Well this first week in the MTC has been... an adventure. On the first day I came here and they herded us like cattle. From one area to the next, with little orientation as we went. I was introduced to our class and was the first one there, the teacher spoke only in russian so it was pretty confusing. But then the rest of the class came (the rest of the district) and there was 4 companionships total. 2 sets of elders and 2 sets of sisters. We went around and introduced ourselves and as we talked about hobbies I said I did flips and they wanted me to demonstrate a few. I've never really done flips in full church attire before so it was pretty scary, turns out that's not what I needed to be afraid of. I threw my leg backwards to do the flip and started to jump up, but I kicked the desk behind me, so I didn't rotate all the way around. I was basically vertical in the air when I came down and hit the ground. I managed to get my head out of the way last second by throwing my arms up really quickly but I ended up dislocating my shoulder pretty badly and I've been pretty miserable ever since. They sent me to the medical place here at the MTC (still not really sure what they call it here) and I've had to wear this ridiculous sling and brace every day. I can't sleep because it hurts really badly to lay down and roll on it accidentally or something. So one night while I was up really late because of my arm I thought to myself, "Man... I miss telling BS stories to my friends and family back home."
Bahaha! I really do miss telling you ridiculous stories, the first and last parts are the only parts that are true. The MTC has been a really great experience, total russian immersion has been kinda tough but I'm getting it slowly. I started out with one companion. Elder Fillmore, but it turns out one of the elders in our district was a genius and he knew 5 different languages and he came early because he was from costa rica and couldn't change his plane ticket when the call date was changed the second time. So he was really good at russian already and got transfered and is leaving in two weeks now. So now I'm in a companionship of three with Elder Fillmore and Elder Welch. They are both great guys. It's been really fun getting to know them and to learn to teach the Gospel with them.
I've had to be pretty resourceful while here because a lot of things I used to do I can't do here anymore, especially when it comes to working out. They won't let me do hardly anything that I want to do so I've just been doing lots of pullups (I'm going to try to beat the MTC record of 35) and skills training to be able to do cool stuff (for example we can't put our feet on the wall for handstand pushups, so I'm going to try to learn to do them without the wall) Then I realized I forgot deodorant, so I've been using my shampoo as deodorant, and it's been working rather well.
The things we've been learning here are amazing. I've been surprised at all of the things that I've been taught. The spirit is amazing here and this is such a great place to learn. Most of the language study happens as we are taught lessons about how to teach in russian. We taught our first investigator (a teacher acting as an investigator) on the third day we were here, in russian. It was quite the experience. We've had the opportunity to teach him every day since then though. I feel like I'm reverse engineering the thought process of what to teach. Our purpose here is for us to invite others to come unto Christ by inviting them to have Faith in Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism, and recieving the Holy Ghost. So with that in mind, the first day we testified and asked him to read the Book of Mormon and it was hard because we're trying to speak russian. But next time we invited him to be baptized after we explained the benefits of baptism. But yesterday it all came into perspective as I realized that chronologically, the first thing they need is faith in the restoration of the gospel, and that's why it's the first lesson. I never quite understood why we chose to teach that in the first lesson. But now it's all slowly starting to make sense.
I thought it was kind of funny when I read all of the e-mails I had because they said, "I hope your P-Day isn't on Wednesday because that would be terrible, to have to wait that long" etc. etc. Well... My P-Day is on Wednesday. So I'll send and e-mail every Wednesday and Wednesday is also the day I'm allowed to send out my letters, so expect letters after that. A cool thing that they do here though is called DearElder.com They will print your e-mails and give them to a missionary the day of (depending on what time you send it). So if anyone is interested in that, I'd be more than excited to get those kinds of letters from you.
Oh yeah, one other thing. On the third day I was given the responsibility of Senior Companion and District Leader.... I was not excited at all, I thought it would just be more work, but so far it really hasn't been too hard or bad of an experience. Well I've run out of time. Sending letters is the best way to get to me because I only have half an hour on the computer to do e-mail. If you send a letter or send it via DearElder.com I can read it whenever I have free time.Thank you all for your prayers and support. I can definitely feel them as I prepare myself to become a good missionary. - Elder Chun
P.P.S. All the friends who thought they'd see me at the MTC. I haven't seen any of you yet.
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