Week 3

So I'm like out of email time so this will probably be short!  But the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true! It's amazing here at the MTC with so many of God's miracles every day!  One of them is I'm actually able to have conversation's en esponol now! And I'm able to teach our 3 investigators now! It's awesome! But I'm now where near good enough yet! But I'm getting there! Oh and I realized I'm completely fluent in Spanglish, so that counts for something right?? 

 So there have been multiple adventures this week! We went to the Mexican Consulate to get our visas! First we took the MTC bus (which is an old Prison bus) to a train station where we took two trains to get to the consulate just to get a picture taken and two finger scans haha But it definitely was a great time! My whole district and I needed a break from the MTC! But during our travels all of us were harassed by multiple people because we were Mormon. I think someone was even throwing stuff at us. In the middle of Utah! Mormon capitol of the world! So it was kinda surprising to me, and it was my first time ever being persecuted from my religion. makes me wonder what Mexico is gonna be like haha but it was still fun! 

Every PDay we go to the provo temple. and it's way bigger than the Sacramento one!  The temple of God, is the best place to be, I love it there! It's so peaceful, and you can feel the love of God there so strongly! It's the only place where we can get a real break from everything! 

So one of the districts in our zone left this past week, and the whole zone is missing them. they were all great guys and we had tons of fun! Now things seem a little empty without them. But they're all out fulfilling their call to serve! We haven't gotten a new district yet. We should be getting new missionaries next week though! So we're all excited for that! 

 A couple other funny stories, one of the Elder's here is a 6' 4" guy, and he managed to fit himself into elder Parkinson's closet, and me and a few Elder's were hanging out in the hallway when suddenly all we hear is bloody murder screaming hahahahaha we walk in to find Elder Parkinson passed out on the floor laughing, and I almost passed out from laughing haha it was great! 

Another thing, it was another Elder's Birthday a couple days ago, but he didn't tell anyone because he didn't want happy birthday sung to him. (My bday is on Nov 2nd. WOO HOO)  and so we're all out in the hall again playing Peg, with a Hackey Sack (I've discovered I really like playing hackey sack) and we hear that it was this elder's birthday!  We decided to go sing to him, but he was hiding in his dorm with a few other elders and the door was locked. But Finally another Elder who stayed in the same dorm convinced him that he really needed in. And as soon as the door opened, we forced our way in and started singing, But the Elder we were singing to tried running away out the door, so we all tackled him a kept on singing while i was holding him down by the legs haha it was great! so I might get tackled on my Birthday now lol 

a few other things

1. we haven't been caught with the fart bombs yet haha but a member of the Branch presidency regularly checks up with us almost every night now haha 

2. Someone set off the fire alarm again, but this time in the middle of class

3. I'm playing a cello and I forgot how much fun it is! Hopefully I'll be playing in big devotional coming up. 

4. Still not mature :P :P :P

5. Can't wait to get to Mexico.

6. I figured out how to say, "Do you even lift?" in esponol!  ( Tu incluso levantar) 

7. I discovered the greatest discovery in the MTC! You can put a rubber band on a banana and use it to shoot rubber bands! So a real banana gun! It's so awesome! 

8. Love and miss you all! The Gospel is true! 

9. I'm getting pretty swool!! (strong)  I'm doing over 100 pushups a day now, and I can make veins pop out in my shoulders now hahaha it's so cool! 

10. I love getting dear elder letters, and real letters! 

God Be with you until we meet again! 

-Elder Elkins   

 

Elder Elkins Contact Information

Week 2

Que pasa!?

so this has been another crazy week. Idk where to begin again. 

It's only been a week and a half but it feels like I've been here for at least a month! the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days. 

And man, P-day could not have come soon enough! Well I guess I'll start by telling you guys that the scottish elder I talked about in my last email actually isn't scottish! He just was faking an incredibly real accent hahaha But there is a real scottish elder here, and he's the one who did the solo in the mtc choir last general conference and he did and amazing solo here at the mtc! Man I wish I could sing like him. But my new best friend here in the mtc, Elder Parkinson and I started an acapella  group! so maybe I'll get that good. I'm also playing piano in sacrament meeting this sunday. We'll see how that goes haha oh and they have CELLOS HERE! I'm gonna go play one here in a little bit and possibly put together a musical number. 

I'm finally getting use to the altitude so I'm able to work out harder. And let me just say, I'm getting pretty tone haha so girls, you might wanna wait for me! haha Every missionary here is missing their girl. We keep talking about them... and the missionary goggle syndrome is setting in. It's were every girl here in the mtc gets more and more and more beautiful because we don't have our girls here with us. It's hard not to flirt with them sometimes haha the closest we can get to flirting is holding the door open for them. which we do every single chance we get... haha

 speaking of Hermanas I just witness a miracle of God yesterday! Sister Jammet in our district was really sick yesterday. She said it was the sickest she've ever been. She was crying and could barely function because she felt so bad. So we gave her a blessing by the power of the priesthood of God, and instantly she felt fine! There was a physical change that I witnessed right then and there in her. The life came back to her face and she got right back to work with a smile on her face! It was amazing! The power of God is real and it can and will bless your life if you just ask God. James 1:5

 The spirit of God is so strong here.  I love being a missionary for the Lord Jesus Christ. This is his church and he is leading his people. He cares and watches over every single one of us. 

The MTC is hard. We're doing 16 hour days, with a minimum of 11 hours in class. It's hard studying inside all day and only to learn 3 spanish words a day. We have 3 people we're teaching now, all completely in spanish. It's very frustrating because I have a testimony, I know the doctrine, and the scriptures, but I can't share those things because I don't know spanish. So the MTC is hard. But I've been through harder. And that is because of God in his infinite wisdom has given me challenges in life to prepare me and to make me stronger. And my heart is filled with gratitude towards him. God gives his children trials that they may become stronger. It pains God to see you in pain. But he allows it to let you grow in wisdom and strength. Our Heavenly Father loves each and every single one of you. He wants only what's best for you.  That is my testimony to you. And I hope you come to know these things if already don't.

   

a few other things. 

1. I'm not use to being called Elder yet, cuz I'm no where near mature enough haha

2. most elders here aren't mature

3. Being a missionary is the best thing ever! 

4. someone set off the fire alarm so we all had to evacuate one night haha 

5. I love getting letters! 

6. we have a rivalry with the elders downstairs, so an elder on our floor threw a fart bomb in one of their dorms. it was funny but not the best Idea. He'll probably get in trouble haha 

7. I had a whole list of things to say but I forgot them. 

8. we got a new group of missionaries this week! So I'm not the greenie anymore! haha but it was only 300. ( I came in with 600) 

9. you guys take after me and are awesome! And sorry if I don't get back to you right away on any of  your messages. 

MIss you guys! 

I'm almost out of time! 

so May God be with you until next P-day!   

First letter from Elder Elkins at the Provo MTC!

Hola mi Amigos! Qu'e pasa!?

Mi esponol es no bueno, but yo soy going to use as much as possible! 

I'm sending this to a whole bunch of people as a general email just to let you know whats up! And I'm assuming it's going to be posted on the blog too Madre?

Anyways Fridays are the days that I can email here in the MTC! So this is only my third day here and it's SOOO LOCOOO!!

This isn't the missionary training center, it's MORMON BOOT CAMP! haha I love it here but it's constantly go go go! 

The moment I got to the mtc campus, I was rushed through check in and got mi nombre tag which es all en esponol was getting that was a big highlight of the day for everyone haha 

then I dropped off my luggage at my dorm, and then was brought to my esponol class, My maestra es Hermano Rios, he served in argentina! He's so awesome! I know he knows fluent English, but he only uses esponol! So learning and communicating es a little difficult haha 

In the class I met mi first companero his nombre es Elder Garcia! He's only 1/8 Mexican tho and from colorado  lol 

We work great together! he's in tune with the spirit and so am I! so we agree on everything, and we get the exact same ideas, at the exact same time! It's so cool! 

like the first day here, we started teaching some investigators, who are actors here in the mtc, and it's just like teaching people who aren't mormons! Elder Garcia and I can just keep going and going and going! While a lot of the other missionaries in the same teaching workshops tend to struggle a little bit. 

speaking of going and going and going, that's all we do here! we're doing 16 hour days. we get up at 6:30, get ready for the day, come breakfast and then hurry to a three hour class with Hermano Rios! then we have lunch and then studies, and workshops, meetings and planning. We have like no time for anything! Like last night I didn't even have time to brush my teeth! Because we have to be in bed by 10:30. But we've had to stay up until 11:00 each night just cuz we still have a lot of things to do. I haven't gotten a chance to read any letters yet, so if you sent me any, I'll read and write you as soon as I can! We've had a bunch of orientation stuff to do, so that's why we don't have much time. and sorry if this email seems a little spacey, I'm trying to hurry cuz I only have an hour to write this and then report to my Branch pres. 

anyways, yeah it's super crazy here! theres no such thing as down time here because it's just one thing after another. Like later tonight, we have a lesson appt. that we have to teach completely in esponol! so we've been studying like crazy for that! 

We're trying to immerse ourselves in Spanish so we made a list of words that we can only use in spanish, and if we use them in english, we have to do 10 push ups a word. I did well over 100 yesterday,and I probably passed 200 by now just for today. But I'll be super buff when I get home! haha oh and by 'we' I mean my whole district, (except for the sisters) there's 6 of us in our tiny little dorm. Elder bradshaw is a total surfer dude from SoCal, so he's pretty cool and we get along great! There's another elder who's from south Korea! idk how to spell his name haha but he's going to Chile! idk what part tho. and the rest of us are going to the same mission, so that's awesome! everyone in my zone is super funny, and we have a great time together! yesterday during our zone meeting with our branch pres, non of us could stop laughing! it was great! and it was also really needed! 

another thing we all love here is gym time! although, we haven't had time to make it to the gym at all lol but we've been able to do some running and volleyball! So pretty much gym time is sacred to all the missionaries here haha it's our only time to actually take a break from everything! 

the mtc is huge! i meet new elders and sisters everyday! from all over the world! There's one guy in my zone from scottland and has the best acent ever! yesterday just before bed we were all goofing around, (even though we're not suppose to) and we had the scottland elder say that line from Brave, where the old dude says "Feast your eyes!" and lifts up his kilt. IT. WAS. HILARIOUS!! hahaha I still laugh at it! 

So much to do, so little time! There's so much more I want to say, but I'm out of time! 

I love you all! Write me! and email too! I only got one email this week! 

I know this church has the preisthood of God here on the earth and the true gospel of JesuChristo! If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't be here right now, because it is extremely hard work. I testify these things to you, as a friend and one who cares for all of you. if you don't know the gospel is true, then go find out for yourself! 

Have a great week! miss you all! And hopefully I'll be able to get some personal emails and letters out. I just didn't have time today, so sorry about that! 

May God be with you until we meet again!

-- Elder Elkins!              

 

Elder Elkins found his friend, Elder Nathaniel Jones (Mexico City South) at the MTC!