July 5, 2014

July 5, 2014

 

Hey Mom,

 4th of July was great and a lot of fun. We couldn't really tell it was Independence Day until that night because we carried on the day as if it were normal. That night, however, we had a special devotional. Some really talented people performed musical renditions and those who played piano completely threw me off. Didn't know so many missionaries had such great talent that surpasses my own. Afterwards, we heard from this speaker (whose name escapes me, but I know he's the executive secretary in the west campus here in the MTC) who talked about the miracle of God's plan and how everything in history built up to the point to allow Joseph Smith to receive the gold plates and restore the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pretty fascinating to think about it. We live in a land of religious freedom, and the right person to be in the right place had to be there, who was Joseph Smith, only fifty some years after the nation was established in 1776.

After the talk, we saw the movie "17 Miracles", which I never saw before but was really well put together. I recommend it, but be warned you'll probably end up with uncontrollable emotions and a tissue box by your side. It's sad but also uplifting. Then we saw the fireworks outside, which I believe I sent a picture in this email with all the missionaries outside watching it. Also got icecream. Woohoo!

So yeah, this is going to be my last letter to you in the MTC. I hope everything is okay. I pray about the family every night, so I hope you'll be improving. I wish I could add a subtitle to explain to you about these pictures, but just assume the pictures of a big group of missionaries is my branch, and me with a smaller group of missionaries is my district.

Best of luck, family!!

Elder Montgomery