I'm doing so good! Thursdays are my P-days so keep the emails coming por favor! In fact, if you could use DearElder.com to write me that'd be even better! They print out the emails you send to me and I get them in my mailbox that day! It's rediculous how fast the learning curve is here. I got in here just a week ago and my skills with both the language, gospel doctrine, writing in my journal, prayers, feeling the spirit.... everything here is excellerated 10 fold! I LOVE IT! So we started teaching our first "investigator" just 2 days after being here (talk about trial by fire) we literally spent the entire lesson with our faces in our spanish-english dictionary. But now I'm feeling a lot more confident in my abilities as a missionary and can speak the language a lot better.
It was fairly easy to adjust to the schedule because of going to the academy the last year and being used to being told what to do the entire day, but the biggest change I've seen is just the difference in exhaustion. It's totally a different beast here! Like I'm used to physically exherting myself practically everyday but the mental exhaustion from spending all day learning and straining yourself to speak in a foreign language is crazy! I find myself getting back to my room at9:30 wanting nothing else but to just drop dead on my bed, but then I remember that I need to write in my journal and make time for scripture study and companion prayer. Just within the past 3 weeks they expanded the MTC and now I'm on the new campus which is good and bad... This campus is so much more relaxed and fun and open, but the food.... IT'S TERRIBLE!!!! No hot meals. Breakfast is a maple bar and a bagel (every stinking day). Lunch is cold, left-over salad from the main campus. Dinner is hit and miss though... that's the only meal they really put any effort into. So now I'm defying the odds and actually slimming out at the MTC! Hahaha
Funny you mention that broadcast because I never knew the camera was on me lol... I was either taking notes or looking the other way whenever it hit my section. My companions though, they definitely knew. Me though... totally clueless. But being in that meeting was pretty sick! Granted there wasn't the big reveal that I thought there would be after the rumormill had worked its way throught the MTC, it was all just about member missionary stuff. But it's funny because in my journal I was taking notes and after the first talk I was confident that they were going to open up the technology block and let missionaries have computers so that we can invite people from our homes rather than trackting.
My companions are the greatest group of guys. We all have the same sense of humor and get along great with laughter but we definitely have our super spiritual moments too though. Their names are Elders: Midgley, Douglas, and Harper. Elder Harper is my companion and actually spent this last year at the Prep School at West Point, but doesn't plan on going back after his mission. Smart man! ;) Haha. Me and Elder Douglas are the two goofiest ones of the group and keep everybody laughing. We're also the best ones at spanish, so after seeing that we're not companions it's just proof that we are paired with our companions through real inspiration, this way we can help our campanions learn and not just have the best ones excelling. Just wait for some of the stories to come! :D
Let's see... funny story of the week? My companion and I were preparing to teach our investigator and were going to teach him about Faith and how important it is. Now in spanish the word for Faith is "fe", and I had tried to drill this into my companion's head because that would be the key phrase of the day. However, he made the mistake to think that that sounded to simple and "not spanish enough" and added an 'o' to the end of the word... "feo" in spanish means ugly. He spent an entire 45 minute discussion on Faith, telling our investigator that it's suuuuper important to be ugly! Hahahaha it was too funny to try and stop him so I just let nature take it's course :) I would look up at our investigator now and then and crack a smile and he would just wink and give me a little smile because we both knew what was going on. P.S. -- our investigator is really just an MTC teacher who was acting the role of a real life investigator he had on his mission. So there's nothing wrong with messing up like that.
Overall, I'm really enjoying my time here. I'm confident in my learning and feel like I will do well on my mission. Keep the mail coming (remember to use DearElder.com a little bit too) and CARE PACKAGES ARE ALLLLLLWAYS WELCOMED!!!! CANDY and GREEN LIFESAVER MINTS are a prized possession.
If anybody wants to know my mailing address for letters or CARRRREEEE PACKAGES, it can be found in the comment section of my last facebook post. Gracias!
- Elder Mundell
No comments:
Post a Comment