Hello to all my favorite people! It's great to talk to you
all! How is everyone?! I can't believe I have less than two weeks left here! I
cannot wait to get out into the real world! The weeks here all blend together
and I don't have much time today, but I've been saving all my good stories for
next week (my final letter before I leave Utah and head to NY). So expect a
longer letter next week!
So good news! we ended up winning the basketball tournament! It was super intense and we almost got in a few fights.
To start off, today we (our district[The 6 Elders that room with
me/study with me]) had a little problem. Our toilet flooded while we were gone
today at the PROVO Temple and we got back and the whole floor turned into an
ocean, and the toilet was leaking from the back. Right as we got home, all the
Elders under us (we are on the second floor) came knocking on our door and
asked us if our toilet was flooding because water was rushing out of their
ceiling fan. We went down to their room and it was like someone installed a
shower head in the ceiling fan. There was toilet water all over the walls, the
doors, and pretty much everywhere in the bathroom. They aren't very happy with
us. Haha. Every night we always wrestle and then all stomp on the floor so they
really don't like us. It's okay though. Me and my companion asked the front
desk to have some extra towels to clean up the mess, but instead they are
currently sending over the staff to check it out, which is not good because if
your toilet floods on the ground, your whole apartment has to be evacuated and
moved. That even makes it worse for the District down stairs because they had
bed bugs, so they already evacuated and had to move to a different apartment.
Then they couldn't "prove" they had bed bugs, so they moved back in,
and now they are probably going to have to move out again. Ahh life here at the
MTC can get crazy sometimes! Haha.
Every Tuesday and Sunday we have devotionals in
the main campus where all the missionaries in the entire place get together
(about 2,500) of them and we get to hear from somebody special. Mother, you are
going to die when you hear this, but this Tuesday, we got to hear from
Jenny Oaks Baker! For those who don't know who she is, she is a world class
violin player who graduated from Harvard with a Masters in Violin Performance.
All of her kids are extremely good at music and they are very young (they all
played with her as well). She spoke to us, and performed around five songs. I
know that music invites the Spirit like nothing else. It brought tears to my
eyes. When we feel the Holy Spirit, it's God's way of letting us feel what is
true and good. I guess then the question becomes, how do we know what are our
own thoughts/feelings and what are coming from God himself? This scripture has
helped me understand this. Moroni 7:16. It says " For Behold, the Spirit of
Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I
show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and
to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of
Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God." This
scripture has helped me understand how to find what is true in my life. We can
talk about this all day, but I don't have much time. Ponder what this means in
your own life. When she played the violin, it sounded like it was a living
person crying out to God. She played it so well that it seemed like it was
alive. She is the best violinist I have heard live (besides you of course mom
:) ). And mom, out of those 2,500 missionaries, only two people got to meet her
and get pictures with her and I was lucky enough to be one of them. :) See
attached for pictures. I know your jealous mom. Haha.
I ended up writing a song this week on a piano here. It's pretty
cool how easy it becomes to write when your mind is completely clear from any
distraction. It allows you to focus in a deeper way than I ever have been able
too. The Spanish is coming along pretty good. We teach three lessons a day now
here all in Spanish, but that doesn't mean at all that I am near fluent,
because I am not. I can understand just about everything now, but talking is a totally
different story. It's coming along well though!
We have a white hand book which is our rule book as
missionaries, and this week, I felt inspired to draw a large heart in the front
of the book, because I realized that LOVE is the greatest thing anyone can do
to help others. That's my number one rule, is to love everybody! The great
thing about when we love and give to others is that it is contagious. When we
give and show love to others, that makes them want to give it back. When we
take from others, that makes them want to take from you as well. When we love
and give, it is a win win for everyone.
I have learned being a missionary isn't about teaching people
material. Think about this. I am a Christian. Christ had certain
characteristics (Charity, Hope, Knowledge, Faith, Obedience,) etc...and he had
them perfectly. It is all about Charity (the pure love of Christ to where you
start to see people for their potential, and love the good that's in them).
Being a missionary is not about how much you know doctrinally, intellectually,
or even how well you know the language. We are official representatives of
Christ, and it's all about what you do and how you truly love the people. A mission changes your
heart. It takes it and it teaches your heart how to love people the way Christ
did, and does all of us! Then those people want to live their life the same way
and spread that eternal joy. It's infectious. So, with that, I would
like to share with all of you a video. Notice that this video has NO words, yet
recognize how powerful it is. Notice that both the people in this video were
suffering and were both struggling to just live. Although both were struggling,
the husband was struggling a little less, and notice he turned outward when he
was struggling within (just like Christ), and loved his wife with all he had
and ignored his own infliction. Today, let's love somebody like this. This is
the kind of people I want in my life. I want my future wife to be like this,
but more importantly, I hope I can become just a fraction of what this wise and
loving man has become.
VIDEO (ENDURING LOVE)
I love you all so very much. Have a great week, and do something
to change someone's life!! :))
- Elder Austin Celaya
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