Week 4

 (Sorry I'm low key yapping I didn't realize how long it was getting, but my mom also said I was too short before)

My pday is on Monday now so that's cool I guess. The first day flying in was pretty tragic. I woke up at like 2:30 to the other two elders in my room getting ready to leave, then tried to sleep but couldn't till I got ready at 4:30. Then I left on a bus , then train, then train all the way to the airport where I sat and ate until like 11:30. So that was a very long morning and it got even longer as I sat on the plane and only started to fall asleep for a second before my knee was kicked in by the snack cart, so no sleep on the plane. 

The plane ride was pretty short though and I just played black jack and watched part of the F1 movie on the guys screen in front of me because they didn't have anything for me to watch. But then we got to the airport and said hi and stuff and ate Jersey Mike's subs which was good since all I had was MTC food. Then we went to this one place where we met and then I went out to talk to people on the streets with two elders, one being Elder Lovell, who I'm related to so that's cool. That was something very different from Utah cuz I was in downtown Seattle but it was cool we got to talk to this one guy that was nice. Then we went to the mission office and then the mission home to eat and have interviews and stuff which took so long it was nice but kinda tragic. We didn't get to the hotel until like 10:30. The shower was nice but man I just wanted to actually sleep. I was up for 21 hours at that point because of the time change and didn't go to bed until probably 11:30. But it was so nice sleeping in there cuz it was a big bed.

Second day was chill, we had a meeting for a long time that was so hard to not fall asleep in and an awkward drive home with my new trainer Elder Tucker. He's pretty chill so that's nice. I unpacked a little then we went out to do contacting and two lessons which went well. They were nice people but the one guy is gonna be gone for a bit so I won't see him for a bit. Then we shopped for some food for me and I got back and there were leftovers from the last Elder which had Mac and cheese so I ate that for dinner . We have a bunk bed even though our roommates beds are both on the floor. My feet hang off the end of it and the squeaking wakes me up but it's whatever.

Third day was pretty weird. Elder Tucker went to this meeting like all day so I went on exchanges with another guy Elder Williams in his area. Oh ya by the way my area is Oak Harbour and South Whidbey. The middle of the island is where our roommates go so we gotta go like top and bottom. It's a driving mission though so that's chill. Anyways I meet up with this rando and went through his area doing contacts and stuff and most people do not answer or aren't interested. One crazy thing though is we were walking to a lesson and this guy was on the sidewalk with a messed up ebike and like super scraped up and bleeding he said he crashed going like 35 mph and had a tshirt and shorts on. So that was wild and Elder Williams was like unfazed by it and was inviting him to church like a robot, lowkey it was super weird, like my guy almost just died. But he like kinda realized I guess and offered to say a prayer for him so that was good, but super weird experience. We also had a scripture study lesson with two returning members so that was nice to just like have a discussion about that and then we got back with Elder Tucker and went to dinner with the Peakocks for Brother Peacock's birthday so that was super good we had Mexican food.

Fourth day was pretty good, had like a meeting thing, then we went out to do contacts and only did one lesson. Oh and we cleaned the church in the morning then had service at George's house and he's a dawg. He was converted like a year and a half ago and we worked out in his yard where he's got lots of animals and the main thing was filling in a trench. He was a really nice guy, asked lots of questions and it was a nice time. He told us about his trip to Cambodia to see this girl he met on mutual and proposed to while he was there. Crazy. But then we knocked a little and nothing too crazy except this angry guy. Then we played basketball with some non-members after having dinner at a member's house where we had this super good dessert. It was a fresh baked thick cookie with ice cream.

Day 5 was a nice one. We had church and me and Elder Tucker had talks haha. I think I went for 5 minutes just kinda yapping. My mom will be happy that I looked up a lot more and was kind of freestyling for most of it. Then we went out and proselyted. I never knew we went out on Sundays, but it's basically any other day cuz we're not working, we're serving. We also taught young men's class. Then we got two friends while we were out and they were cool. The second guy was one that I like started the conversation, but Elder Tucker sealed the deal cuz he's a goat.

Week 3 Leaving

 I'm finally leaving the MTC but here's some things I forgot in my last email. I gave my first blessing like forever ago, I think like my 4th day here so that was cool. Also I did endowments again so that was neat and the temple looked pretty sweet. I also got pork that day later for lunch so that was so good, it was the best day and I've had some more since but we're back to trash food again. But now I think that was everything. 

This week was pretty chill, "the days feel like weeks, and the weeks feel like days" -Elder Ogy. The end came pretty fast but I think I'm ready to go out. Probably not really ready to go out, but as ready as the MTC can make me. I met a lot of great people here with great testimonies and just great personalities. One of my favorites is Elder Hugs who I got to see every night, I have a pic with him. All of the people in my district are straight dawgs even though the girls all hated each other for a couple of days but I think they're chill now. 

I got to go to the temple for baptisms, confirmations, and initiatories and I was able to do all of those for the same 3 people so that was nice for them. I'm glad for temples so we can give everyone a chance to be with our loving Heavenly Father as they learn of Him. I'm glad to go out and help people in Washington and I hope I can show Christ's love to them. Also shout out to all my friends going out on missions and Elder Snow who I got to see!

Week 2

 I'm at the MTC now, and it's actually pretty chill.

The first day was mostly devotionals, which was kind of tragic because I was stuck in a seat with basically no leg room. The messages were really good though, so it was worth it. I also had some good food before I got there, so that helped.

The next day was pretty normal. We had a branch meeting that took a while, but it was chill because we got to meet people. The branch president's counselor was really nice, so that was cool.

We've had a lot of classes, and the mock lesson practices have actually been pretty fun. We also had a more professional mock lesson with one of the MTC teachers. It definitely didn't go as well as our Zoom one because the guy asked every hard question imaginable and genuinely yapped for over half the lesson.  We still did alright though, and we've got another one later today.

Also, one day they served pork for lunch, and it was absolutely fire. But then they stopped serving it... except yesterday they had it again, and they ran out both at lunch and dinner literally right before I got to the front of the line. That was so sad. 

Yesterday we also had a really good workshop. Before that though, my second-hour teacher left, so we have a substitute now, but she's chill.

The workshop was awesome because I found a great partner who really helped me learn. One thing the teacher said that I wrote down was,"You're leaving so many things behind at home. What are you doing if you're not giving your all to the work for these two years?" I guess I've just got to lock in and I'' do good, so that's good.

Bye bye!

Also things for people coming to the MTC:

• The food is kind of bad, but you can usually find something good. The desserts carry pretty hard.

• You'll be busy almost all the time, but you do get about an hour to go to the gym or do other exercise.

• Just lock in and do everything with the Spirit if you want to get the most out of class.

• Don't talk during class, and don't do the seminary zip.

• The campus is pretty fly.

• Be reverent everywhere so people can learn.

• Be a chiller so your district can be chillers too.

• The rooms are tragic. I'm in a room with five other guys that's about the size of a shipping container, but they're all absolute studs and adorbs. 

• They also have a whole section of the cafeteria for people with food allergies, which is pretty cool. Shoutout to the celiacs.