Growing and Being Stretched, Always sharing His Testimony of Great things He is feeling and Learning

Tuesday, June 5, 2012 12:43 PM

ola Minha familia!!!!!!!

como estao??? I love you all so much!!!
mom, I’m glad you got my letter. did dad get his too? I sent one for him last week.

ok so where do I start. This week has been yet another crazy hectic one!@ on Wednesday we received 134 new missionaries to our zone! me and elder Castleton have been busy training =/ babysitting them. they are all going to Cape Verde Africa and Lisbon Portugal. None are form Arizona, but i kid who I have mutual friends with came in to the other Portuguese zone, elder Clifford. He is going to Angola too and he went to mesa high so it was cool to meet him. I can’t believe that it’s been seven full weeks today since I came to the MTC. SO CRAZY! I feel in no way ready to go to Africa, but at the same time, most elders plateau in their leaning about the sixth week, so I have definitely felt that! The only way to learn the language more fully is to be baptized by immersion in it ha-ha. its true trho, it will be a baptism by fire for sure!

DANGIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m so mad that I’m gonna miss Zach by two weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WISH HE COULD JUST COME EARLIER!!!!!! BUT ITS OK. ITS ALL IN THE LORDS TIME! OOPS  sorry for the all caps. Anyways. I hope him and hunter get to be here together to bolster each other up and be able to look for strength in eachother.i sure wish I had one of my best friends here because there is times when I do feel very lonely. But then I get an amazing package from my family sister aunt anyone and get bombarded with love. Thank you all so much! Just so you all know though. DONT SEND ANYMORE FOOD PLEASE!!!!!:):):):) I have enough stocked up to end world hu nger in Africa. hha I appreciate every single thing sent but right now I’m a little overstocked:) so I’m good on food:) \

Yes I’ve seen Alex McBride obviously I saw Mitchell and I had six weeks with a buddy of mine form mountain view, elder Sorenson, who is also going to Mozambique, but not Angola. and various others from highland that you guys wouldn’t recognize names of. But it’s been cool to see kids here. Out of all the kids I’ve seen from highland I was here first and am the last to leave basically!
I’m so excited for Taylor to get married. I wish I was there for it!

 I have pday every Tuesdays. Haah that’s how I email. but I started playing a lot of soccer at the beginning, but know I usually play sand volleyball every day. its super fun!!! I love being out there and playing it reminds me of Newport. just with a lot more clothes on here haha:(

   HOLY COW though!!! Beaus legs are getting huge! and he is totally gaining weight like crazy, thanks so much for the pictures! the last few weeks have just been small name speakers from the missionary department, besides one last week, Ronald A Rasband spoke so that was super cool!!! And at the devotional Sunday night three kids sang “come thou fount of every blessing” with the arraignment off of reflections!!!!!!! I was freaking out because that’s one of my very favorites. Mom, did you send my iPod and does it have the reflections of Christ stuff on it?? That would be amazing if your could. i don’t remember if you said you have or not??

anyways, ya all the talks and devotionals have been very touching. I love hearing people testify very powerfully of the book of Mormon.

I wish I could be there with Grammy for the splash pad and stuff like that, but it’s ok! I think hell be the PERFEECT age for Disneyland when I get home :):):):)

I love you all so much and miss you. I will start sending stuff home today. I don’t know what all ill send but ill figure it out. I think when I come home from my mission, if they’re not too ragged, I’m just going to give away every white shirt and pants I have and come home in pday clothes haha I’ve heard about elders doing that a lot in third world countries.:) but enough about coming home, I got two years to plan that haha.

  RIGHT NOW I am preparing to go to Africa!!!!!!!!!! Can you even believe that?????? I am so freaking excited! I know I will be safe and blessed through obedience and love of the Lord. This is HIS work, not mine. This is HIS church, not mine. The people of Angola are HIS people, and it is MY duty to bring them this amazing gospel. I can’t wait to get there and not understand a single thing for six months and then one day just wake up and speak fluent Portuguese. That’s what all my teachers say happens. At the final breaking point where you can’t take it anymore and you are ready to go home one day, you just wake up and speak Portuguese! I’m SO excited for that. my branch president says in every meeting we all have, DO NOT worry about learning Portuguese! worry about learning and speaking the language of the spirit!!!!!!!!!!! WHEN THE LORD NEEDS YOU TO SPEAK PORTUGUESE, YOU WILL SPEAK IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(imagine Bryan weight saying that in his loud voice and there you go you have got president hodges.)

    I love you ALL SO MUCH AND AM SO THANKFUL FOR THE OPPORTUNITY I HAVE TO SERVE THE LORD AND preach this gospel. sorry for the all caps haha. I love you all so much.

Cool spiritual experience of the week. You can share this one on the blog mom,

one of the brand new elders came to me and elder Castleton this week asking for a blessing. On his fourth day here, his grandfather passed away and he got the news about it. he was pretty sad.

we gave him a blessing and he asked me to be the voice. As I gave him a blessing of comfort I did not feel like there were only three people in the room. I could truly feel the presence of someone else standing next to me and giving him comfort through my hands, it was the most amazing thing I’ve ever felt. I could feel his grandfather from the other side of the veil giving him comfort and putting the right words in my mouth. I cannot explain the feeling in any way besides that I can compare it to the way I feel in the temple, when I feel Grandpa Alvin, grandpa Duke, AND Grandpa Ross reaching out to me and give me their love. I KNOW that they love me and I know that this elders grandpa loved him truly.

I love you all and hope you know that I feel your love prayers and thoughts pouring down on me here at the mtc. I love you all so much!!!!!!!!!!!!

mom, let me know about the iPod and other specific stuff I asked about today if you could:) ill be getting online again today. LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! I LOVE YOU Grammy Claire and Beau! LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

Elder Colin Jay Montgomery