Week 6

Hey everybody,
It is so weird out here. I love it but it is truly a twilight zone. We do the same thing every day and every week. It is hard to think we only have a month left in the MTC. We have already been here for 6 weeks. It doesn’t seem like a lot but it when you have been here for 6 weeks it feels like an eternity. Also at the beginning of the MTC I made a goal to read the Book of Mormon before I left. On the first day of the MTC I started at the beginning. Now I only have 50 pages left so by next P-day I should have it read. I am excited because that is the fastest I have ever read it.
And now for my week in review.
Last Thursday was just a good chill day. We studied a lot, went to the temple and finally got to take a 10 minute nap. Also that night we had to teach the new missionaries about planning. That is one of our roles as Zone leaders. We had to teach an hour lesson on it. We were surprised that we took up the whole time. Then Friday was an absolutely fabulous day. It started out with us being guinea pigs in a new pilot lesson that they are going to use. In this lesson they teach how to get to know people and focus on them. What you find out about that person will help you teach the lesson more effectively. We had two pilot lessons that day. We actually got to work with Elder Packer’s grandson. He pretended to be an investigator and we had to get to know him. Luckily we didn’t find out who his grandpa was until after the lesson was over. It was a great experience and it will help me on my mission. We also had to teach the third lesson in English. It was the best lesson we have taught so far. We took some of the things that we learned in the pilot lessons and used them in our lesson. It was the first time our companionship really taught as one. We had good transitions and taught with clarity and confidence. I could feel the spirit helping me and after my companions even complimented me and said that I had done a great job. I wasn’t stumbling over my words and I focused on the investigators. It made me really happy. It made teaching that more fun. This week we have to teach the third lesson in Mongolian. I am really nervous. Saturday was just another day. We had class all day. I decided that I am going to start drinking less soda. Also that day we found a great video on LDS.org. it was one of the Mormon messages and it is called “Create”. If you have a chance to watch it, do it. It may not be as cool to you but it was amazing to us. We watched it like 10 times that first day. Sunday turned out to be really busy. First we had all the usual meetings for church. Then the branch presidency had to leave so the Zone leaders (my companions and I) got put in charge of all the meetings. We had to teach 2 district meetings and conduct a meeting that was for our residence hall. It had all the ZLs from our whole building. That night we got to hear from Richard I Heaton again. He gave a great message about repentance and how it is crucial that we use it. We also got to watch the Testaments that night. I like that movie. Monday was boring as usual. Nothing ever seems to happen on Mondays. We have class all day and that is about it. Tuesday was good. We got to participate in another pilot lesson that they are doing. These lessons will be taught to the missionaries throughout the first week. They just tested it on us to see how they would work. In this lesson, we got to be the investigator. We pretended to be someone we knew that was inactive. It was a neat experience to get to sit in the investigators seat. It helped me realize what they may be thinking. Also we had a really busy RC experience. We got 3 people to visit with the missionaries and placed 3 BOMS. We did this over chat. It was fun to do the work. That night we had Elder Walker come talk with us. He gave a great lesson on temples and gave us an update on the temples around the world. We all decided that we are most excited right now for the Rome temple to be built. Wednesday we had to say a few more goodbyes. The Mongolian elder and sisters left yesterday. It is sad to see them go. It was really good to get to know Khisig- Erdene (little bear). He said he promises us that he will find us in Mongolia. He will get back to the country 3 months before we leave. We got 10 new elders into our zone though. They are going to New Zealand, Oakland, and New Hampshire. They are pretty cool. And that is my week in review.

We got a new saying in class.
ХарамсалгYйгээр амьдрах (live with our regrets)

Love you all,
Elder M Scott Draper