Devotionals are awesome! (Week 4)

At the BYU Creamery a day before I entered the MTC

Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2017 2:18 PM
Subject: Week 4
Hi everyone!
Wow, I am almost halfway through my MTC stay. This week was pretty exciting. First off, we got new Hmong elders (I have been told apparently it is spelled with an H). That is exciting because first off, our floor is no longer entirely empty, and we were able to give them advice for the first few days. We made sure they got to watch Elder Bednar's "Character of Christ" their first Sunday. Also, my district got to host incoming missionaries. Most people got to help three missionaries, but I only got to help one because of an interesting scenario. The missionary I helped apparently had a case where he first went on his mission for three months before getting a full call to make sure he could handle missionary life. As a result, once he finished the three month "trial", he reported to the MTC afterwards. When he was put in the computer system, they just stuck him with the rest of the usual South Salt Lake missionaries who aren't supposed to show up until the beginning of November. As a result they didn't have any of his stuff ready. I had to run around with him so they could print him his ID card, get him a companion (they broke up a trio in an Idaho mission and put him with them for the MTC) and I had to explain to his teacher why he was there, since he wasn't on the roster. In the end, it really wasn't that big of a deal only getting to help one missionary, and I was glad I helped someone out. I have actually also seen him a few times since then, and he has told me things are all going good with him, and he ended up watching "Character of Christ" which I had advised he watch.

One last "straw shot" at dad the morning I entered the MTC

My mom is just AWESOME!

As for other things in the MTC, I have continued to enjoy all of the devotionals. We heard from Elder Neilson of the 70 and his wife, and one of our teachers later pointed out that he looks just like one of the villains from Wonder Woman! Seriously, look up Elder Neilson, and then look up the German Army Villain from Wonder Woman, they look exactly the same! Anyways, his talk was pretty cool. Then on Sunday, we got to hear from a Holland, even if it wasn't Elder Holland. We got to hear from the President of Utah Valley University, President Holland. His talk was also really good, and was about changing who we are, kind of like the refiner's fire parable. He related it to the turning of the old tabernacle into a temple. It was a really cool story of how it was changed. I particularly liked the story of the stake president of the area, who when running around the burnt building saying "how could this have happened", saw a burned portrait of Christ where the only part that remained was the full image of Christ (it was the one where he is surrounded by a bunch of angels). Then the stake president heard a voice saying "whose house is this" to which he thought "yours" and then he heard "then what business do you have if I decide I want to remodel it?" I thought that was really cool. Anyways, all the devotionals here tend to be pretty good. I hope, however, that we at least get to see another apostle before we leave if not more, and since we are here on Thanksgiving I feel the odds are pretty good.
Oh, I also realized that I get to spend Halloween on P Day! What a coincidence. Now, I don't know if we get to do anything special for it, but it is still cool to say it is on P Day, and I will definitely be eating some of the candy my family sent me in a Halloween package.
As for language study, it is coming along well enough. I still sometimes have difficulty with it, I really want to pronounce it like Mandarin! And apparently it shows. Every Saturday we get to teach some member from the area who volunteer to come to the MTC, and I have been asked twice if I speak Mandarin because my Vietnamese has a Chinese accent! I guess that is pretty cool. I am also a little more worried with the language now, because I got an email from my mission president (actually all of those going to Vietnam got it) stressing the importance of getting the tones and pronunciation down well before coming to Vietnam, and not doing anything there to screw up the church's relationship with Vietnam since the mission is so new. I am now paying extra attention particularly to the tones. Other than that though, I have been getting better with the language, and am doing pretty well in teaching lessons. While I can't understand everything that is said, I tend to understand most of it.
My language study teachers are really cool. I think I have mentioned this, but I currently have four since normally there are two Vietnamese districts in the summer, but right now we just have one, so we get all four teachers. They all have really different teaching styles, but they are all really good. I think I had mentioned this, but one of our teachers hid his identity for a week pretending to be an investigator. His name is Thay An (Thay means teacher in Vietnamese, and An is his Vietnamese name) and he really reminds me of one of my teachers from high school named Mr. Cioni. For those of you who know Mr. Cioni, you can imagine that Thay An is quite funny. Thay An is definitely the teacher who jokes around the most and is the most likely to give slightly off color remarks. Essentially he is a Vietnamese version of Mr. Cioni (who is Italian). He has given a few funny jokes, such as one time, someone asked him how to say freak (As in the alternate version of a bad word, an exclamation used when you are annoyed) and he wrote on the board "a freak- Thay An". He also is the person who taught us how to say dang it in Vietnamese which is chết rồi! It literally translates out to "dead already" or in other words is kind of like saying "screw me" in English. It is not actually a bad word, although it is considered slightly stronger than dang it, but it is less strong than the alternate version of dang it. Anyways, another of our teachers, Thay Phat, freaked out when he taught us that because in Vietnamese, it is similar to some actual curse words since some curse words use the word for death in them. Apparently curse words in Vietnamese usually relate to death, the grave, dogs, and the word for mother. Apparently there aren't any "your mom" jokes in Vietnamese, which is fine since I don't use those anyways. I like all my teachers, but I just thought it would be funny to talk about Thay An, especially for those of you who know Mr. Cioni, and know exactly the kind of teacher I am talking about. Don't get me wrong though, Thay An can actually be really serious when he needs to be, and he is very spiritual. Apparently he is from Vietnam but learned the gospel in Australia and ended up serving Vietnamese speaking in San Antonio Texas, where he was mission companions with another of our teachers, Thay Van, and apparently where his twin brother would also later serve, and would have both Thay An and Thay Van for his trainer at different times. Thay An's twin volunteers for the TRC thing I mentioned earlier.
I have continued to enjoy getting letters and postcards from my family. I get so many postcards from my mom that my district leader, who gets the mail, sometimes freaks out saying "Elder Watson, I think you got more postcards!?" It is really nice getting stuff from them, especially since I might not get a lot of stuff once I am in Vietnam. Also, I enjoy going to the temple every week, since once again that is something I will miss in Vietnam. My district now goes to the temple together every P Day, and we get breakfast from the cafeteria there afterwards, which their cafeteria food is better than the regular stuff we get.
Life at the MTC is really cool when you get used to it. Everything is so focused on the spirit, it feel like everyday is Sunday. Also, while I have been here in the MTC, I decided to read through the Book of Mormon whenever I got a chance, and to try to categorize verses I liked so I could use them with investigators. I just finished 2 Nephi earlier today. Usually, I am not excited to read 2 Nephi because of how hard some of the Isaiah parts are to read, but while I can't say it was any easier to read, I actually was able to find a lot in 2 Nephi for my list. I think I have 65 different scripture passages ranging from one to about five verses each. I feel reading the Book of Mormon in the MTC, that I am getting even more out of it since I am so focused on the gospel. I think it is really cool how much I can see in it at this point in my life that I may have missed before.
Anyways, my MTC experience so far has been really great. I am so glad I made the decision to serve the Lord by going on a mission. There certainly have been rough days, and I am sure there are many more to come, but I know that it will be worth it, and that the Lord will bless me as I strive to do His work.
Thank you all so much for your support, I always look forward to P Day and getting to respond to and send out emails.
I will continue to do my best,
Elder Watson
P.S. While not overly important, I am continuing to enjoy the MTC food. On Monday, we got Subway. It didn't have Chipotle sauce, but it was still good. I also learned from the Cambodians that on days when you choose to get sack breakfast or lunch, since you get four items the idea is to get one to eat, and then to get three sodas to stock pile for later. I thought three was a bit excessive, but for sack lunch today, I got two drinks, one for lunch and one to save for later. It is not overly important, but I thought it was a funny idea to try.