Week 5 in the MTC

Hola!!!
Thanks for the pictures!! I love seeing them! Armagohma looks pretty happy in his new home. Thanks Adam!! Also, before I forget, Happy Birthday Sam!!!! I know it's a little late but I remembered!! Happy Birthday to you too Kip, I forgot to add that in my email last week. I hope both of you had a great day and did something fun! Grandpa, yes, I really enjoy my studies throughout that day. I figured out that as a missionary, ever since i got here to the MTC, we spend 60 hours a week, at least, in the classroom studying. So I've been here 5 weeks, do the math on that. I'm too lazy too but I'm sure it's a lot!! I'm not sure how many of you said you had gone or seen the Brigham City Temple Dedication but all of the Missionaries got to see it too. I wrote this in a letter to Ginger but it's an amazing experience seeing 2,500 Missionaries doing the Hosanna Shout. I was able to watch the last Dedication Session at 3pm. It was really interesting but I'm glad I was able to see it. I don't know how many more I'll be able to see or take part in in my life time. So, I've been having to write down the stuff I want to say in these emails because I forget to say some things that I want to say. For example, Mom, could you send me the address for the Stake President from the Singles ward? And the home ward Stake President? I've been wanting to ask that for about 2 weeks but I have been forgetting. My schedule here at the MTC is pretty much the same thing every single day of the week. The only days that are somewhat different are Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Other than that, I study, eat, study, teach, eat, study, teach, eat, study, study, sleep. REPEAT... It gets kinda boring but I am learning new things each and every day. OH!! Guess who I have seen every day for the past 4 days! Elder Larsen! I only talk to him for about a minute but I haven't really seen him since the first week I got here. Also, Elder Jeff Brinton was in the classrooms just down the hall from me and he just left to the field Monday or Tuesday. I wanted to get a picture with him before he left so I could send it home but we never got the chance. It was good to see him though. ADAM TURNER!!! You need to send me a letter or a DearElder pronto and tell me how your Patriarchal Blessing went!! I really want to know how you felt and what your thoughts were!! I've been thinking about you a lot lately. AS you know, I teach investigators pretty much every day. Now, I get to play the role of an Investigator and have another companionship teach me. The person I have decided to play the role of, is You. I have had the chance to kind of step into your shoes and know how you were feeling before you started taking the lessons from the missionaries. In Spanish, your name is Adan Turner but it's pretty much the same. His situation is a little bit different than yours really was but it's pretty close. I've pretty much taken the person you are now, and taken the church away from his life. It is such a spiritual experience having the missionaries teach me about the gospel and playing that role of you not having the church in your life and not knowing about it. Then, depending on how well the missionaries teach me and depending on how I feel during the lessons, Adan Turner progresses and grows, gaining knowledge of the Restored Gospel and Jesus Christ. I just wanted to thank you for being such a great friend and giving me this opportunity to kind of feel how you felt.
Thanks for sending me letters and not leaving me in the dark on everything! One Elder in our District just barely heard from him Mom yesterday in a letter. It was the only letter he has received here in the MTC so far. His letter from his Mom said that she had been emailing him every week since he got here. He has also been emailing her every week. Apparently, they were both sending the emails to a faulty email. Thanks for communicating with me!!!
I love you all!! Les amo!
Love, Elder Daugherty

Week 4 at the MTC

Hola Familia!!

Thanks for the pictures! I really love seeing them and knowing kind of what going on back at home. Kip, I always knew you were a Flower Child :) So Sunday and Tuesday we had some really good devotionals. Brock talked about one of them in his letter but since my friends don't receive his letters, I guess I'll talk a little bit about it. Sunday, we heard from the Directing Manager of Proselyting Missions around the World. Brother W. Tracy Watson. He talked about how important the Book of Mormon is and how much it affects us. He showed us part of the opening act of The Book of Mormon Broadway Show and talked about how hard the church worked to counteract the effects the show was going to have on the world and their views on the Book of Mormon. That is how all of the "I'm a Mormon" commercials and ads started. It just shows you how hard the church works to "fight against Babylon". On Tuesday, we heard from Elder Koelliker of the Seventy. He talked about a lot of things but mostly about distractions. It reminded me of the analogy of the Frog in a Hot Pot of Water Mom would always share with me to describe the way Satan works. Elder Koelliker shared a story of 2 missionaries that got distracted. Distraction: They got persuaded to go outside their zone to see the beach (can't remember what mission it was). Distraction: They really wanted to see the water. Distraction: They wanted to feel the water on their feet and it felt so good!! Distraction: They wanted to see how the water would feel at their waists. Distraction: Well… might as well go swimming since we're in this deep. These Missionaries shouldn't have even gone out of their zone to start with because one of the missionaries got caught in an undertow and was pulled out too far. When they got him back on to the shore, they couldn't get the water out of him and he died. His companion was the Zone Leader. This teaches us that not only should we not get distracted, but that we have companions for a reason. They are there for us to protect us from temptations and distractions. My companion and I have hit some rough spots but we have worked them all out! It strengthens us as a companionship and helps us to feel the spirit more. Having 4 younger siblings really did help out because I'm able to deal with all the stupid stuff that goes on with my companion and with my District. The weekly temple trips really help too. I was listening really carefully to the endowment session and looking for things that were important. As to keep the temple ordinances sacred, I won't talk about exactly what was said in the session. But in the scriptures, when Satan talks about going after those that break their covenants, it just doesn't say that for the heck of it. It's a warning to all those that make covenants with the Lord. Satan WILL go after you because he sees a chance to pull you further away from the truth. This kind of goes with those distractions, they may not even be bad distractions but Satan will still go after you, no matter what. That is why we have so many rules here at the MTC. Even when they are dumb rules that don't make any sense, they are there for a reason. They keep us safe and make it so we can feel the spirit better and clearer.

I love you all and I love receiving letters from you! Keep them coming!

Les Amo!!!

Love, Elder Daugherty

Week 3

Hola Familia!!

Here are some pictures for ya! The first one is of my classroom, second is of my companion, and third is of my district. I hope that they are in that order... You'll figure it out. I hope you like them!! I really enjoyed the pictures you sent as well! Thanks for that!

Sorry this email is so late, I haven't had time earlier today to email, so sorry about that. So here is an update of what has been going on with our investigators. JA has finally wanted to believe in God but he hasn't gone to the effort of trying to find out for himself. We have taught him how to pray and given him a Book of Mormon but he doesn't seem to want to try and do something about his unbelief. P has been doing really good. He has been following his commitments and has been praying and reading the Book of Mormon but he said that he doesn't feel anything when he reads or prays. We told him it was because he wasn't praying with real intent and wasn't looking for an answer to his prayers. With both investigators, they have been progressing but just not as fast as we would like them to be. Either way, it is the will of the Lord on what happens to them. We can teach them all day and for however long but it won't mean anything unless they actually try and find out for themselves. The spirit is the real converter in the conversion process. I can understand that Elder Larsen may be having some hard times with his lesson since he is speaking an extremely hard language. I've been reading his letters and am shocked that he has a hard time telling an investigator about the spirit and bearing his testimony. I can at least do that in Spanish. I feel bad for Elder Larsen but I know that the Lord will give him all the help he needs. I noticed that my room looks all nice and girly now, from the picture you sent me. I hope Sam is enjoying all the space down there! I'm so glad that Adam was able to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. He will see how big of a blessing it will be in his life. I hope the guys are keeping you company! Ummmm... OH! Could you please send me my slip-on Black Church Shoes?! One of my pairs of shoes is ripping around the tongue and makes it uncomfortable to wear. My Stacy Adams is my most comfy shoes and I wear them all the time!! Dad, I also really like the church shoes that look like nice running shoes. They are pretty comfy as well. I can't wait to receive your packages! And I can't wait to hear back from you! Sorry this email is kind of short, there wasn't much to talk about this week. I guess I could tell you that Elder Carlson from the Seventy came on Tuesday and talked to us about Obedience, which I found to be very interesting. I try my best every day to obey ALL the rules. It's pretty hard but we have rules for a reason. They are there for us to be safe and to be able to feel the Spirit on a daily basis. As Missionaries, we have the privilege to wear the Savior's name on our chest every moment we are a Missionary. This gives us the right to act in his name. Jesucristo es mi Salvador. Yo se que por medio de la Expiacion, todas personas pueden volver a Dios. Yo se que Jose Smith era Profeta y Presidente Thomas S. Monson es la profeta hoy. Me ama mi Salvador y Dios. I hope you can understand that!! Have fun translating!! I don't know how much Google Translate will help you since I'm sure I didn't type parts of it right but oh well.

I love you all and can't wait to hear from you!!!

Te amo!!

Elder Daugherty

Week 2 in the MTC

Dear Family and Friends,

So thank you for all the letters you sent me through DearElder, I am receiving all of them. Thanks for the Spanish translation of your letters, it really does help but where ever you had an accent mark over any of the letters, the computer decided to put a ? mark instead so its kinda funny to see how the letters turned out. Yes, I have seen Elder Larsen here and I talk to him whenever I see him. I'm sure he's going to be reading this letter so I guess I'll tell him Good Luck on his Japanese. Spanish is getting a little harder and the lessons are starting to get into more depth. Our last investigator, his name was T, was baptized so he has moved on to the church. We go two new Investigators this week. Their names are JA and P. JA is a 17 year old kid that thinks he is a punk. He lives with his Aunt and basically has no religion or beliefs in his life. His Aunt and his cousins are LDS but he refuses to believe in anything. When we talked to him, he repeatedly told us that he didn't believe in God because he didn't exist. It was so hard to feel the spirit during that lesson and we didn't know how to say the things we wanted to tell him to get him to believe. It was really aggravating. He told us that the only reason he let us in his house was because we were Gringos and he wanted to learn some English from us so he could understand the Heavy Metal Music he likes to listen to that is from the US. My companion and I are working on how to teach him to believe in God because everything we know kind of plays off the fact that God is there and that he knows who we are. Our second Investigator is P. P is from Lima Peru. He is happily married and has 2 little girls who are 3 and 6. He owns a Bread Shop that he runs out of his home. He stays up all night preparing bread and then sells it in the morning. We asked him about his religious beliefs and he has never really believed in anything before. He isn't opposed to it, he has just never thought of there being anything there for him to believe in. So we kinda have the same problem with P that we do with JA except P is open to have something to believe in, unlike JA. We taught P how to pray and challenged him to pray before and after he sleeps. We also challenged him to read the Book of Mormon. So we will see how things go with him.

Oh, and I was thinking last night, and I have some things I would like to tell you.

- I'm the District Leader in my District (can't remember if I told you or not).

- I've been sick with a cold or something for the past couple days.

- Getting dressed up every morning seems normal now and now it feels like an occasion to wear jeans on P-Day.

- Ties are the only thing we have in our outfit that we can change so I think it would be a cool idea if you guys each picked out a cool tie (according to missionary standards) and sent them to me and when I wear them, I can think of you!! Make sure I know what Tie is from what person!

I love you and I love serving the Lord! Write you again in a week!