March 16, 2012

Dear Family,

That is so exciting to hear that Joshua got nominated for best actor. You will have to let me know how all of that goes. It was also great to get that letter from Daniel. It really helps me practice the Japanese. Oh and let Daniel know that Sister Holly Miller says "hi." It is kind of surprising at how many people I know here.

Well it has almost been one month of being in the MTC. Time is so interesting because everything goes by so fast that it is hard to keep up with it. Well a lot has happened in this last week. Me and Elder Barrus have been working on our goals harder and you really can see the effect it is making. This last Sunday we had a fireside from Richard I. Heaton, an Administrative Director of the MTC. He talked about having "perhaps goals" - something that we can't conrol the outcome of. As servants of the Lord we can only hope that people will use their agency to choose to come unto Christ. We can't get discouraged. We should do what the Lord asks even if we don't receive an award.

I love studying and learning here because it gives me lots of time to ponder on things. I recently read Ether 12:6 and a thought came to my mind that prayer is a trial of our faith. As we pray we hope God will answer us. When we receive our answers though we should change and strive to be better.

On Tuesday we had a devotional by Craig A. Cardon, a member of the seventy. The focus of his talk was about all of us being children of God and how we should help bring others to that knowledge. After all of our devotionals we have a testimony meeting as a district. Pres. Krueger also joined us and afterwards he asked us to remove our shoes so he could polish them. You could definitely feel the love he had for us each individually.

You can always feel the spirit here and I have definitely felt closer to our Heavenly Father. As missionaries we invite others to come unto Christ. As individuals though we should ask ourselves "What can I do to come closer to Christ?" It is a lifetime project for us to keep progressing and following the example that Jesus has set for us. None of us are perfect but we may be perfected in Him. I know that as we strive to become better faithfully God will help us accomplish our goals. I love you all so very much.

Love,
Elder Gandy

P.S. If you want to send me some ramen with the plastic sandwich bags, I would gratefully accept it.