Letter dated September 23, 2010

Hola familia!

Como le va? Tengo solo cuatro dias mas en el CCM. Cuando reciban esta carta, pienso que stare en El Salvador. Estoy muy animado. Sera Imponente. Voy a socar muchas fotos. Si puedo. No se. Tambien no se si mi espanol es bueno bastante para El Salvador pero no cuido.

Looking back at my MTC experience, it actually went by fairly quickly. And since the field will be 1000X better than here, that will probably fly by. I feel like I know enough Spanish to get by the first few weeks before I get a real feel for it. I'm trying to finish strong in the MTC but it's hard because I'm so excited to leave. Our teachers have been drilling into our heads to finish strong.

The devotional on Tuesday was by Elder Paul V. Johnson of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy. He gave us a ton of scriptures which could be useful. He talked about obedience and how it's required for spiritual learning. He talked about how we need to lead by example with our obedience. The investigators also need obedience to keep their commitments. If we can't get them to keep commitments, they won't keep covenants if they somehow get baptized.

So I started to actually write down what scriptures stand out to me and there are a lot. I'm in 2 Nephi 10 right now. I found 61 verses or groups of verses that stick out right now. So through 32 chapters, I have 61 verses or groups of verses. I bet if I started over again, even more would stick out. That's why the Book of Mormon is so great. There is always something new. I really like 1 Nephi 10:19, 1 Nephi 15:11, 2 Nephi 1:23, 2 Nephi 4:26-35, 2 Nephi 7:5-8, 2 Nephi 9:18 and 2 Nephi 9:52. Just some good ones, but there are a lot of great things in the scriptures.

In other news, I'm getting some shots in a few hours and I pulled some money out to cover it. You might want to go check my bank accounts. Also, I need a Hakeem Nicks jersey waiting for me in 22 months. :-) No, but seriously, I do. I already talked to George about getting me a Spain jersey. I'll probably have an El Salvador jersey soon too. And maybe a Ty Lawson one too. haha. I'm getting way ahead of myself. But can you frame my Brandon Wright jersey? And some of my UNC Championship posters. I always meant to but never did. I love you and miss you.

Love,

Elder Gilreath