MTC Experiences

Okay,
So for my dad and I guess for all of you, I'll try to be more detailed since I'm not very good at this.

I don't have any of my former email contact so forward this to whoever you link and think - and whoever asks because I am not getting it sent to anyone. Thank you all for writing me. Getting the Dear Elders is super awesome. It's super nice to hear from you every day and know what's going on.

Tell the Bodily's I'm sorry I didn't see them before they left, but it's cool that they had a great time and it's amazing that the church is growing so much there. I hope I can help my area as much as that and that I can see growth there.

Learning the language is proving more difficult than I thought. I think I wen tint the MTC without a full understanding of what learning the actual language would be like. I am picking it up piece by piece but I think I could work harder. They dive you in pretty deep in the first week. The first Friday they have you teach an investigator in the language. I pretty much just read from a script I wrote out. I didn't know what I was saying. The "investigator" is actually one of our teachers, or will be in a week or two, but we don't know him yet.

Elder Porter and I are scarily alike. Not in looks, he is pretty tall and really skinny, but we do like a lot of the same things. Amazingly, he beat boxes. I think he is better than me and he thinks I am better than him. We do different things I guess, but we can get into little sessions and we get distracted pretty easily because we both do it without thinking and then join in with each other. It can be a pretty big problem when we are trying to get things done.

Ummm, I have gotten kinda an obsession with Orange Guava Passion fruit juice. I am trying to get off of it though because I think it may be giving me indigestion or something, not pleasant..... so just water for me.

I forgot my camera so I am going to have to send pictures next week unless we decide to come back and send just them, if we have some more time.

I really do love it here. I am never really bored to be honest. We have stuff every hour of every day and I just need to keep reminding myself to work hard and never stop working.

I am really bad at typing on this computer. It is bothering me.

Oh, yeah. They did a little thing asking about the General Conference choir, but most of the spots were already filled by missionaries that had been here longer. One of the people in my district did make it (he was a first tenor) and he is actually gone a lot of time. His companion just ends up being with me and Elder Porter a lot of the time so I have gotten to know him pretty well. His name is Elder Davis. I think it was a blessing that I didn't get in because he misses a lot of planning time in the morning and missing that when we first got in is super hard.

Details, details, details.

Oh yes. I get a chance to roll a lot every day in gym time. They have a field as a lot of you probably know, and also I roll pretty much anywhere on any surface when I have my workout clothes on. It cracks my back when I have no Ben Mortensen to stand on it and massage me. Aaaah, how I miss massages. It's all good though. I am doing  a lot of pull up though I miss the tree a lot. I can't do my whole routine anymore. It makes me really sad.

I miss real food, too. My stomach just does not agree with the food here. And none of it tastes real. I don't mind it. It just isn't... good.

Oooooh, I have a lot of time left. Tell me how everyone is doing. Step by step of every day.

Oh, I have something. So they have a devotional every Tuesday and Sunday night which i just amazing. I always feel the spirit really strong there. On the Sunday night devotional we had... an Elder Allen, I think. But the song/musical number before he spoke was the Joseph Smith's first vision one which is really good anyway, but the teachers sang it and it was amazing. Then he based his devotional off of it and we got to hear it like 4 times and hum and sing along. Then that night we saw the Character of Christ talk by Elder Bednar. You should all ooh it up and watch it. I think it is so amazing and inspiring. It was an MTC Christmas devotional. I really, really like that one.

[Click on this link to read the talk Elder Olmstead referenced: Character of Christ, by Elder Bednar ]

I gave my first blessing to a sister in our district who got sick with cold and a sinus infection and we found out is highly contagious, so hopefully I don't get sick, too. But that was a really cool experience and I was a little scared before but it isn't so scary now.

Sorry. I realized that was all one big mess. Have fun reading it. I'll try and do more spaces from now on. Oh, the Tuesday night devotional was the Russian Mission president that president Thomas and Angus both met and talked to. I am not going to try and write his name. I talk about Angus a lot because his mission is close to ours and the Bulgarian missionaries are in our zone. I think everyone in my district is skid of it and Angus wouldn't like it so sorry to all. It's just relevant. I said hi to some of his former companions/people he was in the mission field with. They were all pretty nice.

Um. OH! They have Spikeball here. Sorry for our Spikeball ball. Hopefully you are planning on getting a new one. It's awesome. I love the game. It is one of my passions. I will get SO good at it. Oh gosh, writing letters is so hard. We laugh way too easy. I think I have no sense of humor. Some of the older missionaries said that the further along you get the less sense of humor you have, or just the easier it is to laugh at anything, regardless of whether or not it's actually funny.

A problem I am trying to figure out is how to balance time learning the language, working on lessons, and reading my scriptures, and also knowing what scriptures I should read. I think it'll come to me but right now it is stressing me out because I always feel like I could be doing something better. So we'll see. Frisbee, kickball, spikeball, soccer, devotionals... OH. Sunday walk.

So every Sunday we go on a walk around the temple and we stay there for a bit and take pictures. It's really nice and relaxing and stress free. But one of our branch presidency actually came with us and a mixture of being tired, a little sick, taking medication, and not eating (because they do fast Sunday a week early instead of after, on General Conference weeks) he fainted. I saw him looking kind of weak and I think the spirit was telling me to watch him, but I looked away. Thankfully someone else was watching and paying attention to the spirit and caught him as he fell. He is okay now, it was just a pretty crazy experience to have a few days in. Sundays are awesome, I love them, Tuesdays too. I think the days are going to start blending together really fast now. They already are.

Umm, again with the details. I'm no good at um. What else, what else? I don't know. Just keep sending Dear Elders, that would be awesome. They are a great way to end my day. I always read them right before I go to sleep. And then I write in my journal. I'll try and start keeping up with the little things. Oh, I have one more thing to say,

THANK YOU MOM FOR THE GUMMY BEARS!!!!!!!!!

I don't know how you knew but that was a really big blessing. I was actually reminiscing the night before about the six pound bag I didn't take with me, (not that Solomon and Angus would have let me, maybe, i don't know) to the other elders and then when I got the package you told me I would get. It was heavy and BAM gummy bears. Thank you.  That was really awesome. I am enjoying, um and sharing, with the other elders. We all kinda share all the food.

You were right about the comforter mom. I should have brought it. At the MTC at least. I haven't needed it yet but I think it's going to get preeeeettty cold around here. There is snow on the mountains. It is so pretty.

Well thank you all. I love you, miss you. Say hi to everyone a Church for me.

This gospel really is true. I know this and I know I am in the right place. I can't imagine begin anywhere else right now. LOVE YOU ALL AGAIN.

Love,
Elder Olmstead