Well, where to start with this week . . . this week was kind of all over the place, but I will start with the devotional that we had just yesterday. It was given by Elder Palmer, who is in the presidency of the seventy, and his wife Sister Palmer. Elder Palmer talked a lot about repentance, not really calling us to repentance, but just telling us how much of a blessing the Atonement of Jesus Christ is in our lives. I feel like we often forget how much joy comes from the Repentance process and how free we feel from whatever mistakes we have made in the past. Elder Palmer kept telling us how there is no trace, or scar left by the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we are left clean completely and there is no stain or nothing. Pretty cool to think about.
Nothing else really funny or exciting has really happened this week, it's been kind of a boring week. Nothing much else than classes and devotionals all week. But once again, I had a cool experience on Sundays. Sundays are often a much needed break from classes all day and just a chance to reflect on what has happened during the week and how I might change or improve. The Go and Do time is really nice to study and try to go deeper in the scriptures and answer any questions that we have about the gospel.
I'm trying to think of anything else that has really happened that is worth writing and I can't think of much. I got a haircut and it was a lot better than expected, it was an actual barber, not an old man telling us to get in the chair and to be quiet. Luckily, the food has been better the past couple of days, I have discovered the choices section of the cafeteria, which is basically just a rice bowl with pretty much whatever meat and toppings you want. Pretty solid.
So this week has been kind of crazy, not really for me, but there has been a lot going on with my district. First, my companion got food poisoning from the MTC food. He ended up being sick the whole day and the next day he was fine, kind of funny how it works. Then, one of the Elders in our district had a very short seizure, it was definitely a scary moment, but I think all is well with him now. Lastly, there has been a Sister that has been sick for the past 3 weeks and seems to start getting better and then seems to catch another cold or Covid - so that's been fun. But gratefully, nothing crazy has happened to me.
But this week has been a pretty spiritual week. Every Sunday and Tuesday we have a devotional and then we do a little district review right after the devotional and I find myself learning more in the review than the actual devotionals. It's nice to see everyone's insight on what was said and what they had to say about it. I have a goal to read the rest of the Book of Mormon by the time I leave, not sure if that will happen, but it has been nice to read it and dive a little deeper on what is actually going on. We have also had time to talk about the Book of Mormon in our Elders Quorum, Sacrament meeting, and our Go and Do (basically an hour and a half of personal study, followed by another district discussion). But one thing that stood out from our Go and Do district review is that Brother Jones, who's the second counselor in the Branch presidency, said that the Book of Mormon doesn't teach 100 different things but it teaches one thing in 100 different ways. That is the Atonement of Jesus Christ, in every single story you can relate it to the Atonement of Jesus Christ in some way. For example the story in Mosiah 19, when Alma and his people need to flee from the Lamanite king because of their persecutions, and the Lord helps and succors his people. This can be directly related by Jesus Christ feeling every pain, misery, sadness, anxiety, and other emotion just so we can rely on His Atonement. There was a lot more insight about it, but safe to say that Bishop Johnson was right and that Sunday's so far have been my favorite days in the MTC.
We also had a devotional from Bishop Causse, the presiding Bishop in the church, and the main message I got from his talk is that we need a personal testimony of the Atonement and Love that Jesus Christ has for every single one of his children. He talked about so much stuff but I may or may not have kind of zoned out during the middle of it.
I'm kind of getting sick of having class all day, it just seems like every day is the same and whenever we have a break it is so refreshing to not have class, and either be able to study or just have a little downtime.
I think I need a haircut but I just don't trust the MTC barber so we'll see if I can make it to the field without getting one.
Well, week 2 done in the MTC and I've got to say at the beginning of the week I was feeling so good about my spanish and feeling ready for the field. I felt like I could teach any native speaker and they could understand my spanish or at least get the point I was trying to make as I would stumble through my spanish.
But, as the week went on and the more teaching practices we did, I realized that my Spanish needed a lot of work. At one point I was saying "Nosotros Padre Celestial" or we Heavenly Father rather than saying Nuestro Padre Celestial or our Heavenly Father. It took me a couple of seconds to realize that, that phrase just didn't make any sense. But oh well, as we have started our classes in full Spanish, it seems I'm understanding a little more each day and that I think I'm piecing it all together.
Nothing else has really happened this week, my roommates and I didn't lock ourselves out of our room and my companion didn't have to run barefoot, through the snow, to the front office to get a spare key (that happened last week). The days kind of seem to blend together since we have such a fixed schedule - so every day is almost the same.
I actually got to be there for the General Authority Devotional we have every Tuesday Night and we heard from Elder Basset of the Seventy. When he told us that he didn't have anything prepared I thought, "Oh boy, here we go" thinking it would be a 45 minute ramble session, but it was the complete opposite. He covered a couple of different topics. I think the one that stuck with me the most was his long quote of Adversity. I can't really remember it but I'll do my best to paraphrase what he said, " Adversity is your new friend. Learn to love it and get used to it. Some people are so scared of Adversity in their lives that they don't even try." Not sure why, but I really liked this. Every missionary will have hard times in their mission - whatever it may be but, if we can just continue to get up every day, knock on the next door, or talk to the next person - great things will happen. I'm not sure how much of a good attitude I'll have when it's dumping rain on us and we're hurrying back to the house but I'm sure it'll be fun. "Adversity is opportunity".
I don't really have anything much this week, it was kind of boring; nothing super fun or funny happened this week but I'm sure that next week there is a lot in store.
Miss you all
Elder Roper
Here are some pictures from this week:
I forgot to mention that I spoke in sacrament meeting with Joy D. Jones.
Now I can say I've spoken with Joy D. Jones, so that's pretty cool.
Enjoy all the naps my comp and people from my district have taken . . .
Well, I can't believe I've been at the MTC for a whole week. Feels like I was just starting HMTC just a day ago and now I have a week of MTC under my belt.
The MTC has been such a fun place and I have already learned so much about myself and the gospel of Jesus Christ. We've had so many cool disussions with our district and just conversations with my roomates. We either talk about how great the gospel is or we end up talking about which Star Wars soundtrack is best, truly testimony building things.
I would say that there are probably two highlights from this week, but I will start off with the least cool one. On Tuesday I went to PHOENIX! I got an email to check in with the travel office at the MTC, and I thought it was just going to be a bus ride to Salt Lake, but it wound up being a full day drip to Phoenix. This consisted of getting up at 3:30 am and leaving the MTC for the airport at 4:15 am. It was funny because I was getting ready and the one Elder who walked past me gave me such weird look.
But, we finally got to the airport and kind of got lost (we had no idea where to go to get our boarding pass) but then we just asked a worker and it was very easy to find.
At the Salt Lake International Airport
The flight to Phoenix was alright and when we got outside I couldn't believe that we were actually in Phoenix and that we were only here for a few hours. Once we got to the consolate per Uber we found the office, handed the guy our Visa stuff and waited for 3 HOURS. It was pretty bad considering I didn't have much to eat for breakfast and was kind of hungry when we got off the plane. After sitting there for 3 hours we went to this tiny little pizza/ sandwhich shop that was vegetarian but still served fish? I think it must have been a Jewish place. But I got a fish sandwich and it was just ok. Then on the way back to the airport we were asked by our Uber driver why we were serving and why we weren't getting paid to serve - which was kind of hard to explain. Anyways we get onto the flight back to SLC and they said the airport is closed and I thought for sure we were going to have to land somewhere else, but luckily it opened back up. Safe to say, it was a very interesting trip with all the looks we got walking around the Phoenix airport.
At the Ecuador consulate office
Onto the second thing which I will keep very brief, we had a devotional about the Characteristics of Christ the night we came to the MTC and we sung some Hymns before we got started and the third verse of "How Gentle Gods Commands" has stuck with me.
Why should this anxious load
Press down your weary mind?
Haste to your Heav’nly Father’s throne
And sweet refreshment find.
Just another reminder that we can rely on Jesus Christ for strength and he will always be there to help us in anything we have to do. Seems like that is the consistent message I have been getting out of class and any discussion we have.
Also, I almost forgot but I got asked twice in one day if I played football for Utah . . . so safe to say, I'm the biggest guy on campus. ; )
Elder Roper is all packed up and ready for the MTC!
We met up with everyone at Raising Cane's for lunch -
Elder Roper's request.
We had to get one last signature selfie with Elder Roper.
And one last selfie with his momma.
There were several other families eating lunch with their missionaries before dropping them off at the MTC. It was fun to watch them and talk with them about what mission their missionary was called to.
A set of missionaries that were serving in Provo came in for lunch. I noticed one of the elders looking at Keaton. I didn't think much of it because to seemed like all of the missionaries were watching each other just because they all had something in common.
Keaton got up and went to the bathroom. The missionary that was watching Keaton came over to me and asked where Keaton was serving. When I told him Ecuador, his eyes lit up and he said, "That is where I am from!" Then he asked what mission and I told him Guayaquil West and again he said, "That is where I am from!" He was so excited!
What small world. I sat and chatted with the elder an his comp. He told me Keaton would love it in Ecuador - it is beautiful!
What a small world!
Another person approached Keaton and asked him where he would be serving. That person's father served in Guayaquil West. He sat and told us what a great mission it is!
Not sure if it helped Keaton out, but it sure calmed my momma heart to talk with those people.
What are the chances?!?
Another testament that Heavenly Father knows us and he knows what we need.
We headed to the Provo Temple ground to take some photos.
Elder Roper and his brother, Jackson
Elder Roper with his brothers, Hayden and Jackson
Claire & Hayden, Elder Roper, Jackson & Jenny
Jackson, Elder Roper and Jenny
The signature "thumbs up" missionary pose
Hayden, Elder Roper & Claire
Jason and Elder Roper
Jason, Elder Roper and Amy
Elder Roper with his momma - Amy
The Roper Family - just missing Carson
One of the missionaries in Elder Roper's district
This lady asked if Elder Roper would pose with the Ecuador Flag Stole
She posted the photo on her InstaGram
It's time for those dreaded goodbyes!
Always so hard!
We got in the car and headed over to drop Elder Roper off at the MTC.
We pulled in and looked who greeted us!
One of Keaton's buddies that he grew up with - Jake Muhelstein.
What a comfort to be able to send Keaton off with a long time friend!
Elder Muhelstein took a few pics of us.
Elder Muhelstein kept telling me how Keaton was going to love it here!
Once again, my momma heart was calmed!
Then it was time for the last hugs!
God be with you 'til we meet again . . .
And he was off . . .
so hard to watch him walk away.
See you in two!
We are so proud of Elder Roper!
We know he is going to learn and grow so much!
That evening, we received this photo of Elder Roper eating dinner with his district!
