Week One in the MTC

This week flew by so fast. The first couple of days were rough, but every day things get way better. People say "just make it to the first Sunday, and then things fly". I see what they mean! But really things here aren't as rigorous as some people make it out to be, or at least not yet. The learning started almost immediately after I got dropped off. We went to a few orientation meetings, met our companions, unpacked, and then we met 3 mock investigators, and interacted with them. All on the first day!!

My companion is great. His name is Elder Padilla, and he is from Pennsylvania. He knows a lot about fashion and watches because he used to work at Fossil. He is a hard working elder. My whole district is cool. We are all about the same age. We are one of the few districts with no sisters. Our DL is named elder Matua. All of our church leaders here are very caring. Maybe the most caring leaders get called to the MTC because we miss the love of our family. The food here is also really good. It is much like the BYU cafeteria. It is all you can eat. I sent a few pictures.

The language classes feel a lot like Startalk. They try to immerse you as much as possible, and the teachers barely speak english. So a lot of the time it's like a game of cherades. On just the second day, we taught a mock investigator that only knew Chinese. As you can imagine, we couldn't say that much, and it was very awkward. But that is how they teach the language in 8 weeks. I thought I would have a head start because of my past Chinese experience, but everyone else in the class also has experience, so we are about even. Right now we are learning about how to pray, bear testimony, and say the missionary purpose in Chinese. This week was conference week, so we got a break from class to watch conference. I should have taken better notes. There was a great talk that stood out to me about moderation in all things, with an emphasis on the internet. He kind of called out BYU students about "anonymous Yacking" (It's an app). Another talk I enjoyed was by Todd D. Cristofferson (I don't know if that is spelled right). He talked a lot about why commandments and laws are important. He said "A God that does not make any demands is the functional equivalent of a God that does not exist". Everyone was excited to see the MTC Chior sing during priesthood session. I saw a couple of people I know in it. After conference, we watched a film called Character of Christ. It was very interesting, and I learned a lot about the character and nature of Christ. We also had the oppertunity to hear a kind of modivational talk from a semi-famous Mormon guy named Vai Sikahema. He told us some great stories. Today is Preparation day. We got to go to the MTC store. I wish I would have just bought some of my stuff there, because everything is super cheap. We also got to go to the Provo temple to do as session. There was an elder that explained some of the symbolism, and everything is way less weird if you know the symbolism behind it.

I got to see Brother Dallin Jones for the first time during conference. Unfortunately, he is at the other smaller MTC campus. He is doing well, and it was great to finally see him. I have seen about 6 people that I knew at BYU.

I also briefly ran into Sister Murdock from Startalk. She's going to Korea! I really appreciate all of your letters. I miss you guys. I think I have gotten more letters than most of the missionaries in my district. I keep all of them and try to respond. By the way, if you use DearElder, I get the mail faster than email. -- Elder Jordan Andersen Provo MTC Mailbox/section #19 Going to Melbourne, Australia Leaving MTC Dec 1