Thursday, February 19, 2009

Week Two at the MTC

Family,
Thanks for the emails mom and dad! anyone from the family can email but I can just respond with one email so the siblings can email me if they want I will just have to respond with one giant email or snail mail!

Well another week down at the mtc! I decided to try and format this email a little differently so it won't be so scattered!

Friday- Got to go and teach volunteers with people in my district. We did companion exchanges and I got stuck with 2 of the shyer elders. It was really good because I really had to force myself to teache everything I could becuase they weren't of much use. It was good to have to puch myself. Started to Read the Book of Mormon on Friday from the very start and I hope to get it done soon! I am already in Alma! I really want to find lots of useful scriptures for teaching!

Saturday- Saturday was valentines day! thanks for the cookies mom! Everyone loved them!! fresh cookies were great!Went the the Referel Center where we talk to various real investigators who call in to order free bibles, videos and Book of Mormons. I got to talk to some kid who wanted to know if I was a black man and another funny older gentlemen who wanted to discuss rock drilling with me! I got a letter from G&G T so the dearelder thing did work properly! that is about it for saturday.

Sunday- Well as Zone Leaders Elder Sizemore and I got stuck in meetings all day! from 7:30 am to 3:00pm and by the time all my meetings were over it was time to study for an hour, eat dinner and go to a fireside all night. So a really hectic day but a lot of fun! Elder Sizemore and I set a goal to meet all the elders in our zone and get to know them better! The Fireside was good! my district showed up 1.5 hours early and were the very first missionaries to arrive! haha A brother Price from the seventy spoke. It was really good! In the evening we watched legacy....it was different, not really a great movie in but oh well we had a good evening!

Monday- Monday was really boring! almost nothing happened. I just sat arounhd and studied all day long! During gym I ran with an Elder Burstall who is in my zone. He is going to Fresno and was a really interesting elder to talk to. We had a lot in common.

Tuesday- Got to teach volunteers again. I did exchanges again and taught with Elder Blanchard! he is a really cool elder and we did an amazing job! definitely my best teaching yet! Every tuesday night is devotional night so we showed up 1.25 hours early so that we could get seats with leg room. it fills up fast! if you show up 10 minutes before it begins you will be sitting to far away to see auditorium where the devotional is being held. They never bother to tell you who is going to be speaking until like 5 minutes or less before it starts so it is always a surprise and normally just someone from the MTC Presidency or a member of the seventy. About 15 minutes before they begin they have all the elders just sing and after a few hymns the Choirister got to the microphone and said "Normally we don't stand to sing the hymns of zion but we do stand for an apostle of the lord, I'm not saying that their is one here but if you see one wandering around you should stand" after that elder ballard waked in which was wonderful!!! since we showed up early we had amazing seats. Elder Ballards talk was amazing! My district couldn't take notes fast enough!! afterwords we had a devotional review where the 7 elders in my distric got to talk about what we learned. It was good to see what we had missed while we had been writing down other stuff. then Elder sizemore and I went off to more meetings.

Wednesday- Today was good! the morning was just a regular day at the MTC but in the evening Elder Sizemore and I got to go and talk to the new Elders in our zone. It was a lot of fun! we told them all the rules and then took them on a big tour of the MTC! it is amazing to see how much we knew after only 2 weeks! even the new elders were amazed at how much we knew for such a short time! it was a lot of fun!

Other- Well Elder Sizemore and I still haven't gotten our visas. The Jamaican constable is being really really slow. On Friday we will know whether we leave on monday or if we get thrown into missoinary limbo until our visas arrive! our mission president is trying to get us out on monday! I will let you know when I know more! In my zone there are 5 districts, 3 english, one romanian and one american sign language. they are going to Fresno, Jamaica, Missouri and Romania. I have tried really hard to get to know my zone and have made some really good friends! I have especially tried to be friends with those who are struggaling or just don't fit in. During Gym period a lot of the ones that don't fit in go and run on the track instead of play basketball. I have been going and finding them and then running with them and getting to know them/be their friend. It is going really well and a lot of them are really cool elders! even if they are a bit different.

Mom will you make sure that I have at least $200 on my Debit card. I will need it for back up cash during travel and possibly a bike. The MTC is going very well! I am having a wonderful experience and love it! Thanks for your wonderful sense of humor dad I liked your email! haha I always talk to people in my district with strange science fiction garble and it is a lot of fun. Thanks mom for giving me and update on the dog and for the stories! I have been trying really hard to be as obedient as possible and to be as charitable to my fellow elders as possible! I hope everything is going great at home! I sent some pictures in the mail I hope you get them soon!

Joseph (and laura if you plan on going on a mission!) make sure to study your scriptures as much as you can! it will really help a ton! those who know their scripture mastery really well do an amazing job in teaching! pay attention in seminary and memorize where the scripture masteries are/what they are about!

Well I am out of time and don't have time to go back and edit! so hopefully it is readable!I don't have much else to say!! haha I love you all and hope that everything at home is going great!!! Say hi for me to all the relatives that are around!!

-Elder K Talbert!

No comments:

Post a Comment