It just does not seem like it has been nearly long enough
that I have actually been here for 5 weeks. The MTC is awesome and I am a huge
fan. Very sadly our zone is shrinking drastically next week. On Tuesday we will
be losing all 6 of the Bulgarian Elders and the 2 Croatian/Serbian Elders and
the 6 Croatian/Serbian Sisters. They came in 3 weeks before us and so we have
spent the last 5 weeks getting close to them, only to have them leave to
missions we aren't going to. So basically volleyball is going be sad. And our
zone table is going to be very small. But it is alright because most of them
are unbelievably ready to leave, and we wouldn't want anyone to get MTC cabin
fever and go insane.
Czech, Slovak and some Croation and Bulgarian Elders
(the Croations and Bulgarians are leaving this week)
The majority of this email will be dedicated to Thanksgiving, because it was awesome. So, here is how the day went.
PDAY: We had Black Friday on Thursday in the laundry
room. It was complete insanity. Basically they told everyone who had a Thursday
P-day to go Thursday morning to do laundry. Not sure the thinking behind that
one, because it literally became a free-for-all in that room. I waited behind a
Sister and as soon as she took her clothes out I started loading mine into the
washer. Then she tried to offer it to her friend, only to turn around and
realize I was already putting my clothes in. That is how crazy it was. But we
got our clothes loaded and all of that, and got them into dryers too.
Devotional with an Apostle: Then we went to the
devotional with Elder Oaks. Yeah, an Apostle. No big deal, it happens at the
MTC. We're just cool like that. So that was just a little bit fantastic. It was
also like Black Friday getting into the devotional, but it did not take away
form the Spirit that was there. It was very cool. His whole extended family
performed some amazing violin/cello/guitar/piano songs and they were stellar. I
heard from a random person (this is how the MTC works, you can't fact check
anyone) that she is considered one of the best violin players in the world. I
would like some independent confirmation on that, if someone could make that
happen. (Note from Mom- I did confirm
that Elder Oak’s daughter is Jenny Oaks Baker, a Julliard trained Grammy
nominated violinist with 13 albums to her name! I was able to email back that
confirmation to Brad!) But either way, she was amazing. After the
devotional we went back to our classroom and studied.
This is where my 1st challenge of the week
comes in. We had a gratitude challenge from our zone leaders (who are amazing)
to write down 20 things we were all grateful for. So I started doing that and
then I decided that I had way more than 20 things to be grateful for. So I
wrote 50. I think that is enough to get the general idea of the fact that we
have so many blessings that we can and should appreciate in our lives. So I
challenge you all to participate in a gratitude challenge. To take a little
time to sit down and write out 50 things that you are grateful for in your
life. Big things, little things, whatever comes to mind. For example, I put the
Atonement of Jesus Christ. I also put good whiteboard markers. So there is a
whole ton.
Thanksgiving Meal: After our study time we went to
our Thanksgiving lunch feast. It was quite good. Not nearly up to the
Pickett/Allison Thanksgiving, but it can't be when the food is being prepared
for over 1,000 people. I did really miss Grandma's delicious jello, they did
not have anything even close to that. And Apple Cider. But overall, a great
meal, and a great place to spend it at.
SERVICE: After lunch we attended our service
devotional, where we had two speakers about service and about our service
project, making meals for needy families and children. Then the A group (not
me) went and started the service project while the B group (me) stayed in the
devotional room and watched 17 Miracles. Let me just tell you, that is a
humbling movie. Kind of makes you feel like "Maybe I should never, ever
complain about anything in my entire life ever again." If you haven't seen
it, go watch it. After that we went up to our classrooms and ate
our Thanksgiving dinner feast of PB&J's, chips, fruit,
and soda. But it's totally fine, because we felt very glad we weren't eating
burnt rawhide or flour with water instead. Also there was a rather obnoxious
Elder in the hallway who was trying to be funny and so I started speaking Czech
to him instead of English. That was quite enjoyable. Oddly enough, no one
around here other than the people who are learning it understand Czech...After
our Thanksgiving feast we went to do service. That was super fun. We had a big
missionary assembly line going and we were scooping out different measure of
food. It was really awesome. I love service, it is great. We got the total
later that night, in the MTC we made 357,347 meals. Not too shabby.
MTC Devotional:
After service we had a big devotional all together again. It was the
strangest MTC devotional I have attended. Good, but also strange. They had some
displays of musical talent that included an awesome organ solo, the song
"Rubber Ducky" complete with a Sister who could actually make the
rubber ducky sound. And there was also an improve jazz piano duet that was
quite snazzy. They also played the song "Glorious" sung by David
Archuleta and I think some people might have had heart attacks and died from
excitement. I may or may not have been one of them. After that we got candy
canes and then went out to all the Christmas lights to take some pictures. I
did not have my camera, but I will procure those photographs at some point.
That was Thanksgiving. Overall, it was one of my favorite days since I have
been in the MTC.
Other important things that occurred this week:
- I did see Elder Jeremiah
Brown yesterday, we hosted in the morning, so I did not see him then, but
I saw him as I was walking into dinner. We are going to be taking a
picture on Tuesday, and I will make sure to get one of myself by the map
as well. Super fun to see him.
- We had Temple breakfast this
morning. If any of you live in, near, or basically within 500 miles of
Provo, get off the computer and drive to Provo immediately, and enjoy the
savory deliciousness that is an egg and cheese omelet from the Provo
Temple cafeteria.
- Czech is such a wonderful
language. I did not have any too embarrassing slip-ups this week, but my
companion told our investigator that the teaching of Jesus Christ could
bring him "four" instead of "happiness." In the Czech
the difference is "čtyři" versus "štěstí." Our
investigator was just a little bit confused. Casing is still just a little
bit insane, but we have decided to be happy we are not learning Finnish. I
have heard that going from English to another language, Finnish is the
most difficult in the world to learn. Because it has not 7 cases like our
feeble language, but 12. Or possibly 15. I have heard 2 different things.
Either way, both would prove fatal to basically everyone. Poor Finnish
Elders. We pray for them.
- Apparently a favorite hymn of
the MTC is "If You Could Hie to Kolob." We sang it at the Sunday
devotional and everyone got extremely excited. That was fun and sort of
random.
- Sunday was AWESOME this week.
The topic for lessons and talks was Faith in Jesus Christ and His
Atonement. Such an incredible topic. We could study it for our whole lives
and never stop learning more. Writing a talk for it was a very enjoyable
experience. As part of this awesome topic, I give my final challenge
of the week. Some of you may be receiving 3 challenges from me
this week (Luckies!). But this one is very important. Read Elder Holland's
talk form the April 2015 General Conference. It is called "Where
Justice, Love and Mercy Meet" and it is superb. www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/where-justice-love-and-mercy-meet?lang=eng
Oh. My. Goodness. The Christmas cheer package is amazing. I
did indeed open up my Christmas sweater early, for sweater Saturday purposes of
course. Christmas tree is up in our room (our teachers' boss is a Scrooge, so
we can't have it in the classroom.). The mandarins were completely and utterly
beautiful. Sooooooo great. And the Nativity is, of course, up. In our room,
because apparently even that is too much Christmas for Scrooge Jones.
Unbelievable. That is all for this week, hope you all have wonderful spiritual
experiences, and thank you all for the love, support, letters, and packages!
-Starší Pickett
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