The Adjustment

Hi everyone, thanks for taking the time to read this email!

The subject of this heading, though boring, is probably the closest I'll get to accurately describing what the first week is like in the MTC.

The first day is a long day, with unpacking, name tags, referencing yourself and others in a way you never have before, keys, dorm rooms, companionships, and teaching an investigator (on the first day they have all the new missionaries learn how to love investigators by having all of us go in and talk to them. They say that they could be members acting or real investigators, but I'm pretty sure at least two of the three "investigators" we met were members.). My companion is Elder Yu, and although both his parents are Chinese, he doesn't speak any Chinese. He is very good guy and seems to be very willing to listen to whatever the spirit prompts him to do. And he likes to run! This means that I get to do a 10, 20, 30 minute jog every day for however long he wants to go. Exercise time is really fun by the way, my current favorite activity is volleyball.

In the MTC, we start out day one in classes learning our mission language. My teacher is a very nice guy, and I am really grateful that he is white because it is a lot easier for me to understand his Chinese. On day two we started teaching an investigator... in Chinese! It was basically a train wreck because I knew very little church vocab and my companion new the same small amount of church vocab in Chinese. Luckily, we are learning more and more Chinese and we are getting better at teaching. Our investigator is Chinese, and so she has an accent which makes it harder, but really is a blessing. She also has a very realistic background that I think I will face a lot in the mission field, with her not believing or understanding God. I have found that when my companion and I have the spirit when we are planning and teaching our investigator, and as we grow to love her, we are able to teach more simply and effectively. 

One of the big highlights for me, while at the MTC, is the devotionals that they have every Sunday and Tuesday. Elder Yu and I are participating in the choir for these devotionals and it is really fun to sing with the missionaries. The spirit is so strong with all those missionaries singing together. On Sunday, we watched a video by Elder Bednar called the Character of Christ. It was given in the MTC a few years ago and they recorded it and show it to us. What was crazy though was when we finished the devotional, there was Elder Bednar! He held a question and answer session with people in the audience and it was so cool. It was so cool to be so close to an apostle of the Lord. If you can find it on youtube (and I bet you can) I would highly recommend watching that video. It has changed my perspective on who Christ is, my purpose as a missionary, and the nature of the Plan of Salvation.

Well my friends I would like you to know that I have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. While I have felt the Spirit before coming here, the spirit has witnessed to me in ways that I had never experienced before coming to the MTC. I'll write to you next week!

Elder Allen

PS if you want to write, nathan.allen@myldsmail.net