Letter and temporary reassignment

Hey mom,

Got your email about matt's dad, sorry to hear that and they are definitely
in my prayers!

I got my reassignment yesterday!!!! I will be serving in the Utah Salt Lake
City mission! So excited!!! I leave the MTC on Tuesday, but probably won't
get to call home because we are taking the train and won't have to be at
the airport. I haven't heard much about my mission, but I've heard rumors
that we get to spend A LOT of time at Temple Square! That would be so
freaking cool!!!! There is one other Elder in my district going with me.
The rest are like this: 5 to CA, 1 to FL, AZ, PA, VA, and ID! We cannot
wait and everyone is so excited!

We also got to talk to a teacher at the MTC who just got back from Manaus 6
months ago! This mission is going to be hard lol Here's some of what he
told us:
Manaus is the hottest mission in the world. President Klein LOVES the rules
and will push you harder than you've ever been pushed in your life. Your shoes will melt (not sure if i believe that part) and you spend most of your time in Manaus. You also go to the temple a lot! President Klein loves for us to go to the
temple as often as possible! They also said we will probably teach anywhere
from 60-80 lessons a week! Most of them with members present! You do not
knock on doors, President Klein thinks it is a waste of time, but you go
and the members will give you all the investigators you need.

Everything else is great! It was such a cool devotional on Tuesday! Elder
Oaks was here! We got to sing Praise to the Man for the choir number and it
was the same one they did in Conference when David Archuleta was there,
such a cool version! My ankle is doing great, I got cleared to play on
Monday and it hasn't hurt unless my weight comes down on it really hard.

Another cool thing from last week's Sunday film (after devotional on Sunday
we get to go to a film, usually a General Authority talk or a church video
of some kind) and Elder Pixton went to one by Elder Holland! A few things I
really liked were this:

Don't say your mission is hard, all missions are hard. One of the reasons I
think that this is hard is because the Savior's mission was hard. How could
we call ourselves His soldiers and not expect to feel some of that same
burden?

Another thing he shared was this poem:

Come to the edge, I cannot I will fall

Come to the edge, I cannot I will fall

Come to the edge, I went to the edge...

You pushed me and I flew.

Elder Holland said that missionaries need to stop hiding in the bushes when
they see another pastor or when something hard comes along. He said to go
to the edge, get pushed, and fly. Go to where missionaries find their
purpose, where prophets walk, and where the Savior resides.

I feel the Spirit so strongly when I read these notes! There is a fire
inside of me that will burn for the rest of my life because of this mission
and because of the desire I have for everyone to have what I've been
blessed with. This Church is true, the Prophet Joseph Smith was the second
greatest man to ever walk on this earth. He restored the fullness of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Earth. Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God.
Heavenly Father loves us all and wants the best for us. I know that the
only way we can gain Salvation is through the gate that is baptism by the
proper authority and that that authority has been restored to the Earth.
The message is simple, but the most important one you will ever hear in
your life.

Eu amo voces!

Elder Sanderson