Devotional with Elder Holland

Hola! Familia!!!!

First and foremost I love you all and appreciate all you do! Mom, I actually received the suspenders last Friday and we are wearing them today! I will take a picture of us in them and send it to you next Pday! It's really funny because Elder Lamb, from my district, said he is kinda scared of me because it tightens my shirt on me and can see my muscles haha!!! Anyways guess what?! Elder Jeffrey R. Holland spoke last night at the devotional!!!! I literally almost peed my pants when he walked in!!! I took so many notes on his talk!!! I am gonna make copies of them and send them home either today or next week! He is probably my favorite speaker, he is SO funny!!! I wanted so badly to be able to shake his hand, but I bet so did the other 2500 missionaries, so we definitely couldn’t have that opportunity. Our whole district was speechless, and we loved how blunt he was about the mission. I can definitely say last night was the highlight of the MTC for me. Mom you will love what he said in his talk. He said "This is real life, this is not a dress rehearsal". How awesome is that!!! Bishop Marcotte will also like this one. He said that all the missionaries are the good guys fighting in a war. We are the rough and tough fighters and can take anything, saying that we are the John Wayne’s fighting against the evil in this world! Haha I laughed so hard! Anyways, I did receive the pillowcases you sent mom, so thank you for that. I did not receive any more packages from Amazon besides that sports watch a week or so back with all the Batman stickers. I certainly did enjoy the stickers though and my entire district thinks I'm kinda weird for my obsession with Batman. It's funny because they say when I get to laughing really hard, I laugh like the Joker. One missionary came running down the hall to see who was laughing like the joker, and said he couldn't believe that it was me who sounded like that. I end up laughing a lot at night while we are doing the P90X workouts because while we are doing them, Elder Pope pretty much sees how much he can make us laugh, which ends up pretty much killing me because of the burning sensation that already comes from the workout, and then when I get to laughing. I have actually cut way back on eating here more than I had before. Breakfast is when I eat the most. I have a plate of scrambled eggs, then I have the egg whites of 4 boiled eggs, and 2 glasses of orange juice. Usually during lunch and dinner I just get a half sized portion salad or a cool wrap. I feel so much healthier when I eat like that and I'm able to be more awake and concentrate more. I don't fall asleep anymore in class and I can be more in tuned to the spirit. I had one of the most spiritual experiences the other day. We had put on a mach baptism for our progressive investigator, and it could not have gone better. The spirit was so strong and Elder Lamb had prepared an awesome talk on baptism and the Holy Ghost. After the baptism meeting, we took Gabriel (our investigator) back to his home and committed him to baptism and said that he would if his family would. We also told him that we would talk to him more about God's plan for us and Eternal Families. He was so excited! Unfortunately that was our last time with him because he is going back to school and is now Hno Del Toro again and will not be our progressive investigator anymore. But nonetheless, we are going to sign up for a new one as soon as possible. As for the gentleman in the temple, I saw him again. His name is Brother Smith. He said he was a boy that had been in scouts and had the opportunity of doing so with Grandpa. I hope that helps. I hadn't thought to ask for his first name. Anyways, lately I have been finding that when i overcome one challenge I am having in the MTC, the Lord gives me another. Right now I am suffering from insomnia. I have been having trouble falling asleep, and when I finally do, every night I am awakened from my sleep by nightmares. I don’t think I have ever been woken up by a nightmare before, but I constantly have faith in the Lord, and always pray to him to help me to overcome these trials. I continue to try and be strong and a good example, but also be myself. The MTC is becoming a little easier to deal with, because I'm really familiar with it now. Spanish is still coming along great! I can teach a basic first lesson and some of the second lesson in Spanish, WITHOUT using memorized phrases :D I am quite proud of this accomplishment, and some of the other missionary compliment me on how I'm able to just come up with some of the things I am able to say, but I know that this is because I have been praying for the Lord's help, and he is just answering my prayers. I hope all is going well at home. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask and I will try and answer them :) I'm praying for everyone at home. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Love,
Elder Scott Donner