Wow this has been a busy week haha. The days are so full but the spirit in the MTC is so strong. I have 8 more weeks to go so we'll see how it goes haha.
WELCOME TO THE MTC
When we're given our nametags on the first day, we're given a bright orange sticker on them that my dad so lovingly dubbed the "dork dot". Everyone and I mean EVERYONE will say "Welcome to the MTC" all. Day. Long. You get a little sick of it and eventually you just stop saying thank you haha.
THE DISTRICT
My Thai class only had 6 people in it including me. So that's my new district haha. I was in a threesome with Elders Thaxton and Maetani. The other companionship was Elder Yang and Elder O'Bryan. We have a solo sister named Sister Aung from Myanmar. Elder O'Bryan had to go home early, unfortunately, so now I'm companions with Elder Yang. Our main teachers for the first chunk of our time here are Brother Oakes and Brother Borg. They're super friendly and helpful, they make Thai class so much fun. There's only one other group of Thai speakers in the MTC. They're 6 weeks in right now, I think. They're the Pi Thais, which basically means older Thais, which makes us the Nung Thais. They're really cool and super fun, we'll learn a lot from them.
THAISERCISE
The Thai learning classes do something really fun to learn Thai, we call it Thaisercise. It's basically learning new words and connecting them to some sort of dance/exercise. It looks ridiculous, but it's really fun. Thai is a super expressive language, because of the tones. So learning them in this way is super helpful and I always look forward to it. It also helps wake us up when things are getting a little slow haha. The best one had to be "bobababo" which means crazy. We kinda just fling our arms around and yell it, it's great haha.
FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD
The cafeteria can be very hit or miss. Sometimes it's fantastic like the chicken and waffles or Papa John's day, other times it's really not great at all. Swedish meatballs specifically stood out because they tasted like the color gray. Not great. I'm really making an effort to eat as many fruits and vegetables as I can because I have heard some horror stories about missionaries gaining 30 pounds in the MTC. No thank you. Elder Maetani is just pounding it, though. He is eating so much, it takes guts.
THAI
Let's make this perfectly clear: Thai is such a difficult language. There are so many letters to learn and rules with tones and the vowels and vowel clusters ahhhhhhh. I've been praying so hard for the gift of tongues, so I know it'll come to me. I just have to try not to get buried, because there is a lot of Thai to learn every day.
PRAMIYANBORISUD
On a more spiritual note, I have loved the spirit in here. You can feel it just about anywhere. I've really learned to enjoy personal study time and allowed myself to really get sucked into the scriptures. Even when people are sharing a thought in Tahitian, French, Thai, Russian, or English, the spirit is so strong and you can feel the power of these missionaries testimonies. The Holy Ghost must have been helping my 3s fall in basketball because up until the MTC, I'd been in the biggest shooting slump of my life haha.
FAN DIDI
Every night before bed, the Pi Thais will come into our room and each hug us individually, give us some pats on the back and say "fan didi!" which means "sweet dreams". They do this every night and it really makes us feel loved and cared about. All the other missionaries in our branch know it too so sometimes they'll come in and say it, whether they're going to Tahiti, Russia, Ukraine, or Spokane. It's really fun and it brings our branch really close together. Emotionally and physically haha.
MANNA FROM HEAVEN
We came into our residence one night to find a cereal pyramid of Tootie Fruities right in the middle of our room. More than 100 boxes of cereal. What. How. Heaven? We have a million helpings worth of cereal so if you're hungry, let me know. I have the hookups.
DEPARTURES
Elder O'Bryan had to leave early which was pretty rough, but we're happy he's doing what's best for him. Also a few districts are leaving our branch. Specifically EVERYONE WHO ISN'T THAI!! It's going to be so crazy being the only ones here for a day. But on Wednesday, we get 12 spanish speakers so we'll see how that goes.
LAST THINGS
I'm going to use this section just for some information that you may like to know
-My P Day is on Tuesday, so while I'm in the MTC, I'll be sending emails on Tuesdays
-I can't respond on any other days so it's nothing personal if I take a while to respond haha
-Thai word of the week: Bobababo, crazy
1. District mirror selfie, because we're trendy
2. The Manna from Heaven
3. District picture (left to right: me, Elder Thaxton, Elder Maetani, Elder Yang, and Elder O'Bryan)
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