Week #1 at the MTC

My P-day is on Tuesdays, so I got to wait a whole week before we got a break. My companion is awesome, his name is Elder Smith, and his grandmother is Sister Smith from our ward. =D. So its quite a small world. We both are going to the same mission, and I know Sister Smith would love to here about this. 

I have already sent out a letter to you guys, containing my box #, and info, so that should arrive soon if it hasnt already. I do need some things, The first week here has been pretty hard and humbling. I said some things in my letter to you guys, but I will try and not repeat myself. I have learned so much, its amazing. I thought I had a decent knowledge of the gospel,I was pretty wrong haha. I have learned so much from my teachers just about the gospel that its astounding. I have awesome district mates and zone leaders, my teachers are perfect and the classes are challenging. I have never tried so hard to learn anything in my life. Its a little scary when you have to teach in espanol and all you know is hola, or gracias. We taught an "Investigator" our third day here, and have done so each day since then. Its very humbling and makes you rely on the lord and the spirit. 

Each day is about 13 hours of study and practice and 3 hours of eating and washing and 8 hours of sleeping. At the end of each day I am just so tired, but somehow each morning I'm ready to do it all again haha. The food is okay, nothing to be amazed at. Though the donuts are pretty good. What is amazing is the amount of missionaries. 

Thousands of missionaries all in one place, it is so easy to feel the spirit and love of God. Like I said i have learned so much, and one that is sticking out in my mind that i wanted to share with you guys is the definition of grace and mercy. Grace= A blessing that you dont deserve, and Mercy= Not getting a punishment you Do deserve. It gives a new perspective to reading in the scriptures whenever those words come up. Also I have learned so much about the temple. That was one thing I really wanted to learn about. Why do they do those things in the temple and what is the significance? Well I got an absolutely awesome lesson on it from one of our teachers. I wish I could tell you guys about it, but I'm hesitant to talk about it since it is the temple. However! if you study Lehis dream and Solomons temple (1st Nephi Chapter 8) and wherever solomons temple is in the OT, and layer them over each other, everything becomes clear. Lehis dream of the tree of life is excellent in showing how we progress in the temple and Solomons temple states why it is laid out. However I can share one insight with you. If you remember the brother of Jared asking for Christ to light the stones for his ships he first sees the finger of the Lord, then his Hand, then his whole body. Sound familiar?  After the trial of our faith, we see all of God when we pass through the awesome stuff, and it was only my fourth day when I learned that haha. 

I love you guys and dont worry about writing home, I look forward to it each day so you will get letters. Love you and good luck in everything!

-Tim

3 days in the Missionary Training Center now...

Well folks...it has been three days since Elder Tim Gunnell entered the MTC and began his missionary training. By now he has started to learn Spanish, has mastered the cafeteria salad and fruit bar, and has made fast friends with his roomies! We miss him like crazy. His brother wandered over today and realized just how long two years is, even though he had just gone through it. I think he saw it in a different light when you are the one left at home. It's very quiet here and we, Mom & Dad, feel very awkward in this new setting. Mom is still trying to get a job after having been out of work for 6 years while caring for Papop, and Lonnie will start at Bean on May 2nd. It's a surreal feeling; somewhat different than when Morgan went to the Philippines in 2010. When he left, we had Tim here and even Papop was still with us. Now, it's just "us", as Morgan lives at the fire department and, of course, Papop has passed away. We get ready for our move by packing now & then (which is emotionally exhausting) and we start each day with missing both of them. We anxiously await Tim's first email to us. We don't even have his box number, so writing to him is impossible. The blessing is I can email him and he will have that to read. We are also anxious to hear of his adventures so far. So for now, not much news, but as soon as I have some, here it will be.....Momma Wilcox

2 days...to Utah!!

Well, here we are! Welcome to Elder Timothy Gunnell's blog! I, his mother, will be posting pertinent info, emails of interest, pictures, and any other special words to share with all of our ward family and friends. We just had our Farewell Party for him at the church and soooo many people showed up. It truly shows us how blessed we are to be part of such a wonderful ward. We honestly feel that this ward, the leaders, have helped raise both of our boys. They are as much a part of the success of Morgan and Timothy's decisions to serve missions as those boys by themselves are. We hold all of those leaders in such high esteem and can never thank you for all of the love and care you have shown them. We love each and every one of you. So, Timothy is assigned to labor in the Monterrey East area of Mexico. This is an area close to the Texas state line. However, Monterrey East has been divided into three additional areas and, for the time being, we are not sure exactly what area he will be finally assigned to. We will know this by the time he receives his flight plans to leave to Mexico, hopefully sooner. Obviously, we will share this as soon as we know. So for now, 2 wake ups from now, we are almost ready to send him off! I will put addresses on here for you to write to him. Receiving letters are the highlight of a missionary's day, so let's keep them coming! I know two years is a long time, but he will do so well, and let's not forget him while he is busy. Until later, respectfully, I am.... Momma Wilcox, mother to Elder Timothy Gunnell