First Week :)

Wow what a week! I have had so much going on this week but it has been super fun! I didn't realize how busy we would be out here on the mission. At least here at the MTC, we wake up at 5:55 and have stuff scheduled all the way until 10 at night. The first day we just stayed at a hotel all day haha. It was fun though because they had a sweet deck on the top floor that had a pretty cool view. I had a filipino name Elder Canete as my room mate. It was fun talking to him and asking him all the questions I had about the philippines.

The next day we came to the MTC and did a bunch of orientation stuff. I'm in the Samuel district and we've gotten super close to each other already. My companion is Elder Hales. He's from southern California and is a super good guy! My dad always told me to hope I get a bad companion in the MTC because you can talk to the other missionaries all day. But I got a solid companion instead haha.

So one of my favorite parts of this week was our Face to Face with elder Stephensen! We didn't actually listen to his live interview thing that they broadcasted all over the place, but after they recorded that he came in and talked to us for a devotional. One thing he talked about was how he knows that missionary calls are given to us from God. He has had the opportunity to assign some of them and those are some of the most powerful times he has ever felt the spirit in his life! That was cool to me because I was feeling a little down on myself because Tagolag is so hard to learn haha. I know that the Philippines is where I should be right now and I have already started to see the gift of tongues in my studies a little bit. I'm not going to lie though, I am really impressed that Parker actually learned this crazy language! I guess that can be the one thing he is better than me at... but not for long;) 

Another thing that Elder Stephensen said was that when you get a prompting by the spirit, act on it immediately. If you wait and think about it for even one minute, it might be too late. The Holy Ghost speaks to us at specific times for a reason, so you always need to be trying to listen and be ready for it when it does speak to you.

Anyway I have loved this first full week in the MTC. The spirit is so strong here and I have been learning so much. I have been trying to my best to learn the language but I know that will come over time! I love you all and hope life back home hasn't gotten too boring without me there!;)

-Elder Reber

This picture was sent to us from Parker's buddies in his mission. The office elders and AP's were at the MTC and tracked down Elder Reber #2!