Letter 11/13/12...He leaves MONDAY!!

Dear Pamilya at mga Kaibigan,

This last week has been amazing. Very possibly the best week yet here at the MTC. Being my last completely normal week I'm glad that it was so awesome. The awesomeness started with the Devotional on Tuesday. Elder Zwick of the Seventy and his wife spoke. The spoke about having our hearts in the right place and being a disciple of Christ. Elder Zwick told an amazing story about Elder Maxwell. It was an awesome Devotional.

 

On Wednesday we had our first Skype lesson. It was a bit nerve-racking but it turned out great. Elder B and I didn't have any Tech problems and were the only companionship that didn't. Out investigator is BJ. He lives in the Philippines around Manila. He doesn't have any specific religion but he has been very open to accepting the Gospel. He has a bunch of really good questions too, which as missionaries we love. His questions so far have been mostly about prophets. When we told him that there was a prophet on the Earth today, he asked if the prophet was Mitt Romney. We explained that Mitt Romney is not the prophet, that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet God has called to lead his Church at this time. He likes the idea that God still talks to us and has read a bit out of the Book of Mormon. We have taught him three times since Wednesday. Our other investigators are doing awesome as well. I haven't talked a bunch about them, but I have really come to care for all of those that I have taught. Some may take a bit longer to warm up to the gospel that others, but through the Spirit all people can come to know that Jesus Christ is the Savior and that His Church has been restored in these latter days.

 

We also hosted on Wednesday. That was a blast! It's crazy to think that nine weeks ago that was me stepping out of the car and looking completely lost. While it is a bit sad to see families break down completely, it is great to be able to reassure them that their sons and daughters will be taken care of and they are beginning the Lord's work. I don't think my family was in quite as bad of shape as some of the families that I saw. We get to host again Wednesday and this time we get to welcome almost 800 new missionaries. No missionaries come in on Thanksgiving and so two weeks worth arrive on one day. It'll be quite the day soon when the 19 yer old sisters begin to sweep the MTC. We may need a bigger one.

 

We got our flight plans on Thursday. We leave the MTC at 4:30 PM on Monday November 19. Our plane leaves Salt Lake at 8:30 and we arrive at LAX at 9:30 (I am taking into account time change). We leave form LAX for Hong Kong at 12:30 and arrive at Hong Kong around 7:30 on the 21st. Then we have a three hour flight to Manila and then a flight of unknown duration to Laoag. Luckily our entire district is together the entire time along with at least three other districts of missionaries. Time has flown so fast. I can't believe that I am already 9 weeks into my mission. If the time continues to move like this I'm going to be home in the blink of an eye. Scary thought! I haven't even left the MTC left.

 

So last quick note we got lots of snow last week. I sent some pictures and hopefully I will have more to send on my first P-Day in the Field. Thank you for all of your faith and prayers. Mahal kita!

 

Mahal

 

Elder Ryne Wood