Week 3: One Week To Go

Slightly misleading title, but it is technically true. Only one week of MTC left!

This weeks been okay but I think I am ready to move on to the next stage, though!!

18th April (P-day)

We headed over to the temple at 7am! Good way to start the day! 

We then had to go to the clinic as Elder De León and Elder Kitimbo both had dentist appointments. I took the opportunity to have a much needed nap in the waiting room 😉 

After calling home, I thought it would be a good time to give some people on my floor Marmite… a lot of Marmite… heaps of the stuff, in fact. For some strange reason they didn’t like it! (Apart from Elder Vaihola who had had it before). I also found out that one of the Branch President Councillors’ wives used to live in Farnham in 1993! She was called Deb(bie) Burton back then if anyone remembers her.

19th April – The Americans are coming!

The American missionaries who have been doing MTC at Home until now arrived on Wednesday. We had no lessons as it was a move-in day so we just took a nap until the Americans came… which was 1400hrs… a very long nap!  Been a chill day.

I met my new companion, Elder Gessel. He’s from Rigby, Idaho and is a cool guy! I am also finally feeling fully comfortable at the MTC. 

Brief note… my emails are short versions of my journal entries as its really hard to remember what I do day- to-day. This next one is fun 🙂

20th April

“Honestly today sucked… [REDACTED!] Amen :)”

That’s the whole journal entry  What’s crazy is I don’t even remember why I was in a bad mood. Guess it wasn’t that big of a deal.

21st April

LUNCH WAS INSANE TODAY. PHENOMENAL. WE HAD CURRY AND IT WAS PROOF GOD EXISTS. ELDER KIM AND I HAD THREE BOWLS! SOOOOOO GOOOOOOD!!

Dinner was Papa John’s. One of the canteen’s only redeeming qualities.

I’ve been saying Hello to the Polynesians in their languages and they’re all pretty impressed:

“Malo e lelei” – Tongan

“Tālofa lava” – Samoan

“Bula” – Fijian

Their reactions are so over the top Someone asked if I was Maori and I just laughed. I guess my accent is just that good 🙂

22nd April

Morning class was good! We were practicing lessons and the spirit was so strong! The more I share my testimony, the stronger it gets. At least that’s how it feels. 

Lunch was a chicken burger. Very good. Some Spanish-speaking Sisters practiced teaching the Plan of Salvation in English for the first time. Its so impressive how quickly people here pick up languages. The gift of tongues is real!!

Afternoon class was about teaching lessons specifically to people’s needs. Pretty good!

We had our first Helping Others lesson (A lesson with an actor. Basically a trial run) and boy… I’M SUCH A GOOD TEACHER. nah I’m joking… kinda. I don’t know if it’s because we had a really good chat before we got into the lesson, but I was so comfortable and confident. The words just flowed. And I was flicking to relevant scriptures like a pro. I was so chuffed (that’s another English word for all you internationals)

Gym and then our branch president (basically a Bishop) visited our residence to make sure everyone was all right. I chatted with him and he’s a really good guy. Seems pretty normal and like he actually cares.

Had some spicy Korean noodles tonight that even the Latinos suffered with… regretted it pretty quickly.

23rd April – St George’s Day! 

I taught a class on how the Book of Mormon can answer questions. Used the principle in Moroni 10 that the scriptures were given through the Holy Spirit. And so I added on that and said because its given by the Holy Spirit, it’s best understood by the Holy Spirit. We can understand the words and principles, but to understand scriptures better, we have to go home, ponder, and pray.

I joined the choir! We’re doing Kazsen’s arrengment of Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise. Very strong piece.

Dinner was lush. Imagine a boiled piece of chicken that was simultaneously slimy and dry… then put it in a roll… and then drop it in a puddle. So yummy!!

Elder Flores (or flowers as I call him) and Elder Baker (my first comp… sorta) are leaving. We’re losing the big ones! They’re both such good, kind, funny men. They’ll be sorely missed! (Love you guys).

(Also, Elder Baker this is a personal message… YOU STOLE MY PEN!)

24th April

Breakfast was potatoes and ham. This is such a weird nation. Morning class was okay until someone made the error of trying to pick me up on some rules I was “breaking”. When you have limited access to reading materials you read the handbook. A lot 🙂 They left me alone after that. I hope I didn’t come across as too rude… but I was kinda surprised.

Lunch was a meatball sandwich… it sucked so bad… the food here makes me want to cry!

Afternoon class was good!

Dinner was fish and chips. Calling it ‘fish and chips’ is an act of treason. It was so bad. I think it should be considered a hate crime. It was awful. And all the Americans were saying it wasn’t too bad… which just made me sad beyond belief. These poor souls have no idea what they’re missing. It’s terribly sad.

On the way to the gym, it chucked it down! Was strangely comforting!! This past week was a bit tough and the rain really helped. Felt like home. It felt like God was patting me on the back saying, “I haven’t forgotten you”.

Been an interesting week. Lots of downs, but they genuinely made the ups way better! It’s nice finally having some English speakers on my floor… even if they are American. 

Love and miss you all!