So we found some extra time today for emailing, so I figured I would give some more details about what's going on here in case anyone is interested. This morning after Elder Smurthwaite and I finished our laundry, we had a district meeting and then went to the Christmas Day devotional. Who was the speaker? Russell M. Nelson!! :) We had a real live apostle come speak to us! It was incredible, when he walked in the room, the Spirit was so strong you could almost see it. Before He spoke, there was a sister missionary who spoke about her conversion story. It's hard to relate the story with as much power as she did, but it was a simple "I had a friend in high school who was bold enough to share his testimony and I knew it was true". It really touched my heart and made me realize the power of pure, unapologetic testimony. :) After she spoke Elder Nelson's wife spoke about Christ's atonement and gifts of the spirit.
Then came Elder Nelson's talk. He talked about many great things, but the point I really want to share was when he talked of rumors. He specifically mentioned the rumor about mission call letters being sent saying something to the effect of "You have been hereby called to [insert Chinese speaking mission here] until the China mission opens, at which time you will be reassigned to labor in China." Those calls do not exists and those rumors are completely untrue. Trust me, an apostle of the Lord confirmed it, so if any of you hear this, you site my words specifically when debunking these rumors. Anyways, back to his talk, he mentioned these rumors because he was trying to illustrate a certain point. The Church does not go through alleyways, shortcuts or back entrances. We enter through the front door, with no hidden agendas or ulterior motives. The same goes for missionary work/being a member of this wonderful church. We go through the front door. We are bold, and we are honest. We do not apologize for our testimonies or our convictions, and we do not try to sneak our way into people's homes and lives just to baptize or convert them. If we ARE doing any of those things, then we are disrespecting our purpose. If we build our foundation on Christ, we must stand firm on that very same foundation and not waiver when the storms come upon us. It was SUCH a good talk! I hope they publish it somewhere so everyone can read it :)
Anyways, that's about as far as we have gotten with our day so far. Later this afternoon we are going to a MTC wide talent show and then a fireside featuring Greg Olsen (for any of you who don't know who Greg Olsen is, shame on you. He is the amazing artist who has painted TONS of very famous portraits published by the church. Look him up, you won't regret it!) And after the fireside we are going to watch "It's a Wonderful Life" which, believe it or not, I have never seen before, so I'm kind of excited!
Listen to me blabber on :) I hope that at least gives you all a somewhat better idea of what's going on here. It's amazing. As for the whole China thing, I had heard those rumors before and thought that was super cool, but even though they aren't true, BIG things are still happening in the mission field. By next March we will be getting 2,000 new sister missionaries. That's nearly the entire MTC's capacity just in sister missionaries. No clue on how they are going to fit all the elders, but I thought that was an exciting announcement!
Merry Christmas everyone,
Elder Jakob Tyler Fund
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