WHERE DO I EVEN START??!!!!!! this week has been sooooooo crazy!!!
so i weighed myself after my last email. and i won't tell you what i weighed. lol. but i will tell you that i went on a super hardcore boot camp diet this week and lost freaking 6 pounds in one week. it freaking killed me but i did it. praise the Lord. i needed to know that i am in control. and i am. so suck it body.
WE GOT FLIGHT PLANS!!! there are 14 of us flying to Cambodia on the same day. we leave at 7 PM on Tuesday the 24th to LAX and then we leave at 11:30 PM from there and fly straight to Hong Kong. we calculated it's a sixteen hour flight. from Hong Kong we hop to Phnom Penh and arrive at 10:30 in the morning. WE ARE ALL SO STOKED! it seriously doesn't feel real that i will actually be there. it's going to be crazy. ahhhhhhhh i can't wait!
so last week we did this language speaking assessment for our teachers to see how we are progressing and see what they need to help us work on. they give us all feedback of where we are, based on a 1 thru 7 scale. they told us the average for returned missionaries is about a 5 or a 5.5. which is kind of cool because i got all 5's on mine. i know it doesn't mean much because i can't really speak about anything except the gospel, but it's still kind of cool to see that the Lord is blessing me with the gift of tongues even in the MTC. i was trying to think about why I'm doing well and i realized that literally none of what i have achieved or learned is because of me. the Lord has been preparing me my whole life in order to do what i am doing now. i don't have good pronunciation or listening skills because of me. it's because He sent our family to China and i was able to practice listening to Asian taxi drivers and McDonalds workers every day. i don't memorize words well because I'm super smart (but i am), it's because the Lord gave me a butt ton of opportunities to memorize scriptures in seminary and stuff. literally Heavenly Father has been helping me my whole life to shape me into the tool i need to be for this mission. it's really awesome. Helaman 5:12 comes to mind when i talk about this. we have to have a firm foundation and then he can shape us and form us from there.
anyway.... Elder Hall and I have been trying allllllll week to get a picture of Elder Ros's classic "that was a stupid idea" face. and we finalllllly got it!!!!! I'm so happy now i can leave the MTC and feel like i actually did something here.
also apparently I've been balling way too hard these past weeks and because my shoes are totally torn to shreds. i think they might not have been made for the kind of fire that i bring to the court.
an Elder in our zone went home this week. he was speaking Vietnamese and going to Australia. it was a sad occasion. he had to go home for a little bit but he thinks he'll be coming back out. i hope so. it was kind of crazy tho because like 5 days before he told us i decided he was my favorite elder here. i don't know if that's true but i just started noticing something was different and how cool he actually was. his name is Elder Perry so now the term "Hey! where's Perry?" is unsettlingly applicable.
well, this is my last week here so if anyone (winkwink) wants to send me anything for less than a bajillion dollars, you have until next Monday.(totally not fishing for packages). but really tho
i love you all. keep killing it in whatever you are doing. if you fall under the category of being one of my many puakmitpeak (friends) or kromkruasaa (family) i am praying for you every day!! and if you don't fall under one of those categories, then either write me or marry my cousin Sophie!!!!!! (you're welcome for the shout out!!)
SPIRITUAL SHPEEL: Elder Cook came to the MTC this week and it was really cool. it was crazy to have an apostle come. he brought such a thick spirit. i could touch it. it was kinda spongy. he said a couple of cool things. the one that applies to everyone is that when we are inviting, we are succeeding. most people won't do anything unless they are invited to do something. we just have to keep inviting everyone we can. in another devotional a guy told the story of his father's conversion. he said it took 48 years but it was worth it. his father was always kind of interested in the church but had a problem with the word of wisdom. he held a calling in the family history center for like 5 years because he loved family history. he was 73 when he finally stopped smoking and drinking and was able to finally be baptized. a year later he was sealed to his wife. he was so grateful to his son for sticking with him and helping him finally find real happiness in his life. it was really cool and just a reminder to never give up. i know that this gospel can bring more lasting happiness to everyone's life than anything else. amen.
Love, elder osborne
