience. The people around me haven't changed what they usually did that would sometimes annoy or frustrate me, yet I love them and don't seem to mind much anymore. I've turned outward and have begun to love others as God does, for their best qualities rather than disliking them for their worst. This has made me so much happier and I'm all for it.

Also, me and Elder Haws, my companion, have really molded together to become an excellent teaching duo. Elder Haws has become the missionary that always makes sure that he has a small game plan with a few specific scripture verses to personalize our teaching. I on the other hand have become a missionary that can really bear a powerful testimony and expound off of what Elder Haws reads and says. I've become excellent at answering concerns and the hard questions that we occasionally receive, which has been a big concern of mine. We get along so well, we never make each other angry and almost always agree on when to do things and how to do them.

It's so much easier to bring the spirit into a room. Especially as you talk to somebody when you know what to say and how to say it. My knowledge of the gospel has increased exponentially since I've first put on a mission tag. Sister Trythall and Brother Taylor have both done amazing jobs with training and teaching me. I'm so thankful for their work and success with me. I'm also thankful for my fellow missionaries in district 06-L who have all provided me with their powerful knowledge, genius insights, and emotional testimonies. All of which have helped me to learn doctrine and gain new perspectives on the gospel, which is never a bad thing.

MTC is an experience that everyone should have sometime in their life. From all the fun and funny moments, such as Jenga with the punishments that ensued for losing and singing the Nacho Libre song until we all have gone insane, to the bad ones. This is something I will never regret, having such a gospel oriented environment is the best thing ever. I love every single person I've met at the MTC so far, and I plan on doing the same in the mission field. This is definitely something that God has always wanted me to do.

I've always considered myself to be pretty non-judgemental, and now I truly am. I now love people for their best attributes, and I'm much happier as a result of it which is just another building block to my testimony that I know that God knows us all super personally and loves us all for our strengths. These last few days have really unlocked me in a lot of spiritual ways.

Before I felt I should be nervous and could physically feel God protecting me from my anxieties and stress. Now however I don't feel like I have that same spiritual shield, yet the anxieties are still gone. God has put me through the refiners fire these past couple of weeks, and I'm forever thankful for that and everything else that he's done for me.

To close, here's a quick spiritual thought:

John 14:6 states, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

Jesus is our way to grow and become giants in our Heavenly Father's eyes. By turning to him, especially over these past few weeks, I've started this journey myself and have fallen in love with the gospel. I testify that this IS the way, and there will never be any other.

Thank you all for the kind emails and messages, I love you all.

With the utmost thanks,

Elder Stephen Timothy

Pictures:

-Spirit gang

-Drippy shades

-Very cramped plane selfie

-Me with MTC President Porter

-Cool view of flags and temple

-Awesome mountain picture on the flight

-It should be illegal to be on a bus at 4 AM

-I'm basically Ammon