Monday, December 6, 2010

"Hasta Ver"...

Monday, December 6, 2010

Dear Family and Friends-

This week in the MTC has been awesome. Since our daily schedule as missionaries is now going strong and nothing is new (study, eat, study, class, eat, study, class, eat, teach, study, plan, sleep) I decided to talk more about the other stuff going on and a little less about schedule stuff.

The big new this week for me was that I got pretty sick Monday night, really sick Tuesday night, and have slowly been recovering from this crazy sinus infection, sore throat, headache, couch, runny nose/sneezing thing I got going on. It's not pleasant, but I'm glad its finally slowed down.

Our zone has some awesome traditions that our district is keeping alive. Elder Juhasz, Richins, Colligan, Glad and I broke the zone record for Back Sack by shattering the previous record of 126 time of keeping the hacky sack in the air while sitting in a small, 5 man circle, by reaching 211 hits. Its pretty awesome and really fun. Our district all gets along great! Another tradition started by Elder Hammer, our zone leader who is leaving today, is napkin poetry every Sunday night. All participants from our zone assemble in his room and read the funniest, most random poems you'd ever hear. The robe was passed down to Elder Barth in our zone, who graduated from Brighton this past Spring as well. Long live napkin poetry!

But by far the coolest tradition our zone has here is singing the "Hasta Ver" (God Be With You Tell We Meet Again) the night before any district in our zone departs. We all cram into one room and sing the first 3 versus as loud as we can, and the 4th reverently. Its really sad to see them go, but I'm excited for them, and excited for me to leave. Hasta Ver is awesome.

Elder Miner and I are teaching well and got a new investigator names Susana. The 1st lesson went awesome, and I spoke in 95% espanol. I am loving spanish and its coming faster that I could have imagined.

Yesterday was my first Fast Sunday in the MTC........Fasted from 4:30 pm Saturday night until 5:30 pm Sunday night. It was actually very easy and a spiritual experience to share with my district. My stomach was howling during sacrament meeting, which was funny, but fast Sunday was awesome. We got to watch the First Presidency Christmas Fireside via satellite, which was incredible. The messages and music was awesome. One of the songs sounded like a Sufjan Stevens song (Jacksonville for those who know Sufjan) which reminded me of all the music I've not heard in a few weeks. I miss the music, but its been a blessing for me to be obedient and follow all the mission rules.

I'm loving reading from Preach My Gospel and the Book of Mormon more than anything. I've been watching Elder Jeffrey Holland's talk from the Oct. 2009 Sunday afternoon session titled "Safety For The Soul". It is his testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon. I have watched it here at least 5 times this week, because it is so inspirational for me. I'd challenge anyone who receives this email to go onto lds.org to watch and listen to his testimony, and to read the Book of Mormon. It has changed my life, and I know that you will enjoy doing both. The Book of Mormon is the word of God.

I love getting the letters, dear elder's, and emails!!! I appreciate the messages and would love to continue to keep hearing from everyone I love from home! Pray for me, and the people of Paraguay.

Love you guys.

- Elder Babcock

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