Hello Family and Friends,

Today is P-day. These first few days are so exciting and hard and fun all at the same time. I'm learning day by day that the spirit will qualify those that put forth the effort. In class today we discussed a lot about the fundamental Doctrine of Christ. We have committed to memorize our purpose which is to invite others to come unto Christ, by helping them receive the restored gospel, through faith in Jesus Christ and in his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end. That was from memory so I think I got that down.
On our first day we were presented with three "Investigators" as a group and we were able to ask questions and share the gospel all in the first day. It was hard in such a big group to be able to stay on topic and answer the questions that they had asked. My companion, Elder Banks from Cottonwood Heights, and I are getting along well. Since we were discouraged by the off topic discussions in the big group we are excited to be able to practice with our instructors in a smaller group. He are learning so much. Today as I was sitting in class I was feeling a little out of it though. As I started to drift I was able to recognize it and ask for help to learn what I need to be able to. I pray continually for the mental stamina and focus to be able to glean every bit that I can while I am here in the MTC. There is so much. In this class in particular I was able to recognize a new light and perspective on repentance. I realized that in my situation and any stage in life really we are given opportunities to learn and grow. If we do not take full advantage of these opportunities we have need to repent because the reason we are given this life is to better ourselves in every way that we can. We are given personal revelation to discern the weaknesses that we have, mine was staying focused in class and listening to the spirit, so that we can understand and learn to improve. The power of Prayer is real and it is an ongoing thing. "Pray always that ye may come off conqueror, yea that you may conquer satan and that you may escape the hands of the servants of satan that do uphold his work." That's a Doctrine Covenants scripture that comes to mind. I think it's in Section 10 but I'm not sure. My scriptures are in Class... OOPS! Anyway my district is growing strong. There is a lot of fellowship and people are really opening up to each other. It's a beautiful thing.
I was asked to be the District Leader last night after we met and interviewed with our branch president. This is a big responsibility especially since we already have SO much to do and so little time to do it. I am grateful for the opportunity though and I feel that the spirit is definitely guiding me in helping the Elders and sisters of my district. I think more that that though they are helping me. I am able to practice listening to the spirit and offer thoughts that come to improve discussions as we role play investigators and learn to teach. The other Elders in our zone that leave on Tuesday were given the opportunity to go to the temple this morning. We will get to go next week on Friday and then the Four Elders and one sister from our district will be leaving to Albuquerque NM on Oct. 27! The other two sisters are heading to Reno NV, and they will leave the day after us.
As you probably know I've been trying to gain weight for 8 years, well I've been eating about three meals at every visit to the cafeteria and my companion is giving my all the support he can muster. It's been a fantastic few days and I can't wait to see what happens this next week. I'll keep learning and noting and journaling until next week and hopefully I'll have some better stories by then. I love you all!

Sincerely-- 

Elder McGarry