Last Week of the MTC

Oh, here's the mission address if you need it:

Elder Hilton
The Baltic Mission
Cesa Iela 31-2k2
Riga, LV-1012
Latvia

So crazy that I'm actually leaving in like 3 days. It blows my mind. I cannot believe that I've been gone for over 8 weeks, we figured out that if the whole mission feels about the same relative time as our MTC stay, that it will feel like about 3 months, crazy.

In the TRC last week we taught Brother Snow's wife, who was playing an investigator that was concerned about being baptized because of her family's and friends' reaction. It was probably the best we've ever taught, we really were focused on helping her realize the importance of baptism, even if others don't understand. Maybe it was because I really imagined someone I knew that I wanted to be baptized, and how I would want to help them. It really made the experience real. It was awesome.

I got a letter this week from dearelder.com, but not for me. Not quite sure how it happened, but it was kinda funny to read. Addressed to Andrew, and from a dad, who said Yippy skippy, two clues that I knew the letter was most definitely not for me.

Saw a bunch of people I knew this week. Mostly from BYU- Elders Mckay Daines, Aaron Larsen, Dylan Moyers, Steven Linnenmeyer. Also Elder Joey Harper, Jason Wilding and talked with Elder Cody Jardine quite a bit, awesome to be able to talke to him.

I lead the music in Sacrament meeting, kinda exciting and was asked to speak. Our Branch Presidency doesn't ask people to talk until the announce it at the start of the meeting, an interesting strategy. So far I'm the only one in our district to speak and will be since this Sunday is Fast Sunday. Talked about Virtue, focused on Mark 5:30, where it says the virtue left Christ to heal the women, footnote for Virtue being force or power. Really stuck out to me how having virtue is having power and the ability to do what God wants us to do, I thought it was pretty sweet how Virtue and Power come form the same word in Greek.

Had a Large Group Meeting about how we should expect to baptize people, because that will change our focus and we will believe in it, because if we don't how can we expect our investigators to want to be baptized? Really struck me.

The devotional on Tuesday was a bit about agency, and I just thought of the quote from Dumbledore, which I'll probably not have exactly right, "It's not our abilities that determine who we are, but our choices." Really important to me as I head out to Lithuania, where others will be better at speaking or whatever than me, but that doesn't really make up who I am. What matters is how we use what we have been given. AGain brought out the importance of not comparing ourselves to others. Also shows that we make ourselves, our identity is not something unchangeable, we can become better, we just need to put forth the effort.

Thanks for the example that all of you hve been to me. I really appreciate hearing from you and would love to hear more.
Next time I'll be in Lietuva, insane. Thanks for your prayers and I pray for you.

Love,

Vyresnysis Conor Hilton