Elder Zachary Andrews: First Week in the MTC

THE VISION OF THE SOUTH

"Make no small plans: This is the vision I have for the South. I believe that one day the South will baptize more people into the church than all other English speaking missions in the world together....We will see the time when we will baptize hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands...In your day you will see a million members of the church in the South. There will be temples plural in the Southern States. What a great call you have to serve with these marvelous people." President Spencer W. Kimball

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

First Week in the MTC

The MTC is awesome! It is completely maddening though because one day you feel good and you feel like you know Spanish and then the next day you feel like a dog speaks better Spanish than you. It is crazy but really interesting. I don't speak ever and when I do it is in Spanish. My companion thinks that I am really a quiet person. My companion is Elder Page from Alpine. He is a really cool kid and I really like him. Anyway Wednesday is my Pday and I can write you then and only then. but you can do that dear Elder thing that you know about. Can you share how to do that with whomever because there is nothing better than receiving a letter at the end of a hard day! Thank you so much for your letter yesterday. I miss you all so much and I keep checking my pockets for my phone to text Mom, Dad or Nay but I know that I am here to work and to learn and to bless peoples' lives. I love this so much even though it is the hardest thing I have ever done.

I have decided that Pday is harder than other days because we have nothing to do; I don't know what to do with myself. I joined the choir, mi companero y yo. It is nice to get out of class because all we do is sit in this classroom and study. We have a Spanish teacher for three hours in the morning and then study and then we have to teach a lesson in Spanish! Every day! It is so hard. The first lesson I just froze and my companion, who knows less Spanish than I do, had to say a few things and then we left (the lesson is to another one of our teacher that impersonates this 17 year old kid named "Elias") but after that first lesson we have studied hard and now we sort of give him a talk. It is really cool. We try to answer his questions the best we can.

Thanks for everything. I love you. I leave for Louisiana on Aug. 6. Wish me luck. I pray for you all every day.

Amamos nosotros mucho,

Elder Andrews

PS The temple is closed so I will probably get on later today and send you some pictures.

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Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission

The first branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized in New Orleans with 334 members in 1841. The prophet Joseph Smith sent the first missionary to New Orleans in March of that year. After reaching 169 members in 1849, the New Orleans branch disbanded because of the threat of serious disease in the area. The Southern States Mission, which included Louisiana opened in 1878, but the first missionaries were not sent to the state until nearly 20 years later. Missionary work spread throughout the state during the early twentieth century and by 1930, there were 1500 members. The first ward was established in Shreveport in 1953 and the first stake in New Orleans in 1955.In 1975, the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission was created and by 1980, there were over 12,500 members in the state of Louisiana. By 1989, Louisiana had 22,000 members in seven stakes. In 1998, the First Presidency announced the building of a temple in Baton Rouge. That temple was dedicated on 16 July, 2000.The Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission extends from Natchitoches South to the East and West borders through the state including the Gulf of New Orleans. The mission also includes the South West corner of Mississippi including Natchez, Liberty, and Macomb.