Luke's first letter from the MTC

Date: Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 11:57 AM

First Letter

Hey, I get 30 minutes of email time... so I’ll try to make it quick.

Questions

What were your thoughts as you entered the MTC?

Hurray.

When did you meet your companion?

During class on Wednesday

How was he doing when he entered?

Class.

What can you tell us about him?

He is Aus. He's from Austria. He’s 26. Got a degree in Engineering. Worked on programming and engineering really cool safety equipment for forklifts and cars.

Were the first to your room?

Yah.

Did you get your immunization?

Yah

What all did you do on that first day?

Checked in, dropped bags off, Class, class. Done at 9:30 sleep at 10:30

How is the food?

Meh, not too bad. It can’t be that good for your body thou... heh.

Have you thought of anything that you want me to do or to send to you?

Na. Oh yes actually. Heard of Dear Elder? That cools. If I have time I’ll tell you about it.

What are your classes like?

7 elders, 3 sisters. My district. Lots of Tagalog and church stuff. Lots of class, maybe 5-6 hours of teacher class and 3 hours of other studies.

What is your schedule like?

6:30 get up, breakfast 7, uhhh class, lunch, class, dinner, study time (somewhere in there), gym time (somewhere too), back to place at 9:30, sleep at 10:30

Do you feel like you brought too much compared to others?

I do. But most people brought about the same. But on the other hand... at this rate, my shampoo will last at least a year.

Did you sleep well?

Meh.

Will you be wearing your suit every day?

Hindi (no).

Is your schedule set, or there some things that you choose?

Both.

What are your roommates like?

Just the Auz. Heh. Uh, just us.

How many are in your room?

2, but fits 4.

Have you met anyone that you know?

Yah a couple from my BYU ward. Chris H (orhgsld) (no idea) (but we would lift weights at BYU, and he was on the water polo thing with me)

Have you met anyone that will be going to your exact mission?

My companion. And others.

How many missionaries entered yesterday?

Meh. But I there is 2500 here about.

Were you one of the very first?

meh.

What all are you doing today? (Thursday)

Thursday was so long ago... (Today is Monday) same as other days like Wednesday. I think we had a meeting to meet our branch.

How busy are you compared to normal? I know you studied a lot at school and we stay pretty busy at our house.

Uh... high school? Every day is like 5 weeks. BYU? I feel like I should be about to study for our first midterms or something.

So busy.. Can’t fit slacking in... But still wish there was more time... because can’t even finish what i want to do.

Do some of the meetings feel very spiritual, like in the temple?

Sure.

I think it would be incredible to sing call to serve with thousands of missionaries at one time.

Sure.

Do you ever meet in large groups?

O-o (yes).

Do your feet hurt in your new shoes?

Nah.

Well that's all of my questions for now, but I'm sure I'll think of some more.

Hey. Elder Dickinson here. Um, ok got 12 minutes left.

Learning lots of Tagalog here. Um, my companion is pretty cool. Knows lots of nerdy things, that I would plus a ton... I mean a heap more. (I am learning lots of austral-an from him too.)

Got lots of books already, so you really didn’t need to send anymore mom. oh well. ummm

Apparently a good way to mail me is to send dearelder.com messages. It’s free while I am in the MTC (maybe Philippines too). It’s nice because I get it the same day/next day.

I get my mail from my district leader at 9:30 every night. I can only write mail on P-day, which is today, Mondays. I know I got about 5... But my companion won’t give them too me (he’s the district leader) until 9:30.

Yah, so the only mail I have received so far was this email, which (I have to get during my 30 minutes, that’s another reason why dear elder is better,) and one message that said... "Hey I am going to send you another letter soon with stuff in it. Good luck (sucka)"

Thanks. I waited all day for that. Hahaha, that was actually funny. Ummmm

What to say, what to say. A lot of the words here are similar to Spanish. Like como es ta, and kumsta both mean 'how are you'.

Good and bad, I know some words... but then i get started speaking Spanish. Meh.

Um, pretty much my day is like this (Sunday/Mondays are different) (but schedule is switched around a lot)

6:20 is our alarm.

7:/7:30 breakfast

8-11 class

11-11:30lunch

11:30-12:30gym

1-4:30 class

Dinner

6-9:30 class

10:30 sleep

One of the class times is actually study time, personal, companion, and language.

Ok well got 40 seconds...

The MTC isn’t so bad. I feel like I have been here for 3 weeks, not 3 days.

Church is great.

Ummmm bye