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.
Miss you all,
Elder Roper
