IS IT CHRISTMAS?

Hola Everyone!

 This week was amazing and it flew by! A highlight this week was that Elder Holland Came to the MTC! It was broadcasted to 6 other MTCs.  I was in the choir and we sang More Holiness Give Me.  My president told me I was on the screen a lot.  So I may be famous around the world who knows ;) Just a good thing they couldn’t hear my voice individually haha He talked how we have to convert ourselves, and that the word of God is the only offensive weapon we have and to USE IT.  Such a powerful night.  Well Yesterday I beat the THRE POINT RECORD.  It was 19 before and when I got to 18 the gym fell silent.  Everyone huddled behind me.  Clutch time!  I made 33! Now it’s time to get that free throw record higher. LET’S GO!  Also this week, I’ve been overwhelmed with food so I made a pantry out of an empty closet.  Elders from the whole floor come to partake of my fruits :) So awesome. And grandma sent me pumpkin pie! She is absolutely amazing. So we all had a big pumpkin pie feast last night.  Incredible.  This week we also pulled through on one of our tough investigators. She committed to baptism.  Spirit was absolutely amazing. If it’s this strong and brings so much happiness in a fake setting, I can only imagine the real work.  I can’t wait for Argentina!  So excited.  Also we are starting to lose our minds here in MTC.  Some elders in districts put sausages from the cafeteria under other elder’s pillows. So when they put their hand under pillow at night they felt a sausage! haha so funny.  Our chairs have wheels in classrooms so me and the comp had chair races in the hall the other day.  (I won, both times)  LET’S GO! haha They also have awesome slick railings here, you bet I slide down them every time! Pretty fun.  Don’t get me wrong we still work very hard.  Those are just some fun things that have happened this week.  We also sing hymns and recite la primera vision in the showers together hahaha Pretty funny in the morning.  Sound of music and some Disney songs may be included in this area as well.  Scriptures are awesome, I am trying to be a sponge and soak up this espanol, eating a ton of food it’s incredible, and praying more than I ever have.  Quite the experience.  I hope you all have a great week! Thanks for letters, emails, packages! I got four packages in one day this week! haha my comp said "What is this, Christmas?" haha so funny. It felt like Christmas opening all of them up! So cool. La Iglesia es verdadera. Love you all and miss you all so much. 

 

Love,

Elder Maynard

 

 

pumpkin pie party from grandma!!!

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 It was like Christmas! 4 packages in one day! You guys, grandma, Aunt Diana, and Abbi

 We have so much stuff I just made a pantry! SOOO AWESOME

 Victory

 I found the big guy! (ANDRUS)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Woah, halfway done with the MTC :O

Hola Everyone!

This week flew by!  Awesome stuff happened though. I was a host for new missionaries on Wednesday.  I was like i just got here why am I hosting.   Cool story though is I helped a sister with her luggage, and she is from Hawaii. I said "No way my Grandma is from, Laie"(sorry if i destroyed the name grandma) and the sister was like "So am I! Whats her name."  and I said "Kalama"  and she said "Thats my family!"  I said, "Holy pineapples, we are probably cousins." Way cool!!!  Anyway this week was rough with our investigator.  She rejected baptismal invitation three times.  We don't know what to do with her.  Haha just getting a taste of real missionary work, and we are still rookies.  Good stuff, rough rough rough.  And no Im not a dog.  Anyway, I had to clean bathrooms this week and saw some disgusting things.  We also have to clean it with vinegar, so we are in a chamber on the verge of death soaking in all this vinegar.  Also we had a lesson with a member this week, and he asked if I knew Syndy Lambert. I said "Si, ella es mi tia." And he said that he sang in the choir with her or something.  Thats my interpretation from the Spanish.  And i got so excited and pumped up but i froze. I didnt know how to respond all excited in Spanish haha but it was a great lesson we talked about attributes of christ.
Also we have huge snack feasts at the end of the day because of all the packages you are sending me!!! so awesome! the whole floor comes to partake of my fruits. Im the equivalent to that guy in Prison that can get people McDonalds.  Except Im in the MTC (which isn't prison but play with me here) and I got the hookups to a gas station essentially.  So awesome.  And the temple every week is great.  There is a picture of Christ in the Chapel, and I love it.  I could stare at it for hours. Amazing.  So many pictures of him in the temple and they just feel more powerful and special. I love you all and miss you all so much.  Thanks for letters, packages, and prayers:) I love them all.  I've prayed here and studied the scriptures here as i never have before.  Amazing.  The power of God flows through this MTC.  Also Ive never sang called to serve more in my life haha We sing it a lot but it is powerful. Hoorah for Israel.

Love,
Elder Maynard

We had to clean bathrooms.  Bird made me do every single toilet.  I have never seen these as disgusting as i have seen in the sister's bathrooms here

Me and a few of my packages! we have snacks almost every night as a whole floor! everyone comes in. awesome.

this dude im leaning on is seriously the funniest guy in the world. Elder Lake.  He reminds me of a bear, facial expressions just like one

Week 2 in the Books

Hola Everyone,

 

So on pdays I wake up and get ready and then study for a bit.  We get sack breakfasts with donuts choco milk and stuff like that.  Then I do laundry and email.  I hit up the gym a little bit and get some pump on and shoot some buckets.  Trying to stay in shape.  I have cut back my sugar this week because I feel like if I keep up the pace of my first week I’ll be a fat cow.  We also get to go to the temple every p day.  It’s so humbling because most the elders have only been once before the mission because their temples are far away.  It’s a great experience with all of them.  Then we have class at night.  So there’s my PDAY.  This week was amazing.  We committed our investigator, Indalezio, to baptism.  In the lessons the spirit is so strong and you receive the gift of tongues. It’s the most amazing thing ever even though it’s a fake investigator.  I can only imagine real ones.  One day we were preparing to teach Indalezio when he showed up in a suit and tie!!! Me and the elders were like what???  But he is going to be our other teacher!  He is such a cool guy and its cool how we taught him and now he gets to teach us based off the experience he got from us as an investigator.  We gained another investigator Rosi.  She speaks so softly!!! I wouldn’t be able to understand her in English let alone Spanish.  We taught her the restoration and plan of salvation this week.  She committed to read the Book of Mormon, go to church, and pray to know if what we are teaching her is true.  Every lesson is incredible.  I can’t wait for real work.  The language is coming slowly but surely.  My goal is to have 1000 words memorized before I leave the MTC.  The standard is 500 so we will see how that goes.  I broke this year’s free throw record during Gym time.  I got 47 and the previous was 41.  The all-time record is 83 so I’ll be working on it.  I'm talking trash with J wade that I'm holding the record right now haha I only boasted to him no one else.  I promise.  We were also playing volleyball this week and the ball hit my nail and snapped it back.  It was bleeding like crazy.  I’m fine now and my nail is all good but I was like Really?  In volleyball?  haha I have gotten so much out of personal study it is incredible.  My scriptures are going to be hashed by the time I’m through with my mission.  All my answers have been answered when I’ve read.  Amazing.  We've had some amazing devotionals while here.  One was that repentance is an extremely good thing but most people view it in a negative way.  We should try to repent every day and become more like Christ.  Another thing I’ve learned is that we need to lose ourselves and turn outward to serve others.  That’s what I’ve been trying to do. Think about everyone’s needs before my own.  It’s been hard at times but I’ll keep working on it.  Another great devotional was throwing away our weapons of rebellion.  Anything that could possibly not be in harmony with our father in heaven.  It got me thinking what are my weapons of rebellion and what does God want me to change.  Pretty cool.  On Sunday nights we get unlimited BYU creamery ice cream.  I ton of different flavors.  Raspberry cheesecake is my favorite so far.  I told myself I can only be a fat cow on Sunday nights haha.  I pray completely in Spanish now.  It’s way cool.  I’ll probably end up doing it for the rest of my life.  It really helps learn the language too.  I'm feeling really good!  I pray for you all every day and love and miss you so much.  Thanks so much for your emails, letters, and packages.  They boost me up.  I’m so excited for Argentina! Four more weeks!  Love you all!!!

 

Love,

Elder Maynard

 

y si los hombre vienen a mi, les mostrare su debilidad. Doy a los hombres debilidad para que sean humildes; y basta my gracia a todos los hombres que se humillan anti mi; porque si se humillan mi, y tienen fe en mi, entonces hare que las cosas debiles sean fuertes para ellos.

 

 

My First week :O

Hey Everyone,

If people want this email directly let me know and I'll put them under "cc." The first day was insane.  I walked in the MTC and went through a huge line where they handed a bunch of stuff name tag, books, etc.  Then I dropped my stuff off in my room and went to class and met my companion.  His name is Elder Bird from Massachusetts.  There is only one district in our branch so just 8 elders total, and I'm the only one from Utah.  We have Oregon, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Washington, and Missouri.  Anyway Elder Bird is awesome, we can joke around but when the time is serious we get stuff done and feel the spirit.  He always says something funny in the bathroom like "Imma sit down and get a few grunts in."  I just die laughing every bathroom trip, and we make a lot of them because of the food.  It’s either pretty good or tolerable, and it messes with your stomach.  The chocolate milk has lived up to expectations. Awesome awesome awesome.  I tell myself I can only have it at breakfast so I don’t get lipids all over my body.  The best meal so far has been Papa john’s pizza and "better than yeah cake" last night.  It was amazing.  Thank you for the letters and for the package! I’m so excited to show off mi dulces tonight.  

Anyway the first day we had a Spanish class and our teacher is Hermano Clark.  He is a way cool guy.  I enjoy Spanish so much and have learned more Spanish the past three days than I did my three years of school.  I am nowhere near fluent but have progressed a lot.  El don de lenguas!!!  We had a missionary training as large groups with investigators.  It was fun and interesting.  The best was a large Italian guy named Chicho who liked the "happy plan."  Then that night Elder Brock Miller and his companions gave us a tour of MTC!! Pretty cool.  I also saw j wade (Elder Jesse Wade) and he started to go off.  Also I have seen and talked to Hermana Harris lots of times! It’s been fun.  

The second day was lots of class and training and then we met with our branch president that night! Like I said there’s only 8 elders in the whole thing so the sacrament meeting tomorrow will be really small.  He is a great guy with great assistants and wives.  Fun to meet and learn from them.  All the teachers and leaders are just great people and you learn so much from them.  The MTC is truly amazing.  Yesterday I finally got to go to the gym which was nice.  My shot is so terrible haha I guess I haven’t played for a month now.  But we’re gonna have gym everyday so I'll try to get it back.  But yesterday we had 10 hours of class in Spanish and it was so long.... But we also taught our first investigator completely in Spanish!  Indalezio! He is a cool guy and helped us make it comfortable.  I was able to say what I wanted to get my point across even though I’m not close to fluent.  El don de lenguas.  That was a cool experience though.  He committed to read el libro de Mormon and ask God if it’s true.  We meet again with him on Monday and a new investigator on Tuesday.  It’s crazy how they toss you into the ocean here. I feel like a little kid.

The spirit is awesome here and I know this church is true.  If you need a pick me up read 3 Nephi 17. That’s what we did this week and it’s just awesome.  I’ve also memorized the missionary purpose in Spanish!  So that’s exciting.  I should be writing letters this week because I finally bought envelopes and stamps.  Hoorah for Israel!

Love you all,

Elder Maynard

SAYING GOODBYE

COMING SOON

FAREWELL TALK APRIL 26, 2015

CALLED TO SERVE

DAVID IS CALLED TO SERVE IN THE ROSARIO ARGENTINA MISSION