Hi Everyone,
I think I pass Wes today for MTC time. Yay. I really am glad though
that I get to spend extra time here though, I don't think I would be
ready to teach in just three weeks. I've heard a rumor that they are
going to change all Romantic languages to 6 week programs (Portuguese,
Spanish, French, Italian, and Romanian). I'm not sure I would like that,
but it won't affect me. I'm just glad I'm not learning Estonian, we've
done some of our teaching appointments in the Estonian room, and they
have 14 cases. Arabic only has 3, and that still messed with my head!
So, I'm writing on Valentines day. I'm not really sure how
different it is from any other day, but the fact that I haven't really
done anything yet other than go to the temple probable has skewed my
experience. I do know that there is a "tie bazaar" going down tonight
just outside of my apartment, but I don't think it was actually planned
with V-day in mind. It's been weird, first no one talked about tie
trading, and since Friday I've seen probably 6 trades go down. It's a
little disappointing to not be able to participate (what with my limited
supply and the fact that not a lot of the ones being traded are
hand-washable), but I'm really not that upset, it's weird to see people
obsessing over something as simple as a tie. When you don't get to
interact with the outside world, your priorities shift in interesting
ways. At the same time though, we really aren't that separated as you
would think. I've run into 2-3 friends who work here, and one who was
volunteering. A rumor about Lady Gaga dying ran through the MTC like
wildfire it seemed (I still have no idea if it's true or not, but I
really don't care).
French is going really well, I can more or less say the things I
want to say. I'm almost a little disappointed that I haven't really had
any sort of "Arab accent," the Elder in our district who studied Spanish
speaks with a Spanish accent, which is pretty amusing. The far bigger
issue is that often I don't know what to say. It's been really
interesting to just sit there because I don't even know what I want to
say. It's really a humbling experience I think, especially since I know I
could ramble on about a number of different topics.
I'm sleeping much better now, which has really improved things. Sunday night
I found out that one of the guys in my zone has a bunch of melatonin
pills, which apparently help with sleep or something. Yay, for never
taking biology/anatomy. Anyway, he wasn't using them so he let me try
them. They've really helped a lot, I'm still waking up during the night,
but it is only once (and very briefly) rather than 4-5 times a night.
I'm glad that's over. It was my second semester at BYU all over again, I
could just feel myself wearing down. I still don't know why it
happened, I'm a little worried it might follow me to Africa.
The Spirit is seriously so strong here. I can't even begin to list
all the times I've felt the Spirit. Literally every time we have a
lesson now, which is more than once a day now. After our Sunday
devotional we got to listen to the address Elder Bednar gave on
Christmas to the MTC about Characteristics of Christ. It was amazing,
Elder Bednar really knows the gospel. By the way, that first Tuesday
Fireside I wrote about the first time was Elders Holland and Nelson,
they rededicated five buildings and gave some really interesting
insights into the meaning and legacy of missionary work.
Also, I discovered that the building I live in is named after the
man who was the first missionary to Turkey, which is pretty awesome. May
have mentioned that last week, but it's just as cool now. I also
discovered that some missions have it worse than Benin, our Portuguese
roommates are going to Angola, which is a sub-mission right now for
Mozambique. They get no mail or packages at all. So I definitely have
something to be thankful for.
Thank you to everyone who has written me so far, it really
brightens my day to get mail (even if I don't actually get to read them
until the end of the day, you get the idea). I'll be writing responses
during laundry for everyone who's written me so far. Eventually I won't
be able to do that, so better mail in while I have time!
Thank you for the packages, now I can finally take my suit jacket
off (although I don't know why, it's mid-February and the AC is cranked
up full blast. Every time I try and change it they get mad at me). Funny
story about laundry, right now I'm wearing one of E. Bangerter's shirts.
I pulled out my long sleeved shirt this morning to go to the temple, and
decided I'd better actually iron it. Maybe a third of the way into the
ironing process, I found some brown spots on my shirt. Worried I'd just
burned my shirt (the irons here are known to be really bad), I took a
close look at it. To my surprise, I found that it was actually.....
melted chocolate! Someone left chocolate on the ironing board
apparently, and I hadn't noticed. So I washed it up and used a Tide pen
to get it off, but at that point my shirt was soaked, so I had to borrow
one. Oh the things that happen at the MTC.
Love you guys a lot, working on getting you pictures!
Elder Ethan Christensen
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