Week one

Hello everyone!! It's crazy it's only been one week, but at the same time it feels like I've been here a month haha! The flight over was good. I met up with Elder Beckman in Pheonix and we flew together to Atlanta. There we met a HUGE group of about 20 missionaries all headed to the MTC, so that was awesome! The flight was very long, but me and Elder Beckman actually got the opportunity to talk to a group of the flight attendants about why we were out here and what we believe! Like they called us out of our seats to the back of the plane to explain, so couldn't have asked for a better plane ride to start off my mission haha! We got to England and took a bus to the MTC, which is BEAUTIFUL! We have Pres and Sis Bunker at this MTC, and they're amazing people! first day was all a blur, but it's been super great since then! My companion is Elder Orchard from St. Louis, and his flights got canceled for his way over so I actually ended up without a companion for the first two days! but he's a super awesome guy, and we're getting along just fine. The crazy miracle for the week is actually one of the most unbelievable experiences of my life! So Elder O'Conner is in my district (oh BTW I'm a district president haha) and we actually share a room too. He's an awesome guy and we've become super good friends. On the second day, however, while playing bball, he went to turn and just fell down in bit of pain complaining about his knee. Background info, Elder O'conner tore his ACL and MCL about 6 months ago and was just getting done with physical therapy. So obviously we were all a bit concerned. We got him over to the MTC, and we were sitting in a room with just me, him, Elder Orchard, and his comp Elder Siswick. We decided it'd be good to give him a priesthood blessing. Siswick annointed him and I said the blessing. In the blessing I was never really sure if I should say his knee would be better or not. And then at the very end, the words just came out, ''your knee will be ok, and you will serve this mission.'' They took him to the doctor and he said everything was in place! So that was like yay that's the end of it! But then the next day O'Conner took me aside and told me he knew something was up, and thought he needed an MRI, so we talked to Pres Bunker about it and he agreed. However, the healthcare system here makes it very hard to get appointments like that in a short amount of time, so the soonest he can go get one is't till later this week. So that left me with plenty of time to wonder why the heck I said the things I did in my blessing. I was wondering if it was actually the spirit or just me... And was so distraught about it I talked to Pres before our Sunday devo and asked if I could meet with him. I didn't, however, tell him why I wanted to meet with him, which is relevant because of what the devotional was about. He gets up there and says were gonna watch a MTC Devotional given by Elder Bednar (my favorite) from about a year ago on... How to tell if it's the Holy Ghost or just me! I was like score!! My favorite apostle is gonna tell me how I can tell if it's the spirit or me! And then Elder Bednar basically reached through the screen and slapped me in the face when he said, '' In concern to the question of whether it's the spirit or you, QUIT WORRYING ABOUT IT!! You keep being a good boy and a good girl. You honor your covenants. You keep the commandments. And then as you work in faith, the Lord will use you through his Holy Spirit.'' This hit me like a ton of bricks. Why was it my place to worry?? I had said the blessing in faith, and now it was ultimately in the Lord's hands, and I know he knows way more that I do what Elder O'Conner needs in his life right now. So that's my challenge to all you at home, just do what you know you should and the Lord will bless you and use you through your Faith! I also just need to say that the Preston temple is gorgeous!! I got to go through today and it was another miracle for this week! There's been so many other miracles in this last week that I can't put in this, but all in all I want you all to know that I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that I am supposed to be out here. The spirit I feel here is amazing, and I honestly wouldn't want to be any other place! I love you all!! :) 

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Elder Palmer