Writing Brian

FYI: Brian will leave the MTC on October 5th (two weeks from tomorrow), probably pretty early. So you have about two weeks left to write him in the MTC. The last day he could get your mail there will probably be Saturday, October 3rd. I'll give you his new address in Chile when I get it.

Have a happy day!

~Whitney

09-15-09

Hello!! How are you all doing? It is so good to get you letters. I love hearing from you. I am doing really really really well. Today is going great. I just got my haircut, again. This is my third haircut since being here. Ha ha. I can get it cut as much as I want because they want the missionaries to look good and it is free here at the MTC for me. I like it! So the last week has gone so well. My district is now only speaking Spanish during day all day because this is how we can learn more Spanish and it is going well. I feel like I am learning a lot. Elder Welling and I are teaching again in Spanish tomorrow at the TRC. That is fun, we also get to pretend to go to a store and have someone help us with that stuff and talk to a family in Spanish. So what my district was doing was keeping track of who spoke the most English during the day and then having that person wear a really ugly tie the next day. It was a hideous tie, but no one wore it because we found that it caused bad feelings in our district to be so picky about when people said one word of English. We stopped that and now are just speaking Spanish because we know it will help and that the Lord wants us to.

So this last week went really well. I had a hard day on Sunday, I was just feeling down for no reason, but then things picked up. Heavenly Father answered my prayers. I had a great interview with my Branch President, and then the fireside that night was really good, and then I got to watch The Testaments. It has been a while since I have seen it, and I know they have changed it a little from the version I have seen before because in this version it shows many scenes from the Finding Faith in Christ video, which I don't think it did before. But I just really felt Heavenly Father's love so powerfully at the end of that movie when Christ comes and visits the people in the Americas. It is so beautiful to see. I just loved it. I am so positively sure that The Book of Mormon is true. I know it with all of my heart. I know that this church is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. It just brings me so much happiness to know these things. They are so true, and to just feel the love of my Heavenly Father here at the MTC, it is great. I am so happy that I can go and share this message with the people of the Earth and that I have a testimony of it. I am so happy because of this church and all that Heavenly Father has given me. It amazes me. I am just so happy to be sharing this message, that I can help bring people to the true church of Jesus Christ, so that they can have the blessings of the atonement in their life. I don't know what I would do without the atonement in my life.

Well everything at the MTC is going great for me. I can't believe that I will be in Chile three weeks from today. I leave three weeks from yesterday! I hope that my trainer is really good. I am just loving being on a mission.

Love,
Elder Brian Sheahan

1 in 8 Million

Hey! I found a link to this really cool series from the New York Times called 1 in 8 million. They did this little photo blog on a Mormon missionary from China who is serving her mission in Chinatown, NYC. I thought you'd enjoy it; although she is in a different location/culture than Brian and Scott will be, her experiences will give you a glimpse into Brian and Scott's experiences as they are on their missions. Enjoy! 1 in 8 Million

09-08-09

I am doing wonderful. I can't believe it but I am past the halfway mark of being here at the MTC. I leave for Chile in less than 4 weeks!!! It is pretty crazy. This last week has been great. So we teach a lesson in Spanish tomorrow for the first time. I am excited. Elder Welling and I have taught a few lessons in Spanish so far and we think it will go pretty well, I mean it will be very simple.

So last week I had an amazing experience teaching a lesson. We met the guy we were going to teach. We got to know him, and then we just started teaching- it was amazing, one of the best experiences that I have had here at the MTC, but I really felt God's love during the lesson. It was so strong. I will never forget how it felt, I loved it.

Things are going really well here. I like all of the elders in my class a lot. Scott and I talked for a bit on Sunday night. He is doing really well and learning a lot.

I am doing really well, and I hope that all of you are too!

09-01-09

I am still doing really really well. I love it here. So last Tuesday night, guess who came to speak at the MTC? Elder Richard G. Scott (one of the 12 apostles). It was a great meeting. He told many stories of how God had saved his life and helped him. They were great. He had one story about how he was driving one time up on a narrow mountain road in Europe (near Albania or that area, I can't remember) , and then when he was approaching a sharp turn all of a sudden he thought that if his wife was with him she would tell him to honk the horn before the turn. He let the horn honk for a while and kept driving around the corner, and right around the corner was a truck that stopped and thankfully he didn't run into. This was a cool story and he told us many others like it. At the end of his time, he bore his testimony of Christ. And he said that he knows Christ lives because he knows Christ. He said this twice. It was really a powerful testimony. I definitely could feel that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ. That he truly is a representative of Him. During the time while he was speaking he gave us two apostolic blessings. 1. The gift of tongues for those learning a language. 2. A blessing of saftey. That as we used proper judgment and were worthy that we would be protected on our missions. - Mom, remember that! So the rest of the week has gone really well. I did my laundry today and then we get to go to the temple. The Spanish version of the King James Bible from our church with the footnotes in it is available now, so I am going to go buy one. I can't believe that in 5 weeks I am going to be going to Chile! It is crazy! The time is just flying. We start teaching in Spanish next week at the TRC, and that will be exciting and makes me a little nervous. I am getting pretty good at understanding Spanish and know a lot of times what people are talking about. My speaking is coming along too, and I think that I will be able to give a simple lesson. I know that Heavenly Father is helping me, I feel it everyday. I am just so thankful to have the opportunity to be a missionary. What a blessing it is. The message that I get to share makes me so happy too, and that it changes people's lives and makes them have true meaning in life - to know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the church of God that has been restored to the earth and that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. I am so happy that I can share this with people and help them come closer to Jesus Christ. I know that this church is true with all my heart and I am so thankful to know that. It the best part of my life.

I am still playing basketball and four square now. It is fun. I would go play soccer, but I never really have gym time during the times that people play soccer. Mine are more in the morning and at night, and people usually play during the afternoon, plus people in my zone don't go and play. I will play in Chile! I hope I am allowed to!

08-25-09

I am doing great. I have had a great week, it is hard to believe that I have already been here for three weeks! The time is flying by. The Spanish is still coming along. I have learned a lot in the last week. My teachers are great. Today I got to go to the temple, and that was great. On Sunday we got to participate in the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple Dedication, it is near Salt Lake. That was a great experience. It was in the gym building, where we have the devotionals and firesides. President Monson, President Erying, and Russel M. Ballard were the last three speakers. It was nice to see the Elders keeping quiet in the 45 minutes we had to sit waiting before the temple dedication started. It was dead silent, which is a nice change because before the firesides and devotional it can get pretty loud in there. If we didn't sing hymns for the last 15 minutes before firesides started then it would not be as spiritual of an experience. That Sunday night we had a devotional from the main director at the MTC. I forget what his title is, but he runs the food and basically all the parts of the MTC. He gave a great devotional. He produced all of the Mormon commercials like "Family - Don't You Think its About Time." He showed us a lot of the commercials that had run over the years and they all tied together. It was really great. The message was to not give up when you are feeling down, but to listen to the part of you on the inside that says "keep going." Christ tells us to keep going. Tonight we get to have another fireside. We haven't had any apostles yet, just members of the Seventy, church leaders in different departments, and other MTC people. They have all been amazing though.

Thank you all for writing to me. I love hearing from you.

08-18-09

Here are some excerpts from Bri's second e-mail. Sorry for the delay!


The second week at the MTC flew by. I can't believe that I have been here for two weeks already! The dearelder.com letters are working great and I get them really soon after you send them, within a day if it is during M-Th.

Scott and I have seen each other a few times. We sit together at devotionals and see each other around. Our classrooms are pretty close to one another and then we live in the same building. Right before we go to bed sometimes we go and visit one another with our companions.

My companion is a triplet, but not identical triplets. They all have blond hair but look pretty different. His brothers are really nice though.

My Spanish is still coming along. I like it, learning a language is fun. I still have a lot to learn though. I have gotten impatient with how much there is to learn sometimes, but now I have realized that the language will come in time and that the Lord is helping me out. I am working my hardest though.

We have a fireside tonight and hopefully an apostle will come. I guess one hasn't come in 7 weeks so they are thinking we will get one sometime while I am here. I guess in the beginning of the summer they had apostles speak all the time!

My companion, Elder Welling, and I are still getting along great. We work really hard together and are learning a lot. Teaching is going well, practicing teaching is fun. We have to teach in Spanish in 4 weeks I think!

The food here is so good. I play basketball everyday at the gym. There are weights and a track to run on, but basketball is so fun and I am getting much better than I used to be. I love it, it is definitely my 2nd favorite sport.

Sundays are one of my favorite days. The meetings are all so spiritual, and the fireside that night is always amazing. I would write more about it if I had more time.