Week 1

This week has been awesome!!!! It started with Elder Berlin hosting me, then I found out my companion was the coolest and most obedient, focused missionary there is!!!  He is definitely a blessing to me and has taught me so much.  The language comes.  I have taught with my companion four lessons so far, all in Swedish!!  This place is a miracle house.  I love being here surrounded by so many amazing spirits!!!!  On fast Sunday we had mission conference, and that was incredible.  The seats were uncomfortable and it was really hot, so I couldn't fall asleep, and it was so good I didn't want to!  That night at our devotional we had a great talk about conversion and how to teach and help people become converted.  Brother Heaton spoke to us and it was cool.  There's definitely a theme here of love at MTC.  Love truly is the power to change, so we need to love, otherwise we can't do God's work, for God is love!  That night we watched a talk by Elder Bednar called "The Character of Christ".  It changed my life a ton!   We truly need messengers to match the glorious message right now.  Don't just invite people to join, be inviting.  Don't just tell people you love them, love them.  The only way to get someone to stay in our church is for them to internalize the full character of Christ.  They need to focus outward, never inward.  They need to love everyone, and show it.  They need to be an example in thought, word and deed.

On Tuesday we had choir practice and found out, out of 90 billion people who have lived on this earth, 90,000 are currently serving missions (maybe it was in this dispensation, I can't remember).  So the chances of one of us being here now is one in a million.  There are people who have been prepared and are waiting for us to go and teach them.  We must prepare with all we have and prepare all we can to help them.  If we are not true representatives of Christ, we better become them fast!  I think one reason we study so much here at MTC and in our missions is so we learn the doctrine really well, not just to teach it, but to be it!!  Our first convert on our mission should be ourselves.  If we are not converted, we cannot hope to convert anyone else.  That night's devotional was by Elder Sitati of the Seventy.  He and his wife gave amazing talks.  We need to be worthy, so we can have the spirit, we need to be grateful and loving, and we need to share and receive the restored gospel, since it is the greatest gift we will be given in this life, and we can help others receive it.  A closing thought from choir, the key to getting someone excited about the gospel or doctrine is to be excited about the gospel!!!  If you teach it like it's worth a billion dollars, they'll receive it as such.  It is the greatest thing we can learn in this life, so make sure you know it.  Romans 13 and 14 also rock in the Swedish Bible.

Hej då,

Äldste Liddle

Here is a photo of Elder Liddle with his host, Elder Berlin, on his first day in the MTC:

And here is a photo with Elder Olsen (his MTC companion, we presume):