Where to start? I've got a lot to say... so much has happened in so little time. I've actually got a notebook filled with some bullet notes, so as a preface this email might have some poor chronological organization. Also, I technically only have an hour to write, but rumor is because it's the first p-day (mine are Mondays) we get a little extra time.
So I'll start with the flight here. 1 hour to Roma, 2 hour layover in Roma, 10hrs to Atlanta. It was incredibly boring unfortunately, and I left most of my study-able materials in my checked bag. I really missed Italia already. It may not seem so, but I will genuinely miss living in that wonderful country. I probably wont be able to come back for a long while too... I already miss hearing Italiano everywhere. When I landed in Atlanta it was really exciting. English everywhere, Americans everywhere. It was a little strange. I grabbed my luggage and had to re-check it, but it was easy. All of the airport employees were really nice, and a lot of them cracked jokes. They were all saying "Welcome to America" and stuff which was cool. When I went through customs to re-enter the country, the security guy who checked me in asked me where I was from (of course I had to explain a little) then where I was going, then where I was going after that. After a little bit I noticed that he was asking about my mission, and it turned out he was a member with 2 daughters serving currently. I got to my gate, and ran into a couple other missionaries, but only one was going to the MTC like me, the others were returning home from their missions to Utah... typical. While I was there I also grabbed a burger from 5-Guys. It was goood.
Then I flew 3.5hrs to Salt Lake, I landed about 9pm local time. By now I'm super exhausted, virtually no sleep, and still pretty stressed. I wrote in my journal for most of the flight though because I had a lot to keep up on. I landed, headed out of the airport, passed probably 6 families with banners for their sons or daughters who were returning, and Angela found me. It was funny, she said I looked all grown up. I hopped in the car with her and her husband Thomas. We chatted, they ran me to a Little Caesar's on the way home, which was good, and then to their apartment which was literally across the street from the Provo City Center Temple. Sierra was there, and her husband Zach came a bit later. We all stayed up till 1 talking. It was good fun, it was nice to be with family again like that and to catch up with each other, and to make some good ol' Ward jokes. I got to see Holden, Angela's son who's only 8 months... He did remind me a bit of Eric. Thomas gave me some good advice and encouragement that night too. The most memorable being not to drink the orange juice, because apparently it guarantees the runs.
I crashed, and slept till about 10:30, then Angela took me to Krispy Kreme on the way to the MTC. I ate probably 5, it was goood. Then I walked into the MTC...
Got my name tag. Felt great. Picked up my learning supplies, then went to a meeting with 386 brand new missionaries immediately. Felt great. We had a nice warm welcome. After that I think I went straight to class. Then I ran in to my companion, Elder Francis. But he was being escorted or "hosted" as they call it here by none other than BRADY flippin HOLLINGSWORTH! It was so crazy! We just looked at each other for a second and then dropped our stuff for a big fat hug. It was so great... He's been here for 3.5 weeks so far and is headed to Samoa speaking Samoan in about another 3. It was so cool to see him. Whenever we run into each other we chat and stuff.
Anyways Elder Francis. He's from somewhere in Utah only a half hour away, 19yo. Bout 6 foot, blonde, simple guy. So yeah Brady (sorry, ahem) Elder Hollingsworth brought me my companion haha. Elder Francis and I get along pretty well. He's got a strong testimony and stuff, but he is having a really hard time with being away from home. He's improving, and I'm doing my best to help and encourage him, but he still is having a hard time. He can't seem to just swallow it and fight the homesickness. He loses sleep, and as a result sleeps in class. He's doing better now, but he used to not eat much at all. I'm trying to help him, but I feel there is only so much I can do. Later the first night, I was informed that I was getting a second companion, making us a trio. Cool.
Elder Karthigeyan, my second companion, is 20, from Bangalore India. We went to the Provo temple to get him endowed. It was really cool. We went back to do another session today too. He (claims to) speak Hindi, Tamil, Kanada, English, Telegu, Urdu, Malayalam, and a little Punjabi. He said if he went upstairs to talk to his uncle, he'd speak one language, and then the next floor to his grandparents, he'd speak another language. He is so awesome. Very faithful, been a member his whole life. He's got half an engineering degree, used to teach Seminary for 2 years, used to be his Elder's quorum president, and he wasn't in a small ward either. Apparently there are lots of members out there, probably because there are so many people. He likes videogames like me. He said he had a motorcycle, and lost his license twice running from the cops. Apparently they don't take enforcement seriously there. He always complains about the cold, and I think it's hot here. He said he had a 3 foot rattail before his mission too. He really likes watching American sports, and said he used to stay up all night back in India watching sports. He's very good at english though, he has a pretty heavy indian accent. He started learning in school when he was about 5. All of his experience in the church has been in english too. He is also trying some american foods for the first time, like chocolate milk and burgers. He tried a hot pocket from a vending machine and quickly bought another, he liked it a lot.
(change of topic)
I thought I would be really homesick and stuff, but surprisingly I'm not. Don't get me wrong, I miss home dearly, but I'm having so much fun here and feeling the Spirit so much, it's just phenomenal. I have made so many new friends and met so many new faces. It is so cool being back in America and being surrounded by so many strong Mormon youth. It's always fun trying to explain where I'm from and stuff. People are always kinda surprised which leads to a fun discussion. Speaking of that, I have only run into 1 Italiano so far! Kind of disappointed. But when I heard him, I walked up and just started speaking to him in Italian and he was surprised and looked at me where and just said "Ma dov'e hai imparato italiano?" (where did you learn italian?) and him and I chatted together for a bit. It felt so nice to speak Italian again. I also haven't heard about any Italian-bound missionaries here, I think they go to a different MTC or something... kind of disappointing as well.
Anyways, the language.
In short, Portuguese is freaking hard. Yes, Italian helps massively with understanding (sometimes), but it does not help, in fact I would say it hinders me when I try to speak or write. Portuguese is kind of like English, on the stance that they both have really weird spelling in contrast as to how the word actually sounds. For example, errado, you would think, is pronounced "air-rah-doe." Nope. It's pronounced "ee-hah-doo." Like in English, to a non-english speaker, they would pronounce "right" as "riggit" or something, if they followed basic pronunciation rules. Portuguese has tons of little sounds and rules for how to pronounce things. The vowels each have different pronunciations according to which syllable they're in, what letters follow them, how many there are, and what specific consonants proceed or follow the vowel. And there are silent consonants and vowels left and right too.
I've learned I love the Italian language soo much. It's so simple. Every letter makes 1 sound, and there are only like 3 rules to follow besides that, and that's it.
We spend about 12 hours in class or some sort of meeting a day, I'd say. We have 2 teachers, Brother Lemperle, who is in Vocal Point, and served in Portugal, and Brother Workman who served in Mozambique (?) in Africa, also speaking portuguese. They only speak portuguese to us. It's intense. I'm often translating for my class. I'm running out of time, so I'm going to start condensing to just a quick list I think.
-Elders 65%, Sisters 35% bout
-My branch president, President Dansie is really great and reminds me of Harrison Ford.
-BYU owns everything, it's weird. Sewer plates, power panels, everything has a Y branded into it.
-The food is good, there's BYU ice cream, a flavor called Bishop's Bash (rolling my eyes)
-Roads and cars are bigger than I remember
-Pretty mountains, everything green
-Sprinkled on and off last 2 days
-Gym time is super fun, we usually play 4 square, bc the guys playing b-ball are really hardcore. We switch it up, when we get out we do pushups and stuff.
-the MTC prob has 1k mishies, and its insanely organized and coordinated.
-probably at least 12 chapels in the mtc alone
-the gym transforms -- literally transforms, like chairs out of the wall, and cameras/projectors fold out of the wall and ceiling -- into a massive conference hall.
-I saw a one dollar coin come out of a vending machine, apparently that happens all the time here in Utah, but I freaked out.
-all sorts of foreigners here, Japanese, Islanders, Chinese, Australians, Russians, etc
-An evening devotional had 4 opening songs
-Fun fact: we use a different version of the Bible in portuguese. It is actually more accurate than the king james version because it was translated directly from greek and hebrew into portuguese.
-my lips hurt real bad (no their actually really dry bc of the change of humidity i think)
-im in the choir (well so is basically the whole MTC) but the choir director is really funny and entertaining, someone told me he conducts the MoTab sometimes.
-I did in fact run into Braden Walters, an old elementary school friend, he's going to Taiwan, Mandarin speaking
Okay I think I need to call it. I loved your guys' emails, I don't think I have time to reply to all of them. I hope this suffices. I just have so much to say and so little time!
I want to sign as Stuart, but I'm actually supposed to sign as Elder Ward,
So,
Tvb,
Elder Ward
"We are here on this earth to become; not to do, but to become."
President Dansie
PS- I'll attach some photos, stay tuned for next week too
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