First email from the MTC

Hey Everyone,

So I have been in the MTC for almost two weeks now and it is probably the hardest thing I have ever done! But before I get into that; in my district at the MTC there are 4 other missionaries going to my same mission: Elder Polad, Elder Stoddard (my companion), Hermana Jones, And Hermana Vasquez. My district is super nice but we all have gotten to know each other too fast, so we get super distracted at nights. My Branch President decided to make me, the only one besides my companion without Spanish experience, to be the District Leader. It was cool at first till I realized that a DL pretty much is a glorified babysitter. 

So the MTC is a beautiful place right in Mexico City, we hear gunshots (sorry Mom) and fireworks every night, but we are very safe. The hardest thing about being out here is learning Spanish. It was so bad after the second real day, that me and my companion were asking each other if it was too late to go English speaking. The reason we were overwhelmed is we had to teach a "investigator" in Spanish on that second day. But since then it’s gotten a lot easier, I still do not know Spanish very well but I am able to get through a lesson teaching one of our investigators with just the topic sentences in Spanish. The only problem is when they ask questions, I cannot understand half the words they say, so I always just hope I caught enough to answer the questions. The first time we taught with just bullet points on the lesson was a disaster but we have done well after that. 

The biggest thing that I have learned about God and Christ is that they are always willing to help if you ask them for it.... and if you don’t ask for it they won’t hesitate to let you know that the only reason you are doing so well is because of their help. So the story behind this goes like this: Elder Stoddard and I were going into our second lesson with our "investigator" and we had the whole thing written out so we would do well, and when it was our turn to teach we forgot to say a prayer to ask for help in teaching, and speaking and interpreting Spanish. We had no idea what was going on our whole lesson. we couldn’t understand Luis (our fake investigator who is actually our teacher Hermano Zamudio) at all and we were super frustrated because the lesson went worse than the first one did. But after that experience we have prayed around 50 times for help before we teach and it’s been going a lot better. I can testify that God is just waiting for you to ask for help and he will help you no matter how small or big the thing is. He is there, He loves you, and he will help you in any struggles or trials. 

I am super grateful for the experiences I have had in the MTC so far, even though it is super hard and stressful. Any of my friends going out on missions soon, the best advice I can give you is make sure you are prepared for 24/7 spirit, stress, and occasionally (not 24/7) wanting to cry yourself to sleep at night. Oh and if you are learning a language DON'T ASSUME YOU WILL JUST LEARN IT IN THE MTC.  That is the mistake I made and I wish I had studied more of español. 

Oh and to anyone who is interested, I have seen a lot of kids from Davis High here. I have seen Carlos Goff, Michael Moody, Matthew Mickinnan, some kid I had in my math class (sorry I forgot his name), and more often than not I catch a glimpse of some kid that may be me, but looks about 10 years older  sorry if I butchered the spelling of some of those guys names, spelling was never my strong suit even before español.

I love you all and hope you have all been having a great last little bit of summer! 

Mexico MTC

Elder Stoddard and Porter at the Temple

Elder Stoddard

Me