Elder Cook came by on Monday and gave a great devotional. Did you know him and Elder Holland were missionary companions? He talked a little about being a clean instrument of God (Alma 17:11), and the blessings we receive by doing missionary work (D&C 31). He also gave some awesome insights into Preach My Gospel.
Bro Mills, the international MTC director, came on Sunday and also gave a spiritual devotional. I actually felt the Spirit very strongly during his talk. Matthew 16:25 - "Whoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it"! That one hit me hard. The secret to success and happiness will be, for me at least, to stop thinking about myself.
Did you know there are 15 MTCs around the world? I don't know if Dad knows this but there's an MTC in South Africa. It usually has only 20-35 missionaries at a time.
Haha, so now I'm actually no longer the district leader, I'm the assistant to the president (The branch president to be specific). There might actually be less responsibiilty in this calling, but I'm still figuring out the ropes. Basically I'm in charge of the three districts in our branch (we don't have zones here). And I'm in charge of all the Sunday meeting assignments. It's a good way to get to know more Elders.
FYI...the missionties letter got put in our mailbox the same day you sent it, so that's working out well.
About Campinas: Usually, when I tell someone I'm going to Campinas, they immediately click their tongue and talk about how gorgeous the temple is. So I'm pretty excited to visit the temple there!! Also people have said that Campinas is pretty hot, but not as bad as some of the other missions.
Okay, I have 20 seconds left. Real quick, I am still doing the 9 week program. There are very few 9 weekers here but our district is one of them [note: some missionaries that entered the MTC during March learning a foreign language were placed into a 'pilot' program -- this was to see if a new (compressed) schedule of 6 weeks (rather than 9) would work. AJ's group arrived at the beginning of April, so they were not part of the pilot program].
Alright, have a great week! Eu amo voces!!
Elder Bradford
Click on the image below to view a follow-up letter from AJ that same day...
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