Elder Connor Grant's Adventures in Tonga: MTC Last Week

Oh boy its here! I leave for the land that I have been called to serve in 3 days!! I have been waiting for this for soo long! Time for all of my studying and effort to come through! I' still a little nervous though. In my mind I keep picturing this supper nice, old Tongan lady, and she walks up to me and says something in Tongan... and I'm not going to have ANY idea what she is saying, and I'm going to feel soo bad because shes so nice. Oh boy I hope that doesn't happen. When the Tongans here speak like they will in the field, I have a small panic attack every time because it's still hard to understand them, and then I think about going there and it's going to be like that 24/7. But I'm so excited to rely on the Lord and have the confidence that I will be able to do what he called me to do.

Well, we've had a pretty normal week at the MTC this week! Me and my comp keep on teaching bomb lessons. We are getting a lot better now though, we mostly just need a couple of scriptures that we want to share and then we can give the lesson. We try to teach the person, not the lesson. Sunday was a great day too the Tongan districts sang a Tongan song in Sacrament meeting, then I helped bless the Sacrament, the me and my companion gave the priesthood lesson. Pretty normal day for a missionary except it will be like x4 that out in the field. They keep mentioning about how we will be most likely be giving a 15 min testimony in our first area, I don't know how I'm going to talk for 15 minues in Tongan by myself, but it'll be fun. I've got the First Vision down now in Tongan, so that's cool.

In one of our lessons, my companion meant to say, "My mom and dad..." but instead he said, "I am mother and father...". That was weird.

Yesterday we had In Field Orientation which was a little rough because it was like 8 hours long but I learned some good stuff. I'm ready to GOO!

I don't think I've shared my mission plaque scripture yet so I think that's the one I'll share this week. It's 3 Nephi 5:13

Behold, I am a disciple of Jeus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.

I love this scripture! Every time I read it, it gets me so pumped to go out and talk to people. Sometimes as missionaries we can get a little scared to talk to people. Like, "why would they want to listen to me?" "They don't look like they want to hear about the gospel from an 18 year old." But the message that we share, is one of so much happiness! Its like we are giving away free gold. If you had a bucket of gold, would you be shy to walk up to someone and ask if they wanted it? Heck no! My favorite quote this week comes from Elder Lokotui in my district: "Because of this Gospel, I'm here and I'm happy!"

That's the kind of excitement I'm going to have going into Tonga! I want everyone to hear this great message!

The MTC has been such a good experience! The spirit here has been so frequently and strong, its going to be weird leaving it. I've learned so much about myself and this Gospel I'm going to be sharing. Im so grateful for the teachers I've had and all the other missionaries that have made an impact on me. I'm going to miss my district here a ton! We have become way close, and we have felt like family during our time at the MTC. I love all of them and it's going to be hard to say bye. But I've got a whole 2 more years in Tonga and I couldn't be more pumped!

Love all you guys at home! Pray for me and my 21 hours of flying! Lots of study time I guess.

Oh yeah! General Conference is this weekend!I hope everyone can take the time to listen to the Apostles and to feel the spirit and find how they can improve in their lives.

Going to the temple!