another week goes by... #7

Hello Hammer fam!
Jord here from the mtc! Well i have 3 weeks left here and it's pretty rediculous how fast the time flies by here. Not gonna lie i got my first little bit of nerves this week to see the end of the mtc is coming near but i am excited to get out to Baltimore! I still have a l ot of work to do though over the next 21 days though so i'm far from done. But wow this week was another fast but great week. I really am enjoying it so much here i always used to joke around how the mtc is going to be bad and all that and it really a place that i love! It's gonna be tuff to leave this place that is for sure.
Well i finished the Book of Mormon this week and am cruising through D and C now. This past week we had a fireside and the guy talked about how incredible to Book of mormon really is and how it only took 63 days to translate whereas now days he said it takes about 4 years to translate the Book of Mormon with the technology we have today. It really made me realize how true this church really is and how true the Book of Mormon is. Joseph Smith was a prophet of God no doubt in my mind!
>We had a fireside last night from a couple and the guy is over all the international MTC's around the world but the guy was so young like 40 and his wife spoke too. She seriously was a hoot she was just laughing and cracking jokes the whole time it was really funny. She was a mix between like a tammy cope and a brenda curtis mom. ha and i know how much you laugh around those two! But he gave a really good talk about when he was a mission president in nagoya japan. He talked about an experience when he was younger in a wood shop class and how was sanding something and he kept sanding the middle of the board and his teacher came up to him and said "worry about the ruff edges and the center will take care of itselft" He talked more about his teacher and the kind of man that he was and that he wasn't talking about the wood that time. He was talking about serve others around you and you yourself will get taken care of. I loved that quote and i loved that story because it really is true its time to "forget about myself and get to work" as gordon b hinckleys dad told him. I loved the firesdie last night and it really was such a great story and one that i'll remember forever. We really are so blessed to be here we get so much good doctorine and speakers and just this whole experience is a mission in and of itself.
Well this week we got a new district and elder bowden and i were in charge of orientation and kinda showing them around and stuff which was a really fun experience but i think i have figured out why i was called to be a zone leader. One of the elders here is from idaho and is an only child and is just a big ol teddy bear his name is elder conder. He has beeen struggling a lot and he had an interview with pres dean on sat mornign and pres thought he was gonna go home for sure. But after that he talked to us and told us that he was gonna stay and that president dean had talked him through it so no big deal. Well on saturday nights we go to the Referral center and call people about referals and book of mormons that have been sent to their house jsut all that good stuff. Well i've been here five weeks and elder bowden and i haven't had any good experiences there no one will ever talk or just no one answers so elder bowden and i prayed that we'd have a spiritual experience sat night at the RC. So we walk out of class on our way over there and elder conder is out in the hall and he stops us and tells us that he needs us to call president dean. He just said he didn't know if he could do this anymore. So we went and called presdient dean and he wasn't gonna be there for about 30 minutes so we went back to talk to him. He just is homesick and just doesn't know why he is here. But his companion said he'd give him a blessing. so elder bowden took him and went and talked about it and elder conder and i had a moment together. Basically this was that spiritual experience that i was praying for in the RC. We started talking and he said that for the first time he started tdoubting his testimony, and once he said that i was like no no no this isn't happenign and i pulled close to me and i put my hands on his shoulder and just started reassuring him with my testimony that he had a testimony and i started to cry ha i don't know why but i just wanted to help him so bad and i just bore my testimony and told him that it's tuff here no doubt about it but that it is so worth it and that he was called of God. It was an amazing experience and i felt like i had maybe gotten through to him but his companion came in and gave one of the most amazing prayers i have ever heard. it was just a spiritual night and i think he's gonna end up staying for one more week to give it a try. More than anything it was what elder bowden and i had prayed for and it was that spiritual experience that we weanted. It wasn't at the RC but the lord knows when and where to place people for us. I know that our heavenly father is watching out for me guys! No doubt and he is blessing me with the experiences that i need out here. I really am so grateful for prayer and how much more it had become more important to me here!JUst thought i'd share that story with you all.
Well the espanol is going pretty good and it is getting into crunch time. We only speak spanish in class now which is tuff sometimes but the gift of tongues is so real. I read through a section of predicad mi evangelio PMG the other day and i understood it all and i was like wait did that just really happen ha its so fun to study it and to use it. But i have a long way to go that is for sure, but i know that lord is right next to me on this journey and he'll help me out.
Thank you all so much for your letters and love keep writing me i love to hear all about life outside of the mtc. I hope all is going well and i hope you all know that i love it here and i am enjoying it so much. The gospel is true and i can't wait to tell people how amazing my family is and thats why i am out here because i want people to klnow that it is possible to love their family just as i do with mine! This message is so powerful fam, i am teaching only in spanish now and the words just come and i am able to bear testimony its just amazing what we have and what i have! I love you all so much and i hope all of you know who are reading this email how grateful i am for each and everyone of your influence on me in my life. I wouldn't be here without all the great peoople that have been given to me in my life. I love you all. Thanks again to all the letters and packages and to all my pen pals who write me. I love you all! The church is true! Have a great week everyone and i will talk to you next week. You'll be getting some pictures this week!
Te amo mucho!
Elder Martillo