Week 2 MTC

Bonjour!

It's been 16 days since I arrived at the MTC and I'm really starting to get used to the schedule and missionary life. My companion and I always show up right when the doors open for every meal so we never have to wait in line. If we show up with everyone else at our district the line can literally be 20 minutes for a single chicken breast with noodles. We have developed pretty successful study habits and can teach lessons entirely in French now.

I have gotten used to wearing a white shirt and tie everywhere I go now, as well as following the schedule for the most part while still being time efficient. We have devotionals every Sunday and Tuesday, and Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve spoke at our Tuesday night devotional, which was really cool. One quote that stuck out to me was when he said he had never seen an unhappy obedient missionary, but he had seen some that were unhappy because they were lazy and not using their time or themselves to their full capacity. His wife also said something profound: "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience." Just some food for thought.

We also were able to watch a talk by Elder Bednar about Christlike attributes. He really stressed the idea of being patient and humble, and to turn outward to others instead of caring only about yourself and your own pride. He shared a very touching story about a single mother that had just lost her only daughter to a car accident. When this single mother found out that her daughter was the only one of the three girls in the car that had sustained fatal injuries, her first thought was to call the mothers of the other two to let them know their daughters were okay. I don't think many of us have the emotional or spiritual capacity to be as selfless as she was, but we should always strive for it.

On Wednesday my district got the opportunity to host the new missionaries. This means we basically welcome them to the MTC when they get dropped off and show them where their room is and where to go to class. It was nice to be someone for the anxious new guys to lean on, but I also had some fun spreading rumors about initiation ceremonies and things like that to the ones that weren't crying yet. (We don't have any sort of initiation ceremonies at the MTC).

Also we have to roleplay a lesson in French with our teacher every couple days. We are supposed to base it on the person's needs, but one night all he would tell us was that he had a great day and got to see his girlfriend (whom our district is rooting for him to marry). So we started teaching the lesson and invited him to read a scripture about sharing love with your spouse and children, and he couldn't hold it together for the rest of the lesson. Whoops.

Feel free to email me @jace.martin@myldsmail.net

Love from the MTC,

Elder Martin