Letter of October 21, 2008

Dear Family,
The MTC is not really what I expected. The spirit here is akin to the temple. I can feel the spirit at all times in all places. We are given power to learn and study we didn't have before. Time seems to have been slowed down to increase the amount of knowledge we can take in. It feels as if I have been here for months. Yet I haven't even been here a full week yet. Time doesn't seem to go slow though. Let me just say this, in the MTC time really doesn't exist. This really is a place for the Lord's Priesthood army to assemble and learn.
The power of the spirit is intense. To listen to hundreds of missionaries sing with the spirit is an unequaled experience. In a week I feel I have grown more than the last few years. We as elders are a rock that has been cut out of the mountain without hands. We are an unstoppable power. All of us are numbered among the noble and great ones. That I know for a surity. By all of us I mean everyone in the Church and many in the rest of the world. This is not my doctrine, it is one of the things I have learned here.
Do not doubt yourself. You all are the greatest spirits to ever walk this earth. Your potential is huge. Any one of you could be the means of bringing entire nations unto Christ. Never underestimate your ability. Abanadi though he brought one soul unto Christ, that one soul was the reason and lineage of the next half of the Book of Mormon. Alma brought hundreds into the gospel and was the father of Alma the Younger, who was the father of Helaman, who was the father of Helaman, who was the father of Nephi, the father of Nephi the Apostle. Knowing this and what each of these prophets did, Abinadi's diligence and faith eventually led to the salvation of millions of souls. He brought one soul unto Christ during his ministry, but his example, diligence and faith are everlasting.
I urge you to even now let everyone you know who you know you are and who is your Protector, Savior and Redeemer. You have the most important message on this earth. The Gospel is the most important thing there is other than your family. The knowledge and truth you have is what men have fought, lived and died for for many hundreds of years. What you have to say may very well be the words that eventually bring some soul or many souls eternal incomprehensible joy. You could literally save a life. For that is what I am doing, saving spiritual lives even as they are dying from an eternal death. Like the sons of Mosiah, I can't bear the thought that any soul should perish (Mosiah 28:3). I love you all very much.

Love,
Elder Skiles