Singing in the Choir!

This week was a pretty crazy week for me. My companions and myself decided to join the choir and we got to sing "Consider the Lillies." For the devotional Tuesday we were to perform said song and all the missionaries here had the opportunity to hear from an apostle of the Lord. Elder Russell M. Nelson of the twelve came and spoke on the same subject of the October Ensign, the Book of Mormon. I just want everyone to know that I have a testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and that it was translated by Joseph Smith and through the power of God. Here are a few fun facts about this amazing work:

It took a group of about 50 scholars SEVEN YEARS to translate the King James Version of the Bible, an average of 1 page per day while Joseph Smith averaged 8-10 pages per day translating the Book of Mormon. The BoM contains over 400 verses that testify of Christ or mention him. I'll send more in each email.

Anyways, it was really neat, as always to be in the presence of an apostle of the lord. He said to us that we have similar responsibilities as him; we are to invite people to come unto Christ by receiving his restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end, call people to repentance, and testify of Christ. I'm glad that I know all of the things that I'm preaching to be true. I love the gospel and I know that it can help us all in our lives.

We have grown really close to each other in our companionship and district. I think we are going to be able to survive the MTC and stay life-long friends. Elder Olsen, is really humbled by his calling as District leader (glorified mailman) and was really scared about his calling at first. Our ZL (zone leader), Elder Stapely is from Salt Lake City and I would not be surprised if he were called to serve as an apostle one day. He really knows his doctrine and definitely loves everyone around him even if they don't deserve love. I have pictures but I don't exactly know how to work the whole computer system and what not. haha I fail, right??

Anyways, I love you all and wish I could give you every single detail about my MTC experience but I'm on a time limit (30 minutes computer time) and I can't figure out the little cheater secrets that other missionaries use but I guess that is a good thing. Elder Russell M. Nelson's wife said: "Obedience brings happiness but Exact obedience brings miracles."

I love you all and will continue to pray for you! Please keep the missionaries in your prayers too.

Love,

Elder Palmer