4th Letter from MTC

Hello Everybody,

I want to thank everybody for the packages, letters, pictures, etc. It really has been great to see and I will respond to those when I can. Thank you Mom and everybody for the blog. I was really impressed with the set-up!

So I heard late about what happened in Boston. All the victims are in my prayers and thoughts. We live in the times where stuff like this will happen so thats why we need to really study the scriptures and heed to the prophet's voice.

I heard from one of my Branch Presidency members that the MTC will have another campus just south of where I'm at. I think the church rented out a bunch of apartments so it can hold all the missionaries. Thats super neat. I don't know the details but I just think its so cool that the church would even have to do it. It means there are many that have heeded to the call! Oh, and my mission was split along with a lot of other missions that will be splitting in the summer. So Joao Pessoa became a really small mission and now the Natal Mission will open. So there is a small chance if I'm in Brasil that I will be transferred to that mission but I could be totally false. Its wherever the Lord wants me to serve! I heard that the Wichita, KS Mission opened up at home...that will be really cool!

Now to my week... I've felt kind of sick this week. It was a mix of allergies and a cold. But I'm doing wonderfully now and luckily it was never anything that would of held me back to participate in MTC activities. Last week I auditioned in front of three MTC sisters including Sister Nally (MTC President's Wife) to perform at some sort of a meeting. I was put in the "yes" pile meaning that if they want me to sing they will let me know. Its pretty nice to do some music while I'm out here...I sure miss it! The BYU Men's Chorus came and performed at our Sunday Evening Devotional and one piece was accompanied by two trumpets. Hearing that instrument again was so awesome! But the best thing that happened in that Devotional actually happened during the last song. They sang a beautiful melody on the Savior and His Ministry on the Earth. During the song I just felt a over-whelming amount of love and the Spirit was one of the strongest I ever felt. I almost broke down in tears because of how powerful it was. My testimony on the Savior has dramatically been strengthened because of that one experience. You can't go on a mission without a solid testimony on the Savior because as a missionary you are serving and living to the best of your abilities like the Savior did. It's HIS church we're working for!

I saw Uncle Steve and Aunt Nancy Sunday. I was in Branch Council Meeting and the MTC Executive Secretary came in and told me a Salt Lake Rep. wanted to speak to me. I became really nervous at first and I was thinking if I had done anything really bad...which I haven't. ;) But I heard shortly that Uncle Steve and the other Mission Director Brother Evans we're here so that was very exciting. He made me bear my testimony in Portugese while His IPhone was in front of me. I haven't seen one of those things in like a month. But thank you Uncle Steve and Aunt Nancy for saying hello.

So on Sunday I went to priesthood meeting for our branch and we talked on repentance and the different steps. I came out with a better testimony on the importance of repentance. It's so crucial that we do it everyday...thats why its one of the Principles of the Gospel! But I just love my Branch Presidency and what they teach us. President Hodges is a military style type guy but he has such a big heart and he really really cares. Brother Trost was a mission president in Spain and a missionary in Brazil so he knows his Portugese. He is the guy that gives every Elder a hug but hes like the coolest guy. Brother Coffman was sustained the week we came and he is doing a wonderful job fitting in. I feel so lucky to be apart of the Branch. We are given a goal to finish the Book of Mormon while we're in the MTC and I'm in the middle of Helaman. It's amazing the things I've learned and felt while reading it here. When I finish around the end of this week I'll share my thoughts on it!

Anyway the most important thing of the week came on our Tuesday Night Devotional. We we're sitting there and we were like where is everybody that should be on the stage? Well we knew what happened when Richard G. Scott walked in. You can imagine the Spirit that came in when he did and any missionaries that we're talking or being light-minded automatically stopped talking. It was wonderful! He spoke on prayer and the importance of that one-on-one communication with Heavenly Father. I've never even thought about prayer the way he explained it. It was a direct answer to my prayer. A lot of what has been focused on here at the MTC here for me has been the Spirit and recognizing that importance of prayer. Elder Scott also paused during his talk and gave us Apostolic Blessing. Whenever a Apostle says that, you listen! I'll never forget what he said. He promised that anybody learning a language will master that language very quickly and he also mentioned a lot of other things that I'm still soaking in. When he talking about mastering the language a HUUUUUGGGGEEEE weight came off my shoulder. There are puzzle pieces that are being put together in my experience at the MTC. Questions I have are being answered and I'm learning and I'm receiving more questions that will help me grow even more. I'm excited to see what the Lord is doing with me as I'm being a tool for His work.

I love you all! I again appreciate the love and support from everybody through emails, letters, prayers, support for my family, etc. The work is speeding up and I'm happy to be in the middle of it.

Sincerely,

Elder Steven Untch