I entered the MTC a year ago from last Thursday. Weird.
Dad
thank you so much for refreshing me on that training. As I've been
doing a lot of thinking about long-term goals, I've come to remember the
importance of shorter-term, and even daily goals. I've been trying to
work out a good system for setting daily goals, and the revelation
comes. I remember you told me about the 3 positives and 1 area of
improvement thing I believe it was the day I entered the MTC. I
remember writing it on a green note card and then finding that in my
backpack and applying it. It was effective, and I am excited to try it
again.
Along with goal setting I've been turned again
lately to showing faith. God works miracles according to our faith. As
such, if we're not showing faith daily then the power needed to move
the great work will likely not be afforded to us. Furthermore, our
personal growth weakens, and we become a dull and difficult to use tool
for the Lord. Setting goals shows your faith because you're aiming to
move just a little beyond what you know you can accomplish. It's a
small step into the dark, and working to accomplish that goal opens the
way for the Lord to pour out His blessings and power.
This last Friday we had a New Years Taikai (conference) in Kobe.
For an hour or two before the Taikai everyone played dodge-ball in the
cultural hall of the Kobe church. It was way fun, but I came to find
out just how many muscles I haven't been using. My arms were sore from
throwing, and all of the side to side movement and jumping did a number
on some of the muscles around my legs. The Taikai was amazing.
President Zinke's vision is incredible and inspiring, and we talked a
lot about what as a mission we'll be focusing on for the next while.
The weather has been lovely. Snowy, melting, more
snow, freezing cold sleet, and it's snowing as a type. I'm still on the
hunt for boots. I really want to find something decently oshare (stylish), but
haven't found anything in my size yet. I ended up buying a new dendo
bag this last week. The strap on my other bag was close to giving up.
We went to a fishing shop looking for some water proof gloves, and I
ended up giving in and buying one of the bags they had. It's bigger
than my last bag, completely waterproof and very rugged. Made by
Shimano. It seems like it can handle with ease the rigors of being a
dendo bag.
Mom, the thing I was thinking I would have you send
were my Saucony Hattori running shoes. The really thin, minimalist
running shoes. I'd like to have those around for when things start
warming back up in the coming months.
Tell Vardee and Jerry hello for me. Tell Sister
Sosa hello too. It makes me happy to think that the wonderful people I
knew haven't forgotten about me.
I'm so happy and so glad to be a missionary.
Love,
Elder Kyle Hutchings
The next few are some pictures I took yesterday.
We walked to the church pretty early because we had to leave our bikes
there the night before. We needed our bikes to go visit an
investigator to see if they could come to church. It was -2C, but
absolutely beautiful. I'm wearing a trench coat that I found in the
apartment because I also left my other coat and gear at the church.
To explain why all of our stuff was at the church, on Saturday
evening we went over to an investigator's house for dinner. But, they
were kind enough to pick us up at the church, so before they came and
got us we had just left all of our stuff at the church with the plan
being that we'd be brought back to the church and then bike back home.
But, as it were, dinner and our discussion ran a little long, and this
investigator knows about our rules as missionaries, so he just drove us
to our home Saturday night.
