Army of Helaman

It is hard to believe that I have been at the MTC for 10 days now. Time moves oddly at the MTC. Hours can fly by, days go on forever, and then suddenly a week has passed! But I am grateful for the time I have already had here.
One of the most power moments this week was actually on Sunday, before the Sunday fireside. Because they ask you to get there 20 minutes early, they start singing prelude songs about 15 minutes before the meeting begins to give you something to do. The last song that we sang in prelude was "Army of Helamen" from the Children's songbook. I have always loved this song, but it hit me so much harder. They changed the words in the chorus to "we are NOW the Lord's missionaries to bring the world his truth", and it hit me like never before that I truly am a missionary of the Lord and have a duty to bring the world His truth and the good news of the atonement. Having 2500 plus missionaries singing that song was truly like the Army of Helamen, and I felt the Spirit as such a strong force as never before. It is amazing how music can bring the spirit so strongly.
This week we have begun teaching a lot more lessons, focusing on the restoration of the Gospel. We had a big practice event, and then had an evaluative meeting afterwards. The teacher talked about how many missionaries teach the first lesson as a history lesson about the church. Rather, it is a lesson about the restoration of the GOSPEL, which is the ability to be able to be cleansed and redeemed from our sins through faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, the holy ghost and enduring to the end. As missionaries, we need to focus on how we can help people to change their lives by being freed from the burden of their sins. Only in this way can they truly find happiness. It's not really about the church per se, but about how we can be changed through the atonement. I don't know if that makes sense the way I explained since I'm typing as fast as I can (!), but it was a major mind shift for me in how I approach teaching.
We also got introduced this week to the Referral Center, and made outbound calls following up on products ordered. Most people I called weren't home, but some that I talked to tugged so hard at my heart. One was an older middle-aged lady who had ordered a bible. She said that she had lung cancer and was going to Birmingham, Alabama for treatment. I talked to her about the Book of Mormon and sent the missionaries to her, but when she asked me to just pray for her, my heart about broke!! That is why I am serving a mission- to be able to help people like understand the purpose to their lives and how to make it better.
Today was Preparation day, and we got to go to the temple, so that was really nice. It is only P-day until 6 pm here, so you furiously try to get as much done as you can! It is interesting living life with every hour planned- you get a lot done and you always know what you need to do!