Здравствуйте Friends
and Family!!!
Week 4 in the MTC!!!
... Just like week 3. Haha This week was a little crazy though. It seems it's gone by really fast. Russian is coming along and it's getting easier to understand but it's just as hard to speak it :P. The MTC has seemed really empty lately since the group of Russian speaking missionaries before us has left now, so our group for meal times, gym times, and TALL times (a computer exercise
for the language) is really small now. But this week has been pretty relaxing for me. As mean as it may sound, my companion got really sick and it was nice. I got to stay in the room and "take care of him". I usually just ended up writing letters, reading scriptures, studying the language, but mostly taking naps. He's much better now. It was also kind of funny. The illness came from nowhere. He was out and about socializing and having fun the night before he got sick. Then really early that morning I woke up just hearing him blowing chunks in the bathroom. Haha then he slept for the next 3 days pretty much non-stop. Now he's all healed up and back to his spunky self. I don't remember if I've told you this already but my companionship of three is now two seperate companionships because we assimilated an elder who had surgery and had to stay behind. So now it's just me and Elder Fillmore. (It's weird to have to type out Elder because I'm used to saying it in Russian. I'm too lazy to figure it out now though)
In our room we decided to start a little project. There's a certain soda that I've only ever heard of
here in the MTC. It's called a Cactus Cooler. It's actually really good but since we're at the MTC and there's not much to find funny and entertaining, we blew it way out of proportion. We started building a little "Cactus Cooler Tower of Babylon" in our room. It's more of a pyramid but as of right now it's about 60 cans big. On day 5. and yes... that's the most exciting thing to have happened all week. Haha we've had plenty of devotionals and good thoughts in class and things but right now I feel kind of like the teachers and the devotional speakers are all just dangling candy infront of our faces and not letting us eat any of it. They keep saying things like, "I know you're not in the field yet, but when you are, there's so much amazing stuff for you! So just remember that while you're sitting in class studying." They keep telling us all of these things and how awesome it is and how hard it's going to be and how worthwhile it will be. So I'm getting a little antsy (however you spell that) and I really want to just head out. But... I definitely don't have the russian for that.
Thank you everyone who has been sending letters. They really are one of the highlights of the day. Even if there's not much it gives me someone to write to and let's me know that there is still a world outside of the fences of the MTC. It feels like I've been here forever now. Haha I got my first haircut today.... It really made me miss my long hair. I had been sporting a semi-accidental fohawk for the last few days. My hair happened to dry kind of up one day after I showered and it
got stuck. I could get the sides down but the top stayed up and gave me a little mohawk type thing. It was pretty cool. But I cut it today. In one month at the MTC my hair grew about an inch. So... I'll get it back soon enough. Although I think I'm required to get another right before I head into the field. Oh well. I've completely given my hair to the Lord... for now...
Yesterday turned out to be an awesome day. It was Elder Fillmore's first full day of being back from the dead and there were a few really cool things that happened. The coolest of which was taking in the spirit through osmosis during the devotional. The talk was like ten minutes long (not really, it was a full talk but the beginning of it was kind of slow and it got really good when I dropped my pen and almost got whiplash as my head bobbed backwards. In case that wasn't hint enough, I fell asleep.) but I had definitely recieved some good insights. None of which the
speaker was talking about. Haha the first thing I've been thinking about a lot lately is that everyone always says that on a mission you need to completely devote yourself to the lord and you need to give everything to him, always be selfless, lose yourself in the work, etc. etc. etc. To me, that kind of implies, suck it up and just become a robot already. But then again, people are
also always saying, be yourself, you were called here for a reason, God loves you for who YOU are, etc. etc. etc. which to me, implies that we need to be individuals. So, I've been trying to find the balance between these two. In my case in particular it's pretty important because most all of the things I like to do are not allowed at the MTC. I can't sing the songs I like, I can't play the guitar, I can't do flips, I can't breakdance, I can't play rugby, I felt pretty worried a few days ago because we had a lesson about stress relief and they had us write down ways that we used to relieve stress before the mission and everything I wrote I was not allowed to do, I'm not stressed now, but when I become stressed, I don't know what I'll do. None of it's allowed. Haha But anyways, back to the spiritual thought. I was thinking about it and I found that the person I am, (this goes for anyone) is not defined by the things I do. The things that I do are defined by who I am. So I can 100% be myself, and also 100% obey God's commandments (and mission rules). So that was a little insight on it even though I still don't feel that my concern has been completely addressed. Then the day ended really nicely with us giving all of the sisters in our District a blessing as the grandeur of the MTC dims and the workload and stress stays if not gets worse.
Well I've got laundry waiting for me right now. I love you all and wish the best for you.
До свидания
Старейшина Чен
(That's what my nametag's gonna look like.)
Elder Chun
Follow Elder Chun's mission adventures and letters home...
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Week 3
March 7, 2012
This week has gone by
really fast. I feel so old here. It's like I've been here forever even though
everything
is happenning so quickly. I
had another transfer recently. Well... not me but in my district. I was telling
the second councillor of our branch that for a pilot program this seems to be
really un-controlled. We've had a change in branch presidency, we're going to
have a change in mission presidency when we get there, I was in a threesome for
a week now, and we have an odd number in our district. Oh well, it's been fun.
Our newest acquisition has been an Elder Anderson. He was on the 12 week
program but had at and needed surgery. So his group left last week and he needs
to stay. Bummer for him. Good for us. He knows the language and can help us
out. Well that's probably the only really new thing that's happened this week.
There was a really
strange MTC ceremony that took place this last week. It was the meeting of the DAW
or DA or DO, I don't know which... It's just pronounced daw. But anyways, I was
"summoned" by an elder I didn't associate with much who was wearing a
ridiculous stuffed wizards hat. He summoned everyone into one room and we had
to be really quiet. We soon found out that this was the meeting where the older
Elders pass down the MTC hand me downs and traditional clothes before they
leave. So there were a lot of bathrobes passed down, a lot of TALL ties (TALL
is an activity we do on the computers that most people hate so they wear these
really ugly ties when we have TALL to petition against it in a way) and plenty
of other random stuff. I inherited two different... awards? I don't even know
what to call them. But I got the first and the last ones. The first was a stack
of Missionary Health Guides. They're these little bound booklets that have
guidelines about how to stay healthy and fit while in the field. I got it
because I was voted to be the most fit Elder. My responsibility that came with
the inheritance was to collect as many of these health guides as possible and
pass it on to the next fit elder. The next award I got was a rock. Probably
about a 10 pound rock. Relatively hefty. It was called the rock of the
foundation. For two reasons. 1. It was the oldest hand me down that was still
being circulated through elders at the MTC. (started in 2005) and 2. It was
given to the elder who seemed to be the most solid physically, emotionally, and
spiritually. So as dumb as it is to inherit a rock from a bunch of real life
deprived 19 and 20 year olds, I was kind of flattered. Haha
I want to let everyone
know that I really appreciate all of the letters, concerns, and prayers. I get
regular letters from my mom in which she always has some story to tell me about
how somebody mentioned me or was concerned about an injury I may or may not
have. Speaking of which. In case you couldn't guess, I didn't run out of time
last week. It just really isn't too interesting of a story and so I might as
well milk as much as I can out of it. I don't even remember what I have and
haven't told you as the truth anymore. So we'll just leave you to wonder.
There's not too much more I can add to that now though because the MTC doesn't
have much variety in activities so I can't really say that I hurt myself
anymore without just using a dumb story like, "I tripped down some
stairs" or something. I'm sure there'll be plenty of fact and fiction sent
your way once I get into the field.
So I'm 1/3 of the way
into my MTC career. Russian is coming along but it's hard. I've gotten to the
point where I can say most of what I want to say (to investigators at least,
not anywhere near saying what I want in the conversation area at all) but I
sound like a retard when I say it. All the teachers keep telling us that
listening to russians speak is extremely important to the learning process.
Then they turn around and tell us that they're by far not native speakers. So
they tell us it's important and then they tell us we can't do it. Haha it's
confusing. I really wonder how different it's going to be in the field though.
I'm sure it'll be extra different for the Ukranian Elders going russian
speaking beacuse I'm sure that Ukranians probably have some kinda accent that
traditional russian speakers don't have. We'll see how that goes. I think it's
funny though because as little native russian as I hear, I definitely know that
the elders who left yesterday and the elders who are leaving this week have
REALLY obvious accents. Especially the ones from the south. Haha the one that
spoke the best in my opinion was Elder Mora (I talked about him before) and
he's the linguistic prodigy from Costa Rica.
This week for
devotional we had Alex Boye come and talk to us. His talk was awesome. In my
opinion it was almost as inspiring as Elder Hollands. Although in very
different ways. Listening to Brother Boye was kind of like listening to a stand
up comic. He threw in all kinds of racist jokes and funny slang and things that
we don't get to hear at the MTC very often. Most of it was just funny because
of the looks on the MTC Presidency's faces behind him. He is definitely a
performer and a half. He had his friend (the modern stevie wonder) come play
background music as he gave his talk. He came down from the podium and walked throughout
the missionaries as he spoke. And the passion and emotion in his story was
phenomenal. He told us his conversion story, and about how he came to know it's
message and the influence that it's members had on his life. He told us about
how he is the product of two good sister missionaries. He told us that they
were HIS missionaries just like we are going to be someone's missionaries as
long as we work our best. He emphasised that we are endowed with power and if
we ever down talk ourselves then we are being selfish. If we put ourselves down
then we are just denying the power that is given to us. Our job as missionaries
is not to baptize and to convert people. Our job is to do our best and to bring
the spirit with us wherever we go and then we just let the spirit teach. We
also had another devotional later where one of the 70 came and basically gave
the same exact talk as Elder Holland. I thought it was kind of weird but it
reemphasized the importance of using the Book of Mormon in Missionary work. So
I have become a firm believer in the importance of the Book of Mormon in
converson.
Well I'm running out
of time so one last time I just want to tell everyone how much I appreciate
your letters, your prayers, and your love. I can definitely feel it even though
I'm so far away. :P Haha It really does feel like it though.
- Elder Chun
P.S. Tell Grandma I
love her. (She wanted me to do that earlier but I forgot until today so make
that x3)
This week has gone by
really fast. I feel so old here. It's like I've been here forever even though
everything
is happenning so quickly. I
had another transfer recently. Well... not me but in my district. I was telling
the second councillor of our branch that for a pilot program this seems to be
really un-controlled. We've had a change in branch presidency, we're going to
have a change in mission presidency when we get there, I was in a threesome for
a week now, and we have an odd number in our district. Oh well, it's been fun.
Our newest acquisition has been an Elder Anderson. He was on the 12 week
program but had at and needed surgery. So his group left last week and he needs
to stay. Bummer for him. Good for us. He knows the language and can help us
out. Well that's probably the only really new thing that's happened this week.
There was a really
strange MTC ceremony that took place this last week. It was the meeting of the DAW
or DA or DO, I don't know which... It's just pronounced daw. But anyways, I was
"summoned" by an elder I didn't associate with much who was wearing a
ridiculous stuffed wizards hat. He summoned everyone into one room and we had
to be really quiet. We soon found out that this was the meeting where the older
Elders pass down the MTC hand me downs and traditional clothes before they
leave. So there were a lot of bathrobes passed down, a lot of TALL ties (TALL
is an activity we do on the computers that most people hate so they wear these
really ugly ties when we have TALL to petition against it in a way) and plenty
of other random stuff. I inherited two different... awards? I don't even know
what to call them. But I got the first and the last ones. The first was a stack
of Missionary Health Guides. They're these little bound booklets that have
guidelines about how to stay healthy and fit while in the field. I got it
because I was voted to be the most fit Elder. My responsibility that came with
the inheritance was to collect as many of these health guides as possible and
pass it on to the next fit elder. The next award I got was a rock. Probably
about a 10 pound rock. Relatively hefty. It was called the rock of the
foundation. For two reasons. 1. It was the oldest hand me down that was still
being circulated through elders at the MTC. (started in 2005) and 2. It was
given to the elder who seemed to be the most solid physically, emotionally, and
spiritually. So as dumb as it is to inherit a rock from a bunch of real life
deprived 19 and 20 year olds, I was kind of flattered. Haha
I want to let everyone
know that I really appreciate all of the letters, concerns, and prayers. I get
regular letters from my mom in which she always has some story to tell me about
how somebody mentioned me or was concerned about an injury I may or may not
have. Speaking of which. In case you couldn't guess, I didn't run out of time
last week. It just really isn't too interesting of a story and so I might as
well milk as much as I can out of it. I don't even remember what I have and
haven't told you as the truth anymore. So we'll just leave you to wonder.
There's not too much more I can add to that now though because the MTC doesn't
have much variety in activities so I can't really say that I hurt myself
anymore without just using a dumb story like, "I tripped down some
stairs" or something. I'm sure there'll be plenty of fact and fiction sent
your way once I get into the field.
So I'm 1/3 of the way
into my MTC career. Russian is coming along but it's hard. I've gotten to the
point where I can say most of what I want to say (to investigators at least,
not anywhere near saying what I want in the conversation area at all) but I
sound like a retard when I say it. All the teachers keep telling us that
listening to russians speak is extremely important to the learning process.
Then they turn around and tell us that they're by far not native speakers. So
they tell us it's important and then they tell us we can't do it. Haha it's
confusing. I really wonder how different it's going to be in the field though.
I'm sure it'll be extra different for the Ukranian Elders going russian
speaking beacuse I'm sure that Ukranians probably have some kinda accent that
traditional russian speakers don't have. We'll see how that goes. I think it's
funny though because as little native russian as I hear, I definitely know that
the elders who left yesterday and the elders who are leaving this week have
REALLY obvious accents. Especially the ones from the south. Haha the one that
spoke the best in my opinion was Elder Mora (I talked about him before) and
he's the linguistic prodigy from Costa Rica.
This week for
devotional we had Alex Boye come and talk to us. His talk was awesome. In my
opinion it was almost as inspiring as Elder Hollands. Although in very
different ways. Listening to Brother Boye was kind of like listening to a stand
up comic. He threw in all kinds of racist jokes and funny slang and things that
we don't get to hear at the MTC very often. Most of it was just funny because
of the looks on the MTC Presidency's faces behind him. He is definitely a
performer and a half. He had his friend (the modern stevie wonder) come play
background music as he gave his talk. He came down from the podium and walked throughout
the missionaries as he spoke. And the passion and emotion in his story was
phenomenal. He told us his conversion story, and about how he came to know it's
message and the influence that it's members had on his life. He told us about
how he is the product of two good sister missionaries. He told us that they
were HIS missionaries just like we are going to be someone's missionaries as
long as we work our best. He emphasised that we are endowed with power and if
we ever down talk ourselves then we are being selfish. If we put ourselves down
then we are just denying the power that is given to us. Our job as missionaries
is not to baptize and to convert people. Our job is to do our best and to bring
the spirit with us wherever we go and then we just let the spirit teach. We
also had another devotional later where one of the 70 came and basically gave
the same exact talk as Elder Holland. I thought it was kind of weird but it
reemphasized the importance of using the Book of Mormon in Missionary work. So
I have become a firm believer in the importance of the Book of Mormon in
converson.
Well I'm running out
of time so one last time I just want to tell everyone how much I appreciate
your letters, your prayers, and your love. I can definitely feel it even though
I'm so far away. :P Haha It really does feel like it though.
- Elder Chun
P.S. Tell Grandma I
love her. (She wanted me to do that earlier but I forgot until today so make
that x3)
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Week 2
Hello everyone!
I am on week two and it feels more
like I've been here for a few months now. Mama I'll apologize in advance. I
forgot to have the letter you sent by me while I started typing this e-mail.
I'll try my best to answer the questions I remember but I can't guarantee
I'll get them all.
To start
off, DearElder.com letters are working. I've gotten one pretty regularly
since I talked about it last week. I really enjoy getting the
messages throughout the week from my family and friends. Thank you to
everyone who has sent me a message thus far and thank you for everyone else in
advance. And to all you others... *cough* ANYWAYS! I'm going to try my best to
answer all of the messages (DearElder.com or regular mail) with letters. My
companion has like 80 stamps that he's very willing to share and around 40
envelopes but I don't like to mooch so Mama could you please send me some?
Things seem
to be going really quickly now. The language is hard, but it's coming. My
companions are awesome and we have a lot of fun together. My district is
awesome and we're really good at supporting eachother. This week we actually
had a change in the branch presidency so just as I started getting used to the
reports and routines of the first branch president we got another. Luckily the
new one is the old one's councillor. Mama, you wanted to know if we hear from
any general authorities during devotionals. The answer was no until last night.
We had Elder Holland come and speak to us and it was phenomenal. He's such a
powerful speaker. He told us we as missionaries need to take better advantage
of our best converting tool, The Book of Mormon but first we need to become
converted to it ourselves. It was a great talk and we had an awesome discussion
about it afterwards as a district. He also talked a lot about how we should not
let a mission be a mission but have it become part of our lives and that we
ourselves need to become true converts of the message we carry. He talked about
how we need to live our missions now in a way that we won't regret in the
future. That reminded me of a quote I read on a navy seals picture which said,
"There's two types of pain in the world: The temporary pain of discipline
and the permanant pain of regret". I think this is a powerful statement I
want to learn to apply in my life.
Next thing,
now that we've gotten all spiritual, let me ruin it with the funniest
thing to happen to me this week. I was getting the mail as usual (which I have
to do twice a day) and I walked behind a certain elder because I had to get to
my district's mailbox which was right on the other side of him. I squatted down
to put the combination in on the locker and he turned to walk away. I don't
know if he didn't see me or what happened (P.S. I have never seen this elder
before in my life) Well he turned to leave and he let the winds loose on my
face. My companions were both standing there shocked for a little bit
wondering, "Did that honestly just happen?" I didn't see it but apparently
this elder made a surprised face himself as if he had no idea that it was going
to make noise (according to Elder Fillmore there's no way he didn't know it was
coming because of the way he "lifted his leg" to let the process of
pressure relief occur). And I, instantly held my breath as I attempted to put
the combination in to the lock on the box as quickly as possible so I could get
out of there. Haha we all started laughing really hard and the elder apologized
and shook all our hands and left beet red in the face and embarrased.
I don't
know how much else there is to report really. It's the same routine every day,
not much new happens and I think that's part of the reason why the stay here
seems to be going by so quickly. It's a good experience but I'm also far more
excited about getting out to the field. The other Elders and Sisters that were
here before us are leaving this next week and then it'll just be our district
and one other for the next few weeks until new russian speaking missionaries
come in.
I really
miss all of you and I miss doing a lot of stuff. I have just recently gotten
the motivation to really start working out again. I was just learning to do
handstand pushups before, the most I got was 5. Hahaha I'll get better eventually.
I beat the push up record which was 105 or something. I don't care to be up on
the board at all though. If someone beats 115 then I'll just try again. Haha
then pullups I'm still working on. It's weird because they have a pullup bar
outside our room but not at the gym. So most of the time when I'm at the room
I'm either tired or hustling to get somewhere else. Most I've done here so far
though is 32. Record is 35. Maybe I'll beat it, maybe I won't. I've been
sneaking away into the stairwells where people can't see me to do flips because
I miss it so much. I'm definitely going through guitar withdrawals. We had a
stress management lesson here and although I honestly don't feel stressed, I
realized that pretty much all of my stress relief methods are against the
rules. Flipping, Guitar, Rugby, and their gym sucks and they don't give us
enough time to work out for me to really kill myself in there. So... I'll just
have to deal with it some way when the time comes that I get really stressed. I
honestly don't think that'll happen here at the MTC though. The spirit here is
awesome.
I think I
answered all of the questions but one. But I'm saving that one for the end
because it seems like everyone is so interested about it (at least my family).
Oh yeah, Mama please continue to send the letters in German. They can't print
umlauts but it's good to have some kind of German in my life still. In fact if
you'd tell Omi and Opa about DearElder.com that'd be great too. I feel like I'm
going to lose all my muscles and all my German while I'm on my mission. So I'll
do whatever I can to keep those. And just in case you didn't get the tiny slip
of paper I slipped into my handwritten letter after I sealed it, my approximate
departure date is the 17th of April. My 10 week program turned into an 8 1/2
week program. Although they claim it was always 8 1/2 but they call it 9.
Now, for
the moment you've all been waiting for... The true story behind the shoulder
sling. The true part was that I was herded everywhere and that I got to the
class before anyone else then we went around and introduce
*** THE TIME LIMIT FOR THIS
ELDER/SISTER HAS EXPIRED. HE/SHE WILL BE ALLOWED TO E-MAIL FOR 30 MINUTES ON
THE 7TH OF MARCH ***
I am on week two and it feels more
like I've been here for a few months now. Mama I'll apologize in advance. I
forgot to have the letter you sent by me while I started typing this e-mail.
I'll try my best to answer the questions I remember but I can't guarantee
I'll get them all.
To start
off, DearElder.com letters are working. I've gotten one pretty regularly
since I talked about it last week. I really enjoy getting the
messages throughout the week from my family and friends. Thank you to
everyone who has sent me a message thus far and thank you for everyone else in
advance. And to all you others... *cough* ANYWAYS! I'm going to try my best to
answer all of the messages (DearElder.com or regular mail) with letters. My
companion has like 80 stamps that he's very willing to share and around 40
envelopes but I don't like to mooch so Mama could you please send me some?
Things seem
to be going really quickly now. The language is hard, but it's coming. My
companions are awesome and we have a lot of fun together. My district is
awesome and we're really good at supporting eachother. This week we actually
had a change in the branch presidency so just as I started getting used to the
reports and routines of the first branch president we got another. Luckily the
new one is the old one's councillor. Mama, you wanted to know if we hear from
any general authorities during devotionals. The answer was no until last night.
We had Elder Holland come and speak to us and it was phenomenal. He's such a
powerful speaker. He told us we as missionaries need to take better advantage
of our best converting tool, The Book of Mormon but first we need to become
converted to it ourselves. It was a great talk and we had an awesome discussion
about it afterwards as a district. He also talked a lot about how we should not
let a mission be a mission but have it become part of our lives and that we
ourselves need to become true converts of the message we carry. He talked about
how we need to live our missions now in a way that we won't regret in the
future. That reminded me of a quote I read on a navy seals picture which said,
"There's two types of pain in the world: The temporary pain of discipline
and the permanant pain of regret". I think this is a powerful statement I
want to learn to apply in my life.
Next thing,
now that we've gotten all spiritual, let me ruin it with the funniest
thing to happen to me this week. I was getting the mail as usual (which I have
to do twice a day) and I walked behind a certain elder because I had to get to
my district's mailbox which was right on the other side of him. I squatted down
to put the combination in on the locker and he turned to walk away. I don't
know if he didn't see me or what happened (P.S. I have never seen this elder
before in my life) Well he turned to leave and he let the winds loose on my
face. My companions were both standing there shocked for a little bit
wondering, "Did that honestly just happen?" I didn't see it but apparently
this elder made a surprised face himself as if he had no idea that it was going
to make noise (according to Elder Fillmore there's no way he didn't know it was
coming because of the way he "lifted his leg" to let the process of
pressure relief occur). And I, instantly held my breath as I attempted to put
the combination in to the lock on the box as quickly as possible so I could get
out of there. Haha we all started laughing really hard and the elder apologized
and shook all our hands and left beet red in the face and embarrased.
I don't
know how much else there is to report really. It's the same routine every day,
not much new happens and I think that's part of the reason why the stay here
seems to be going by so quickly. It's a good experience but I'm also far more
excited about getting out to the field. The other Elders and Sisters that were
here before us are leaving this next week and then it'll just be our district
and one other for the next few weeks until new russian speaking missionaries
come in.
I really
miss all of you and I miss doing a lot of stuff. I have just recently gotten
the motivation to really start working out again. I was just learning to do
handstand pushups before, the most I got was 5. Hahaha I'll get better eventually.
I beat the push up record which was 105 or something. I don't care to be up on
the board at all though. If someone beats 115 then I'll just try again. Haha
then pullups I'm still working on. It's weird because they have a pullup bar
outside our room but not at the gym. So most of the time when I'm at the room
I'm either tired or hustling to get somewhere else. Most I've done here so far
though is 32. Record is 35. Maybe I'll beat it, maybe I won't. I've been
sneaking away into the stairwells where people can't see me to do flips because
I miss it so much. I'm definitely going through guitar withdrawals. We had a
stress management lesson here and although I honestly don't feel stressed, I
realized that pretty much all of my stress relief methods are against the
rules. Flipping, Guitar, Rugby, and their gym sucks and they don't give us
enough time to work out for me to really kill myself in there. So... I'll just
have to deal with it some way when the time comes that I get really stressed. I
honestly don't think that'll happen here at the MTC though. The spirit here is
awesome.
I think I
answered all of the questions but one. But I'm saving that one for the end
because it seems like everyone is so interested about it (at least my family).
Oh yeah, Mama please continue to send the letters in German. They can't print
umlauts but it's good to have some kind of German in my life still. In fact if
you'd tell Omi and Opa about DearElder.com that'd be great too. I feel like I'm
going to lose all my muscles and all my German while I'm on my mission. So I'll
do whatever I can to keep those. And just in case you didn't get the tiny slip
of paper I slipped into my handwritten letter after I sealed it, my approximate
departure date is the 17th of April. My 10 week program turned into an 8 1/2
week program. Although they claim it was always 8 1/2 but they call it 9.
Now, for
the moment you've all been waiting for... The true story behind the shoulder
sling. The true part was that I was herded everywhere and that I got to the
class before anyone else then we went around and introduce
*** THE TIME LIMIT FOR THIS
ELDER/SISTER HAS EXPIRED. HE/SHE WILL BE ALLOWED TO E-MAIL FOR 30 MINUTES ON
THE 7TH OF MARCH ***
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Letter February 22, 2012
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.
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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