Week 7

I love Austin's comment below about the little family at the temple. I can just envision this mom's enthusiasm and the little boy's awe as she introduced him to what should be among every little boy's biggest heroes. Now Austin understands more clearly why we try so hard to have the missionaries in our home every week. We aren't feeding them -- they are feeding us. If you want your sons and daughters to grow up with a desire to serve God on a full-time mission, may I suggest becoming more involved with the missionaries and the missionary effort now? It will instill in them a desire to share the gospel in later years. Thanks for your prayers and other support for Austin. It is knowing how many are cheering him on that spurs him to give his full effort each day. General Update:

Well, the Lord decided to throw some more curve balls my way this past week. I never knew how many various challenges I would have to face in the MTC. I guess I didn't know what to expect here in the first place.

The oldest Philippines district left this week, making my group the oldest district still in the MTC. I guess the only thing real exciting about that, is that means we only have about 2 1/2 more weeks left before we are out of here, and in the Philippines. I'm really excited to get out there because then hopefully I will be able to see some effects of all my work and study. In the MTC, we don't really get to see much of that besides our progress in the language. It's a little scary to think that these are my last 2 1/2 weeks in America for the next 22 months.

On the walk home from the temple today, a family was going on a walk and stopped to talk to my new companion and me. The dad asked if we would shake their sons hand and the mom said to her son "These are the missionaries!" The kids face lit up and he told me his name was John. It was pretty cool for me simply because it was one of the few times we've been able to stand out as actually representatives of Christ.

God bless.

Love, Elder Claiborne