The Saga Begins

The Saga Begins. . . in the MTC

The MTC is an interesting place.  Even though there are a lot of rules there, no one checks up on you to see if you follow them; it is all on you. I really like it.  It is really the first time in my life that I really feel like I am being treated like an adult.  Strangely enough, no one in my district is from anywhere in the west.  My companion is Elder Mendoza who is shorter than me and kind of an awkward guy occasionally, but he will talk to anyone right away which is something I can definitely learn.  He is from Georgia.  Then there is Elder Wilson and Elder Voorhies who are both from Texas.  Elder Wilson is the more average-crazy-state-pride Texan (though not annoyingly so), but Elder Voorhies is a plant.  He has grown up all over the place and he somehow manages to make a connection with just about everyone he meets.  He will be a great missionary because of that.  Then there is Elder Mitchell from Kansas.  He is the biggest guy in our district. He basically decided to come on a mission because he didn't have anything better to do, but he is here and he is working his hardest.  Elder Buchelle is his companion and he is kind of an awkward nerdy type, but he is very smart and has a great grasp of the language already (at least as far as a week of learning goes).  The final companionship in our district is Elder Booth and Elder Stotts.  Elder Booth was a wrestler in high school and I would have to describe him as quite ripped.  More importantly he has a very strong testimony and came here ready to work.  Elder Stotts is our district leader and we also call him the district dealer since he also has medicine if you need anything (and I mean legal stuff, he is not an actual dealer).   He also excretes more gas out of his body from both ends than anyone else I have ever known. 

Overall I have enjoyed my first week in the MTC.  I am learning Portuguese faster than I ever thought possible.  Learning Spanish really does help, especially with things like conjugations because they are very similar.  The hardest part is pronunciation.  My favorite word is diligentemente (try it out in Google translate for Portuguese because it is pronounced nothing like you probably would expect).  Overall the hardest thing is wanting to learn faster and not being able to, but I will get there.  I just have to have more patience.

I love you all.  Elder Russell