Friday, October 22, 2010

A month has gone by......really?!?!?

So far, being a District Leader hasn’t been too much trouble.  Coming up with questions to ask in the interviews can be a bit of a challenge, but that’s the hardest part so far.  I probably won’t be the District Leader for long, because my Branch Presidency likes to give as many people as possible this opportunity to be a leader.  On Tuesday during my leadership training with Brother Bankcroft, (not sure if that’s spelled right) he was talking about how to let people know they doing something wrong without embarrassing them.  He gave us a definition of being tactful:  The ability to step on the toes of an individual without ruining the shine of their shoes.  I just thought this was interesting, and felt like sharing it with you.  He gave us another definition last Tuesday after the devotional.  It was a definition of a missionary:  Someone who leaves their family for two years, so that others can spend eternity with theirs.  This is probably one of the best quotes/definitions I have ever heard, because it's so true, and I never really thought about it like that.  I just can’t wait to get out of here, and into the mission field (although I know I'm nowhere near ready to start talking Spanish to people.) 
In the TRC this coming Tuesday (the TRC is a training thing where you practice teaching people the lessons) I have to teach the entire first lesson in Spanish.  And all I've been thinking is “holy crap I am not ready for this yet”.  I understand most of the principles, but it's the memorizing of words, and verbs that’s tricky.  But it is certainly going to be a good experience.
I got a postcard from Grandma Dilling the other day, but there was no return mailing address.  I was wondering if you could send me some addresses.  I was thinking of addresses for all our family, and then the Harris's.  They sent me a Halloween package through Dear Elder, and I'm missing their zip code and stuff.  But if I see Jaren I'll just ask him. 
Oh yeah!  At the Devotional on this most recent Tuesday, we had a great speaker!  I think his name was Russel M. Nelson, or something like that…  He was an amazing teacher, but I was surprised how short his talk was.  He talked a lot about missionary work, and how we need to teach as simply as we possibly can.  He told us, that if we're teaching someone, and we run out of things to say, just to say four words, "we follow Jesus Christ."  I just thought that this was really cool, the way that we need to be teaching people, and with the ultra simplicity. 
On Monday, during my class, we had to practice resolving people’s doubts.  My teacher pretended to be one of the investigators that he had on his mission, and we had to take turns as companionships resolving the doubts and concerns of the investigator.  I thought that it was a really helpful practice.
Gym is great, I haven’t done much running this week, but I have definitely been getting better at volleyball.  It's been a lot of fun to play with all the other Elders.  The Polynesians are super good, but everyone’s a good sport, which helps make it fun.
The district that left was replaced and we have another district leaving on Monday again.  It's crazy to see everyone leaving, and to think that I've already been here for a month, cause it certainly doesn’t feel like I've been here for that long.  Maybe two weeks.  I lose sense of time here.  It's as if time just speeds up the second you get to the MTC. 
Anyways, that’s all for now.  Love you all, and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Elder Dilling