Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Christmas in the Provo MTC

Happy New Year (soon)!Christmas was pretty good here in the MTC. We got to hear from Elder Bednar and his family on Christmas Eve and Elder Holland and his wife on Christmas morning. We also got to watch Mr. Kruegar's Christmas. There were a few activities that I thought were less than enjoyable, but they sort of reminded me of a few things that Mom has us do, so it was sort of nostalgic.
The MTC gave all of the missionaries presents (through private donations, I think). All the elders got ties and all of the sisters got pearl necklaces. Everyone also got candy and a CD of MoTab singing missionary type songs. We also got the cool scripture-marking pencils/markers that have 8 colors in them. They are really nice.
So, speaking of presents, thank you for the book and the batteries. Everyone in the MTC definitely has had plenty to eat. I weighed myself after Christmas, and I put on about 3 pounds, but I've since lost 2.5, so I'm doing good.
So, we got our first kohai (new missionary) last night. He's from Brisbane, Australia and is dieing in the cold. He touched snow last night for the first time. We should get two more missionaries tonight (from Brazil and Finland) and then 36 more tomorrow. It's weird that our group will finally be the old group. It doesn't feel like we're ready, but it feels like we've been here for ages.
This past week has been really hard for me as far as the language goes. It seems that the more I know, the more frustrated I get when I can't say something. I know that I know how to say things, but my mind just can't process it. It's like having 5 gears, but no clutch, so you're stuck in first gear. You know that you can go faster in a higher gear, but you just can't shift gears. But, yesterday was a lot better, so hopefully I've overcome that wall. I'll just have to wait and see, I guess.
Thanks for all of the love and support. Have a happy New Year!