A Phone Call from the MTC

This week was an especially interesting week. On Wednesday I went to Utah with Lenzi and Olivia. Gus called me and I was busy and I said that I'd call him back in a bit. He said O.K., the MTC just called, but I'll tell you about it later. I almost had a heart attack. Of course I stayed on the phone and he said that they were calling because Grady needed glasses and they wanted to know how we wanted to pay for them! Gus said that he asked the lady to tell Grady not to choose the florescent yellow ones because they probably wouldn't look the best! He said that when the lady told Grady this, he could hear him laughing and it made Gus cry! The next day I got a call from the store where Grady was purchasing the glasses. The lady told me that he looked really good and happy. I wanted so badly to just tell her to give him the phone!! It was so strange knowing he was sitting right next to this woman, but I couldn't even talk to him. It was good to hear her say how good he looked, though!! Here is his letter from today. He's been in the MTC five weeks tomorrow!

June 9, 2009 Konichiwa family! A lot has gone on since last we were in touch. First off the flu and sickness have been going. If you get a chance, read the BYU Newspaper- Lenzi should know what it is. One of my teachers who was sick was interviewed and had some funny things in the article about swine flu. He almost got fired for it. Oh ya, me and my comp are the new ZL's. Now I have more responsibility. This week is the first week we will be doing the calling (this must mean the call center) because the older elders left last night. Its cool to see the diversity in missionaries. In the older group there were quite a few missionaries who were older than 19. They were awesome guys and I could tell that they really saw the atonement work in their lives. O ya, and I have glasses and contacts now. I'm so sorry about how much it cost. I bought some pretty nice glasses and they feel great. It was actually cheaper for me to do it here because the prescription was free and my glasses and contacts were 25% off. I am going in some time this week to get a years supply of contacts. So you might get another call or I'll probably just pay for them with my card. My eye- sight really isn't that bad but it is bad enough to have glasses. I can't see stuff far away. The glasses really made a difference. I was just tired of guessing on the eye tests. The doctor said that I should have glasses. I cant believe I didn't do it sooner. This week at the MTC was great! I feel like i have really progressed. I now try to SYL, speak your language, a lot more now. This has really helped out. Thanks for all the packages! It was sad to hear about Mary Ellen. I always liked her. This Sunday was fast Sunday so we had a combined meeting where all head honchos at the MTC talked. I loved it --the spirit was so strong. This one lady talked about how important it was to plant seeds. She told a story about how her dad didn't get any baptisms his whole mission. But 40 years later a man knocked on his door said thank you. This man was only ten when the Lady's dad taught his family. The ten year old boy felt something during the lessons but his family wasn't baptized. He always wanted to but could never figure out the name of the church. 4o years later the convert got a call from his daughter and she was getting the discussions and was thinking about getting baptised into the Lds church. After 40 years he finally remembered the name and he was soon after baptised. The convert just wanted to thank that missionary that was very key in his conversion. The joy this Lady's father felt was amazing. I cried fromthe beginning to the end of her talk. I loved it. Well I gotta go but I love you and hope to hear from you soon.

I loved this letter! I loved how he threw in that he needed glasses. And how he randomly said that he was a Zone Leader and how he abruptly ends the letter!! I can tell he is very busy and trying to fill us in the best he can. I can tell that he writes what he feels and I especially love the way he expresses his testimony. I loved it that he shared that sweet conversion story. It made me cry, too!