Hey Again!

Hey everybody!

It sounds from what I've heard that Lake Powell was just as fun as ever! I'm sad I couldn't be there with all of you this year! It's okay, though, because I got to do a bunch of stuff here this week!

The 4th of July was this week (I hope you knew that already) and it was very fun here! :) We had pretty much all of our celebrations on Saturday, although we've been seeing hot air balloons since last thursday through saturday, and we got to keep singing patriotic music until yesterday. Saturday morning as we were all studying, we looked out our window to see a hot air balloon literally within 100 feet of our window. It seriously almost ran into the building next to ours. We all ran outside and watched as they tried to maneuvuer around MTC buildings and trees, seriously only 30 feet above the ground. Some missionaries were yelling talking to them when we were running over to where the hot air balloon was, but we didn't get to talk to them. Apparently the balloon had ripped and they were trying to land on the missionary field but wanted to ask if it was okay first. I don't know where they ended up going but they ascended again about a minute after I got to where they were. It was really cool. We had a 4th of July party that night after a day of work, where we got a special devotional and got to watch the Stadium of Fire firework show. The devotional was fun because we got to sing songs like Yankee Doodle and America the Beautiful. President Stoddard (one of the branch presidents here) spoke about liberty and stuff like that. It was cool because he worked with several presidents as part of the war efforts in Iraq and around the Middle East and he had some cool stories to tell. He told us a story about a Marine who was badly wounded in a road-side bomb explosion, breaking both arms, both legs, being hit with shrapnel in various parts of his body, with severe internal bleeding and head trauma. The Marine was evacuated all the way to the US, where he was put in casts and bandages, and in the end his entire body was covered in bandages with the exception of his nose and mouth. The Marine Corps Commandant came to talk to him. The Commandant said "Son, it's the commandant." The Marine reached up and grabbed the Commandant's lapel, felt for the 4 stars which would prove to him that it was true. He then pulled the Commandant down close, and whispered the marine corps motto, meaning "always faithful" and then let go, unable to say more because of his condition. It was really motivating to me and it helped me realize that on my mission I must be "always faithful" and that in all of our lives we can be too.

On Sunday we had a fireside given by Jenny Oaks Baker. I don't know how many of you have heard of her, but if you haven't, look her up. She's a proffesional violinist who used to play for the National Symphony and now is a recording artist. She played 4 songs for us and had her 3 daughters play another, and it was one of the best firesides I have ever had. She is absolutely amazing and her music was crazy. I've never heard a proffesional violinist live, but now I really want to see her play again and I'm kind of hoping she gets called by someone to give a concert in Romania while I'm there or something. :) My favorite song that she played was "This is The Christ" and then second was probably "Believing in Charm". She also played "Amazing Grace" and "I Need Thee Every Hour" which were both amazing as well. I highly reccomend that all of you go listen to her albums right now.

Yesterday we had our usual devotional. Elder Cree-L Kofford, an Emeritus Seventy, came and spoke to us. He gave such a good talk. He spoke about the two things that we must do to be better missionaries. He told us that it wasn't his job to teach us anymore doctrine. "You know the doctrine" he said. "I'm just here to help you apply it better." He talked to us about obedience and how through obedience and more specifically, a desire to be obedient, our faith will increase and the power of heaven will be with us. He also talked about being able to discern the spirit. He said that we all need to look back on times in our lives when we've felt the spirit and times when we haven't, and then try to find moments in every day when we can invite the spirit, and then work each day to keep it. My favorite quote from his talk was, "You can't define the spirit. It's like love. You feel it, it is powerful, and you know you've felt it when you've felt it, but you can't describe it." He also said, "The spirit is not something we know. It's something we feel." It's so true. His talk was maybe the best one I've heard while I was here. He's such a great man and he's such a powerful speaker.

I'm loving it here at the MTC and I hope all of you are loving it back home! Mom and Dad, you asked me for a scripture for my mission plaque so here it is: Moroni 10:32 "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your heart, might, mind, and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfected in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfected in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God."

I love you all and I wish you all the best! Until next week,

Love, Elder Abbott