April 6, 2012

Dear Family,

Everything is going great. So this last Wednesday we got a bunch of new missionaries in our branch. We actually had to translate for some of the Japanese missionaries and we'll just say it went all right. I still can't say everything I want to but I can carry a small simple conversation. I'm so excited to go to Japan and serve the people there. It's crazy to think that I have a little less than 3 weeks left here in the MTC. Hopefully my Japanese gets a little better before I leave.

So General Conference in the MTC was amazing. I felt like I could relate to every single talk. Singing in the choir was an awesome opportunity to have. It was nice to see the outside world for a bit but then it was good to be back in the MTC at the same time. Listening to conference helped me remember experiences that I've had throughout my life. During Pres. Packer's talk I remembered the time in elementary when I saved a kid from drowning and another time in Jr. High when me and some friends found a kid freezing in the snow so we all took off our jackets to help keep him warm. I thought of those times when I served others for their temporal needs. Now I will be serving others more for what they need spiritually. When we look having an eternal perspective on things we come to realize the real importance of everyone's needs. While being here in the MTC we learn that our main focus is to help people come closer to Christ and we do this by finding and helping them with their spiritual needs. This gospel is truly amazing in very simple ways. Sometimes we focus too much on deep doctrine and forget about how great the plain and simple things are. As I've been learning Japanese I really have to simplify everything so I can get the message across. It is the simple things that have great importance.

I love you all so very much.

Love,
Elder Gandy

P.S. Happy Easter!