Mom,
So, here goes nothing. First day, the missionaries who were delayed walk in late to our orientation meeting. We set up our health insurance stuff, were told about language barriers, and most importantly, were given a companion! My first companion, Elder David, is awesome. Hopefully I can get this card reader to work and you'll be able to see some pictures of him. You'll be able to pick him out, mainly because of the tag :) He's from Denver, Colorado and is a great guy. Having a companion is pretty crazy, you do everything together. But there's so much power in it. Especially when teaching.
And speaking of teaching, we've been doing a lot of it. First of all, I told you about the airport. That was pretty cool, it was fun to just kind of get our feet wet by jumping right in. The day we got to the MTC we were teaching. Our daily schedule goes something like this: wake up (this sucked the first time, because our whole room woke up about 4 hours early due to jet lag and couldn't get back to sleep); go and study with the District (funny thing I forgot to mention, I walked in to our first meeting with the president, all of the missionaries were there, and he called the leadership out from the stand. No one knew it was going to happen, he just did it. I'm currently serving as leader of the Lehi District); go and teach. And that lasts about the rest of the day.
Quick note, I have a letter on it's way to you. It probably won't be there for a while, but it has a bit more in it. Unfortunately, I really have limited time writing in emails, so I'm sure it will often just be a general one. Anyways, teaching. We have two investigators that we teach continuously, and the rest are referrals or street contacts. It's so fun, and it's soooo real. You go to this portion of the MTC called the Teaching Resource Center and knock on the door. You know all of the teachers (yeah, there are only about 80 missionaries here, I would say. It's an incredible building, and the instruction is so personal, it's amazing.), but when one answers the door they're acting like they're an investigator that they came across in real life.
It's ridiculous how good they are. I've never seen one break in character. The point is, we get a variety of responses. we've had people flat out close the door, then we have to go self evaluate why that happened within our companionship and how we could do better for all the time we had planned to teach :) We've had people invite us in just to argue with us, been insulted, had truly golden investigators, and even some strange ones. One investigator we're teaching barely speaks English and another has a fear of water :) We'll see how that one goes.
We do so much studying, it's crazy. Every moment not spent teaching or eating is spent studying. Another strange thing that's already happening is my speech is changing. It's weird. We met some Scottish Elders in the Chicago Airport that were just returning home. They were both from Las Vegas, but they sounded like they lived in Glasgow their whole life. Everything I say is blurring together, I keep slurring words then noticing I said them different. It's like an awkward American who says specific words in an English accent.
The food is great, we have an Irish Chef who sings opera to cook for us. He's hilarious. We've already had bangers and mash, and some delicious meat pasties. Oh, meal time is great. Also, we exercise every day and recently the weather has been clear so it's football with a bunch of missionaries. Not american football, real football. Tell Colin I've gained quite the reputation as a keeper. We played volleyball once, and I crushed. There was a sister who was really good, though.
Well, that's about all the time I have, I appologize, but this is the only letter I'm going to be able to write, to those who sent me anything. I just don't have enough time! I love you all, and miss you.
Love,
Elder Foster
P.S. I couldn't get the pictures to work, there aren't really card readers here.It would be very helpful to get that usb connection from home. But, don't send it to the MTC because it wont make it there in time. I'll give you my actual mission address when I recieve it on Wednesday and are transfered to my first district.
So, here goes nothing. First day, the missionaries who were delayed walk in late to our orientation meeting. We set up our health insurance stuff, were told about language barriers, and most importantly, were given a companion! My first companion, Elder David, is awesome. Hopefully I can get this card reader to work and you'll be able to see some pictures of him. You'll be able to pick him out, mainly because of the tag :) He's from Denver, Colorado and is a great guy. Having a companion is pretty crazy, you do everything together. But there's so much power in it. Especially when teaching.
And speaking of teaching, we've been doing a lot of it. First of all, I told you about the airport. That was pretty cool, it was fun to just kind of get our feet wet by jumping right in. The day we got to the MTC we were teaching. Our daily schedule goes something like this: wake up (this sucked the first time, because our whole room woke up about 4 hours early due to jet lag and couldn't get back to sleep); go and study with the District (funny thing I forgot to mention, I walked in to our first meeting with the president, all of the missionaries were there, and he called the leadership out from the stand. No one knew it was going to happen, he just did it. I'm currently serving as leader of the Lehi District); go and teach. And that lasts about the rest of the day.
Quick note, I have a letter on it's way to you. It probably won't be there for a while, but it has a bit more in it. Unfortunately, I really have limited time writing in emails, so I'm sure it will often just be a general one. Anyways, teaching. We have two investigators that we teach continuously, and the rest are referrals or street contacts. It's so fun, and it's soooo real. You go to this portion of the MTC called the Teaching Resource Center and knock on the door. You know all of the teachers (yeah, there are only about 80 missionaries here, I would say. It's an incredible building, and the instruction is so personal, it's amazing.), but when one answers the door they're acting like they're an investigator that they came across in real life.
It's ridiculous how good they are. I've never seen one break in character. The point is, we get a variety of responses. we've had people flat out close the door, then we have to go self evaluate why that happened within our companionship and how we could do better for all the time we had planned to teach :) We've had people invite us in just to argue with us, been insulted, had truly golden investigators, and even some strange ones. One investigator we're teaching barely speaks English and another has a fear of water :) We'll see how that one goes.
We do so much studying, it's crazy. Every moment not spent teaching or eating is spent studying. Another strange thing that's already happening is my speech is changing. It's weird. We met some Scottish Elders in the Chicago Airport that were just returning home. They were both from Las Vegas, but they sounded like they lived in Glasgow their whole life. Everything I say is blurring together, I keep slurring words then noticing I said them different. It's like an awkward American who says specific words in an English accent.
The food is great, we have an Irish Chef who sings opera to cook for us. He's hilarious. We've already had bangers and mash, and some delicious meat pasties. Oh, meal time is great. Also, we exercise every day and recently the weather has been clear so it's football with a bunch of missionaries. Not american football, real football. Tell Colin I've gained quite the reputation as a keeper. We played volleyball once, and I crushed. There was a sister who was really good, though.
Well, that's about all the time I have, I appologize, but this is the only letter I'm going to be able to write, to those who sent me anything. I just don't have enough time! I love you all, and miss you.
Love,
Elder Foster
P.S. I couldn't get the pictures to work, there aren't really card readers here.It would be very helpful to get that usb connection from home. But, don't send it to the MTC because it wont make it there in time. I'll give you my actual mission address when I recieve it on Wednesday and are transfered to my first district.