December 22, 2011

Jordan Paskett
11:04 AM (2 hours ago)
to me

hey everyone,

i don't even know where to start! there's been actually a lot that has gone on this past week, which really isn't a lot, but when nothing ever happens, when something does happen it's huge!

but i'm excited for your guy's Christmas! i really will miss hanging out with all the the family and stuff, as well as staying up all night playing video games and eating junk food! but i am pretty excited about Christmas here, surprisingly enough. so for Christmas Eve we get a little devotional thing at night, and then we get to watch the other side of heaven and get popcorn and stuff, which really isn't that cool, but when life is so monotonous, a movie and popcorn is a luxury! and then Christmas day we have lots of free time and stuff, so that's fun. plus we get an apostle come speak to us. funny enough, i saw brother and sister adams the other night, cause brother adams is gonna play the organ here, so i went and talked to them for a bit and they said they know who the speaker is but they wouldn't tell me. they did say that they know it isn't the prophet, which is kind of a bummer, but i'm still excited. i've heard that the prophet has never come to the mtc, at least president monson and hinckley, i don't know if it's true, but kinda weird if it is. and then that night we get to watch another movie, so really it's a boring Christmas, but i get excited for dumb things now, like i've bought some pens and it was crazy how fun it was. and ties as well, there are often little tie-caravans that go around at night, i haven't brought myself to trade any, but there are some nice ties out there! oh and another thing! i don't know when you read these, but on Christmas day, one of the brothers in our branch presidency, strangely enough he is president monson's nephew, is gonna call everyone's families Christmas day! so i gave him our house phone and dad's cell phone, i'm not sure when he'll call, but be looking out for it! and we also get time to write families, so i'll probably send another email on sunday.

that's way cool about brayden too! there are times where i can't help but think about the end of my mission and how it's gonna be. but then it's hard too cause i've only been here like 5 weeks so i still have a long ways to go! i really can't wait to get out there though. i definitely don't have a strong grasp on spanish, but i feel like if i got a native companion i could learn pretty quick. and we learn more every day about teaching, so i can still improve a lot there, but i just want it to be real now. we teach "investigators" two or three times a day now, which is good, we learn fast, but i want to teach real people now, even if i have to struggle for a few weeks. but i want to share some cool insight i've found in the last week. you've probably realized most of it, but it's still cool! so i was reading in Jesus the Christ, and it was talking about like the creation and the fall and stuff, and it says something to the effect of even though the devil has power to bruise thy heal, through the seed of the women will come the power to crush thy head, or something like that. but it goes on to say that it's significant that the promise was only made to the woman, not the man, and not the pair, but just the woman. and the only time a child has been born without a man, is Jesus Christ, so really he's the only one to overpower the devil, cool huh? also, i was reading in Moroni 7, and it says something like we need to "search diligently in the light of Christ," and we had a nice little discussion. it was mentioned what would happen if you changed "in" to something else, like "for," and why it is "in," but then i thought that when we search in the light of Christ, it's like a flashlight, and with that flashlight you see things in a good, eternal and perfected way. but say you look with the "light" of the Devil, you see things in a temporal, poor and flawed way. kind of interesting i thought. i've actually started reading the BOM in spanish, i read it out loud, and then read the same chapter in english, just cause i still don't know a lot, but i think it's helping.

so last friday, we got to leave campus again and go to the doctor cause my comp has an ear infection, but this time we got to take a van and we drove for like 5 minutes, which was actually super fun haha. so we were gone for like two hours, and it was sweet. he has to take a bunch of drugs and stuff, and might have to get tubes, so i don't think it's a huge deal, but in like 2 weeks we have to go back for a checkup so i'm pumped! but i do have kind of a cool story with that. he asked me to give him a blessing, and so i said yes and i gave him a blessing a few days ago. it went well i thought. i was super nervous though, cause i've never done it before and didn't know what to do! but afterward everyone said it was good and stuff, so it was pretty cool! but then i realized i still should get one from trev, maybe right before i actually leave, i'll have to talk to him.

and i really want to hear some more jazz stuff! someone got an article and i saw they signed josh howard, or at least are trying to. and david west to the pacers? and chris paul to the lakers, and then the clippers? and lamar odom to the mav's? i need to hear more about these things! i really want to know how the jazz are doing. and i really want to know how bad jimmer does haha.

but i think that's about it. i'm still gonna cheat on the computer and stop the clock. and i actually just learned a neat little trick, if you exit out of the window when you have less than a minute left, and then open it back up, the clock goes away, so i have unlimited time now! it's fine though, cause i just email while my clothes are being washed, so i'm not skipping anything. it's just free time.

but i've got a good spanish saying for you. see if you can figure out the english equivelant. there are probably some accent marks, but try it out.  "a quien madruga, Dios le ayuda"

well things are tough, but ?vale la pena no? i'll survive. i hope you all have a good Christmas, have extra fun just for me! i hope all is well!

much love,
elder paskett