The last stretch...

Hello family and friends!

After 5 weeks of gospel experiences, Spanish lessons, teaching the
gospel, and lots of laxatives... My MTC experience is coming to an
end. Only a little sad to be leaving a lot of new friends and
experiences. Other than that I'm am super excited to leave!

WE GOT OUR FLIGHT PLANS!!!!! On Monday morning me and my companion and
6 other missionary I don't really know at all, will be flying from
salt lake to Paris France for a two hour layover then straight to
Malaga Spain! Our goal is to teach someone (not in French) in the
airport!(don't really know if it is allowed or not... We are going to
do it anyway)

We had the opportunity this week to hear from Lloyd Newell. For those
who don't know (me before he taught) he is the director of the Mormon
tabernacle choir. Also he is the voice in the beginning of general
conference that says "welcome the the 185th semi-annual General
conference". We did a little music and the spoken word thing for the
MTC. It was super cool.

The video for after the devotional was a talk given by President
Nelson called "doctrine of Christ." It was a great talk. It made
everything sound so real! He told us a lot of the situations we would
be facing in the field and also a lot of the things we should be
talking about when we teach. Something he said really got to me. It
was that without temples, there would be no point to this earth and
that that it is unfair for a person to be baptized without
understanding that we need to make sacred covenants in the temple and
also the importance of temples.

Well I close this email saying, that temples are sooooo important.
Sadly today was the last time I could go to the temple for 2 years. I
am so thankful for temples and the blessings it brings me and my
family, but not only that. It allows me to live for eternity with my
family. I love this church everything about it is perfect. I am
thankful for the prophet Joseph smith, and his willingness to serve
our God as best as he possibly could.

Love,
Elder Owens

Greatest prison in the world

Hola familia y amigos!

turns out the food here is good for like a week then is starts to
slowly kill you from the inside.
I truly feel sad for the missionaries that are here for 9 weeks.

Not much to talk about again... Spanish is truly a beautiful language
and I understand it better everyday. Truly, what is amazing, is the
gift of tongs. It is a great gift from the Holy Ghost. Every time I
teach a lesson I feel like Spanish just flows from my mouth. I'm sure
it sounds like a 3 year old native but it is definitely an improvement
from knowing almost 0 Spanish going in.

It took me 4 weeks but I finally finished the Book of Mormon! Going
through the Book of Mormon in the MTC is truly a blessing. It is the
word of God and whoever reads that book and truly wants to know of its
truth, WILL receive an answer.

The investigators in the MTC are super kind (Probably because they are
Mormon). I lean of the power of the spirt every time I teach of the
gospel. He really is truly a member of the godhead and is more
powerful than any of us can imagine.

I wonder everyday why the lord calls such young people to literally
save eternal lives... It is such a testimony to me that we are merely
just instruments in the hands of the lord and that it is not the
missionary that converts. It's the spirt.

Well anyways I can't wait for the field... I get my travel plans this
Friday, so that's a bonus!

Love
Elder Owens

3 weeks left at the MTC

Hola familia y amigos!

Three weeks left in the MTC... A place where days feel like weeks and
the weeks feel like days...
The MTC is a great place with a super good spirit and very organized! But
it gets tiring after a while And you get really anxious for the
field!

The teachers here in the MTC are inspired! Most of them are recently
returned missionaries and are perfect teachers. Hermano See is my
teacher and just got back from Guatemala. Our district is pretty sure
that he is one of the three Nephites. Like 87% sure. He is amazing at
teaching Spanish but even better at teaching the gospel. He taught us
about the plan of salvation and all I wanted to do was go preach the
gospel to the whole world. The plan of salvation is perfect. It is the
plan of God to allow us to be happy and bring families together
forever.

I am super blessed to have my companion! He works hard and loves the
gospel. Even though he can get inpatient at times, I love him. Our
district gets along super well! Sometimes too well. We can get
sidetracked at times. Also, we got our new districts on Wednesday and
they are doing great! We got an intermediate district so they speak
better Spanish than us, which can be depressing. Hahaha

We were blessed to hear from Elder Oaks this week! He is awesome and I
love how he lists everything when he talks!! He talked about preach my
gospel and the importance of (1) The Plan of Salvation (2) not
assuming too much and (3) making commitments when teaching the
gospel! I'm glad he talked about this but It's hard to do all these
things when you are speaking another language! We were also blessed to
hear an old talk given In 2009 by Elder Bednar. His talk was called
"Recognizing the Spirit".  Basically he says that if you are good, follow
the commandments and keep your covenants, then any good inspiration you
receive is from God. Don't sit and try to decide if it is you or the
Lord. Just do it! I guess Nike is more spiritual than you think. Haha

Well I'm close to the end here at the MTC.  I love you all, I encourage you to be good in all you
do. Love your God and love your neighbor and the rest will fall in its
place. I'm super happy to be serving a mission and I wouldn't trade
it for the world.  The Plan of Salvation is real and perfect and the
Atonement is the greatest thing in this earth and could only be done
through Christ the only begotten Son, who was perfect. This life is
short, make it count!

Love, Elder Owens
owens.christopher@myldsmail.net
My prep day is Tuesdays.  It's great to hear from friends and family.

Hola!   (week 1)

This first week has been such a journey!! I am so thankful for the opportunity to be serving a mission at this time!! From the very first second i got here we have been inhaling Spanish!! The third day i was here we taught our first lesson in espanol! My companion is Elder Wilson, he is super obedient and very smart. its kind of hard because we both want to be the leader, but it is ok because we teach the gospel to those who need it.

I found elder Paker and Elder Kleinman!! I love them both so much! it is too bad that i did not have that much time with elder packer because his schedule was the exact opposite of mine. But I am in the same zone with elder kleinman and i am so thankful! He makes me laugh every time i am with him!

The first Sunday was so amazing! First of all i guess that is a benchmark in the MTC because everyone congratulated us. The reason Sundays are so special is because there is no class and it surely is a day of rest and delight! I attended the MTC choir and it honestly blew my mind! I have never heard such power in a simple church song! Also they play a special MTC only movie on Sunday from previous devotional given in the MTC! It was a talk called "Characters of Christ" by pres. Bednar, one of the most inspirational talks given. It makes everyone listen want to be like Christ.       

Now for the most important part of the MTC!! Learning Spanish!! We learn spanish so quickly here that i have learned more spanish in one week than i have two years at school (i slept a lot at school)

i went from knowing nothing to being able to teach a 45 min lesson about the gospel with only minor awkward moments and a few "repitan pof favor".

I love this gospel and i know 100% that it is the truth! I see miracles every day and i wish everyone could see. I love you all!

MTC - first week

Hola! 

This first week has been such a journey!! I am so thankful for the opportunity to be serving a mission at this time!! From the very first second I got here we have been inhaling Spanish!! The third day I was here we taught our first lesson in espanol! My companion is Elder Wilson, he is super obedient and very smart. It’s kind of hard because we both want to be the leader, but it is ok because we teach the gospel to those who need it.

I found Elder Paker and Elder Kleinman!! I love them both so much! It is too bad that I did not have that much time with Elder Packer because his schedule was the exact opposite of mine. But I am in the same zone with Elder Kleinman and I am so thankful! He makes me laugh every time I am with him!

The first Sunday was so amazing! First of all I guess that is a benchmark in the MTC because everyone congratulated us. The reason Sundays are so special is because there is no class and it surely is a day of rest and delight! I attended the MTC choir and it honestly blew my mind! I have never heard such power in a simple church song! Also they play a special MTC only movie on Sunday from previous devotional given in the MTC! It was a talk called "Characters of Christ" by Pres. Bednar, one of the most inspirational talks given. It makes everyone listen want to be like Christ.       

Now for the most important part of the MTC!! Learning Spanish!! We learn spanish so quickly here that I have learned more spanish in one week than I have two years at school (I slept a lot at school)

I went from knowing nothing to being able to teach a 45 min lesson about the gospel with only minor awkward moments and a few "repitan pof favor".

I love this gospel and I know 100% that it is the truth! I see miracles every day and I wish everyone could see. I love you all!

Elder Owens