Week 1: MTC Life

Greetings from the Provo MTC. This past week has been an adventure! The MTC has been awesome so far! 

Arriving at the MTC and Saying the last good byes

It's legit!

The Chinese is ridiculous though. When I unloaded my stuff on my first day and walked to the classroom, the teacher immediately started speaking Chinese to me like I knew what she was saying!! During Chinese class, it is all learning by immersion. My teacher hasn't spoken a word of English my whole stay so far. My first few days, I was so lost in class! I am one of the two missionaries in my district who has no Chinese background or experience, so, starting from scratch, I feel sooo behind everyone else with the language. It's Monday now, my sixth day at the MTC, so I feel a little better about it. But all I know how to do right now is introduce myself, bear my testimony, and pray in Chinese... so I have a lot of work to do! And learning Chinese is 20 times harder than anything I've ever done in 12 years of schooling. And we taught our first "investigator" in Chinese our second day at the MTC! I was so shocked that they were making us do that. It was kind of discouraging not understanding a word of what our "investigator," Aiden, said. And I don't feel like I'm progressing with the language, so it gets frustrating. But for now I am just taking it one day at a time and relying on the Lord to help me learn Chinese and help me get through.

I am enjoying the limitless food at the MTC though! I'm going to gain so much weight by the end of my 9 week stay here at the MTC... it's awesome.

One blessing I've already received is how awesome my district and companions (i'm in a "tri-panionship" - three elders) are. I love hanging out with the elders and sisters in my district. We all make each other laugh and have a blast together.

The "tri-panionship" They're the best! The tall one is already pretty good at Chinese...so I bug him with all Chinese questions, haha. My companions' names are Elder Smith and Elder Scott.

The other companionship. The missionary on the left (Elder Leon) is the other elder who was like me...he knew no Chinese. But he speaks English, French, and Spanish! So we like to speak Spanish to each other. 

Our district in front of the Provo temple!

Sunday was definitely my favorite day at the MTC so far. Probably because I took a break from being constantly stressed out about learning Chinese, and focused more on searching for and feeling the spirit. Sunday afternoon, we had sacrament meeting (in Chinese, of course) a temple walk, and we went to the MTC choir practice (Mama will be so proud! haha). It was fun, and the choir director is hilarious. My favorite part about Sunday was the devotionals. The special musical number especially touched me. It was a beautiful arrangement of "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" that one of the sisters at the MTC arranged and one of the elders sang.

The Provo temple is beautiful!

We also had the opportunity to listen to a previously delivered MTC devotional (given a few years ago) by David A. Bednar entitled "Character of Christ." He talked about how the character of Christ is turning outward to serve, help, and uplift others instead of turning inward to satisfy the natural man. Bednar pulled many wonderful examples from the scriptures of Christ turning outwards to help others in need with love, even when He himself was enduring through much greater pain and afflictions. From that devotional we listened to, I received so many answers to questions I had about the gospel, strengthening my testimony, and how turning outwards in service allows me to find "strength beyond my own." Bednar's MTC devotional also reminded me a lot of his talk "Converted to the Lord," which is the talk I based my farewell talk on.

Elder Holt

Hong Zhanglao

"Knowing that the gospel is true is the essence of a testimony. Consistently being true to the gospel is the essence of conversion. We should know the gospel is true and be true to the gospel."

-Bednar

MTC selfies while waiting on laundry