Week 3: That's a Wrap!

It is now the beginning of the end, my final week here at the MTC! It has been a wild journey so far. There were some downs but so many more ups. I'm hoping that everything ends off on a good note and that I will look back fondly of my time at the MTC. Here is the story of the 3rd week:

Day 14: The second P day of my time here will probably be the most cherished one. Everyone in the district except for me and Thomason and Sister Chatelain and Sister Durfee will be leaving to the field. While that is very sad, I focused more on the positive of being with them all here and now. Last night we had a sleep over in my room with all the Elders and that was a lot of fun. We stayed up till around midnight talking about what we want to do post mission. We actually got to sleep in this morning which was the best thing ever! After that we went to the temple at 9:30 and we all did an Endowment session and I thought that it really made us closer as a district. After that things were very calm and relaxing emailing people and getting my laundry done. After getting my emails all sent we had a devotional at 6:30 with Brother Waddell who is in the Bishopric for the Church. He talked about how we called for this work long before we were born and how Heavenly Father saved us for these last days to be his soldiers to preach the gospel to bring to pass the  gathering of Israel. It was an amazing talk and it strengthened my testimony in knowing that this is what I'm meant for.

Day 15: Ahhh, today marks exactly 2 weeks since arriving here. We just got a shipment of new missionaries today so that was very exciting. I made sure to shout, "Welcome to the MTC!" to anyone wearing a orange dot on their name badge. They all looked so terrified and excited to be here. I was constantly wondering if that's what I looked like. Other than that there weren't too many standout moments today. Me and Elder Thomason taught a couple lessons for TRCs and those went really well. Overall it was a good day and I'm excited for what tomorrow brings.

Day 16: Today was a real slow day. It wasn't really all that exciting for the most part. We just went through the motions and did all the things. It was a real bummer at first but things really picked up at our TRC with Ian. We taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it went really well. At the end before we left he said that he wanted to talk to us for a minute. He basically told us that he was a member and that we were his favorite missionaries by far that taught him. He told us that he liked the way that we taught and said that we would make amazing missionaries. I really needed to hear that. Realizing how close the real world is is starting to scare me. I was questioning if I had what it takes to make it out there. After hearing Ian say those things I felt so strongly that I can do this. As long as I have the spirit with me, I can do this. Oh and another fun thing, the fire alarm went off at 11pm. The rest of the story will be on the funny moment of the week.

Day 17: My time here at the MTC is coming to a close. The days are going fast and slow at the same time. Regardless, I am still constantly having fun. The classes and workshops continue as normal and they are fun and boring at the same time. Nothing stood out until I decided to get a scarf at the MTC store and honestly it is changing my life. It is so comfortable! Its keeps my neck so warm when going to class. I feel naked when I'm not wearing it. That's right, I'm a scarf boy now. This is who I am now, so take that world!

Day 18: And that's a wrap! Nothing too exciting about today, just the same old same old. I finished a lot of MTC trainings and assessments. They were excruciatingly painful to undergo because of how repetitive and boring they were. It's all good information, but it's so BORING. If you can't tell by now the trainings are boring. I'm just kidding (no I'm not) its nonstop good times here. We had our last TRC's today and it was a little sad because Andrew, the guy we were teaching, was really cool and was really receptive of the lessons. I'm still super loving my scarf, I feel like I'm a different person with it on. Anyways, in class today we talked about the 4th lesson which is the commandments. It was good to get the experience teaching this lesson, it's just a lot to remember. I'm excited for tomorrow though, its pink tie Sunday and we have 2 devotionals well, 3 if we break a rule. We have a farewell devotional at 5, the normal devotional at 6:30, and we are going to try and sneak into the new missionary devotional I talked about in a previous email. It was so good we just have to see it again. I'm looking forward to however things turn out tomorrow!

Day 19: I started this morning off alone. Everyone in my district got to sleep in until 8:30 because they didn't have to go to Church until 9:30. Me on the other hand, I woke up at 6:30 like I'm supposed to so I could be in the Pink Tie Sunday photo and make it to the Branch meeting. Whoop whoop, Fun times as always! Now I know how it feels to be my parents. Me and Elder Thomason were supposed to teach the lesson in Elders quorum and it went well. We had a discussion about the Plan of Salvation and answered questions people had on how to teach certain points. After that we had sacrament meeting and we learned a lot. The Branch President's wife talked about the word, "nevertheless". She described how powerful it can be in our lives. For example: I was exhausted from a restless night, nevertheless I preached the gospel. I faced hate and harassment, nevertheless I loved everyone. I had never thought about nevertheless like this and it changed my perspective. At the end of the day we went to all 3 devotionals. I know, we're so rebellious. In the first one the main idea was having love for your companion and how that will bless your life. The second devotional talked about putting Faith in Christ. We should step forward knowing that He will guide us where to go. And the last devotional was The Character of Christ. We decided to just go to it again and pay more attention. It was even better the second time because i was taking notes. I will include the notes I took in the email but it won't make much sense cause you weren't there. This was an exhausting day, nevertheless it was one of my favorite days.

Day 20: Man, what a day what a day! It was pretty much no different than any other day but this was really difficult for everyone. This would be the last day having class together. There was definitely a depressed aura floating around the district and no one was immune. At the end of the day we said goodbye to our teachers and we retired to our dorms. All the Elders were giving each other blessings and the spirit was so strong. I'm thankful that I got to meet these missionaries, I know that they will do amazing work.

Funny Moment of the Week: 

So yeah, on day 17 there was fire in our dorm. It was around 11pm and everyone was just about to fall asleep when the alarm went off. Everyone starting shuffling outside and we all thought it was a drill until we could smell something burnt. We got outside and waited there for about 30 minutes until they let us back in. Apparently someone put a hot pocket in the microwave for too long and it caught on fire. So yeah that was some nonstop good times! 

Miracle of the Week:

So as I was mentioning on day 20, all the Elders in the district were giving each other blessings. Elder Ugapo asked me to give him a blessing and I was very nervous. I was trying to think about what I was going to say but I just took a deep breath and started. I gave him a blessing and the feeling of the spirit was so strong. Everyone in our district got a blessing and now we are all not as scared to head out into the field. I was so thankful for the opportunity to give a blessing and receive a blessing. 

Love,

Elder Bohn

Week 2: Time flies when you're having fun!

Hey mama! How have things been going back at home? Is everyone having a grand fun time without me? Things here are going amazing! The time is flying by faster than I was expecting. In just 8 short days I will be at the airport on my way to Atlanta and then to Columbus. I'm scared to leave the MTC but equally as excited to go into the real world. I'm not sure if I'm ready yet, but it's like what I've been saying, will I ever feel ready? I'm looking forward to the temple today and I'll text and call you when I get back and finish laundry. I love you mama!

Here's the story of my time here at the MTC for the second week:

Day 7: Finally the first P day! It seemed so far away and now its here. I was so looking forward to emailing and texting everyone and especially getting that video chat call. I'm a little sad because I skipped out on the temple to relax a little bit and talk with everyone but I'm still happy with the choice that I made. I wanted to cry when I first saw my mama and dad on camera but I held it together because I'm a macho man. At 5:15 I went to choir with some of the other Elders and had a blast singing Nearer My God to Thee. Then we had our devotional where a member of the Presidency of the 70 talked about the restoration. His overall message was that if we have a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Restoration, then that will be all we need. I also learned that simple testimonies carry a lot of weight. After hearing his talk I felt my testimony of the first vision grow exponentially.

Day 8: Boy oh boy I still can't believe it has been a full week! It feels so crazy to think it's been a week. It's been fast and slow at the same time. Today was really slow for the first part of the day. I think I was a little sad after talking with family and friends cause it gave me sufficient time to think about missing them. But things quickly picked up as I prepared to teach our TRC the Plan of Salvation. Me and Elder Thomason started planning the lesson out and once we got everything down we were so excited to go and teach. As we got in the lesson I could feel the words come to my mouth and I testified of the Plan of Salvation, even the Plan of Happiness. The feeling of the spirit was so strong throughout the lesson and it is still strong within my heart as I write this.

Day 9: Today was overall the same as yesterday except there wouldn't be a workshop to go to. Which is pretty good because I am always on the brink of falling asleep in them. I enjoyed class today while we talked abou the apostasy and restoration. Some highlights of the day was when we got to teach a TRC investigator that we got assigned through email named Andrew. It went pretty well overall and I'm glad that we got to meet with him. Me and my companion just spent the whole time getting to know him and talking about his life so we only had about 5 minutes to bear our testimonies to him. I feel like we still got a strong message across on the power of prayer. Later on that day we had another TRC appointment with Cameron again. We talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ and what we need to do to receive the fullness of the gospel. When we finished the lesson we inviting him to be baptized and he said that he would think about it and that he didn't want to rush into it. This made me happy because it wasn't a no. There is still a chance that we could get him to commit to baptism and that fills me with joy! 

Day 10: Nothing much happened for today. I was just the same general stuff. Class in the morning and exercise time after lunch. Followed up by afternoon classes. We got a new TRC today so sadly that means we can't teach Cameron anymore. Now we are going to teach a guy named Ian. He seems really nice and we get along well. He doesn't seem as willing to learn and make the changes in his life for the gospel. I am hoping that we can provide him with messages that he needs to hear.

Day 11: It's day 11 and I still haven't found a way of escape. All of the exits are guarded with SWAT officers. Cameras are everywhere and no one can be trusted. I don't have much longer until they find my hiding place and force me to teach another investigator. I'm just kidding, everything here is fun and I'm enjoying myself. Nothing too significant happened today except for class at the end of the day. In class we just had more practice teaching investigators and focusing on breaking down scriptures for them. It went really well and we got a lot done. I'm looking forward to the Sabbath tomorrow!

Day 12: Our second Sabbath day here at the MTC, what a joy! We had a good start with Pink Tie Sunday and we had a decent turnout. Priesthood and sacrament meeting went as normal. We ran into a snag when after lunch we were supposed to go to a meeting with the Branch President talking about the new missionary handbook and 2/3 of the district was missing. Apparently they didn't realize that they had to go to that so I had to go on a quest to find them. Eventually I found them relaxing in the dorms and we all rushed to get back to the meeting. Everything after that was normal, nothing stood out too much until the devotional. Jenna Oaks Baker and the Family Four came to give us a musical devotional that was absolutely amazing! You should look them up, they have made countless performances across the world and are well known on YouTube. Overall this was an awesome day and I continue to look forward to what is to come!

Day 13: Today went by so fast if I'm being honest. We went to breakfast and then class and it seemed like 5 minutes later it was 6:15 and we had a TRC to teach. Next thing I know here I am writing in an email, its pretty insane! I just got an email about my flight plans and what's going to happen and I'm realizing how long I've been here and how there is only 9 days left. It almost kills my vibe but I'm excited for the field. I'm looking forward to my last week at the MTC and I'm going to make the most of it.

Miracle: 

After our afternoon TRCs on day 9 we went back to class and I think that I had the most spiritual moment in my entire stay here at the MTC. (I'm going to say that a lot, it's very spiritual here). In the lesson we were going over in class we had the opportunity to extend an invite to a fellow missionary and give them a promise based on what the spirit prompts us to say. I was terrified because I didn't want to convey the wrong message. So I prayed with all my heart to be filled with the spirits guidance. After this I was able to give Elder Cordel a promise and my testimony on his time here as a missionary. After this we were so much closer as a district and for that I thank the Lord. I truly felt like I was an instrument in God's hand and I can't think of a greater miracle than that. 

Funny moment: 

We discovered that there was a cat running around on campus. We then later discovered that some Elders had baptized the cat and gave it the Priesthood. It makes it even more awkward when we found out it was a girl cat. How they baptized it or even where they baptized it eludes me. These Elders were supposedly sent home so that's where the story ends. It's funny and tragic at the same time!

Love,
Elder Bohn

Week 1: In the books!

Hey there! Everything is going absolutely amazing here at the MTC. Here's a run through if this week so far:

Background/Information to know: So we are all English speaking in my District. There are 12 of us:

Elder Cordel: SLC, UT

Elder Perazzo: SLC, UT

Elder Johnson: Boise, Idaho

Elder Colson: Boise, Idaho

Elder Thomason: Columbus, Ohio

Elder Drasbek: Boise, Idaho

Elder Ugapo: Boise, Idaho

Sister Sika: Boise, Idaho

Sister Ray: Boise, Idaho

Sister Durfee: Anchorage, Alaska 

Sister Chatelain: Anchorage, Alaska 

And of course me.

My companion is Elder Thomason and he is super fun and super chill and we get along well so I'm super lucky to have such an awesome companion. He is also going to Columbus with me.

Day 1: By far the most confusing and stressful day of my life. As soon as I got out of the car I was already running around talking to people getting room keys and badges and what not. After we got all the things I needed we dropped my bags off in my room and the guy helping me with all my stuff told me to go to my classroom in T4-678 which meant absolutely nothing to me so I was like, ummmmmm okay bro. Eventually I got to class and met the other people in my district and they were all super nice. We have 2 teachers that switch off teaching with each other. One teaches in the morning and the other teaches at night. Once we did some introductions we all went to the main building and the MTC presidency gave some talks about missionary work and sent us off to dinner. To be honest, the food is pretty good and it's all you can eat so I'm probably going to put on a few pounds. Later on during the day we had what's called a work shop where a teacher comes in to teach a giant class about certain topics of the gospel or missionary work. The first one the head 3 investigators in 3 separate rooms and in each one we were supposed to listen to their concerns and give them responses. Overall it was super intimidating doing this all in the first day but I had a lot of fun. 

Day 2: So this was technically the second day but our first full day. I had a lot of fun. We started to have a normal full schedule which means waking up at 6:30, getting to breakfast anywhere from 7:30 to 8:15. After that we have class from 8:30 in until 11:30 every day talking about random topics. After that we have lunch which is followed by: personal study, companion study, BoM study, exercise time, and another workshop. They are all in random order and time slots according to the day so it's impossible to tell when you should do something without consulting a schedule. After dinner at like 5:30 till 6 we have second class with is from 6:15 until 9:15.  However this day we were meeting our Branch President and we were going to see which one of us was going to be the District Leader. We got to have interviews with President Lisonbee and after we were done he announced who the District Leader was. Guess who it was. That's right it was ya boi. After the meeting we then headed straight to our rooms which so luckily is all the way across campus from us. And a 15 minute walk away. 

Day 3: Most of day 3 was the same as the previous day but the one thing that made it awesome/stressful was that we met our TRC's. They just had us all walk into a room full of random investigators and pick one to talk to and set up a teaching appointment. So me and Elder Thomason walk in and we some 19 year old just chilling there and we go up and just start talking with him. We talked for about 10 minutes on just random topics just getting to know each other. Found out that his name is Cameron, (so strange right?). In the end we set up an appointment with him to teach him Monday the 11th. After that everything was pretty much the same.

Day 4: Saturday was just like any other day in terms of the schedule. There weren't any standout moments except for getting into discussions about church conspiracies with all the Elders in our district. We talked about if ghosts are just ththe spirits in the spirit world, if bigfoot is really Cain doomed to walk the Earth for eternity, if Adam and Eve had belly buttons, and things like that. We had a lot of fun talking about it and we all grew closer together.

Day 5: Our first Sunday at the MTC. It was a lot of fun. I had to go to a meeting with all the other DL's and Zone Leaders and President Lisonbee. We just discussed district goals and if there were any issues to be concerned about. After that we had elders quorum and relief society for about 50 minutes then we all went to Sacrament. For talks they just call a random Elder and Sister to talk for 5 minutes in the language they are learning. That just happened to be one of the Elders in my district, Elder Cordel. When sacrament was over we had free time for an hour and then lunch. After lunch we met with Sister Lisonbee, the president's wife and talked about adjusting to missionary life for an hour. After that the Elders all went into a chapel room and had a lesson on representing Christ. After the lesson we had a choice: go to choir or not go to choir. I'm ashamed to say but me and 3 other Elders skipped out, but it's not entirely our fault. People told us that it was 2 hours long, so our plan was to take a break for the first hour of practice and then go for the second. But surprise it was only an hour of practice. Afte that disappointment we headed to dinner and then straight to a devotional. We got to meet a general 70 who had a huge role in publishing Preach My Gospel. After he talked all the missionaries left and the first week MTC missionaries stayed for a special devotional. It was a video of David A Bednar giving a talk on Christmas at the MTC years ago. It is titled, "The Character of Christ" and it is by far the best talk I have ever heard in my life. I could dive further into it but there is just so much about it. But he basically talked about how humans are naturally greedy and think abou themselves first but we need to be like the Savior and think of others before ourselves. He shared a story of a single mother with 1 child who found out her daughter was in an accident with 2 other girls and one of them had died. The mother soon found out that it was her daughter that had passed away. When she heard the news her first concern was the other girls parent needing to know about their daughters. This talk touched my heart so much about how we should stop being selfish and think about others first. It's too bad I'll never hear it again because its only available at the MTC to new missionaries.

Day 6: Monday was again just like any other MTC day. We had class, meals, study time, exercise time, workshops, and more class time. However we had our first lesson with Cameron on Monday. I was so nervous to be teaching for the first time. Me and Elder Thomason studying the first lesson on the Restoration. We both had a really good understanding of the lesson and we were confident in out ability to teach. We went into a room with him and started teaching. It all seemed like a blur because the words just came to my mind and they were so clear. The spirit in there was so powerful and I've never felt so close to the Savior. After that lesson it confirmed in my mind that this is where I'm meant to be. 

Overall my testimony when I got here was average. My knowledge and understanding was average. My will to do difficult things was average. Now I have such a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and of the power of prayer. I'm happy that I've come here and I don't want to leave.

I love you so much! I miss you and everyone at home so much. 

Love, Elder Bohn

Today is the day!

The church is true, the book is blue, see you in two!