6 Weeks of Pure Awesomeness!

Buna diminiața! Mă duc a România acest Luni!!

Good morning! I am going to Romania this Monday!! WHAT!!!??? I honestly cannot believe it! I feel like I have only been in the MTC for a week. Time flies when you are having fun and being fed by the spirit. These past 6 weeks have been some of the most amazing weeks of my life. Not only were they super fun, but more importantly for the things I have learned at felt as I have come closer to the Savior, as I help others come closer to Him through helping them receive the restored gospel. The spirit at the MTC is so unique. I have taken it for granted from time to time. It is the greatest feeling to always have the spirit constantly with me as I go about my day, dedicating it to the Lord. I will continue to carry this spirit that I have felt here into Romania, where I will help some of his most precious children learn about the joy that comes from living the gospel of Jesus Christ. I feel like I have prepared to the best of my ability while here that the MTC. Four more days to finish putting on that coat of primer! 

This week in particular has been very spiritually uplifting. General Conference was SOOOO good! It was amazing watching it at the MTC with 2000 other missionaries, and not having to do yard work while listening- I just focused on the messages and what the Holy Ghost was saying to me! I came with two questions, and both were answered in unique ways. Elder Holland described how to be a better priesthood holder. He simply said that I need to love, be a friend, and listen! So simple, but yet so vital, as we observed through his story that he shared. Indeed the priesthood is about lifting up our brothers and sisters. I am so excited to be able to do this everyday as I serve the Romanians. I would write a whole email about conference, but I have little time and so many wonderful experiences to share! 

I have noticed that each week of being here I have learned a little bit more about how to be like Christ. This week the Lord taught be about the importance of personal revelation, and how to be guided by the spirit. This is something that I have mentioned that I have struggled at while being here at the MTC, but this week was different. I have come to a greater knowledge of the love that Heavenly Father has for each one of his children. One way he does this is through giving us personal revelation and direction through the spirit! 

3 Nephi 27:29 Therefore, ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for he that asketh, receiveth; and unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened.

I now want to share a few miraculous miracles that have come through personal revelation and direction from the spirit. These are my miracles of the week!

The first two are about direction from the Holy Ghost. We had recently just committed Daniel to baptism and began to teach about keeping the sabbath day holy (one of the 10 commandments). I had a scripture that I was going to share with him about the importance of attending church, and once I was prompted to share it, the Holy Ghost told me to share the next verse with him as well. I quickly debated in my mind whether or not that would be good, but then I remembered that I should NEVER hesitate to follow a prompting from the Holy Ghost. So, I had Daniel read Mosiah 18: 25-26. Verse 26 (the verse which I was not originally going to share), really touched him, as it explained that our leaders do not get paid. He then asked if we received profit for serving a mission. We humble replied "no". He was amazed by this and I think really touched his heart that we are teaching him because we love him, and that God loves him. 

The second is also with Daniel. We were teaching him about the importance of keeping the Word of Wisdom. He struggled a little bit with this as he didn't fully understand why drinking alcohol or coffee once and a while was bad. This is a very important cross road as a missionary- you could either go the path of logic, or you can go on the path of testifying that the Lord gives us commandments for our benefit, and that we will be blessed for keeping them. So, we took the second, and the spirit gave me a distinct prompting, as clear as day, saying, "Promise him that if he keeps the word of wisdom, he will do better in school." So, this time I didn't even hesitate! I said exactly what the spirit told me to say. The spirit was very strong, and I could tell that this promise was what Daniel needed to hear in order to have enough faith to keep the word of wisdom. It is the greatest feeling in the world when you act on the promptings of the spirit and get to witness how he works on those who we serve through us. 

With that, I have come to a great knowledge and appreciation of the commandments, why God would give us so many. The purpose of the commandments, and why so often the scriptures say, "Inasmuch as ye will keep my commandments, ye will prosper in the land" is because BLESSINGS ARE ATTACHED TO THESE COMMANDMENTS! 

Doctrine and Covenants 130:21 "And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated."

Aren't commandments wonderful? And teaching them to investigators is even cooler because we get to promise specific blessings, according to the scriptures, and the direction of the spirit, and see those blessings come into their lives! 

 

As I serve the Lord in Romania, I am also learning how to follow the commandments with more exactness, and receive those blessings which are predicated to those laws. 

The next two miracles are more personal, but way to wonderful to not share with you all. 

I will just quote what I said in my journal: "Before Elder Rasband's talk, I prayed to Heavenly Father to give me some sort of witness today that He is watching over me and cares about me (I had just felt a little alone the previous couple days). Well, my prayer was answered almost immediately after I concluded my prayer, through the words that Elder Rasband said. Never had the doctrine of "God speaks to me through the mouth of his prophet's" become so real until that talk. One thing in particular hit me very strong, "Christ-like service results in feeling God's love for me!" I had been feeling God's love for me all along! All of those times were I felt a great love for my investigators, when I've felt joy that they were keeping the commitments that we invited them to do- is the same kind of love that God has for me! (on an even greater scale). When I heard that quote, I immediately felt peace and comfort, that I have a loving Heavenly Father who is always stretching out his arms and blessing me beyond belief. Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus Christ, are REAL. They love US! I am so grateful that God blessed me with this personal confirmation."

Finally, (and there were actually more, but I don't have the time to share them) was about my divine call as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Our teacher, Sora Long, challenged us to seek for a personal witness that my call to serve in Romanian was from God. Even though I felt like I knew that my call is from God, I decided to pray about it anyways, trusting that if I knock, God will answer. So, the next day I was doing my personal study, and was in Mosiah 26. In this chapter, Alma is seeking for an answer from God, similar to me. As I read verst 15 and 20, I realized that this scripture was God talking to ME!!!!! How cool is that!? The scriptures teach that one way to receive an answer from God is through studying the scriptures. 

 15 Blessed art thou, [Alex], and blessed are they who were baptized in the waters of Mormon. Thou art blessed because of thy exceeding faith in the words alone of my servant [President Monson].

 20 Thou art my servant; and I covenant with thee that thou shalt have eternal life; and thou shalt serve me and go forth in my name, and shalt gather together my sheep.(Note: brackets indicate the personal implication of these scriptures to my life)

After reading these verses, I knew for certain that my call is in fact from God, and that as I serve him, going forth in his name, he will bless me! He is proud of my decision to dedicate two years to Him. 

The gospel is REAL! Repentance is REAL and brings JOY! The Book of Mormon is TRUE! God loves YOU! That RHYMES! I have never been so happy in my life until now, for great is my joy in serving the Almighty God. It is amazing to see him pour out His blessings. 

So those are (some of) the miracles from my week. God is watching over me! I encourage everyone to look for the miracles in your life- it starts with service! 

Limba Romana update: I. LOVE. ROMANIAN. Yes it is super hard and my mind is blown after every grammar lesson, but God is blessing me with the capacity to understand and slowly apply the things I have learned. The gift of tongues is truly real. I see evidence of it everyday. I no longer stress a ton about having the right words to say, or feeling like I haven't prepared enough for the lessons. I diligently follow and use effectively the the plan of Personal Study, Companionship Study, and then Language Study (all 1 hour each), then go in to lessons with a prayer in my heart and really listen to what the spirit would have me say. This is all the Lord asks of me, and he promises to help me with the rest. I am able to convey my thoughts in Romanian so much better than a couple of weeks ago!

Funny language mistake: When I invited Daniel to baptism, I asked him if  he could be baptized with someone with TEETH (dantura) rather than WHO HOLDS (denține) ! hahaha It was pretty funny. I even paused when I said it, knowing that it sounded funny, but I moved on haha. 

Funny experience of the week: Since all of the Italians left on either Monday or Tuesday, we had the whole residence to ourselves. We were showering after exercise on Wednesday, and I was the first one out. I walked to our room and realized that the door was closed... and we had no key... and we were in our towels... haha. Sooooo we decided it was appropriate to use the emergency red phone in the hallway and called the front desk. Varstnic Bakers conversation went something like this...

Varstnic Baker: Hi... So we got locked out of our room.Varstnic Baker: *Pauses*... and we just got out of the shower... so we don't have any clothes.

At that point we were dying of laughter. To make things more embarrassing, the new Italians were coming that day and sure enough one of them arrived while we were in our towels. Super awkward/funny first meeting haha! Thankfully they had a worker let us in and went about our day joyfully after that. 

I am the other Zone leader until we leave, and so we had the opportunity to put on the welcome orientation for the 45 new Italians. It was a really great experience and I was able to bear my testimony of the importance of the MTC and the importance of obedience. I love being able to lead and help others! Especially new missionaries.

I wish I had more time, but I just want to conclude with one last thing.

Music is a very big part at the MTC. There are always special musical numbers in deviotionals, we sing hymns before we begin class, etc. I have gained a grained appreciation for music! I really want to become a better singer while I am on my mission. My one regret: I can't play the piano well! Tyler, Alysee, Nate, Coop, Chloe: LEARN TO PLAY THE PIANO!! It will bless you guys so much. We are going to sing Joseph Smith's first Prayer in Romanian on Sunday to all the new Italians. I have loved learning how to sing the tenor part and it will sound amazing in a capella. Stay tuned for a recording! 

Well, next email will be in Romania! I can't believe it. We leave the MTC at 3:30 AM on Monday, and fly out of Salt Lake to Minneapolis, where we will fly to AMSTERDAM!! From Amsterdam we will fly to Bucharest (about 23 hours of total time in the air) and I'll be picked up by President and Sister Ivory. I can't wait!!! 

I love you all, and pray for you everyday. Thank you so much for the letters you have sent me! I am so sorry if I don't reply to them all, time is limited here :( I gotta say though Coop- your email was HILARIOUS! I really wish I got to see the kid poop and cry when he got juked by you ;) 

I love being a missionary!! 

Treseștă-te România!

Love,

Varstnic Ditto

Refiner's Fire

Howdy y'all!

Another week in the books!! Time is flying by and I can't believe I've been gone from you guys for 3 full weeks! Only 3 more to go till I get on one of those big 'ol 747's and fly to the best country ever. Throughout the past 3 weeks, I have developed an even deeper love of the people of Romania. I know that the Lord has called me to bring certain people to the fold there. He knows who they are and as I work diligently and stay worthy, he will help me find those precious souls. I have already seen so many evidences of The Lord's hand in my short time of being a missionary, as well as how he has been blessing our family. 

I would like to start with a "miracle of the week." In a devotional on Tuesday night, the wife of President Clayton (Senior President of the 70's) promised us that one of the ways that I can get the most out of my mission is to "Note the miracles." Miracles happen everyday, and we just need to sit back and recognize them!! 

Elder Krogue and me

So.... there were a lot of little miracles this week. A small one was when I ran into former Elder Krogue! I know it wasn't by chance that we crossed paths. I remember really looking up to him when he served in our ward, and it was great seeing a familiar face at the MTC. There aren't too many of those here for me, so each person I know here gives me a little taste of home! 

Probably the best one this week, though, was the miracle of my companions and I not getting sick. The cold bug is still going around here, and there are a lot of anziani getting it in our zone. We have all been diligent in staying sanitary, and I have been using the essential oils twice a day. On Tuesday, Varstnic Loder woke up feeling pretty crappy. We were debating whether or not to stay and sleep longer to try and help him feel better. We decided it would be better for us to go about our regular schedule, and it was hard for Varstnic Loder, as he still felt pretty bad. I had been praying with a lot of faith that He would heal him so that we could continue our normal studies here at the MTC. I have learned that EVERY day hear is vital for my preparation for the field.

Doctrine Covenants 88:84 Therefore, tarry ye, and labor diligently, that you may be perfected in your ministry to go forth among the Gentiles for the last time, as many as the mouth of the Lord shall name, to bind up the law and seal up the testimony, and to prepare the saints for the hour of judgment which is to come;

I liken this to the MTC by adding "Tarry ye in the MTC, and labor diligently..." So I need to use every moment I have to better my ministry as an ambassador of the Lord. So.... I really don't want to get sick as that would hinder my ability to study with all my might. I have complete faith that Dad's prayer that I will be healthy in the MTC will continue to come to pass, as long as I am doing all that I can to become a better missionary.

Back to the day- Varstnic Loder... I had been praying for him all day, and also for Varstnic Baker's and I's health. We all were feeling a little under the weather by bed time, but we got to bed promptly and slept like babies. Fast forward 8 hours and we all woke up feeling refreshed and healthy. Truly the Lord answered my prayers, and is blessing us for our obedience and diligence. I recognize that Heavenly Father will not always bless us like this, but for us this is what we needed and I am thankful for his great watch care over us. I have had many other wonderful experiences with prayer throughout the past couple of weeks, and my relationship with the Savior and my Heavenly Father has greatly increased. I know that Heavenly Father loves each one of us, and wants so badly to bless us, but we need to do our part in being obedient to Christ's commandments!! 

This week has had it's fair share of trials for me too! At times I have been struggling to remember that the mission isn't about me. It is much easier said than done! I have caught myself judging my companions at times, and realized that this really hinders our companion ship unity, and if we don't have unity, than the spirit can't dwell with us constantly. I have learned that I am naturally inclined to do things my way, but I need to let go of "my way" sometimes, and respect other's ways of teaching and living. When I have been selfish, I have noticed that I am less receptive and keep to myself. THIS IS NOT GOOD!!!  A couple of days I caught myself doing this and prayed to Heavenly Father that he would give me a greater love and appreciation for my companions. He helped me, but not until I created a  plan of action! I decided that I would listen with more intent to what my companions, and that I would compliment what they did good in our lessons. Immediately after I started doing this, the mood of our companionship changed. I felt a greater love and value towards my companions and we could better listen to what the spirit would have us say. I have learned that everyone has quirks and everyone lives life a little differently, but the sooner you can learn to respect their differences and short comings, the better off both people will be! (mom you might want to record this in a special place so that you can bring it up when I complain in the future haha).

Three Musketeers

This week I also learned the importance of goal setting. When we WRITE our goals down, we have an exact road map of where we want to go, and how we can accomplish them. This has been a great blessing to me, and I think this is a skill that I will use throughout my life. I encourage all of you to take some time and create some family and personal goals for the week during FHE. When we make and keep our goals, we will progress faster and be able to recognize how we can become more like Christ. 

I have a testimony of the importance of exact obedience. I KNOW that when we show the Lord that we can obey his commandments (and for me the missionary rules with exactness) He will bless us more than we can imagine, and He can entrust us with his power. There is a reason that this gospel is centered around obeying Christ's teachings. When we do this we are ENDURING to the END! "When obedience becomes our quest, we are endowed with power"!  Being on a mission, if nothing else, is about showing that Heavenly Father can TRUST me, and can use me to serve others in other callings throughout my life.

We watched Ephraim's Rescue Sunday night, and man I forgot how awesome and powerful that movie is! You guys should watch it Sunday night. I cried three times and once was because I was reminiscing when we first watched it as a family. Alysee, I thought about you when Albert was talking! haha. Learning about our ancestors is so important. Our testimonies of God's love for us can greatly increase  as we learn about them. I hope that I can have the faith that Ephraim had as he used his Priesthood power to bless those around him, and even preform many miracles! The opportunity to exercise the power of God itself is a miracle. I am so thankful to be entrusted with that sacred responsibility and blessing. 

We taught about 8 investigator lessons this week. Many of them were really awesome, but we have been struggling about how to meet the needs of one of our investigators, Căti. We have taught her 6 times now, and she is still interested, but I felt like we have been missing something. We talking with our teacher last night and came to the realization that we were not teaching her complete lessons, rather parts of the restoration, and part of the plan of salvation. Essentially, we were giving her pieces of the puzzle, but we need to give her the whole puzzle! We feel like she needs to have a better understanding of the restoration and what the significance is of having Christ´s church back on the earth, and why it is so important to have prophets who give us modern day revelation from God. I am excited to help her, and feel confident that the Lord is guiding us and showing us how to better teach his children.

The field is ripe and all ready to harvest

With this experience has also given me an understanding of the importance of patience. I think this is one of my biggest weaknesses- it always has been a challenge for me. There is a reason why one of the main virtues is patience! Christ was patient with those who he taught, and so should I with my investigators, my companions, and myself. Wow I think I am now going to study about how Christ was patient during his ministry for my next personal study!!! Ah I just love how much the spirit is teaching me here at the MTC. I just get giddy learning about how to make myself a better tool in the Lord's hands. That is truly all I want in this life- to be the kind of person that the Lord can always trust with assignments- whatever they may be- I pray that I might be ready to accept, and not a week or a day after, but the moment He calls me to do something. I am so thankful for this opportunity to be refined through being one of the Lord's missionaries! 

So as far as the language, I am steadily cruising along! I learn so much everyday, and am grateful that I have the opportunity to teach so much throughout the day in Romanian. I testify that there is no way that I can learn Romanian this fast, save it be by the grace of God and the gift of tongues!!! I have also felt nervous while speaking, and I talked to my teacher about this one day. I explained to her that sometimes I felt like it distracted me from feeling the spirit. She told me to read:

Doctrine and Covenants 84:85 Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say; but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man.

Personal Study Time

Ok, now for some funny/interesting happenings...

Each Tuesday morning we have the opportunity to do some service! Our assignment is to clean one of the residence halls. This week we had the wonderful opportunity to... you guessed it- clean 64 toilets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY SO AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! haha it was a scaring experience, considering that there are like hundreds of young men using them each day. Ya. I'll just leave it at that. It makes me appreciate my Saturday job of cleaning one toilet! Siblings- remember to keep the bathrooms clean!!!

Thanks to loving family members, we have received many wonderful packages full of "nutritious" foods... Just kidding not nutritious but definitely delicious!! So we had like 3 'fiestas' this week full of chips and salsa, hi-chews, cookies, the works!! One of the times we had a fiesta, our whole entire zone came barging into our room yelling "FIESTAAAA" haha it was pretty funny and crazy considering there were like 30 people in our room again. The anzioni just really love us haha. 

Fiesta!!!

Also, I just wanted to say how much I love and miss Washington... I truly love it there and enjoy every moment being in the great northwest!! Washington will always be my home. Please go on some beautiful hikes for me so you guys can enjoy the majesty of God's creations!! Doing the Little Naches Peak Loop in October would be incredible. Maybe you guys will have a free day an can go do that!?

One more story- the food here is- well let's just say I miss mom's cooking. So one day this week we were pretty hungry but weren't really feeling MTC food. Luckily, a restaurant called "Aloha Plate" was catering. WE HAD ALOHA SHOYU CHICKEN AND REAL RICE AND EVEN GOOD MACARONI SALAD!!!!!!!! It was HEAVEN. Not as good as mom's Aloha Shoyu chicken but it was definitely good enough to remind me of what hers tastes like. I had 3 servings it was that good. Needless to say we took advantage of the good food and our tummies were full and happy!

Aloha Shoyu - BEST soy sauce!

Thank you all for your love and support in this adventure. I love you guys so much, and I extend my love to all friends and family!!! I pray for you guys everyday. 

Till next week, Keep winning the World Series of Family Awesomeness!!!!

Love, Varstnic Ditto

MTC Intersection

Beautiful Provo Canyon

Dying to make this into a t-shirt logo

Saptamana Doua!

Buna ziua!!

Before I start this letter- please know that if I write in Romanian throughout the letters I will most likely not be able to use all of the symbols that are required to use... so just use your little Romanian imagination!!

Also, MANY THANKS TO ALL OF YA'LLS PACKAGES/LETTERS!!!! I feel so so so so blessed to have such a loving a supportive family. The Ditto family is blessed for our determination to be obedient to all of the Lord's commandments. I feel bad that I am usually the one to get the letters and packages from my district, but man does it feel nice to get so many!! They are literally like gold here at the MTC.

I LOVE getting packages! - Two week anniversary package from Aunti Leah

I love the MTC. Even though every day is basically the same- wake up, shower, eat, go to class, study, go to class,EXERCISE, lunch, class, class, dinner, study.... the experiences we have are so enriching and valuable. I have learned SO much about how to effectively teach to others the gospel of Jesus Christ, about Romanian, about myself, and most importantly the Savior. I have come to cherish my personal study time- I honestly feel like I don't get enough. I started a study journal as I thought about how Tyler keeps one, and this has been a huge blessing in my life. I am not too good at thinking about questions as I study, but I am trying to get better at that- when we write things down, we have the opportunity to learn even more and really think about the teachings. Also, when we write things down, the Spirit will bring these things to our remembrance when me need them most. 

The language is coming around really nicely! I am most definitely being stretched to my capabilities, but something about that makes me giddy, knowing that the Lord is on my side and shaping me into a fine piece of cutlery... The rumors are true.. Apparently I sleep talk in Romanian, and my companions joke that this is why I am doing well with the language haha. I love Romanian. It is such a beautiful language. I cannot wait to be immersed in the romanian culture and meet God's wonderful children there. Apparently Pres. Uchtdorf came to visit the ROU/MOL Mission this past month, and he told them that "Romania is on the tipping point, and one day there will be a temple in Bucharest". AHHH!!! Doesn't that just make you so excited!? I am going into Romania at one of the most exciting and promising times in it's history- for the field is truly white, already to harvest. 

Love my companions - Ditto pose at the Provo Temple

Ah man there are so many good stories to tell this week.. I'll start by answering some of Dad's questions that he had from last week's email.

I forgot to mention that Mele was a role playing investigator. At first I struggled with this thought, but I came to the understanding that the spirit testifies the same, and that by teaching "Mele", she is coming closer to Christ, which is what my purpose of a missionary is. Sora Long (Mele) is actually one of my favorite teachers- she is full of life and has so many good insights on how to be the best missionary ever, not to mention her ways of learning romana is super fun.

In the morning on P-days, we wake up at 6:30 and shower, then bring our laundry to the laundry mat (I've never seen so many washer and dryers in one place in my life haha), and then we go eat breakfast while we wait for our laundry to finish. Today we went back to our residence while we were waiting for our clothes to finish drying and I took the time to study. It was quite nice. 

Headed to do laundry

Laundry Time

Then we go email, and today we are getting haircuts.... I am like really nervous since Mom has been the only one to give me a haircut. Hopefully it looks half as good as the ones you give me mom! I'll miss the back scratches after, though ;) At 12 we are going to go to the temple cafeteria and have lunch, and then go to an endowment session at the Provo Temple. Such a big temple!! Last weeks session was really great- it was fun to be with my comps there, but I gotta say- I missed Dad's insights! I love having the opportunity to attend the temple each week here- the spirit at the temple is so unique and strong. After the temple, we have a little bit of time before dinner, and after dinner we go to class from 6-9. Such a great day!

Provo Temple

... And I just got back from my haircut! It was actually a super great experience. The hair stylist was super nice and she did exactly what I wanted! I am super happy about it- now I can go to the Turkish barbers in Romania with confidence and swagger. haha

Another clarification- My name tag does indeed say "Varstnicul" This means "The elder", however, if I am refering to myself or talking to another elder, I would say "Varstnic", meaning elder! Interesting stuff!

So the week started off kind of hecktik- We forgot to set our alarm the night before and ended sleeping in till 7:20... and I had a Leadership training meeting at 7:30!!! Yikes!! Needless to say, we did not shower that morning and were booking it to our class room so that I could be on time... I was only 4 minutes late and wasn't the last one... Mission accomplished! As Varstnic Baker puts it, we felt bad, but don't regret it. Ha! We had a great Sabbath, the whole day is spent with personal study time and fantastic talks- both in devotionals and sacrament meeting. At 11am we go on a temple walk (see attached pictures). So nice to get some much needed fresh air! for sacrament meeting we are all expected to prepare a 5 minute talk, because the branch president randomly calls on one elder and one sister to give talks. 

Walk around Provo Temple

So now on to the devotionals... have 2 devotionals each week- one Sunday evening and the other Tuesday evening. We have been fortunate enough to hear from 3 APOSTLES. I can't believe how blessed we've been to hear from so many apostles of Christ. Each time they walk into the room, I can just feel of their special calling from the Lord. I know the apostles are called of God! This week we heard from Elder Ballard and Cook. Both gave fantastic talks. I don't have my journal with me, or else I would totally share some of the notes I tool. One quote that Elder Cook said was, "The Lord is not trying to protect us, he's trying to perfect us". I love this because all of us are asked to do things that may be out of our comfort zones- anything from individual trials, family struggles, health, learning a new language, etc. As we trust in the Lord, and pray to our Heavenly Father that he might "consecrate our afflictions for our gain (See 2 Nephi 2:2, 32:9), we will become who he wants us to be! The MTC has most definitely stretched me, but all in good ways. I love pushing myself, and the beauty of doing the Lord's work is there are no boundaries! Becoming a converted disciple of Christ is a life long journey, and beyond. 

This week we got 2 new investigators. This is pretty intimidating for us because that means we need to do twice as much praying, studying, and preparing, for our investigators, not to mention we need to learn new vocabulary and role play in Romanian so that we can actually say what we feel like we should say to our investigators! While we were preparing for our first investigator, Cati, we just couldn't figure out what she needed to hear. The challenging part about learning a new language and talking to investigators is that if the spirit prompts us to teach about something different during the lesson, it is hard to do that as we don't always have the vocabulary for that subject. Because of this, we feel like it it very important to prayerfully study what our investigator needs. Anyways, Sora Langenstein wanted to help us so she showed us the mormon message called "Refiners Fire", I think. It really brought the spirit into the room and we all decided to individually pray for what Cati needed to hear. After praying, I opened up my scriptures to where I had been studying before and was miraculously about the refiners fire. The spirit literally said to me "trials". At that moment I knew that what Cati needed to hear was that God can help us overcome our trials, and that trials make us stronger. Varstincii Loder si Baker had the exact same impression. It was such a tender mercy. Our lesson with Cati went very well. Such a cool experience!! 

My District

One funny story that I'll share- Mom sent me some golgosi (the Moldovan peach cookies) I shared them with my district and teacher (she said that they were totally authentic, but in Moldova they don't do the fancy decor) they were SO good. The only problem was that Varstnic Baker is allergic to hazelnuts, and apparently there were hazelnuts in the golgosi... long story short we had to go get his epi pen (fortunately he didn't need use it) and took some Benedryl. He was WIPED out and lethargic that night, but he said that he'd eat another one in a heart beat, haha.

Eating golgosi, Moldovan peach cookies, that my mom sent us

As a district, we had a goal to memorize the 1. Scopul Nostru (Missionary Purpose) 2. Primul Viziune (First Vision) 3. Moroni 10:5 and 4. The baptismal invitation. I have now memorized all of them and it has been so neat to apply these into lessons. There is great power in memorizing scriptures, as the spirit can then bring them to your remembrance when you need them. Also, it's another great way to learn more vocabulary words! We also do this program called "Basic Core", where we have a list of about 250 words, and like 25 phrases that we needed to have memorized by the 14th of September. This was a great way to always have something to study for. We all made flashcards where we put all of the words that we are learning. It is incredible how much I've learned in 14 short days. The gift of tongues is truly with me, and as long as I stay worthy of that gift and seek it through prayer and diligence in learningromana, I will continue to be blessed by it!

A cool language story- I was role playing as an investigator for Sora Long as she was demonstrating how to teach the first lesson. My job was to act as an investigator and to SYL (which means speak as much romanian as possible, and when you get stuck on a word say the english word and continue inromanian. I spoke like 98% romanian during the lesson- it was SO cool!! When you are teaching the gospel in a new language, you have to pick out what matters most, as you don't have the vocab to say all of the "extra" stuff. This opportunity to speak Romanian has helped me reflect on the most important matters of the gospel- the stuff that will mean the most to my investigators.

Speaking by the spirit has definitely become easier! As I really focus on the investigator, the words seem to just flow from my mouth in Romanian (but of course I probably shank every 4th word haha). But the point is that I am speaking by the spirit- and that's THE most important thing. "The Holy Ghost is the concrete to our investigator's conversion". 

So we have really become good friends with all of the Anzianos in our zone. During our exercise we always play a huge game of soccer with them, or other days some of the anzianos and us will go play indoor volleyball (our favorite). Exercise time is honestly the highlight of the day. It is sooo important for us to go and get all of our energy out so that we can focus for the rest of the day. The gym where we play volleyball is converted into the conference hall where the devotionals are held- it's CRAZY huge and when it's converted to the conference hall, it looks nothing like the gym. It is crazy to think that it is transformed twice every week. The MTC takes SO much work to run- it's incredible, really! 

Back to the Anzianos- the Varstnicii and I were in our rooms, having a chat with our zone leader, Anziano Smith. He was sitting by our door and kept peaking out for some reason, but I didn't think much of it. Then he's like, "Varstnic Ditto- you are are the District leader, right?" I'm like, "Ya...?" then he says, "Will you go grab some paper towels?" I thought it was kind of weird but I just assumed we needed to clean something up in our room or something so I said yes and walked over to the janitor's closet. Right when I opened the door, about 25 people screamed at my face and I FREAKED out! Varstnic Loder  recalls that I literally jumped 6 ft past our door haha. I turned around and for like 15 secondsAnzianis just kept coming out of the room! I couldn't believe my eyes!! We all had a really good laugh haha. 

I forgot to share this last week, but my cough completely subsided around day 3 of being at the MTC. The sick bug has started to go around at the MTC, and as President Whiting of our branch presidency said, "The MTC is like a pitri dish- once a sickness goes around it's almost inevitable to get it!" Keeping this in mind, every time we go past a hand sanitizer thing we lather up, and make sure to get a good amount of rest. (like we have a choice, right? haha) I have always kept in the blessing that Dad gave me before I left, blessing me that I would be healthy during my time here at the MTC. I have really felt blessed that I have not gotten any sicknesses.

The Lord is blessing me so much, and I am just giddy to go out and serve the Romanians... 4 more weeks!!! 

So as you can see, the MTC is a great place, and I love it so much. So many miracles have already happened while being here, and cannot wait to see what is in store for the next 4 weeks!

Thank you for all of your prayers, I pray for you guys every single day! You guys are the best. 

Love,

Varstnic Ditto

One week anniversary present from Leah - homemade Mounds Bars!!  DELISH!

President Taylor and Sister Taylor

Elder Loder - prepared for life

Moldovan Cookie Package from my mom