The First Week

So I arrived at the MTC last Wednesday and immediately I was almost dragged out of the car and thrown into the next building where they gave me my missionary materials. It wasn't really that violent, but for a new missionary it almost feels that way haha. We're really limited on time for emails so I'll make this kinda short, but once I get into Norway, we aren't limited as much on time so I'll be able to write a tiny bit more.

 

By the end of our first night, they already had us learning to teach people and we had learned the basics of the Norwegian language. After one week, me and my companion (his name is Elder Bekker) can already have simple conversations, pray, and contact/make appointments with people in Norwegian. It's insane how quickly they are teaching us, but more so how quickly we are learning.

 

So on a typical day in the MTC, we wake up usually between 6 and 630 and we are either in class, doing service, or in the gym by 7:00 am. We have a variety of classes throughout the day, all in one classroom, and it usually adds up to about 6-8, sometimes more, hours of classroom time per day. So it's a lot haha. But it goes pretty quickly surprisingly. The food is hit and miss most days, and the showers have mood swings like no other, but other then that they treat us pretty well hahaha.

 

The best part about being here is the firesides and devotionals. Last night, we had a devotional where one of the Second Quorom of the Seventy and his wife spoke to us. My district, which is my and my companion and two sister missionaries who are going to Norway with us, sang in the choir. Fun Fact: they are making a documentary on the MTC which will air in between sessions of conference next month and they were there filming us last night. So there's a good chance you may see me on TV! haha awesome. But the devotional was great, and they give us an hour afterwards to sit as a district and talk about things that stuck out to us during the message. Which is awesome, cause it allows us to learn so much about things we may have missed but others picked up on.

 

That's the key I think with missionary work. We go in pairs everywhere, and while it was a little odd at first to have someone going with you literally EVERYWHERE, it's so nice to have someone to back you up when you are speaking with people and to fill in the holes which I invariably leave all over the place.

 

So I have about 4 minutes left to finish this, so I'll just say that I've got a grand total of ONE letter so far! What's the dealio! haha just kidding...sorta =p But don't forget that my address is here on the blog and if you're reading this, then YES I want to hear from you. And I promise I'll try my very hardest to reply to each and every letter that gets to me.

 

So I'm off to do some laundry. Love you all and miss you and watch for next Wednesday when you can receive more words of wisdom ;)

 

Eldste Sessions.