Vi una Columna de Luz

Hola mi familia y amigos!

We had a great week at the MTC! The work certainly gets better every semana. All is well with me and my district. I love seeing the new elders that come in, especially those who I knew before. Many friends from college are starting to come in so that is very exciting. Tuesday was easily our best day of this past week. We are doing this activity in our class where our two teachers pretend to be their "pre-converted" selfs and we teach them as investigators. We do this every other day. It has been the best practice for us in teaching with unity and meeting investigators needs. One of our teachers is an atheist, so she does not have much faith in anything at this point. We brought in Elder Church, an elder in our zone, on tuesday to talk to her because he was an atheist just a year and a half ago before coming on the mission. His testimony was unshakeable and he has recieved a witness, like I also have, that we are God's spirit children and the He loves all of us, personally. He also bore testimony of the power of prayer and the Holy Ghost. The spirit was so strong and it felt as if we were teaching a real discussion. This incredible experience made me even more excited to head to Mexico in a month. That night, we went to a devotional given by Elder Kikuchi. The talk he gave that night I will never forget. He talked about interesting subjects. For example, he talked about how we all need to arise a little earlier in the mornings, get all ready for the day, and then offer up thoughts, questions, thanks, and desires to God (our own personal Sacred Grove). He instructed us to continue to kneel after closing our prayers, in order to recieve the revelation we need. I have experienced the blessings from this instruction and it will be so helpful and crucial to me once I get into the mission field. He also talked about the sacred nature of the First Vision. He said it is the single most important item we teach as missionaries. When Joseph Smith saw a pillar of light, (vi una columna de luz) God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Him and they restored Christ's Gospel here on the earth. I know that to be true with every fiber of my being and I, like Joseph himself, cannot deny that I know it. The Holy Ghost has borne witness to my heart of this truth and it blesses my life everyday, to know that there is a living prophet on the earth and that I can overcome my sins and weaknesses through the Infinite Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. In his talk, Elder Kukuchi made hundreds of grammatical errors because he does not speak english all that well. But when I heard this man bear testimony, my heart caught fire and I felt the Spirit so strong. From this, I learned that my terrible, broken Spanish does not matter. What does matter is that I bear testimony with the Spirit because the language of the Holy Ghost can reach all people, nations, kindreds, and tongues. As you can see, we have so much to be grateful for here at the MTC. Our district rejoices together often over all the wonderful things we learn on an everyday basis. Hope all is well in the lives of my loved ones. I would love to hear from all of you. Take care this next week! Love you all!

-Elder Stutz

You guys should watch the Thomas S Monson biography video on LDS.org this week for FHE. It was one of the most inspirational movies I have ever seen. His life is full of service and he is a great example to me of a life that I want to live, one of complete selflessness and service. Te amo mucho!