MTC Week 8

Dear Family, Friends, Fried Chicken, and any cats reading this, 

     Thanks so much for the emails!!!! Especially you mom and dad, love 'em ;) Thanks for posting things on the blog!! I hope you got both last weeks email and the one before that didn't send.... they were both good :) and no worries, I will definitely be talking about conference more in this email, because its been cool to see how it now has applied to my life!!!! I hope moving in the new family goes good! I'll be praying for you, and how you'll pull that off without the amazing help of me (bwa ha ha!) Kidding. So if you have any spiritual experiences to share, or just funny stories from the week, that would be awesome to hear!! 

This Wednesday I will be hosting again, so I will definitely look for Stafford!! If I figure out where he's staying at, I'll for sure go and get a picture with him :) Also I did get the letter and stuff you send to President Blickenstaff, thanks for letting me know!!! Also on that note, well, I'll put that in at the end of the email :) 

Now, what I know you've all been waiting for, my travel plans!! (da da da DA!!) So. I leave the MTC at 6:30 AM on October 22, and take the Delta Air Lines flight 1299 from SLC to LAX at 11:30 AM. October 22. 2013. Yep. And then we land in LA, and leave 4:00 PM on the 22nd, and land 9:05 PM on the 23. Going from LAX to TPE Delta flight 7734. Glad we don't have to go through Japan!! Just straight there! well... almost :) Glad you could use this information! Do with it what you will, and I'll see you soon. I mean uhh... call you at the airport ;) yep!! So there's that!! and on to bigger and better things I suppose! 

So, biggest news besides the fact we got travel plans was probably the fact that I get to perform this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AH I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I get to perform my violin song "All Creatures of Our God and King" This wednesday at the new missionaries meeting, so guess who'll be there that will hear it?? Stafford!! AH! I'm so excited that I get to have this opportunity to perform at the MTC!! And I get to bring my violin to Taiwan???? I died. I died? I died. So excited!! I've been practicing like crazy, and I hope it goes well, but you know what, as long as the spirit is there, it will be good :) 

Oh, onto the week synopsis, as hosted by Danny Dawson's Journal: 

Monday: Well first off, on Monday I changed the pen that I use to write in my journal with, and let me just say, it was for the best. My journal looks so much more neat now, and I am in ultimate comfort writing in my journal now :) Spiritual Experience of Monday went like this "Well Today, P-Day, we did initiatory!! It's cool because in the morning I felt like I needed to do initiatory, so I told Elder Roberts and he said sure!! When we got to the temple, they said they needed Elders to do initiatory really bad, and I was like "Boo-yah!!" It was awesome!! After that we did service for an hour folding laundry, then did the other mundane things P-Day includes haha!" Yep, then we said goodbye to Elder Roberts friend Elder Hanson, and it was touching, and amen. Oh ya, and Skype TRC with some nice old lady in Taiwan. What a keeper ;) 

Tuesday: Bad Day. Real bad day. Not much more needs to be said about that day, but I wrote "Today I just want to curl up into a ball in some corner and cry and cry until I feel better." I'm better now!! But ya, that was a hard day for sure. Moving on *dramatic step forward* 

Wednesday: We helped our investigator stop smoking!! Score!!! plus, Wednesday was probably the best day with Tuesday being the worst! I wrote "Words can't describe how awesome I feel because of this gospel!! It's by far the best thing thats ever happened to me!! Seriously!!! I know the Lord loves me, and now I know more than I ever did before that he will help me in times of need." It was a good day indeed. 

Thursday: Had a brain fart moment, wrote in my journal "Wow, can't wait until its 13/13/13!!" Woooowww Danny. Wow. I mean Elder Dawson. This day a lot of time was spent with my companions planning a prank on another Elder. Funny, but Childish and not necessary. So that was a journey!! but I also got a package from my parents with the classiest sweater vests known to mankind, and I got a letter from Mariah with a bag of cookies stapled to it, who knew that was a thing now!? haha! Ah... oh ya! I also watched this cool video on "civility" and how apprently Georgve Washington had this book he read on "rules to civility" and how in our society in this age, civility is a dying thing! That was cool, and it made me want to be more civil, so look at that, another goal ;) 

Friday: So much happened on Friday!!! A lot I already talked about like travel plans and performing, but It was the day I realized how excited I am to go to Taiwan!! Ah!!! Plus we taught two lessons, Nailed one, and bombed the other! So... ya that was awkward haha, but I suppose nice and evened out ;) 

Saturday: Nothing really interesting happened Saturday.... Except for TRC with this awesome guy!! We connected way good, and helped him with this problem he was having with one of his friends. Awesome. Nailed it *high five* .... *but not with a sister, because that's not allowed* 

Sunday: Best spiritual experience day ever!! And, I wrote a bunch of letters. Amazing. I felt basically like I was on top of the world!! Here, journal, let me explain better "So today I got to perform my violin in sacrament meeting!! Naturally, because I have already given a talk, and because I was performing, I thought I'd be safe to not talk. boy was I wrong. I spoke. The performed haha, awesome." Later in the day we watched an amazing talk called "Missions are forever". In it he talked a lot about how we need to astonish people if we are to do correct work haha. "He also told us missionary work is meant to be hard. He aid the reason it is hard is because "salvation is not a cheap experience." plus he said that if your mission is done right, it should be hard." I went on writing in my journal saying "Preach my gospel. It's the lord's gospel, but lets make it more personal so it's ours to share. Amazing. I need to make these two years count as much as humanly possible, because as Elder Holland Says: "The road to salvation goes through Gethsemane, and we all have a cross to carry during it."  Well, Here's to making it count." It's points like this that really make me realize why I'm here, and become rededicated to going out for the work. 

So ya. That's pretty cool. I wish I had like 2 hours more to type and get everything I want to say in here, but I have no time!! ah!! ok, next week, I'll try to start with all the spiritual experiences so they don't get cut off from the end. Sorry, I'll talk more about what I learned from conference next week! Promise!! 

Ok, so just a reminder, if you could go to the bank and let them know that I'm leaving the country October 22nd that would be awesome :) Plus if you could call Karen Bergeson and ask her what I need to do to get my violin ready to go to the humid island of Taiwan that would also be really nice :) I just need to know what stuff I need to do to get it ready. She might say that we need to get something for it, and if that's the case could you send whatever it is to me? thanks so much!!  I love you all so much!! Especially my family :) The center of this church is family, and I love it! Thanks for being awesome, and thanks for supporting me so much on my mission! :) 

CTR, 

Elder Dawson 

Yay Photos!!!