Week Numba One!

Helloooo my family!!

I am a MISSIONARY!  Yeah!!!  I love having this nametag to wear!  Makes me feel like I am important, I guess. :P  No, but it is great to be on my way as one of the Lord's representatives!  I am loving this MTC experience so much!!!!  There are so many things to learn and do and feel and experience.  It is really great!  Even though it has only been a week, I have gone through so much, it feels like!  Where to start.....

Well, let's see... My companion is Elder Boswell from Montgomery, Alabama.  Pretty much the coolest guy ever!  I am so grateful to be working with him!  It was cool the first two days to see all our similarities.  We both like basketball, frisbee, sports, and working hard.  I am so grateful to have him around to work together with!  He is as willing to learn and motivated as I am, so we really make a great team and have hit it off like no other!  It's really great to learn from him and see how he is growing and coming more to Christ.  We have had some really awesome lessons together.  I'll talk about that later, though.

I have seen so many people in the MTC that I know, it's ridiculous!  I think Elder Boswell had a little bit of a hard time with that since he really doesn't know too many people out here, but I think he's gotten over that now.  Friends from BYU, more friends from BYU, TA's, people I TA'ed (awkward... haha just kidding!), I was really surprised.  I saw the other Elder Usevitch about 6+ times that first day, and love seeing him around here and there as I continue on.  Great!

Elder Boswell and I were both called to be the zone leaders for our district.  I love the opportunity I get to serve!  Tomorrow I get to meet the new missionaries that come into our zone, and I am super excited!  It will be great to help them get adjusted here and pump them up for all that they will be experiencing over the next two weeks.  My zone leaders did such a great job of being nice and helpful, and I want to carry that on!

Our district of missionaries is pretty much the best ever, also!  Five elders, six sisters, and all of them are incredible!  I love all the different talents and personalities that each brings to the table.  They all have had amazing experiences with the gospel, strong testimonies, and are converted to the Lord.  I could not ask for a better situation to be in.  I will definitely remember them for a looong time!

I think the most important thing that I have grown to learn and love over the past week is really how to teach people the right way.  Right from the first day we had experiences talking to and trying to help investigators, and what I learned is how first I need to get to know them specifically and identify the needs they have.  Only then can I start showing them how the Restored Gospel can cater to their needs.  Our first lesson we taught didn't really do anything like that - we just talked about the gospel without relating it to the investigator, and made no progress.  The second lesson we did a little better, but the time we had was short, so it didn't go so well either.  It was when we got to our first TRC lesson (Teaching Resource Center - where they have people come in to act like or be investigators for us to teach) that it finally clicked.  We did so much better in finding out the investigator's needs, and it was amazing to see how we were able to meet those and see him open up. 

The devotional we had Sunday night also helped me understand so much more of what that means, also!  The speaker talked about how we need to get on the same page, the same plane as the investigator, and only then will we be successful.  We can do this by asking questions about their beliefs, finding out what their expectations are from us, and then sharing our purpose in being there with them.  I can't wait to keep applying and working with this knowledge!!  It has really helped enable me to be a better missionary.  I am so grateful to all the work that our teachers put into helping us grow and learn.  P.S. that devotional just might have given me an idea for a complete major/career change.  It's - ah, well I can't think about that right now, and it's not set in stone yet, so I'll just keep you waiting.  I'm so mean. >:)

 I love you all!  I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ can give us enabling power to help us live the commandments, and I know that it is only through Christ that we can receive remission of our sins.  As we strive to become more like him, and apply the Atonement through following the Doctrine of Christ, (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End) we can feel His joy and love for us.  I am so grateful to be on a mission right now!  I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has listened to my prayer that I would be able to see why I was supposed to go on my mission now instead of earlier!  He has already begun to answer that - I can see how much that year gave me time to prepare, and there have been people placed in my way that I have been able to help and assist.  He is kind!  He answers prayers!  I know it!  I can feel his love for me and others so much, more than I have ever felt before!  I am relishing the opportunity to be able to tell this to others, full time!  What an opportunity.  What a blessing.  Take the opportunity to share with others!  I wish I would have done that more.  Can you do that?  Or rather, will you do that?  I promise as you do, the Lord will open doors and give you opportunities to bring another soul to Christ!

Love you again!

Elder Usevitch

P.S. Okay, I know you want some fun facts/funny stuff to share with others.  So here you go:

• So, I am a zone leader right now.  As it turns out, the other Elder Usevitch here at the MTC just so happens to be, also!  And that other Elder Usevitch said that the Elder Usevitch in Estonia is as well!  So that's three Elder Usevitch's, three zone leaders.  Crazy!  I am so grateful for the chance I have to serve!
• The first full day I had here, Thursday, I went through twelve pages of notes in my study journal.  Five days later, I am one pen down and up to a grand total of 40 pages.  SO much to learn, and so much I want to remember, study, and apply later!
• Mom, the towel we bought.... Yeah it has slowly been disintegrating everywhere.  Especially on my scruffy face in the morning.  Cheap Chicken, as Dad would say.
• Dad, I got my camera!  and it is the SWEETEST camera EVER!  I just got it last night, and forgot to bring it with me, so no pictures today.  Sorry. :( Thanks for sending that to me, though!

P.P.S. I would love to get some pictures from you all!  I didn't have my camera with me before I left, so just remember I am a poor son left stranded with no pictures of family.  Feel sorry.  Send pictures.  :)