Familia!

Familia!

Everything is going great here. Thanks for the brownies and the pictures Stacie sent me. You all look like you are having a blast!

So not a lot has been going on here in the MTC. Our Branch President got released so now President Shumway is no longer with us. Sad day! He was honestly the awesomest ever. We have a new guy named President Wing and he is cool, but likes to do everything different. He is a lot more strict than Shumway so its been hard for some missionaries to transition. With all this new change somehow I have been called as Zone Leader. It becomes effective this Sunday and I don't feel prepared at all. There are so many meetings and you miss so much class time, I hope that it doesn't effect how well I learn teaching and languages skills. Still, I am grateful for the opportunity to serve in a leadership position. What is strange though is that My companion Elder Barth has not been extended the call yet so I don't know who will be the Zone Leader with me.

So the New Mission President's seminar starts this week! Within the next few weeks almost all of the Quorum of the Twelve and First Presidency will be at the MTC! So Stoked! This Saturday we get President Eyring, Sunday President Monson, Monday is President Packer, and for our Tuesday Devotional Elder Uchtdorf will be our speaker. That's as much of a schedule that they will show me but President Wing is very close friends with Elder Nelson and he is also going to be here sometime in the next week as well. All the Brethren have been called back to Provo from all over the world for this. The spirit is going to be so amazing!

So since a lot hasn't been going on I will try and make the email look bigger by putting in something that I had learned from Predicad Mi Envagelio this past week during personal study. Our purpose as missionaries is fulfilled as we become "an example of the believers"  in all we think, say and do. This is true whether our thoughts, words, or actions are directed toward our companions, the holy work to which we have been called, or any other thing we do while on the Lord's errand. This is true whether we are alone or in the company of others. We have been set apart to this ministry. As President Kimball stated, "The setting apart [we have as missionaries is literal], it is a setting apart from sin, apart from the carnal; apart from everything which is crude, low, vicious, cheap, or vulgar; set apart from the world to a higher plane of thought and activity. We are set apart only as we live up to our callings." K here is a sweet quote that I found in a talk given my Elder McConkie a while back: "I am called of God. My authority is above that of kings of the earth. By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my master and He has chosen me to represent Him--to stand in His place, to say and do what He Himself would say and do if He personally were ministering to the very people to whom He has sent me. My voice is His voice, and my acts are His acts; my doctrine is His doctrine.My Commission is to do what He wants done; To say what He wants said; to be a living modern witness in word and in deed of the divinity of his great and marvelous Latter-day work.How great is my calling." --Elder Bruce R. McConkie.

I am a Missionary and so grateful that I get to devote all my time, talents, and efforts to the Lord for this brief part of my life. I love you all so much and thank you for the continuous love and support you give me. You help keep me motivated and have the right attitude when everything seems to go wrong.

K so we got to go to the Temple today and had the most amazing experience! When we were walking out of the temple Elder Aplanalp and I saw a woman struggling to get some stuff out of her car for a picnic that her and her young daughter was going to have out on the Fields in front of the Temple. We asked if we could help her and after we did she mentioned that she was not a member of the Church and asked us about what a missionary was. We bore testimony about how we love the blessings of the Gospel so much that we want to share it with others. She was super amazing and wanted us to teach her how she could learn more. Turns out, every Thursday she and her daughter would walk or drive to the temple for a picnic because they loved the feeling they got here. They were always just too afraid of asking Members because they felt intimidated for some reason. We told her to stay put and Elder Aplanalp and I ran back to our room where we had a Book of Mormon with our testimonies in it. We asked the front desk for contact info of the missionaries in the area and wrote that in as well. We handed her the book and she seemed so eager to read it. She gave me her email and told me she would let me know what she thought about the book. SO LEGIT!!! It was crazy how natural teaching someone the Gospel was. So grateful for that opportunity to invite one of our sisters to come unto Christ. Hopefully everything works out for her.

Love you all! 

Con amor

Elder Craig Sanderson