Arrival in England

MTC Companion:  Elder Edvinsson from Sweden

I have to tell you a little about the England MTC. I walked in, and met every single person in the MTC in about 5-10 mins. There are 61 missionaries from 20 different countries. German Speaking, English Speaking (6 weeks for those learning English), and Greek speaking. About 20 Greek missionaries will leave next week and we'll be down to 40 missionaries from 17 countries. Tons of diversity.  I'm learning a lot of bits and pieces of Swedish, Slovak, Norwegian, Dutch, and tons of German. The England MTC would double really nicely as a small hotel. It is very very small. There's a pond in back as well as a nice view of the Preston skyline from our window in our room. The MTC is right next to the Preston Temple, which is very tiny, and beautiful. Our MTC is in a complex with a small visitors center, family history center, and distribution center.
I'm loving it here. I never want to leave. There's a special Spirit about this place. I've had times in my life where I've felt the Spirit a little bit, but every time it hits you here, its just like a slap in the face. WHAM. We've been way busy, my daily schedule is as follows, wake up, breakfast, study, Gospel lesson in German, Lesson on teaching in German, Study, Read Book of Mormon as a District, study, Lunch, Study, Language Study, Computer Language Tests, Study, Exercise, Dinner, Study, Teach Investigator in German, Bedtime. Crazy stuff. We're all learning German very fast, and I'm impressed with everyone's dedication. I now know how to pray, bear my testimony, share a scripture, invite to commitments, invite to baptism, and the missionary purpose in German.
Sunday came, and our district had sacrament responsibilities. They did awesome. But, we had lots of wonderful talks on obedience, in Priesthood meeting we talked about magnifying our calling and holding the Priesthood, then later we watched "Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration" and bam, Spirit. It was truly AMAZING. Later on, we watched Elder Bednar's Provo MTC Devotional Classic: How do I know if it's the Holy Ghost or me? It is fabulous. Watch it. Please. It's about 45 minutes long from when he starts speaking. The main point is that if you're good, every good thought comes from God.
I love working with Elder Edvinsson. He is absolutely hilarious. He is honestly the Swedish version of me. He speaks broken English but I can understand him. His stories are awesome. Last week, one thing we talked about really hit me hard. He asked how many youth were in my home ward, and I told him about 100 (I think that's right) and he told me that there's 100 members in his branch. Then, Elder Seidl told me that there's 100 members in his country. I always took for granted how blessed I was growing up with great priesthood brethren and an outstanding young womens organization. I was so blessed with great leaders...
     Faith is the Power
     Obedience is the Price
     Love is the Motive
     The Spirit is the Key
     Christ is the Reason

Alles Gute,

Bis Spater

Elder Hadfield