3 MORE DAYS!

3 MORE DAYS!!!!

This week was awesome! I'll start by talking about how my musical number went. So I made up an arrangement of Be Still My Soul and was asked to perform for all the new missionaries this week. I had to show up like an hour early for sound checks and felt pretty confident. And then hundreds of missionaries flooded the room and the nerves hit. I was way excited, but also so nervous that I'd mess up cause didn't really have music, so this was all gonna be from memory. Well, the devotional eventually started, and the MTC president welcomed the 1045 missionaries. 1045. Ugh. Thanks. Anyway, they started with an opening song, then a prayer, and then he gets back up and says "to start today's meeting, we have the opportunity to hear from one of missionaries from Gilbert, Arizona headed to the Spain Madrid mission invite the spirit today with a musical number". Shoot man. Well, I walked up to the front, sat at the piano, said a little prayer to myself, and as soon as I touched the keys, all feelings of nervousness and worry went away. I played through the whole song and, in my opinion, it was the best I've ever played. Way better than what I practiced! And it was so powerful!!! The spirit in the room was so strong! I was totally relaxed and happy and it just felt so amazing to perform for all these missionaries!!! I am sooooo grateful that I had this opportunity! There was an elder that came up to me at the end of the devotional in tears. He said he's been looking for an answer to a question he had for years. He said that during my song, he felt like he was feeling the spirit for the first time in his life. He received an answer. As always, I want to express my gratitude for the gift of music! Music invites the spirit! And the spirit changes lives!!! I am so grateful that I have been blessed with a love for music. It's the best!!!

Part 2 of my performance... There were a few branch presidents that also came and talked to me after the devotional and it looks like I'll be doing musical numbers in 4 sacrament meetingsthis Sunday! I'm so excited!

The Sunday night devotional this week was so epic!!! Lloyd Newell, the director of the Morman Tabernacle Choir, spoke. So of course, he talked about the gift of music!! It was so amazing! We sang a few hymns throughout the meeting and then he would talk about each one of the meaning behind them and it was just super cool! AND Lloyd Newell happens to be the voice in general conference that says "This is the 178th semi annual general conference". So that's actually how he opened his talk! It was so cool!

The Tuesday night devotional was great as well! Elder Craig Cardon spoke! My companion said the opening prayer, so he and I got to sit on the stand the whole time so that was cool! One thing that I got out of his talk was that we are soldiers of Jesus Christ ready to battle. We sacrifice so much, but we're doing it for the best reason! To bring people closer to Christ. Thanks for having such a cool dad Bishop Cardon!

On Wednesday morning, my district had the opportunity to host for new missionaries again! That was way fun! We take the missionaries and their luggage when they get dropped off at the curb and go with them to get their nametags and everything. Then we drop off their stuff in their residence hall and take them to their classroom. One of the missionaries I hosted for was from Galway Ireland going to Gilbert!! 

Yesterday we had in-field orientation. It's for all the missionaries leaving next week. We pretty much just role played for 10 hours. It was kinda hard cause it had to be in English and I'm so used to teaching in Spanish! I don't think I've taught the gospel in English at all in the MTC actually... It was different haha. We did a lot of role playing in an airport setting, so that was cool to practice! I'm so anxious to do it for real in 3 days! I got a few books of Mormon to give away during my travel!

The Spanish is still going well! I'm so excited to use it in Spain! I don't use much English anymore. We did the math this morning and figured out that we've had over 240 hours in the classroom learning Spanish. It's crazy!

This is my last email in the MTC. I have loved every second here. The spirit felt here is incredible. These past 5 and a half weeks have been so amazing and I'm really going to miss this place. But I know that I have been called to serve the people of Madrid, and I'm so excited to get out there. My advice for future missionaries is take advantage of the time you spend here. Do not waste it! Come here ready to learn and work! 

66 hours until I'm headed to the airport to start this adventure. Thank you so much for all of your love and support!!! 

Te amo

Elder Hendrix 

Here is a picture of my district and our teacher, Hermano Chambers,
the shortest one in the middle. (Logan is 4th from the left)

Can you say BUFFET? We have all this food to eat before we leave on Monday!

 

Almost out of here!

I have no idea where to start. This week was crazy!

I guess I'll start by talking about the devotional last week. So after President Heaton asked me to participate, I never heard back from him. So I didn't worry about it. But then the devotional came, and he called up me and 5 other elders to come up to the stand a take a seat. His talk was about recognizing the spirit, so he had a bunch of missionaries in the audience go up to a microphone and tell a story of a time that they felt the spirit and then me and the other elders with me had to find scriptures that go along with their story, and then apply it. So I had to speak in front of the entire MTC like 10 times. It was so scary! But it was a reminder that I need to always be prepared as a missionary! Fortunately, I had just so happened to have hardcore studied the spirit that week, so I had plenty of scriptures that I was able to find quick! It was really nerve racking, but also really fun! We did that for about an hour during the devotional. I'll never forget that experience!

In the Tuesday night devotional, we got to hear from Sister Rosemary Wixom, the General Primary President. Her talk was amazing! She talked mostly about the example of Nephi, and how we need to be obedient in accomplishing the work that we have been asked to do! It made me so excited to be a missionary in the field! Following Sister Wixom's talk, it was completely neccessary that we end with a primary song for the closing hymn, so we sang We'll Bring the World His Truth. Here in the MTC and in the field, we change the lyrics a bit in that song. Instead of singing "and we will be the Lord's missionaries" we sing "and we are NOW the Lord's missionaries". That was the first time I've sung that song here and it was so powerful!! We ARE missionaries! Ah I'm just way excited to go serve!!! I had chills throughout the whole song. The spirit was so there!! After the closing prayer, I was able to go shake her hand, and you can feel the incredible amount of love she has for the missionaries!

Ok the best thing ever happened yesterday! As you all know, I LOVE the piano and making music and everything. Well, yesterday I had the opportunity to audition to perform a musical number in the MTC! I came up with a simple arrangement of Be Still My Soul, and then headed to the audition place! I filled out a form thing and then they took me to the audition room, where i found the judges: the MTC presidency and their wives. Scary stuff. So I played my song, and they said it was so amazing! Normally, I would get a bit nervous performing, but I felt so much confidence! I was just so happy to be able to play!! They told me they would let me know the results in the mailbox later that day, and within a few hours, there it was! I'll be performing at the new missionary welcome devotional next week! They said there will be close to 1000 people, so please pray for me! I'm so grateful for this opportunity! And as always, I want to express my appreciation and love for music!! I'm so grateful for the gift of music in my life and I love how we always sing hymns to start meetings. They invite the spirit!! The piano has taken up most of free time in my life, and I just love expressing myself through music!

The Tongan elder on my floor left this week to Missouri. It was so hard saying bye to him! He was awesome! We tried telling him some jokes the other night and his responses were gold. I think I said this last week, but he didn't know any English before the MTC, and here in the MTC you learn languages quick, but we're really only taught how to teach the gospel. So when we asked him why did the chicken cross the road, his response was (in a thick Tongan accent) "the chicken cross road to die! To get to his Heavenly Father and to return to his chicken family!" Oh man you guys had to have been there!!! Then some said what did one window say to the other? "He say I love you. I love you like Jesus Christ love you. Jesus Christ love all the people here. That's what he said to him." He didn't even know what a window was. I love that dude! He's gonna do great things in Missouri!

Elder Hendrix and the elders in his district.

Elder Lords and I were an hour late to class on Wednesday morning, for a completely valid reason. While we were in the showers, everyone else went ahead and left to class early. I guess that they assumed we had our keys, so they shut the door. They were wrong. We did not have keys. We did not have our keys at all. We were the only ones in the building, we didn't have phones, and we were wearing nothing but towels... Long story short, we eventually made it to class...

Elder Martin (Barcelona), Elder Hendrix (Madrid),
Elder Hammond (Argentina) and Elder Sant (Malaga, Spain)

We had our last lesson with Elias yesterday. He was such a cool dude! It was so awesome watching him progress! For our last lesson, we taught him about enduring to the end and pressing forward. And then we looked at Madrid on google maps on his ipad for half an hour. I'm gonna miss that guy!

Elder Kitchen left for the field this week! It was hard saying bye to him, but he's gonna kill it in England! I'll try attaching a picture of us... these computers are weird..

Missionaries from Gilbert Vintage Ranch Ward: Sister Lee, Elder Hendrix and Elder Kitchen

Only one P day left until I'm off to Espana! I'm so excited to get out there! I know that this gospel is true and I love it and I'm so excited to share it with the people of Madrid! Once again, thanks so much for all the love and support! I miss everyone so much!

Elder Hendrix

One more thing!! I just got my flight itinerary literally 5 minutes ago and I'm out of here on the 28th at 3:30am! 16 hours to get to Madrid! YEEEESSSS!

The paper chain with a link for each day
left in the MTC

More than halfway at the MTC

Another great week here in Provo!!

This week we signed up to host for new missionaries, which means we take them to their rooms after they get dropped off at the MTC and show them around campus and get them to their class. We got selected to host on Monday, which was weird at first cause Wednesdays are new Americans, Tuesdays are internationals, so what could Mondays be? I didn't even know missionaries arrived on Mondays? Well, we went to the hosting meeting early Monday morning to find out that new senior couples were arriving that day. Yeah. it was actually a ton of fun though! I met some pretty sweet old people! One couple I hosted for was here for their 6th mission together! Crazy! We got to see the senior missionary residence, and woah, they got it good! Their rooms are HUGE. And their building has this huge patio balcony thing and its so nice! I was way jealous! I met a couple from Gilbert! I forgot their names, but they live right by the temple...Peterson maybe? Anyway, I got to host for about 10 couples, and it was so much fun! Old people are awesome and so excited to serve :)

We had a devotional with the whole MTC on Tuesday night, and we got to hear from President Gerald Causse. He's in the presiding bishopric or something like that... His talk was great! He spoke about attributes of a BOLD missionary. A bold missionary is humble, committed, and consecrated. Man, it was inspiring. But at the very end of his talk, he said he wanted to play a song on the piano instead of having a closing him, which was weird at first, but IT WAS SO GOOD. He played an arrangement of Come, Come Ye Saints that he arranged himself, and it was amazing!!! So unexpected! There were a few really sweet key changes and it was so smooth! The way he played was just brilliant and crazy! And it totally amplified the spirit that was already in the room. It reminded me of the beauty of music and how grateful I am for it. Music can be so powerful! It made me think about how we always sing hymns to open meetings. Because they invite the spirit! And man, did he invite the spirit through his musical talent! 

President Heaton (director of all the MTC's in the world) was here this week, and I saw him in the cafeteria and introduced myself to him! It was super cool cause he pretty much has all control over MTC's. Anyway, as our brief conversation ended, he told me he would be the speaker at the Sunday night devotional and asked me if I would be willing to participate in the devotional. So I said, the MTC devotional? Yes. With all 3000 missionaries? Yes. In front of all of them? Yes. Uhh.. Ok... And then he walked away and didn't say anything else... So all I know is that I'm somehow gonna be in the devotional. I don't know if he wants me to speak or share my testimony or what. I have no idea what I've signed up for and I'm really quite scared so please pray for me! I'll report back next P day!

So one of the districts in our zone left for the field this week, which means we get a new one! So this past Wednesday, we got a new district of 8 awesome missionaries! So it was super cool welcoming them into the zone! There are 4 elders and 4 hermanas. One of the elders is from Mesa and went to Mountain View and it turns out we sang in regional choir together this year! We didn't recognize each other though. His name is Elder Walden.

There's this Tongan elder that lives on our floor now. He's going to Missouri. He's probably the funniest guy I've ever met. He has so many crazy stories about Tonga! They eat the craziest things in Tonga haha. Horse, frog, snake, you name it. He talks all about how perfect his girlfriend is back in Tonga and how they're totally gonna get married. So we asked to see a picture of her, and he showed us a picture of some sisters that he took at the Provo temple last P day!!

"Elder, that's a sister here at the MTC."

"No, my girlfriend is Tonga!"

"It says Provo Temple on the sign right there in the picture."

"No, they have Provo Temple in Tonga too."

He's such a funny guy! And he didn't know English before the MTC, which makes it even funnier!!

We are still teaching Elias, Franco, and Areli, and they're progressing so much! I love teaching! Franco asked to be baptized yesterday! Teaching lessons is super cool. The language is still coming along really well! Sometimes I forget I'm speaking Spanish! I write in my journal about every night, and sometimes I write parts in Spanish without even realizing it. It's so weird but it's so cool!

The time is starting to fly in the MTC. This past Tuesday was our halfway mark here! 17 days left! We had a little party that night and had tons of junk food, thanks to my family! I think I send a picture of the chain we made my first P day... Well that chain is halfway to the ceiling now! It's going fast! We get our flight itinerary next P day and I'm way excited! Most of the missionaries going to Europe leave the MTC really early in the morning... like 3:00. 

As always, thank you so much for all of the support!! I miss everyone so much! Have an amazing week!!!

Branch President Price (right) and Brother Nielson (left) with Elder Hendrix

Elders Hendrix, Pace and Kitchen at the MTC.  They represent Gilbert, Arizona well. 

Week 3 in the MTC

First off, shout out to my brother Hunter for the most legendary care package ever. Pretty sure I have enough skittles to last me multiple missions. Also, its pretty cool getting packages/letters to Elder Hendrix from Elder Hendrix.

Anyway, this week was awesome! We had a devotional Tuesday night, and guess who spoke?? DALLIN H. OAKS! I can testify that Elder Oaks is an apostle called of God! You can feel it the second he walks in the room! So powerful! His talk was about teaching by the spirit, and it was so good! I loved the entire talk, but one thing that really stood out to me was this quote: Without the spirit, you will not succeed. I know that this is true! The spirit is what changes lives and its so important to learn to recognize it! Devotionals are always super fun cause the speaker is always a surprise. We don't find out who is speaking until the meeting starts. After his talk, the choir sang Lead Kindly Light and the camera zoomed right on my face for a solid 10 seconds, so that's a bit scary! Did I mention that this devotional was broadcast to all the MTC's in the world? Crazy stuff!

The Spanish is coming along very well! I can express myself in the language pretty comfortably! Teaching lessons is the funnest thing ever. It's the coolest feeling to be sitting in a lesson and realizing that you're teaching the gospel in a language that you knew nothing about 2 weeks ago. The gift of tongues is amazing! I love learning this language so much! I've definitely come to know the importance of patience though. But you can achieve anything if you work for it with faith.

Investigator update! We are now teaching 3 people: Franco, Areli, and Elias. I love them and it's so cool watching them progress!! Elias has already committed to baptism! We teach each of them three times a week.

Ah, my whole district is so awesome! It's gonna suck leaving them when we all part ways after the MTC.  I miss all of you so much! Thank you so much for all the love and support! Send letters! Getting mail here is like Christmas!. Sorry for the short email! I'll try to make up for it next week :)

Te amo,

Elder Logan Hendrix

SEP28 SPA-MAD

2005 N 900 E Unit 79

Provo, UT 85602

Elders Martin and Hendrix studying at the MTC.

Elder Hendrix with part of his district.

Elder Hendrix with his district during class.

Week 2 in the MTC

Elder Hendrix (5th from left in purple tie) and his district at the MTC.

This week has been amazing!! We had our first lesson entirely in Spanish on Friday. I was way nervous, but as soon as we sat down, the spirit totally took over. It went so well! Since then, we've had six lessons with our two investigators. I love teaching so much! If there are two things I've learned this week, its 1) The gift of tongues is amazing. I could be listening to an investigator, having no idea what is being said, but then Spanish just starts rolling out of my mouth and we're able to communicate and the spirit is so there. And 2) I'm pretty sure I've learned more Spanish in a week at the MTC than I did in high school in 2 years, so that's pretty great :)

The MTC is the coolest place ever. There are thousands of missionaries that are called to serve all over the world in totally different crazy cultures. And its amazing that no matter where you serve, the gospel is the same. It's so fun talking with so many people from all over the place.

Since I didn't really have a ton of time last week, I'll talk more about my district. There's 10 elders. Four are going to Madrid (Elder Phillips, Lords, Hendrix, and Irene), four going to Malaga (Elder Sant, Smith, Howard, and Seely), and 2 going to Barcelona (Elder Martin and Winsor). I love my district so much! We have so much fun! We all have a lot in common and we just mesh really well. Everybody is super nice to each other and everyone lifts each other up and nobody is ever left out. And they all have such incredibly strong testimonies! Everyone participates in class and wants to learn! I love it! Elder Howard is the comedian of the group. For those of you that watch The Office, he's Michael Scott. It's amazing! My district plays basketball just about every day during our gym time, unless you're elder Winsor, who spends the whole hour running. He's insane! This morning he ran 76 laps on the track in like 45 minutes (7.6 miles). He was the state champ for track this past year with a 4:16 mile.

Sundays in the MTC are super cool. Sacrament meeting can be scary though, cause we don't know who the speakers will be until the branch president announces it at the start of the meeting. So everybody has to have a talk prepared for that week's topic, in case we get called on! Did I mention everything is in Spanish? We have devotionals every Sunday and Tuesday night, and they're amazing! They're usually with someone in the 70. I've heard rumor that Elder Holland will be here next month...We'll see!

The Branch president is a funny dude! President Price always has some jokes to tell, or some crazy riddles.  He's from Orem and has been here in the MTC for like 20 years. I love that guy! There are a ton of missionaries from Gilbert here! I've run into a few from school and my ward, like Elder Benesch, Elder Berrett, Elder Packer, Elder Pace, Sister Lee, and a ton more from Chandler and Higley.

The Logans:  Elder Logan Hendrix and Elder Logan
Bond, who will serve in Fiji.

Elder Nick Berrett, who will serve in Montana,
 and Elder Logan Hendrix.

I love the MTC sooooo much, but I'm so anxious to get into the field! I finally got my visa yesterday and I'm all set to go on the 28th of September! Even though the investigators here are members role playing, the spirit is still way strong and I can only imagine what the field will be like!!! 

Well everyone, thanks so much for all the support and love! I'm so happy to be here in the MTC and I'm so incredibly grateful for the opportunity that I have to go serve the people of Madrid in a few short weeks! I miss all of you so much! Mail is always the greatest thing ever, so if you'd like to, you can write me through dearelder.com, or you get mail me a letter! Hope everyone has an amazing week! 

Te Amo, Elder Hendrix

Elder Hendrix (right) With his companion Elder Irene and Kenya, an investigator.

Week 1: I'm in the MTC!

I'M ON A MISSION, WHAT THE HECK! WHERE DID TIME GO?

So the first day was crazy. We got dropped off, got our nametags, and went straight to work. My companion, Elder Irene, is from Lander, Wyoming. He's super cool and wants to work! My district has 10 elders, all going to Spain. They're all so amazing! We already have tons of inside jokes and they're so much fun. We had a devotional with the MTC president that night with all new 500ish missionaries, and it was amazing! I'm so happy to be here and I'm so excited for the next 6 weeks!

My Spanish is coming along pretty well! Having a teacher that doesn't speak English can be a bit frustrating, but I'm definitely learning to be patient. So this is our schedule just about every day: wake up, breakfast, class for 5 hours, lunch, class for 3 hours, dinner, class for 3 hours, then go to bed. The days are super long, but the teachers make the classes really fun. 

Tonight we are teaching our first lesson to an investigator named Kenya, entirely in Spanish. So that's a bit nerve-racking, but I'll report back how it goes. So I'm definitely not missing the heat! We played soccer in 60 degree weather this morning! 

Well anyway, I'm doing great and I love the MTC!! I miss all of you and appreciate all your love and support! I don't have a lot of time to email today, so hopefully next week's email is better! (My p day is Friday)

Te amo,

Elder Hendrix

Logan ran into his friend, Elder Conrad Belshe,
who will be serving in the Czech Republic.

Attached is a picture of two elders in Logan's district,
Elder Phillips and Elder Lords. "We made a chain with the
number of days left in the MTC. The yellow ones are our p days."