Hey Everyone!

Hey everybody, welcome to my first week at the MTC.  It's been pretty fantastic and pretty exhausting at the same time.  I am accompanied with Elder Pak, who is actually from the Anaheim area.  He's Korean, he speaks his native language fluently, and he's well on his way to becoming fluent in Mandarin.  For those of you who know Seokhee Burningham, he is very very similar to Elder Pak, though Elder Pak has less of a Utah accent and passion for stylish clothes. 

 

The schedule is somewhat strict here, as I literally received a loud awakening to it after sleeping in for thirty minutes my first morning.  But the rules are great, they make complete sense for one who is striving to become the most successful missionary they can be.  It's all I can do to actually know them and not inadvertently break them.

 

Class is what takes up the majority of my time here.  Our teacher, Dong Laoshi, is superb.  He was very careful not to speak a single English word the first few days.  Our district is learning the language quickly, and we try to speak it as much as we can. 

 

Gym time is the time missionaries get to release some of their pent up energy.  Unfortunately for me, some of the Korean and Cambodian missionaries have a little too much energy.  I didn't know that one of the requirements for being a missionary was being good at basketball, because these high-energy elders wiped the floor with me the first day.  So the next gym time, I played four square, except these same Elders came over to my game and again wiped the floor with me and all the other Mandarin speaking peasants with their tyrranical reign.  I think I'll jog from now on.

 

On a more spiritual note, there is a spirit here that is unlike any other.  I have been learning these past few days that this is because my purpose and all other missionaries purpose is now God's purpose, which is to bring to pass the immortality and the eternal life of man.  When we can do the to the best of our abilities, God blesses us beyond anything we have heretofore experienced because He would do anything to accomplish His purpose.  It is up to the weak and simple things, us missionaries, to do the best we can to remain faithful and worthy enough of those blessings and power.

 

Have a great week, I love you all.

 

Elder Winters