Hey! Okay, here's goes....
The MTC life is basically rocking. It's fun, it's hard, and most of all enriching. Seriously though, I'm absolutely in love with where I am. I don't even know what I could do more to make it more enjoyable. I'm just going to run through what I've slotted myself to talk to you about because of this silly timer.
Croatian is absolutely beautiful. Like, I thought it was going to be ugly, harsh and basically a mouthful of masochism, but it's not! Fancy that. When my teachers speak it, it sounds so pretty and I'm excited to learn more about it. My companions and I are trying to be better at praying more in the language and so are having around 6 prayers a day in it together for the practice. Loving it. We have also been teaching an "investigator" called Urosh in only Croatian. Funny thing is that he's actually an RM who went to Slovenia and so speaks very little Croatian. Ya, little peeved when we found that out. Two new investigators now - Marilena and Srgn. Starjesina Mulder and I love to speak in it, and actually last night we stayed up for like an hour and a half talking in only the language. It was great. Simple, but great. We're now trying to learn 50 words a day. We figure we'll know like 2500 words at that point if we can keep it up before we leave. Volim hrvatski zbog on je ljubav...
Dear Elder is pretty okay but I don't think it's same day. I've tried to time it and I got mom's letter on Thursday evening. Just so you know. I love the mail, and love to get it.
Care Packages. Wow. So much love. The elders are basically all jealous because of my overabundance of stuff. I've managed to parce out the gummy bears, but have been holding on to the mam mams... I actually tried to give away some cookies and gummies, but the freaking Russians just gave me twizzlers instead. Now starjesina Mulder hates me. So much sugar. We never sleep, seems like
I see a lot of people I know here. Mostly from the ward, but also from home. Saw Daniel and Adam Jacobs and Andrew Sypher and a few others. Seems like I know most of the MTC. It's great. Just like home, but basically better. (sorry mom, you've still got em on cooking and all, but that whole busy thing kind of rocks. :))
Class is going really well. It's very fast paced but I'm keeping up alright. This pilot programme rocks. Very geared towards learning how to be a good missionary, and how to learn the language. My guy teacher, Brat Morris is fantastic. He served in Serbia, and so almost speaks Croatian, but not quite. He is really funny. Totally plays the angry serb card really well. I kind of mess with him a lot though, as much as I can really. Once he was walking near us to the cafeteria, and had his hands behind his back like the angry serb he is and I just copied him all the way down the hall. I impersonate him as much as I can. So fun. Teaching is going great, and our new investigators are cool. We're being pushed really hard to commit to baptism early on, which I'm not a big fan of because I feel like people need to understand and need to really grow their testimonies before they can really be ready to make that commitment. But, the prorok says, so who am I to judge?
Gonna go through a standard day: Alarm blares at 6:15 and I wallow in self pity for 15 minutes before being good and getting up. Breakfast at 7, class at 7:30 until 10:30. Personal study. LOVE! Lunch at 11 30. Class again at 12:15 until like 3:15. Maybe then some TALL (which is their infantile way of teaching us to pronounce Croatian words well even though each letter has but one sound). Gym at which we as a zone (slovaks, czechs, slovenes, croats, and bulgarians) play either futbol or volleyball. Then some more personal study, language study, companion study, and some planning. Ya. We's be busy. I really like it, though we can't ever tell what day it is that we did things on, because it's all the same. The food, the study, the screw-around time, and ya. All the same. But we love it. Especially companion study. It's usually Starjesina Mulder, Sestra Black and I and we just go into some quiet room and talk about the gospel and our worries and fears about what we're called to do and how we're going to best do it.
Sundays, on the other hand, are quite different. We have personal study at 7 and then breakfast of like nothing at 8. Then Study and interviews by our branch presidencies until priesthood at 10ish? Priesthood is cool. Usually read out of the white handbook and then have a lesson by a member of the presidency. Feels like class, but better because we're out of that place. Ah, jeez. We're talking in the laundry room now about my mush on Starsi McClellan and how much I'm in love with him... He's my ZL and going to Slovakia and he's great. Well, you know that things never change. Still mushing all over other guys. Sheesh. Anyways, Sunday. Sacrament is cool, but way short because we have about 3.78 members in our branch so the actual sacrament takes like 6.94 seconds. But I'm rounding for math's sake... haha. Um, then more personal study and meals and stuff. Devotionals are fantastic!! Love them. We had a 70 here this time and he spoke very well about the things that we are supposed to do as missionaries. Lots of good quotes. Mostly abiout how to set good goals to become a better missionary. Talked about how we should compare ourselves to the good BoM missionaries in order to know if we are doing well. I've set aside now, at the urging of PMG, a "study journal" in order to collect my spiritual thoughts and goals. It's actually really nice. Sundays are cool, too because we get to go and walk to the temple. I see all sorts of people I know there, and it's just nice and peaceful. Gotta remember to take my camera next time though. Srsly, not a lot of time for piccis here.
After this Sunday fireside my district got to watch the Joseph Smith movie (not the Temple Square one) and it was great. It really is the best and absolute worst story I have ever heard of in my entire life. I love it. Afterwards I had something kind of weird happen to me. I was just kind of in my heart asking well, is it true? and I had that warm feeling go to every last corner of my body. Never happened to me before. So, I was excited about that and once again humbled by the power of the Holy Ghost because basically I just love it. I just thought it was so cool how it got out of my chest and all the way to everywhere. Cool, huh? Love.
My companions are great. Mulder is a philosophe and loves to debate things about the gospels. Loves to talk about all the conspiracy theories and stuff. Very interesting, and I love listening. You know me. He knows the scriptures better than anyone I have ever met. I love it. Elder Harris is confusing for us. He's not like anyone we've ever met. I've described him to myself as a 12 year old in a 10 year old's body sent to do an immortal beings work. Tricky. We are trying really hard to be accepting and loving, but he's very random and not incredibly cogent in his thought processes. But his spirit that he brings to our companionship is excellent. Very faithful. Incredibly obedient. There's a lot I can learn, I know, but I just am having a hard time believing that's true and in allowing myself to do so. Sestra Black is basically our fourth member. Really excellent sister. She is intent on every aspect of our learning and loves to understand us and the language and the lessons. She's so worried about the people of Croatia, and us. Very loving. We absolutely love her.
I love your continued support and love. I'm so excited to hear about the things you are doing. You're in my prayers and heart constantly. I will do all that I can to appreciate my time. I love you guys. gtg. Wish me luck.
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Starjesina Adamsl
I just love how Chase has such happy feet. We all knew that he was going to love the MTC...he's learning a foreign language, busy all the time and getting tons of mail from lovelies like you. Keep sending the love. I will be sending a care package every week until he leaves for Croatia, so if you want to slip something in there, just let me know. I am happy to include it.
Thank you all for your support of Elder Adams. In the hard times, you will be like guardian angels.
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