April 5th letter!

General Conference was absolutely amazing. I felt the spirit so strongly throughout, but the very most during the hymns. I loved the hymns so much! The pristhood choir was really quite good from BYU, and I've never heard the Mo Tab sound better than when they sang "This is the Christ." That was amazing. My favorite was How firm a Foundation. I loved that they sang two of Parley P. Pratt's hymns in a row! and then they sang Abide with me 'tis eventide, and also I wonder when He comes again. It was just suba-spirit-goodness! My bottom hurt real bad though because the seats are hard in the gym where we watched them all. I had one fun experience when we were all watching the spoken word. The choir started singing the Hallelujah Chorus, and I looked around to see if anyone was standing up, and a couple missionaries were, so I stood up and made my companion stand up. It was like wildfire! It took about ten seconds for the entire body of over two thousand missionaries to be standing for Handel's Messiah. It was a really really powerful feeling. Most of them didn't know why they were standing, so when they figured out it was just for a song, they sat down. But I stood up the whole time, and it I felt the spirit of the Messiah once again. Made me a little bit homesick. But don't worry, overall I haven't been homesick at all.
Sorry I realize that my writing in these e-mails is really bad, but you must realize that Chinese grammar is a little wonky. And I am racing against my half hour!

Chinese is a very simple and easy language, except for three things: Characters, tones, and grammar. My Chinese hasn't been progressing as quickly as I thought it would be. It makes me sad. All the other missionaries in my district tell me about how it'll be better once we're all on the same level and can talk to each other. I don't tell them that that is even more super annoying because I don't ever want to be on the same level as them! That sounds prideful, but it isn't. I worked hard to have a head-start when they didn't, so don't ya think I should progress at at least the same rate, if not way faster than they do? ugh. well, I guess I could just put more effort into it.

I'm also amazed that the Lord calls nineteen year old boys to do his work. A lot of them are very stupid. Me too probably, but not really. It's just a testimony to me that the Lord will equip the missionaries with what they need. How could somebody fail with the tools that we have, especially the spirit? I'm realizing that the Lord doesn't send missionaries out at age 19 because that is who would be most effective, (although they amazingly can be most effective in a lot of cases), but rather that it is such a pivotal time of growth and development in the person's life. And generations will be blessed because of the growth and dedication of a missionary, in his own family tree.

Mom, the bad news is, I played on that MTC violin. It sounds like Enoch's. ... okay not quite that bad, but it really is a honker. They only have what somebody donated a long long time ago. But I went on thursday and auditioned for a chance to play at a devotional or fireside, just by myself.

The good news is, the lady loved my song.. I'll play sometime in the future, AND, she said that I could play on my own violin if you want to come drop it off. PLEEEEEASE! So, you could come by anytime, even today, and drop off my violin at the front desk in 1-M, and they'll lock it up, and then I can go check out my own violin to play rather than the other. And nobody else would be allowed to play it. Isn't that great? i'm excited to get my hands on it again. good news eh?

Listening to conference. And how EVERY SINGLE TALK talked about raising your family and testifying to your children and telling them the stories of Jesus, and having a good atmosphere, and reading scriptures and stuff, I realized that you parents did exactly that. You both exemplified what the modern day prophets and apostles were teaching. I was very proud. Any of my success is from that, and not from me. What a firm foundation. I love you!

Elder Vernon