March 11, 2016

Hey guys things have been pretty crazy already. I didn't know what to expect from the MTC but definitely not this. So since none of my friends explained when they were in the MTC I guess I'll explain it a little. Basically you do a lot of studying from Preach my Gospel and the scriptures and stuff but you also spend a ton of time teaching people like they're investigators. Sometimes it's your own teacher, which is really weird trying to pretend they're an investigator when twenty minutes ago they were teaching you about the missionary purpose. Apparently we also teach actual non-members that volunteer to be here too. I assume the guys in charge of the MTC realize that can be really detrimental and might burn a lot of bridges since we're all new. The first night we were in groups of 100 or so teaching a person one at a time, and when this one guy was speaking he said something that implied he thought the investigator just had a made up story and we were all just practicing how to teach, but the investigator (who was abused by her dad and lost a child) got all offended and upset about that. Yeesh. That was a mess. I can't believe it's only the third day, the days seems to drag on forever. The food is okay but half the meals ended up with me having a stomach ache, and I don't even eat that much. The rooms are pretty cold at night but luckily there's a couple extra bunks so I borrowed an extra comforter from one of those. The guys I'm staying with are all going to Australia. I scored with my companion, Elder Hanley. He's from Washington, and he was converted about a year and a half ago when he was 17 but his parents kicked him out for joining the church, so he's been living out of the house for a while already. But he's super articulate and knows a lot already for being a new convert. We're really in sync and the lessons we've taught already have went really well. He's going to the Adelaide mission though. The other two Elders in my dorm are Pierce and Nemeth. They're both going to Brisbane too. Pierce is from one of the Carolinas and he was the one who was in the Deseret Book just minutes before I was when I went to get garments. Nemeth is from Duvall Washington or somewhere in the Seattle area. The sisters in my district are pretty cool too, and last night we met the branch presidency, and they're nice too. My companion was called as the district leader so that makes me his senior companion, so while he's responsible for getting the mail and giving assignments and stuff I'm the one who's supposed to make sure he's doing all of it. The branch presidency was telling us last night that I'd be able to call you from the airport when I leave the MTC. I'll have more info later since they didn't really tell us much since it was only our second day. It definitely feels different here, even though its the same church I've known since I was little it feels completely new at the MTC. It's also really hard to wake up so early and it's generally really busy all day. Okay well that's pretty much it for the last couple days so I'll email you guys later.