Kamusta Pamilya!! (That means hello / how are you)

The MTC is so great!! I love it! The Spirit is so strong! There are a lot of questions you all want answered so I will do my best to answer them all.

Mom - Thank you soo much for the support! They keep you so busy at the MTC that you don't have time to think about anything else!! The very first day after I dropped my stuff off in my room, my host took me to get my MTC materials that I didn't have before coming in. Following that brief visit to the bookstore, I was taken to my class room where I was taught by my teacher, Brother Speiser. He only speaks to us in Illongo so it can be frustrating at times to understand what he is telling us, so I quickly had to learn how to rely on the Spirit. President Hollist's blessing, as well as Tatay's (Dad's) father blessing at my setting apart was indeed very powerful and needed. The Gift of Tongues and the Gift of the Interpretation of Tongues has been so helpful! I learned that I only have that capability when I follow the rules with exact obedience, even if it is something simple that you wouldn't think would make a difference. I just finished teaching my investigator Cherry Mae, who will supposedly become one of my language instructors. When I would teach, I would teach only in Illongo and I would have to rely solely on the Spirit to do the real teaching. I heard a couple quotes about teaching, "When we rely on the Spirit, that is when the lesson stops being ours and begins being His." the other one was "You have not been called to teach the Gospel, that is the Spirit's job. You have been called to teach people the Gospel." meaning that I teach people not lessons. That is what is so great about Preach My Gospel! It prepares you to teach people not lessons!! Funny story about Cherry Mae though. Yesterday in our discussion I wanted here to read 2 Nephi 31:14 which is about Baptism, Repentance, and the Holy Ghost. Anyway, to ask her that I had to say "Pwede kita basahon ang bersikulo sa Libro ni Mormon?" She then replied Oo, which means yes. So I followed up with Ara ang balasahon sa pahina 140. In the Hiligaynon Book of Mormon, that is the start of Chapter 31 but it doesn't have verse 14 of that chapter, instead she read verse 14 of chapter 30 which states "And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den." Needless to say, it didn't make any sense! However, Elder Minson and I were reading along in our Hiligaynon Book of Mormon too so we didn't even catch the mistake!! Right after she finished reading I asked her to commit to baptism!! She was extremely confused with good reason! Because she was confused so were we.... We ended up finding out what our mistake was and corrected it. After we read the right verses she gladly accepted the invitation to be baptized!! It was a great learning experience! Everything here though is so wonderful! In the past eight days, I have read from 1 Nephi through Jacob and learned soo much!! I have learned enough of the language that I can teach about basic Gospel Doctrines even if I have to struggle through them. I have learned how to recognize the Spirit in all that I do and I love it! My district is fantastic! I spend most of the day with them. Elder Minson and I are the only elders in our district though. There are 6 Sister companions and us. It has been a blessing though because they are all so strong in the Gospel. I promise that next week I will send some pictures so that you can see.

Dad - Thank you for the blessing before I came. It has helped a ton! Thank you for your email! I am doing well and I am proud to be your son. I am learning a lot and learning that I don't know as much as I thought I did. Great news though! There is an Elder in my Zone that reminds me of you. A Lot. I don't recall his name right now though. I will get back to you. The Elders in my Zone are great though! Elder Lloyd and Burton are like the father figures of the Philippines

missions and are a hoot to play volleyball with. Elder Farris really likes rap and it is way funny because he is constantly rapping in the shower so everyone can hear. I am so thankful for all of the Elders I have met. Thank you for being such a great father as well.

Nate - My day is constantly busy. You are absolutely drained by the end of each day but it is a satisfying feeling because you have worked so hard all day!! We have personal study time every morning  and then language study followed by classroom instruction. During classroom instruction, you learn how to teach in your language and your language is the only one spoken. We started learning the language the first day! There isn't really anyone to babysit you during the day so you could really do whatever you wanted but the only way to progress and be refined is to follow the intended schedule with exact obedience. I have adjusted fairly well! The food kinda stinks, especially compared to yours and Mom's but it is alright. I didn't get much of a chance to talk to Sister Ruesch but I did say hello and she said that she saw you. She left the MTC on Monday so I won't see her for the rest of my time here. I also saw her at the broadcast. I was apparently on the screen during Elder Perry's talk too! Cool scripture to read, 2 Nephi 32:2-3 and Jacob 2:35.

To the rest of my siblings, I would love to hear how you are doing! I would also appreciate the occasional letter.

Until next week,

Palangga kamo sang ako!

-Elder Carver