Holidays and Skype Fun

This week has been great, we had a great time and we've really been able to help Hugh get ready for Baptism.  He is still getting ready for the 3rd, which is this Saturday. This week he has his interview, and I'm going to go through the questions with him, in English so he has a chance to say and kind of practice his English with it.  So that is pretty exciting. 

This week Elder Liu and I were really excited to Skype.  And then we found out on Wednesday that Elder Liu had made a miscalculation on the time zone differences for when he would Skype home.  So there was a period of time we spent stressing about a few different skype tasks.  1. Getting Elder Liu onto skype.  He had forgot something about the account and couldn't get into it. 2. Telling his parents about the new plan.  3. Getting his new Skype account connected to his parents.  So it was a lot of fun that night, as I sat trying to help Elder Liu create his new account and calling members to try and help us find a way to get a hold of his parents.

But it all worked out really well.  We had Christmas Eve dinner with the Oviatts, who have been super great about feeding us, and Sister Oviatt had already planned on Elder Liu needing to skype, so he was able to get that done, and overall it all just kind of fell into place.  The tender mercies of the Lord.

Christmas and Christmas Eve were so great.  I was amazed at how much love was shown by all the people we saw that day.  We spent Christmas Eve with the Oviatts, who had a great tradition of make your own sub for dinner.  It was delicious.  And then we had a Christmas program, and they sent us away with a stocking of goodies.  Christmas morning the Doreys had us over for breakfast and games, and they were so nice.  All of their kids were there, and it was really fun.  That evening we went to dinner with the Stewarts, where I was able to skype, and where we had a Turkey dinner and talked with Brother and Sister Stewart, who were so awesome, and so very nice to us.  It was just a great day to see how nice people could be. 

The rest of the week has felt slow.  A lot of the people we were talking to have gone home to China for Christmas, so we are feeling a little pressed for appointments.  Lots of finding, but even then, most people were gone, or at home with family.  But we keep on trying.  We also went caroling, and we caroled to Hugh, Helen, Christine, and the lady that doesn't speak English.  We sang an English song, but she still seemed really grateful.  So that was pretty great.

This week I also finished reading the Book of Mormon.  It was actually Christmas Eve that I finished, in the morning.  So that was actually pretty great for me, this time, as I finished, it was more than just a feeling of "Oh great, I am glad that's over with," and more of a feeling of peace, and being ready to start reading it again.  So that's something that has really been new for me.  I would invite anyone who hasn't read, or read earnestly and prayerfully, to do so, and to really seek for help from that book, and to see it for what it is, Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

I'll See you all next week!  and hopefully I can attach pictures....  Anyway, Happy New Year!  And Merry Christmas!

Elder Ethington

PS  Also, thank you so much to those who sent me Christmas packages.  I loved having things from home and they have made it much more comfortable and warm in the Northern Tundra.  Thank you so much!

Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  I hope everyone is doing awesome!  This week has been good, we didn't have as many lessons as we wished, but we did have good lessons with Hugh, so that was good.  He is still getting ready for baptism on the 3rd, and we are super excited for that.

This week was Christmas conference, which was cool.  I finally got to watch Meet the Mormons, which I loved!  It was a great movie, and very well done.

Hugh was able to make it to church this week, even though the Kingsway ward didn't meet.  There was a combined YSA meeting that he went to, and he said he enjoyed, which was great.  Elder Liu and I took the chance to visit some of the other wards in the Stake.

I'm looking forward this week to introducing Elder Liu to some of the Ethington family traditions.  I did find tamales here.  I have no idea how or why, but we live on a street with a bunch of ethnic food shops, one being a place with tamales.  I'm not sure how good they are, but I will at least give them a try.

Speaking of Elder Liu, yesterday was his birthday, and I asked a few other Elders to help me surprise him with a cake and dinner.  And it was not hard to surprise him.  He really didn't see anything coming, and he was really happy. Although, he was also tired and fell asleep on the floor as we were all eating cake...  But that's ok.

Anyway, we are really excited for Christmas and to be able to Skype home.  I hope everyone is doing well!

Christmas Draws Near

Elder Liu and the paper Christmas tree. Also, the maps of their area and the Chinese members that T.J. charted out while Elder Liu was ill a few weeks ago.

First Apartment with T.J.'s desk. It is neater than his desk was at home-progress!

So this week, while a little warmer, made things a little more dangerous.  As the snow melts, and ice forms, more and more missionaries are slipping.  As long as I don't slip I'm ok. There is a tradition here that if you slip, you have to buy doughnuts for your district, which is pretty good.  No one in my district has slipped, so no doughnuts, at least not yet.  But the melting snow did help me to find a name tag I had dropped in the snow near another missionaries apartment.  So that was good at least. 

This week we have also been starting another system for getting fed.  Each ward has 1 day each week to feed us.  Seven wards for Seven days of the week.  But this week it was difficult because we had previous appointments, and it is messy to try to combine to sets of missionaries schedules (Us and Tagolog North, because we share a car).  But it did end up getting us a lot of dinners, which was great.

We did do some phonebook finding this week, which actually went well.  We are refining the process, finding better times to do everything and what not, so that is good.  We did have a great chance to actually go into someone's home this week.  We were out doing finding, and we knocked on the door, I really didn't think it was a Chinese home, but it was, and an old lady, who Elder Liu now calls Yang nai nai, or Grandmother Yang, and she let us in to see her Buddah statue.  It was kind of massive.  She told us she didn't believe in any form of deity, but her daughter had put the whole Buddah shrine thing together for her.  It was massive.  The house was large and neat, the front room only had a couch, loveseat, chair, and a coffee table, and then the shrine, but the shrine took up like half the space.  So it was pretty good.  But Grandmother Yang invited us back to come visit her, so we are actually pretty excited about that.  She was really interesting, and spoke no English, but she had learned Russian... not that that helps us any to communicate, but it was interesting.

This week I've continued to read from the Book of Mormon, which just has had such a great power for me this past little while.  I have really loved reading it, and I am looking forward to finish.  I am currently at 3 Nephi chapter 9, when the Nephites start hearing the voice of Christ.  But I did read this week in Alma 24:19, which is talking about the Anti-Nephi-Lehis.  I won't quote it, but I read that and I thought about all the times I went to text, and I put the wrong word in earlier than it should be, and then I can just backspace and fix it.  But Mormon, writing on plates didn't have that opportunity, so he had to do what he did there. 

Anyway, this has been a great week.  I have had a great time, I got some Christmas packages on Monday, which was great, and now Elder Liu and I have a paper Christmas tree in the apartment.  And we are really excited for the next week days as we get closer to Christmas. 

Talk to you all next week!  Miss you!

First Transfer is Almost Up!

How to do service in Edmonton in December

So this week has been pretty fun, although it didn't start off too exciting.  It was nice to receive money again, and be able to stock up our fridge. I do enjoy seeing food in there.  But Elder Liu and I did a lot of finding this week, and without any new investigators. So that's a little discouraging, but we are still planting those seeds, so that people know our Church just a little bit better for having seen us.  When we have the car, we like to do Phonebook Finding.  Elder Liu's previous companion took a phone book, a bit of an old one which is sad, and got all the Asian names out of it.  It was hard to plan effectively because the addresses went all over the place, so I took it and organized it by streets, so that we can mark out an area pretty easily.  This is really helpful, and we mostly find Asians, some have moved.  Hopefully it yields some success soon though.  We really do like having the car, it is a lot more comfortable.  But finding without it can be fun too.  We basically just ride the LRT trains for a while, and try to talk to anyone.  We've meet some cool people.  On YSA memeber's grandparents were there once, and they talked to us, which was really cool. Apparently, they called their granddaughter right after they got off the train and told her they had seen us.  While we were out phonebook finding this week we found one house that wasn't Asian, but it was a less active that we haven't found on the ward list (yet).  It was kinda funny, when we came up, the doorbell was broken I guess.  But we didn't know so we just tried it and waited.  I could see this lady up the stairs in front of her door.  She must have just gotten home, and was putting her jacket away.  But we just stood there.  Eventually she saw us, we must have been creepy because it looked like we were just standing there.  So she came down and didn't open the door and asked who we were.

"We're Missionaries for our Church."

"Which Church?"

"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints."  The door opens, "In that case, I will open up and wish you a Merry Christmas."  Apparently this lady had been raised LDS, married LDS, and divorced, and hadn't been to a meeting since.  She was very nice, told us she respected missionaries, and totally believed. We invited her to the stake Christmas activity, and she is acting like she will actually come to that.  Although we won't really be working with her from now on, it was a really cool experience, and one where I felt like the Lord was guiding us to find her.

This week I have been reading a lot out of the Book of Mormon.  I started over.  When I got here, President Manion asked us to read it through by the time we got done being trained, and to underline all of the references/names of Christ.  I started doing that, but it felt like I was just searching for his names, so I started again.  And I've tried reading before.  But never has the Book of Mormon just come alive like it has this time.  It is really awesome to be reading through and be understanding so much more of what's happening, and the lessons being taught, its been really awesome for me this week to have such a great experience and a testimony builder with the Book of Mormon.

Anyway, this transfer is almost up, not that this means a lot to Elder Liu and myself, we'll end up staying where we are for sure.  But it means I'm almost halfway through my training.  So that's exciting!   Talk to you all next week!

The Snow Finally Sets In

This week has been great.  We started with Zone conference, which was fun, and a good chance to learn as always.  There was a big push for driving safety with the crazy snows we've had.  We had a "storm" here, a "blizzard" for Utah, and the flippin' apocalypse for Chandler here over Thursday and Friday.  It gives us a good opportunity to do snow shoveling, which I have decided is not the worst thing I could be doing.  On Saturday we shoveled the Londonderry chapel, and I feel like as long as its not snowing and blowing, I could do that all day.  It was cold enough that I wasn't really sweating, and I just never got tired.  Hopefully I have a few pictures to send you all as well, they are on my companion's camera.

We didn't get a lesson with Hugh this week, and he didn't make it to church, which was sad, but he's still recovering from traveling with his parents.  We did meet with Helen, the less active who is teaching us to play bridge.  Its surprisingly similar to Rook and Wizard, so I picked it up quickly.  Elder Liu, not so much.  Hopefully we get to play with her and her non-member husband on Tuesday, although he isn't really anxious to meet us....  We also shoveled Christine's driveway after meeting with Helen this week, and she wanted to buy us coffee.  We told her we couldn't drink that, and then she said next time we came she would make us Hot Chocolate instead.  So I look forward to that.  Looking back, it feels like things are kind of starting to pick up this last week, which is pretty exciting.

Hopefully things continue to pick up here. We are going to try to organize some kind of Mandarin group to watch the First Presidency devotional all together this Sunday, so hopefully that works out for us.  I'm not sure, but I am really hopeful it will end up being helpful.

Anyway, I'm missing you all.  The cold is definitely that.  Cold, but I love it here.

Shoveling snow at the church

A Week of Interesting People

So this week has been hard. It started pretty rough on Tuesday, when we were asked to switch cars with a set of missionaries from Red Deer.  Elder Liu really misses the Subaru, we have a Cruze now.  But we needed to replace a brake light on the Subaru before we traded, which meant we would have to trade after the other Elders went through the temple. Except they took two hours longer than they had expected in the Temple....  So we were waiting for a long time.  Add in a few more hours spent running errands, getting other missionaries their bags, and you end the day with us cancelling our appointment with Helen, a less active member, and both Elder Liu and I very frustrated.  Other than this, we have been trying to do a lot of finding this week. Our investigator Hugh was out of town this week with his parents, who came to visit and see Canada.  He came to church last Sunday, with their encouragement, but this Sunday he was gone.  So lots of finding on the LRT and buses...  We actually did find a Chinese guy from Dalian, so that was really cool for me.

We had a missionary meeting with our home ward mission leader this week, he is trying to help us work more efficiently with the Ward Council and so I'm excited for that.  Other things that happened this week: we had Family Home Evening with the YSA ward.  It was a sports night, so none of the Elders were dressed for it.  I ended up playing my first game of floor hockey - barefoot.  Everyone thought I was crazy.  But I wasn't even the only one.  And it was a lot of fun.  We had an opportunity for service this week, and as we were trying to park Elder Liu almost hit the car behind him trying to parallel park.  I stuck my knee in the way.  Both cars are fine, and my bruise is fading...  but it was alright.  We also had exchanges this week. I was able to work with Elder Jeffs, who is really awesome!  I understood almost none of the Spanish, so that was disappointing.  But I did have a great time talking to people and getting to know more people.  We went to their home ward on Sunday, so I saw a few of their investigators that showed up, and that was pretty cool.  I also had a chance to run into a few different experiences this week. First, a drunk man on the bus, who was going to get in a fight, and I was a little worried because he was right behind Elder Liu and I.  And then the other was a man we met walking to a members home. He told us about his family that wanted to make him Mormon, but he had a problem with alcohol. I don't even remember what I said, but I thought I set him off, he look surprised, and I thought he was going to get angry.  Instead, he ended up hugging me and telling me he loved me.  And telling the guy who happened to walk by.  He was definitely and interesting character.

Elder Liu and I are hoping this week goes significantly better, in terms of lessons at least.  We are going to focus a lot on finding, because we just don't have many people to teach.  We may start teaching Christine, a former investigator who we were able to shovel snow for this week.  Hopefully that will work out.  We are trying to contact former investigators, and see if they are interested, but so far not a lot of success.  As Elder Liu has been sick, I've been trying to busy myself in the apartment with something of worth. I put stuff on our map this week, buildings, investigators, Mandarin-speaking members.  Our area boundaries.  Hopefully Elder Liu feels better quickly,he has had some real trouble sleeping this week, so I hope he gets better.

Anyway, its been good, I'm doing well.  Warm and safe.  Missing you all!

Extra Bonus Exerpt From the Mom

T.J.seems to forget our questions when he writes to us, and we are left wondering about a lot of details. Today we played 20 Questions, which is a game where I ask him questions and he answers them. He participated, so Mom wins! 

1.   Did you buy boots? Yes, yes I did.

2.   Are you going to buy boots?   I hope you buy boots. It’s going to be a miserable winter if your socks get wet every day. N/A

3.    Do you have super warm gloves? They are semi warm, and keep me safe.

4.   I sent 3 pairs of socks to the mission home I bought them online from Marks in Canada. Did you get them yet? I will probably get them next week or so.  That was a really good idea to buy from Canada though, well done.

5.  What bedding did you get?  I have a comforter, and used sheets/pillowcase.  And 1 pillow.  I wish I had two.

6.   Are you warm in your apartment? Generally I am.  Sometimes its cold and it feels like the heating isn't really changing anything, like maybe we're just warm from the outside hall and other rooms being warm.

7.   What does your apartment look like? I will send a picture, maybe I have one.  Maybe next week.  It is very small.

8.    Do you want to build a snowman? Yes, but not enough snow.

9.   How does a car share work?  We get the car for two days, and then the other Elders have it for two days.  And it is very inconvenient.

10.  If you get a package at the mission home, how long do you think it would take for you to get it? 1 week or so.

11.  How long is your coat, and what is it made of? It covers my top, just comes down over my rear.  And I don't know what its made of.  Its a Helly Hansen, got it on a great sale.

12.  Do you need lots of Chap-stik? Mostly not, my lips are not dry. Its dry, but not really more than AZ.

13.  How much time do you spend outside during a day? Not as much as I would have thought. We had a few days we spent hours outside, and they were miserable.

14. How did your jiao zi turn out last week? Elder Liu makes the food, I just eat and sometimes do dishes.  He makes great Chinese food.

15.  How clean are you keeping your bathroom? As clean as necessary.

16.  How much have you been cooking for yourselves? Breakfast, most lunches, and we get fed for a lot of our dinners. This week, not so much though.  We have some frozen dumplings though!

17.  How many Mandarin missionaries are there in your mission? 8 elders, 2 sisters

18.  Do you have a good hat lined with Thinsulate fleece or something? Wool? I have no idea.  I just bought a hat.

19.  Is your bed a regular American twin size? Yes, it feels short, and I have a metal box sticking out of the wall at the head of the bed.  Every so often, I hit my head on it.

20.  How often do you teach English classes? I haven't taught yet.  They are held Wednesday and Fridays.  

The Adventure Continues...

So, another week in Canada.  I still don't think there has been two days peaking above freezing.  At least, that is what it has felt like!  Its a little crazy here.  Sometimes we have fun on the ice.  This is Elder Liu's first winter here as well, so that's wonderful!  His first time in snow and everything!  So driving is a little different.  Sometimes at night he'll ask me where the lane lines are....  Not scary at all... But really, he's pretty good.  We had our investigator Hugh at church today!  It was great because he prays during Sacrament, and it must be really powerful for him.  We tried to show him the Restoration video this week, but it wasn't working because his computer wouldn't let us play the Mandarin audio, so he just listened in English.  We found the videos on Youtube afterwards, but I'm a little hesitant to point people to search on youtube or google.  There is a lot of garbage that can come up there.  But I think he watched the video again in Mandarin/Cantonese which was great.

Another huge step with Hugh was something  we didn't even know about.  His parents came into town this week, and he wasn't sure about going to church. But he showed up, and after ward we learned his parents were OK with if not encouraging him to attend.  Which is a huge step for him, like it was really really awesome.  We also met with a Less Active Member, Helen this week, and she taught us how to play Bridge.  It seems pretty similar to Rook or Wizard, for the most part.  Elder Liu was still pretty lost, but we'll figure it out.  For now we are really just trying to build that relationship with Helen and hopefully invite her back to church and her husband to investigate.  Helen says she is having issues with the cold, so we're trying to work on that, but she and her husband are very smart, and very talented people.

We also met with Joe this week.  When we talked with him in the park, he asked why are there so many churches about Jesus, and we tried to discuss the Restoration, and prayer.  But he didn't really want to pray or anything...  He did end up taking the pamphlet though, which was good.  Elder Liu says that trying to check in with the people every day makes them feel pressured, but I am planning on texting Joe today to see how it went.  Hopefully he prayed, even though it doesn't seem likely.

Other than that, things have been pretty good around here.  We had a great to time in English Class and at the Ping Pong activity.  One girl showed up to the Ping Pong activity that was a provincial champion I think, either in China or Canada....  But she was ridiculously good.  She brought special Ping Pong shoes.... And she destroyed anyone that tried to play against her.  I will not claim to have played her, but I saw almost everyone else being beaten by her.  I think she'll come back next week, so that will be pretty cool.

Anyway, that's the week.  I hope everyone's doing awesome!

True North Strong and Free

So today's my first P-Day in my new home.  Edmonton has been freezing since the day I got here. But I'm told, its still comparatively warm to the rest of the winter...  Brrr.... Who decided to live here?  Just kidding, its pretty awesome here.  I've been having a good time.  I'll admit, when I first got here, things weren't really as I expected, I didn't understand how the missionaries were doing their work, and I was in a bad attitude.  But I had an experience on Friday, at English class we were playing a game with some of the students, and they were really impressed by honesty when I called myself out for messing up, and then I saw one of the students do the same thing later, so that was really cool for me, and I think that's when I started to understand why and how the Mandarin Elders here work.

There has been some tension with language Elders here.  We are being put into car shares, which almost all the missionaries hate, but I figure it has to have a reason for things to be the way they are.  So I guess its all going to be alright.  Driving in the snow is new for me and my companion, Elder Liu, so I am a little worried about that, but its been alright so far.  Hopefully we'll be safe.

I taught my first lesson in Chinese on Wednesday.  We met with Hugh, who has started praying and really loves praying and going to church, so that's really awesome.  He didn't make it to church this Sunday because he had a headache, but he said he would come to the YSA Family Home Evening tonight.  We are doing a cultural heritage night, so that's going to be interesting.  We are making Chinese dumplings and green onion cakes to bring and share, and will probably teach some Mandarin phrases.

Anyway, doing great up here and loving it.  Hear from you next week!

Elder Liu, Elder Ethington, President and Sister Manion

Borrowed a coat and hat from his companion

Elder Liu, Elder Ethington, Elder Sun (new from Taiwan this transfer), and Elder Karren

Selfie in the snow

So today is my final P-Day in the MTC.  Just a little crazy.  These last couple days have been a little bit of fun, and a little bit of sad. I will miss a lot of the people I've met here at the MTC, and I've been saying good bye to them for the past little bit.  I leave tomorrow morning at 2:30 in the morning (WAY TOO EARLY).  The rest of my district leaves today at 1:30, but I will still beat them to the mission field, which I think is pretty funny.  While Elder Wimmer is gone and I'm still here, I get to be temporary companions with Elder Mertz.  He's a really great Elder from the district just behind us (well, 4 weeks behind us...) so I am excited for that.  I am really sad to see Elder Wimmer going though.  I was really blessed with him as a companion.  He put up with a lot of stuff (see the Halloween costume pictures) and helped me with a lot.  And it was great to see him grow as we were here.  I will definitely miss him as we spilt paths.

This week, whether I was aware of it or not, I feel was a bit of a spiritual growth spurt for me.  After Elder Wimmer recited the First Vision and gave me such a clear witness through the Holy Ghost of the truthfulness of that account, I have spent the week seeking to grow that small seed of testimony.  Elder Wimmer also got to recite the First Vision in mission conference, which was awesome.  Partly because we got to sit in the front.  The plan was for all those reciting to sit on the front row and the companions to sit on the row behind them.  Since all the others reciting it were sisters, I was about to be in the second row with 6 sisters (Every single group was a tripanionship, until ours got split with Elder Eggersten joining....)  Not that I was going to complain or anything...  But things ended up being just a little different from that, which is alright.  I was just really happy to get that same witness again.  And finally, in the Temple this morning, I had the expereince where that need to know how everything works, and why that I feel makes so much of the difference in Math and Physics, just melted away, and I was able to just let things be, and know that somehow, everything works, and no one (definitely not me) can comprehend the mysteries of God on their own.  Anyway, it was just a great week, and great last huzzah with my current district.  I bought everyone a cream soda one day, and we got a picture by the Cream Soda Tree, named because it smells like Cream Soda.  Elder Wimmer and I also had the chance to bless the Sacrament this Sunday.... Only we do our meetings with the missionaries using "SYL" or trying to only speak their language.  Which, scarily enough, includes the Sacrament Prayers.  Now, because Chinese is tonal, thats a total part of the prayer, and  I was really freaking out thinking I would be up on the stand saying the same thing 5 times, and then finally, humiliatingly, and mercifully, the Branch President would let me do it in English....  but there were no issues.  Which I know was a blessing from God, because I hate tones.  Mostly.  I have been going to choir with Elder Wimmer, and its really fun. Its awesome becuase I like sitting by him, and he says I can match pitch (most of the time) so I just try to follow him, which is really kind of cool.  Anyway.  This week comes to a close, and a new adventure begins tomorrow.  A freezing adventure... Brrr.....

Elder Ethington

T.J. loved his district! Here they are pointing to the missions where they will serve. One of thses things is not like the others....
 Elder Wimmer, his companion for his 9 weeks of MTC training,  is right next to T.J.

Elder Ethington and Austin Haymond-old friends from Hamilton Prep-found each other in the MTC.
This is T.J.'s last week there!

So this week was a pretty great week.  Elder Wimmer and I have been having a great time with our investigators and had definitely our best lessons this week. There were two that stand out to me with just me and him, and one from when I was still with Elder Clark and Elder Wimmer.  The first, with all three of us, was a Skype TRC appointment, which I have another of today after this....  Woohoo...., and the investigator told us that she had two questions she had been praying about.  One had already been answered, and then another was answered by one of the scriptures we shared in our lesson.  That was a really cool experience.  Its one of those things I see the Spirit working through the missionaries.

Another lesson was with the investigator version of our teacher.  We were trying to teach the commandment to follow the prophet, and to do this, we included a conference talk about some of the things we  had been talking about recently in our lessons, mainly exercising faith through Prayer and Scripture study.  Our teacher told us afterwards that it answered a prayer, which we weren't sure if it was her personal prayer or the investigators.  But again, that was really awesome.

Ok, the third lesson.  We teach the other companionships in our district so that we can have more teaching and get to know how an investigator feels.  Some of the companionships don't take this a seriously, but the others are patterning their investigators on real people, so its an actual thing for them.  And one of those was the sisters.  We were teaching them on Saturday, and Elder Wimmer recited the First Vision in Mandarin, and it was really powerful, and I asked them what their thoughts were, and it was really quite for a while, but not at all an awkward quiet.  And then Wu Jie Mei (Sister Baird's investigator, who had been really closed up) broke the silence and told us she didn't have a thought so much as a feeling that was just too big in her heart.  And it was just a really powerful witness to the investigators and to me personally that Joseph Smith's account and his experience are true, and that that is the message we are going out to teach.

This week turned out to be pretty good.  It started out kind of rough, but I was able to see those around me who tried to cheer me up, and I was glad for that.  My teacher took the only thing she really could, the fact that when we do Chinese exercises in class I talk about cookies, and she brought cookies to class to try to cheer me up.  Its just been a really good end to the week.

So here's another week down.  We are about 2 weeks out from leaving the MTC, and we expect to get our travel plans this week, Thursday or Friday.  So that's pretty darn exciting.  And I hear from Elder Bergeson that Canada has not been bad, he's had some great times there, and I am definitely looking forward to getting there.

Tomorrow morning my companionship will be split up.  Elder Eggersten, who came in two week before us, when he was supposed to be with us, will join and become Elder Clark's companion.  Elder Wimmer and I will still be companions.  I'm pretty excited, I think having just one companion will make things just a little bit sooner.

For our Tuesday devotional we had a speaker, Larry R. Lawrence.  I didn't make the connection with the Lawrence family until they showed the front row of family members, and I saw Makenna sitting there.  I went up and said hi to her after the devotional.  It was great to see someone I recognized from home.

So this Sunday I was made the District leader, for the last couple weeks that we are here. I wasn't really expecting that, and there are some study things I need to do for it, that I probably should have already done, but haven't...  But I'll get to it, I promise.  

Not a lot else this week.  Everyone is gearing up for getting into the field, which is great.  I think its going to be like the last few weeks of school, where everyone doesn't want to work or study, and its going to be a hard time staying focused.

So I guess that's six weeks here. Time is really flying.  Only a few more and I'll actually be in the field.  Which is a little scary, but also I'm really just ready to leave and to get a change of scenery.  So this week not a crazy ton has happened.  Oh, except yesterday.  Elder Wimmer and his brother performed in a Sunday night devotional, so we all got to sit in the front with them, which was awesome.  And the speaker showed us a rough cut of the Christmas video the church will come out with, and it looks pretty freaking amazing.

This week we did start talking about the Word of Wisdom with our investigators, which was a bit of a new experience.  I don't think our companionship was really ready for it, so it was hard.  And mostly we just diverted it and said we would handle it another time.

I did get a package from the Allens, and that was probably the highlight of the week. It was great just to get a package from home, and to see the pictures my cousins drew me and it just made the day great.

We also found out that once the oldest districts leave, one elder who came early but should have been in our district will be put in our district, and break up the tri-panionship.  So thats all going to be interesting...

Anyway, I'm having a great time up here.  The weather is getting a little more chilly but, its all fun.  Bye!

Well time is really starting to blur now.  We passed our 1 month mark this week, which was great.  But at the same time, its scary how much I have to learn that I haven't gotten to yet.  But its all going fast, and getting faster and better.  We finally got new Mandarin speaking missionaries this week, all going to Taiwan as far as I know.  But  thats alright, its nice not to be the new district anymore. Although it is a little more likely that we will be called on to give a talk in Sacrament meeting now.

So we had a great week at the MTC with General Conference.  I loved every session, but especially the Saturday Afternoon Session.  I also loved Elder Bednar's talk on Sunday.   Everything was great and I got so much out of all the talks.  And Sunday Night we had a great devotional with Vai Sikahema, who taught us never to miss a missionary opportunity, but it was one of the most fun devotionals I've been to.  So that was a great time.

This week we got two new investigators, the other companionships in the district form groups of investigators for us to teach, and we are a group for each of the companionships.  So thats a new challenge.  But its a lot of fun.

We have been having a blast as a district, we did endowments together today and then played basketball during P-day.  I know some Elders don't always enjoy basketball with the sisters, but I am having a good time.  They're always up to something entertaining.  This week they made a "I am a Missionary" batman mural on our Chalkboard, its one of the pictures I've sent.

Anyway, thats my week.  Its going great, but I'm kinda ready to get out of the MTC.  But I still have a lot to learn. Anyway, good bye. I miss you all. Please send mail, I love getting it.  And have fun!

 

Moustache Monday

Singapore companions Elder Clark and Elder Wimmer

4 weeks now.  The time is all kind of starting to blur into one now, so you'll all have to excuse me if I forget a few things.  So this week has been good, we've been really busy again.  Lots of Mandarin.  We have a new teacher, Wu Lao Shi, which also means a new investigator.  Xiao Lao shi was reassigned as a language rater, so she's not with our district anymore, which is kind of sad because I thought her class was the most fun one of them all.  Oh well.  

On Tuesday for our devotional we had M. Russell Ballard come to the MTC, which was pretty awesome.  He said he just wanted to talk to us like a grandfather, which was pretty accurate...  And it was a great devotional.

The language is still hard, I feel sometimes like I'm not progressing as well as I would like because I'm able to get by with what I used to know from before, but I'm still working on it.  One issue for me is my companions.  One really doesn't like to prepare until we are about 10-15 minutes out from teaching, which just bugs me.  We were walking to TRC, Teaching Resource Center, Saturday, and that was when he wanted to decide what we were going to say.  And I just let him know that we had already had our time to prepare, that it was come and passed as he slept or did other things.  Oh well, I'm senior companion this week, and he's the district leader now, so he won't be the senior companion for three weeks.  So I guess I can exert a little control over how we prepare now.

Anyway, its great here.  I love getting mail!  Dear Elders are awesome.  Talk to you all next week.  

Elder Samuel Smith and T.J. Ethington
Buddies in China, now at the MTC together! 

So that's three weeks now I guess.  It doesn't really seem like it, time is really supposed to go fast here, and I guess it really does.  We had TRC this week, we met with a random person, just themselves, and we didn't know who it was going to be beforehand.  I met with a returned missionary who just liked to meet with the missionaries, and a couple Older Chinese ladies that were a little difficult to understand.  But it was a really cool experience.  Definitely fun, and definitely not the same as what we had been doing with our teachers role playing investigators.  Other than that, there hasn't been a lot going on.  A lot of missionaries left from our zone, which means our residence hall got A LOT quieter at night.  But now my district is starting to be a little crazy and have some fun, so I'm enjoying that.  I'm definitely still not always totally used to getting along with two other guys every minute of every day, but its getting better.  And I'm definitely feeling an increase in Spirit while I'm here.  It's pretty awesome, and I'm really understanding a lot more about the gospel and my purpose.  I didn't talk about it last time, but I was having some issues with my newest teacher, Xiao lao shi, because the first day she came in she told me I wasn't the translator for the class, which was true I guess.  But I wasn't very happy about that. But its gotten better, because she acknowledges that I know, and that at least keeps me feeling a part of the class.  We had a General Authority for our Tuesday devotional last week, Richard G Scott came and spoke.  And then this Sunday, we got to participate in the Ogden Temple Rededication, which was another great experience.  I had guessed most of my district had already been, because they're almost all from Utah, but out of the 5 elders, I was one of two to have gone to one before, which was kinda neat.  Other than that, not a whole lot to report right now.  Everything's going good, still missing everyone, and still adjusting.

So here's my second P-Day E-mail.  This week was fun, we finished our lessons with our first investigator, Apple.  We extended the invitation to be baptized, which she accepted on our final lesson.  She wouldn't commit to a date, but we were planning on setting that later.  Until she came into class as our new teacher.  In the first few minutes with her as the teacher I was told I was "no longer the translator for the class"...   So I guess that was alright.  It was just a little frustrating, but still kinda funny at the same time.  Everything is going well here, we had another temple session today, and we did sealings, which I hadn't done before, so that was neat.  Its weird to think that some of the elders who got here the same day I did are leaving today.  That, and a bunch of elders from my zone are leaving.  But we should be getting new Mandarin speaking Elders Wednesday.  Probably none going to Edmonton, but I hope so!  We're having a lot of fun at the MTC.  Class with our new teacher, Xiao Lao Shi, is a little more fun, just because she has more energy than our other teacher did.  And so that helps things go by.  I play four square during gym, and it can get a little competitive.  But its all fun at the same time.  We love P-Day Gym because so few people are at the gym when we go.  So we got to play a lot of games today, and it went really quick.  Yeah, so everything's good here.  I don't think I have many new pictures, but I'll send the ones I have.  Hope everything is alright in AZ, I heard about the record rainfalls.  Also, keep sending Dear Elders,  they're awesome to get!  Miss you all!

Mandarin class

T.J. and his companion with Lindsay Sanders and her comp

So, a first real letter from the MTC.  The first few days have been really hectic.  We got thrown into class right away.  And my companion never showed up, so that kinda stunk.  But I'm in a great tri-panionship now and I'm loving it.  The dorms here are pretty nice, I was definitely glad to have slept on the couch and be used to sleeping on something new, so ha. You told me it was stupid.  Anyway, my keyboard is messed up, the space bar is broken.  Actually, I just fixed something...  Anyway,the first days are great, we are already teaching an investigator.  Our Mandarin isn't really good enough to teach, but I can talk to her about daily Chinese stuff.  Which is fun.  We had our first temple session today,so that was also great.  I had a great experience in there and really felt the spirit, and it was great.  I am having a good time with the class and my district, they make it enjoyable here.  I am wearing my retainer, and brushing my teeth, probably better than I did when I was at home.  Thanks for the luggage tags, I got them today, and the Beef Jerky,I got that my third day here and I shared with my district.  My teacher is a Guatemalan  brother who was sent to Taiwan on his mission.  And he really only talks to us in Chinese, which is hard for a lot of people.  But we learn a lot.  And we had fast and testimony meeting this Sunday, which I was surprised to understand a lot of.  Its all off a basic formula, and then my Chinese experience had taught me the other words in between all the gospel vocab, and so I knew what most people were saying most of the time, and it was awesome.  Anyway, here's the end of my first letter. I hope everything is alright back home.  Bye!

That's my whole district.  From left to right we are: Elder Wimmer, me, Elder Clark, Elder Sabin, Elder Brown, Sister Tuitone, Sister Baird, and Sister Kitchen.