Last Email from America

Sziasztok!

My zone got our flight plans last Friday!  I will officially be leaving the MTC a week from today (12 December) at 4:20 a.m. and I will arrive in Budapest at noon, 13 December!  Reality is setting in.   The next time I send an email like this, I will be in Hungary!  I can hardly believe that my nine weeks here are almost over.  I have learned and grown so much; it's kind of hard to imagine what it will be like to be a missionary outside of the MTC.

We've been doing a bit of family history work this week.  This has come to be one of my favorite activities.  I love figuring out who I come from and what my ancestors had to go through to make my life possible.  A lot of missionaries are being trained on how to use this tool to help others come closer to Christ.  There is a Sister in our zone who has only been a member of the church for about 1 1/2 years.  She didn't have any family history done (she only had her line traced back to one set of grandparents), but we did some digging and we were able to find about 9 or 10 more direct ancestors!  We were able to go to the temple today and do a lot of saving ordinances for them all.  It was a really cool experience.  I also found out that I am a descendant of CHARLES "THE HAMMER" MARTEL who has actually been one of my personal heroes since the 9th grade! I found another ancestor, King Constantine ap Cadwy of Dumnonia, who was described as the "unclean whelp of the lioness of Dumnonia".  He was rebuked for disguising himself as a Bishop in order to sacrilegiously murder his two nephews in the sanctity of the church.  But then he turned his life around and became a missionary and eventually a Catholic saint.  Amazing the information we can find about our predecessors on the interwebs.

We also had the opportunity to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional Sunday night.  It was great to hear the words on the birth of our Savior from the living apostles and it was a delight to hear excerpts from Handel's Messiah!

While preparing to go to Hungary, it's becoming increasingly important that we use all of our study time productively.  Every day at the MTC, we have about 6 hours worth of class time and another 3 hours of PCL (Personal, Companionship, and Language study).  We usually use this time to prepare for lessons and individually hammer out grammar concepts or drill each other on vocabulary.  My district made a goal this week, however, to really focus on the Book of Mormon during PCL time.  A few other Elders and I even set the goal to read the entire book before we arrive in Hungary.  I have been noticing wonderful blessings when I focus on the Book of Mormon, both in individual study and during lessons.  For one, that book can answer our investigator's questions way better that we can.  A phrase we come across in Preach My Gospel (the missionary guidebook) is: "The Book of Mormon answers questions of the soul."  I've come to realize that this is very true.  During personal study, focusing on the Book of Mormon helps me recognize how much my Savior really has done for me.  He is mentioned on every page; the whole purpose of the book is to witness to the world that Jesus is the Christ and that through Him, we can return to live with our Father in Heaven.

Love you all!

Martin Elder