What can I say? Another week has crept, yet flown by. It was a cool one for sure! I'll just get right down to it.
Tuesday night, Elder Dale G. Renlund came to speak to us. He gave a pretty good spiel. It was pretty cool seeing an apostle though! I was in the MTC choir as usual (no skill required, so everyone comes, it's basically an organized congregational hymn each time haha) and we got to "perform" our song. Because it was an Apostle speaking, they broadcasted/recorded it for all other MTC's around the world to hear too, meaning they filmed the choir performance too. So yeah I'm super famous now. Not really, there were so many of us, unless it did a close up of me, you couldn't even tell I was there. Funny thing, a Sister from our district/class had a close-up shot happen to her. She saw herself on the big projector screens and just went totally white it was really funny.
Language is still coming along well. I'm starting to learn the different tenses of verb conjugations, it can be a bit tricky at times, but it's just a matter of practice and memorization. We recently were assigned 3 new investigators! So now we're super stressed constantly planning lessons and constantly teaching. We're teaching Ana, an inactive member, Geraldo, a guy who knows nothing, I mean nothing about religion (which isn't a bad thing), and Bruno, an RM who is struggling with some doubts. It's quite the challenge. Needless to say, they all speak Portuguese as well.
In class, when we aren't scheduled to have a teacher, but we have extra time, I help everyone with their language studies. I help them pronounce, spell, conjugate, you name it. Once again, Italian is just so helpful. The other day I read a page from PMG in Portuguese and translated it to english as my companion checked my accuracy. He said I basically did it perfectly. Understanding (at least now) isn't much of a challenge, but I'm sure it will be stupid hard when I get out to Portugal haha.
Every Wednesday, new missionaries arrive at the MTC, and this last Wed. about 300 arrived. My zone was asked to help out with a task known as "Hosting" which is where you are assigned to help the new missionaries who arrive. For example, we put on a sticker that says "Host" and we escort a missionary away from his car and family, to the different check-in and move-in procedures. It is so much fun. It is so exciting seeing the new missionaries drive in by the dozen, in their Ford F150's, their Chevy Suburbans, and all sorts of obnoxiously huge and bulky american cars (if you can't tell, I'm still not used to that yet). One missionary arrived in a massive ford truck that I've never seen before. It sat probably 5 or 6 people, then there were probably 3 brothers in the back, and, they brought their dog too. It just screamed Utah and America all over it. I also saw Aubrey Pennock (she's headed to Jacksonville Florida mission btw) get dropped off too! It was really crazy! Her uncle (who is a spitting image of Bishop Pennock) dropped her off, so I was really confused when I saw him, and because he wasn't the Pennock I knew. I got to catch up with her a bit. It was pretty sweet. She told me James Sorge is also leaving for an MTC soon, but she couldn't remember which. (could someone verify when and where he's going? it would be so sweet if he came here).
We got a total of 10 new missionaries in our zone (all brazil-bound, american, 2 elders 8 sisters). We set up a joke before they came. We got Elder Karthigeyan to pretend he didn't speak english, it was hilarious. We set it up pretty well, and then when the cat got out of the bag the new missionaries were pretty stunned, because they legitimately thought he didn't know english. Next week though, I'm going to pretend I'm Italian, along with Elder K doing the same thing. It will be tricky of course, but we'll make up some story, like my parent's were Irish or something. And I'll obviously only speak Italian around them.
Earlier this week, an announcement was made that requires sister missionaries in effected areas (those being places like South America and some Island Missions) to wear slacks instead of skirts. So now Sister Missionaries in slacks will be more common haha. The sisters in our zone pitched a fit, it was pretty funny. They released this new rule because there is a virus that threatens women in particular, and it is spread by mosquitoes, so they just want to help them cover up. The part of the announcement I liked, though, is that sunglasses are now allowed all the time for missionaries, which is cool (although I still won't use them that much, they seem a bit unprofessional).
The other day I was walking back to my dorm with my companions, and passed a group of (probably) Samoan or Polynesian elders. One of them burped, so I burped back promptly, and then we exchanged a couple more volleys of burps as we passed each other. They obviously didn't speak english, but I think it's pretty cool they offer Burpese at this MTC, although mine is definitely rusty.
In a random conversation one day in class, I mentioned the word "ratchet" in some context about needing a tool, can't remember why. One of the sister mishies looked at me really weird, and then it dawned on me -- she didn't know what a real ratchet was. I lost some faith in humanity, but it was pretty hilarious explaining to her what a real ratchet was. (mom, dad, ratchet is a slang term used to call someone that looks silly or 0"ghetto" -- commonly used by teenagers, so she only knew the word in that sense.)
Yesterday we had a choir rehearsal, and we are rehearsing a (top secret, so don't tell okay?) new primary song. It is written by Elder David A. Bednar, which is pretty cool. The MTC choir is actually going to premiere the new song, accompanied by a small group of 5 primary children (whom may or may not be Bednar's grandchildren). Also, such children's grandfather may or may not be coming to the devotional to see his own grandchildren premiere a new primary song.
(If you're lost, Elder Bednar is coming...jk no he's not...or he might be, idk. i didn't say anything)
My companions are kinda the same ol' story. Elder Karthigeyan is still all around great, still struggling a bit with the language, but working hard, and that's all that matters. However, Elder Francis is still struggling a lot. I've tried so hard to continue to encourage him. He's very lively at exercise time or meal time, but in class he doesn't share the same enthusiasm. He is going through a lot though, but we are being patient and helping him the best we can.
Anyways, I think that's it. I love all the letters I receive.
Tchau,
Elder Ward
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