MTC - Week 5

So as you know, I had a GREAT birthday! Definitely excited to get to Brazil.

On Sunday's all missionaries are required to write a talk in their mission language (3-5 minutes).

It's completely random who gets called and guess who got called last Sunday...this Elder!  Everyone said I did well even though I was reading a script, but they did say they could understand most of what I said.  We also watched the Christmas Devotional Broadcast on Sunday. An Elder shared an experience about his first testimony in Korea. He bore his testimony and apparently said "I know that through the Hippopotamus, we are able to return to the Duck." I don't know how similar those words are to Jesus Christ and God in Korean, but at least his Ward got a kick out of it. Hopefully my first Sunday goes a little better!

Elder Quentin L. Cook came on Tuesday and talked about the blessing we will receive from our Mission President and the people we teach.  Our 3rd Apostle!  Something I learned was that when they select missionaries for their areas, they take into account if they feel the Mission President there will be a blessing for you and the people also.

I hosted an Elder from Germany going to France. (Hosting is where we stand on the curb and welcome the missionaries and show them around).  He was a pretty cool guy but there was a slight language barrier. I also ran into another Elder from Brazil, thankfully he spoke English well so we were able to have a good conversation, with help. He said Sao Paulo gets cold in the winter, he said 10 degrees Celsius which makes me wonder what they think cold is.  And apparently half the missionaries there are Americans so maybe I won't get trained by a native.

The other missionaries received their re-assignments:  My companion is going to Oklahoma City.  We also have Elders and Sisters going to Twin Falls, Independence, MO, Sacramento CA, Fresno CA, Milwaukee WI, Las Vegas West and Ft. Lauderdale, FL.  Almost everyone is going somewhere different.  Apparently after 12 weeks you are able to train incoming Elders, so I could be training the Elders in my district when they arrive.

We had in-field orientation yesterday. about 9.5 hours of class. Sitting and teaching. It was a long day. They kept you interacted which was good but it still felt really long, especially when you are counting down the seconds till dinner. They focused a lot on how members and the missionaries work together and also goal setting.