Elder Brandon Ropers Mission Blog: First P-Day

Well I finally made it to my first p-day. The first 3 days were extremely hard for me and I was super homesick! But everyone in my zone told me that if I could make it to Sunday then it would get much easier. They were so right! Yesterday was the biggest testimony builder I have ever had. It was very cool to be here on a fast Sunday!! The spirit was SO strong!!

It all started Sunday during sacrament meeting. It was a testimony meeting and I was just stunned at how strong the spirit was! The fist couple of days have just been hard. I didn’t really sleep at all. The chairs are small and have been killing my back and I just was having a hard time focusing in class because we have class from 7 in the morning till 930 at night. But I have been praying and fasting that while I am here at the MTC that I would be able to just learn as much as I can and focus on why I am here. For the closing song in sacrament meeting we sang I feel my saviors love! The spirit hit me so strong that it brought me to tears! It answered every questioned I had and was just the biggest testimony builder for me!! Then from there we went to a mission conference! That was amazing too! The speakers were all great and I didn’t get distracted once through the whole 2 hours! After that we went to a Sunday devotional. It was very cool! This guy basically had people that had been converted in the last 3 years come up and had them tell their story! It was amazing for me to see what missionaries do for people and how the spirit works. After that we had the options to go listen to several different ones. My district chose Character of Christ by Elder Bednar. This was the part that changed my life!! it was so deep and just really changed my perspective on why I am here. The stories he told and the examples he brought up just made me think different about everything! I LOVE IT!!!!

My district has 10 people in it all going to Columbus Ohio. 6 Elders and 4 sisters. They are all awesome!! My companion is from South Jordan and is 18. We get along pretty well but like completely different stuff! He wears cat pajamas to bed and I wear camo to bed! But besides the fact that he likes cats we get along great!! My zone and the people on my floor have all been amazing but leave Wednesday morning to go to Tennessee. So hopefully the new elders will be fun as well.

Some cool things that happened this week were that my zone leader broke the push up record twice!! 150 the first time and 180 the next day!! How crazy is that, he is HUGE!!!!

The next cool thing that happened is that there is a sister in my zone that plays volleyball for Utah State. So obviously I challenged her to a game. She picked 5 elders for her team and I picked 5 for mine. Guess who won Both games...My team!!! It was SO fun!!! I love gym time! I have never played a more intense volleyball game, basketball game, or four square game in my life!!

Well just thought I would let everyone know that I am doing much better and that the church is definitely true!! I love the MTC but am super excited to just get to Ohio!! I LOVE being a missionary!:)

Please keep me in your prayers!

I love and miss you all!

Love Elder Roper