Friday -
So last Friday I basically said everything that happened in the last email except for our Skype TRC with a real Filipino person. So we basically had planned to give a lesson on better recognizing the spirit and it seemed all good until we started the TRC. The main problem was the connection with the man we talked to. He would be talking and the poor connection would break up what he was saying. Maybe if it were in english we'd be able to make out what was being said, but considering it's a language we barely know, and it's choppy sounding, we could barely understand what was being said. We struggled with it, but everyone else in our district said their's went really well. We think ours might have been worse because the guy we were talking to was using his phone the whole time and stuff while everyone else used computers, we're not sure though.
Saturday -
So our first class period was a pretty basic good one. After doing our typical Book of Mormon insight sharing thing outside, we then did a mural walk activity in the T3 building. All the murals in this building are of Christ unlike the other buildings that have a mix of Biblical and Book of Mormon story murals and stuff. We did this mural study thing for around 15 minutes I'd imagine and we didn't talk to anyone the whole time. We stayed completely silent the whole time. You could really feel the spirit and it was pretty awesome.
Also near the end of our class Period our teacher Sister Atkinson told us that for our last week here at the MTC she wouldn't be teaching us because she got reassigned districts because of her BYU class schedule or something. It was kinda sad cause it had just started getting fun with her. The first few weeks she was actually kind of intimidating but these last few have been super fun. We've all got to know one another pretty well so it has been fun to kind of joke around a little. Everything became a little more laid back and enjoyable.
After all our classes on Saturday we had a whole bunch of free time like a typical Saturday night, but since the next day was fast Sunday, we didn't have to prepare any of our lessons or talks. This gave us a lot of time to do other weird stuff. So basically, we did this thing where after we ate our lunch, we then went into the sack lunch line (where they let you grab any 4 items of your choice) and we all just grabbed four sodas each. I think we got around 40 sodas. We then tried to figure out how to keep all of them cold so we could drink them later. We ended up putting all of them in an unused garbage can. We then filled it with cold water and set our fan in our room to blow on it. It kept them surprisingly cold for a little while. Later that night we had a "Spiritual Get-together" (not a party because those aren't allowed) and we just sat outside on some rocks with our district. We just talked, drank our sodas, and ate junk food that everyone's families had sent. For the record we were actually very well mannered and didn't get loud or rowdy at all. It was an enjoyable time. We decided to do it before the other 4 members of our district left to the Manila MTC (because they were going early for some reason).
Sunday -
So this was fast Sunday. It's funny because it's basically a forced fast here at the MTC since they don't serve meals all day anyways. This Sunday was pretty good overall though. It started with priesthood, then district council, then the sacrament. Testimony meeting was pretty good and it was nice to listen to a lot of the people leaving early give their testimonies and stuff.
After that, we had Mission Conference instead of lunch. It was an alright meeting. All the Members of the Mission presidency and stuff gave some short talks. One of them was about the 3 kinds of motivation: fear, reward, and love. It was a pretty good talk in my opinion and it talked about how your spiritual motivation changes over time. Usually it starts with fear (fear of consequences), then moves to reward (or the blessings you get from doing certain things), and then finally love (you do things out of pure love of God and of Jesus Christ and others).
Following mission conference we had more learning or something... I don't exactly remember, then we had Choir practice and lunch. After all of that we had our Sunday devotional. As if sitting in the awful uncomfortable gym chairs once for our mission conference wasn't enough, we were again blessed with the opportunity for our devotional. The person who gave the talk was Kelly Mills, the Administrative Director of MTCs or something. His talk mostly consisted of showing us a bunch of pictures and stories from all the MTCs in the world. It was pretty cool to see pictures of the Manila MTC, especially before we leave to go there.. and that's mostly what I got out of the devotional.
Monday -
So on Monday, the 4 of our district elders left to the Manila MTC. They're supposed to be there for 2 weeks so we hope that we get to see them again before we all leave the Manila MTC, but we've also heard rumors that the last group of missionaries that went to the Manila MTC for "two weeks" actually only ended up staying for around 5 days. So it could go either way I imagine.
During our first class we basically studied the whole time while other companionships did their role plays with our teacher. We didn't have to do it cause we completed ours on Saturday. This meant we just studied and stuff the entire time almost. During our second class with Brother Roberts we learned more about some grammar which was pretty nice.. because we seem to know a lot of words but don't structure them together as sentences very well. ALSO, he told us about all of the "Bakla" in the Philippines. So.. apparently in the Philippines you are either straight, or you completely dress up like a girl. To be gay in the Philippines means you go all out. So basically, he told us about how "mga Bakla" are all over (at least in his mission in Manila) and how one kissed his neck once and said "Papi!" and how he and his companion had to run out of there. It made all of us elders a little concerned and made the sisters laugh. He said a lot of the time they look legitimately like girls until you hear their voices. He said his Filipino companions were a lot better at distinguishing them. It's too bad that our 4 elders that left early didn't get this warning. They might be in for a huge surprise out in the field.
Tuesday -
This Tuesday, we finally got our new teacher that is replacing Sister Atkinson. She is named Sister Jeppson. She seems nice and all, but we're not all super care free and laid back like we were with Sister Atkinson, but I guess this will only go on for a few more days, so it's really no big deal.
Later we had our final Tuesday night devotional before we're gone. It was Elder Kyle S. McKay of the Seventy. He talked about a lot of things, but I would say that the main idea was that "if we don't teach by the spirit, it's not of God." It was a pretty good talk, and I feel like something that I definitely need to keep in mind. I can't just teach by my knowledge of the gospel alone, but need to rely on the spirit to guide me. He also talked a little bit about the different gifts of the spirit which was also cool. Afterword, I also had to conduct a district council about the devotional and stuff and it went pretty well I guess.
Wednesday -
This day was pretty much nothing I guess. I didn't write anything down in my planner of the events because I really don't think much happened. Apparently, during the first class we seemingly studied the whole time while other groups did role plays with our teacher, and then in our second class my companion and I did a role play with Brother Roberts. He also told us that he wouldn't be in class for Thursday, or Friday because he is running a marathon. Our last class with him will be on Saturday, which is really sad because he's the best teacher. Even people from other districts love him.. and we're the first class he's ever taught.
Thursday -
This day was kind of weird because it was a pretty basic day but we didn't have either of our normal teachers. We had Sister Jeppson in the morning and a new guy named Brother Warner at night. Also I got another package from my family which was nice. I also read some of the Book of Mormon in Tagalog which is always interesting especially with different translations of things. It's funny because when it tells the story of the Tree of Life, it calls the "iron rod" a "guide rod" in direct translation so it's kind of a different way to think about it I guess.
After we got back to a residence hall at like 9:25 we started messing around with the phones all our families had sent us. Now when I say mess around, I mean basically, they were turned off and we were acting like we were talking to fictional people. Elder Willis and I did this for a while and passed the phone back and forth to each other a couple of times. Then we burst our laughing at our foolishness. We are so deprived to entertainment, that we resorted to playing with our phones like children. That was the most fun we had in a while haha. Typically, I find joy in reading weird stories that I've never heard in the Bible, but the whole phone thing was pretty good too.
Friday -
Today we've done all the typical stuff. We did our laundry, went to the temple and then we'll have class tonight. We also have another Skype TRC with a different Filipino person. Hopefully the internet won't be as messed up this time so that we can actually see if we can communicate.
Pictures -
The first two images are of our make-shift "refrigerator". The next picture is of all our sodas.. this picture was taken after a few were already gone though. Oh also there's one of Elder Etcheverry just looking like a fool with a shoelace or something. Then there's some Filipino Melon cake. It really just tasted like crumbly cardboard with a little melon flavor, masarap. Also a toilet paper mummy we made out of Elder Stoddard from the other district because we're leaving soon and we have a bunch of excess toilet paper from the other building we did service in. The last one is a picture of me.. because I didn't have much to send really.. and I'm sure everyone just wants to see me of course. Also there are a few that need to be sent via Google Drive link.. which I think means I have to give permission.. so yeah.. Kita kits!
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