Thank you for your letter. Life sounds like life. I know Claire did a great job of cleaning up all the tears when I left with all the fun you are all having. I love hearing updates. I'd love to hear more...BYU sports, Steven, hows grandma? Really I love to hear your journal entries and what you learn from each day...unless you don't keep a journal, I suggest you start it.
Quick note on that. I've recently started to write my journals in 3rd person. It may sound weird, but I've realized it makes going back to your entries real enjoyable and it gives a more wholistic feel to how your day went. It makes you think about your life as a story, and like I always say, live your life like a conference talk.
Now when I say conference talk I mean this: you learn from every situation you are ever in and you're trying to live worthy enough to feel the spirit so you can have awesome spiritual experiences. And, I bet if you think back on the days and weeks that have past, you can imagine touching things said by a 4 year old, or how beautiful the sunset was you saw last night (btw, I think I've only seen the sun once since I've been here. The covered walkways don't help either, and the sunset last night was amazing)
Each day I spend here brings to me a renewed sense of awe towards dad and you brothers. I think I understand more each day why you are who you are. The MTC changes you. You really become more mature and have a better outlook on life. I love thinking of you all eating lunch, or sitting in class, talking with companions, going to the temple...or playing 4 square.
Now, I must say, 4 square was a thing of the past (specifically 3rd grade). However, it is now by far the most popular sport at the MTC. I now know why Adam wanted to put a court in the Big Room and why he and Andrew loved their jobs as coaches, (honestly, you guys don't do anything, but oh well, I'm sure YOU made the most of it) I'm pretty good at 4 square and hope to add it to the list of family events that we have (maybe we'll play for the orange vest or something).
Along with the ups come the downs. I've never been so tested in something before in my life. I've realized I've been given a lot of blessings which give me a great advantage over other Elders (I'm not comparing) who didn't grow up with a gospel oriented family and genealogy. But, just so you know, Albanian is so fun to learn and super....interesting. Just yesterday we finally learned how to somehow put sentences together only to find that the defining point of albanian, clitics, hadn't been taught yet (you should wikipedia what they are and such. Basic definition: a pro-pronoun that complicates to simply). Anyway, I've learned a lot from Ether 12:27 knowing that I need to be humble and that this weakness can become strong. I take great comfort in your sacrifices to learn languages, as well as the encouraging words from teachers and Albanian Elders in the field. All in all, it is great.
One gospel principle we talked a lot about was how to begin teaching. I thought I'd heard everything, going to mission prep and all. However, I've found that most of the stuff I learn comes from myself. I learned a lot from Ammon's experience teaching Lamoni. What is the first thing he does? Serves aka Loves. He gives no glory to himself and all to God. First Love then Teach. Thats mostly all I've learned here. Once you love, everything else falls into place i.e. spirit, plan, doctrine, finding...etc. but if ye have not love, ye cannot teach -Bangerter 5:12
Sundays (e diellë) are by far my favorite days of the weeks. I LOVE the devotionals. This week was Elder Zwick, afterwards I shook his hand and we exchanged words about grandpa Bangerter. He gave a great talk. However, the best part of sunday is singing in the choir. We sang 'Jesus Once of Humble Birth' and MAN! it was awesome (I just felt like Seth). I love singing first tenor and just booming it out with 400 others. I think the highlight of choir will come on this next Sunday (Never been done before). The President of UVU..uhum President Holland...will be speaking to us about Joseph Smith. Throughout the program however, an institute choir will sing Jospeh Smith's First Prayer or a Poor Wayfaring man of grief. At the end of the program...oh this is good...the institute choir along with the MTC choir will STAND (also never been done) and sing Praise to the Man! It'll be so amazing. Oh yeah side note, it's also his Mom's birthday so she might be there and you know what'll happen if his mom comes.....so I'm excited. :)
I love you all so much and think about you every day. I am so grateful for your examples and steadfastness in the gospel. I realized a lot this week that a lot of the impact of my mission will be for my own family and ward experiences when I get home. But holy cow, I only have about a 100 weeks to do my assigned work, I gotta get crackin!
Anyway, I love you and hope to hear from you soon,
Elder Bangerter
P.S. So my camera is acting weird but it is working, but don't be surprised if it blows up or something and I need a new one...just not yet.
PPS Also, my district loves my temple checklist, so if you could send 20 or so, that would be great!!!(grandma would love to I just know it!)
PPPS So if I want to I could change my name to the Albanian spelling, which is very phonetic: Linkën Xhej Ilajxhah Benjgëtër, what do you think mom! I think I like LXIB better than LJEB.
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