September 5, 2012
Hello, beloved ones!
I expect now that school has started, my weekly readership has dropped substantially. I also expect that to continue now that I'm out of the MTC and will be doing the same exact thing for the next 22 months or so. So let me tell you about my last few days of the MTC, my first experiences in the field, and (possibly now or possibly next week) my first couple weeks of missionary work. Then you can ignore everything else I write for the next couple years.
Thursday night I had my last experience in the Teaching Resource Center (TRC). I'm sorry KB had such a miserable time there. That was always one of the highlights to my week. This time we talked (in Spanish, of course) to a man Rafael about various uplifting/spiritual experiences we've had with the Book of Mormon. We had a great talk, and at the end he pointed at me and said "I know you. I don't know how, but you are familiar to me." I don't know how either but I agree. So that was neat.
Friday before I left the MTC we had so-called "In-Field Orientation" where they have workshops themed "Working with Members" or "Finding People to Teach." Somehow one of those had a nautical theme, another had a cowboy theme, and I don't even know what else. Basically it amounted to "How many ways can we secretly say 'It's all about baptizing people' while actually saying 'It's not all about baptizing people'?" It was cute to watch them try.
Sunday at 5:30 I went to a devotional for all departing missionaries. Sunday at 6 I heard more watch chimes go off than I'll ever hear again.
Later Sunday we had the regular Sunday night fireside. I don't remember what the speakers talked about, only that the headlining speaker's wife spoke first (which is common). My fireside/devotional experience is that typically wives give a brief, sappy talk and then talk about their families. Sister Jepsom(?) gave a "man-style" talk. She was bold and powerful and an absolute treat to listen to. So that was neat.
Monday was our last day of classes. The last thing my teacher Sister Cutler said to me was "I hope I never have another student as smart as you again." Thanks? P.S. I hope my dad sent out some of the pictures I sent him last week. That took up most of my emailing time and it'd be a shame if it was all for naught.
[Eric's note: Most of the photos Z is referring can be seen at the following public link:
MTC Photos
Tuesday I woke up with some kind of head-cold. I don't know if there was a bug at the MTC or it was just stress, but I knew that travel wasn't going to help. It didn't, but more on that later.
Tuesday night was spent at the mission home. We had a brief testimony meeting with the fellow n00bs, the Assistants to the President, and President and Sister Collins. Some of you may recall my uncertainty about the mission president. From the picture I'd seen, they just looked incredibly...ordinary. Well, Sister Collins gave her testimony and talked glowingly about her husband. That didn't surprise me. What surprised me was that she began her comments with some joke about how boring Indiana is, and how many people first thought they were going to India and stuff like that. Then after that, President Collins gave his testimony. He made some off-hand remark about "everything he's read about Joseph Smith" which caught my attention. Then he closed his remarks by speaking glowingly about Sister Collins! That never happens! Needless to say I was intrigued, but not persuaded.
I was the last to interview with President that night before he made assignments for our first transfer. I asked what kinds of books he's read about Joseph Smith, and we ended up talking for way longer than we should have. Here's what I ultimately found out:
-He's soft-spoken and thoughtful;
-He truly loves and respects his wife;
-He's well-studied in Church history. And I don't mean Richard Bushman well-studied, or even Donna Hill well-studied; I mean Fawn Brodie, talked with Gerald Tanner at Sunstone Symposium well-studied. That'll mean nothing to most of you but to me that's remarkable.
So that's all cool.
Wedensday I woke up with a headache and a hoarse voice. I was assigned to the Spanish Branch in Colombus, and my trainer is named Elder Hardy from Mesa, AZ. I was going to try and play off my assignment as completely miserable but dad cheated and found out where I live already. The address is 963 Lapwing Dr, Columbus IN 47203. You can look it up on Google Street view if you want.
Columbus is a pristinely-preserved little Hometown, USA where everybody and their grandfather works for Cummins, manufacturing diesel engines or something like that. The Spanish branch covers Columbus and has members down in nearby Seymour, which we visit every Saturday. I'll tell you all more about the branch in future letters when I have more time. In fact, I'll tell you more about everything in future letters when I have more time. For now, let me leave you with a couple of interesting facts I've learned since arriving:
-Hispanics are friendlier than Americans. That's all there is to it.
-Spray butter is apparently quite a thing here.
-Drunk Hispanics are even friendlier than regular ones. Usually whoever we're talking to will look back-and-forth at me and Elder Hardy until I start talking. Then they pretty much focus on Elder Hardy. Not so when they're drunk.
Mkay. I have loads of storied to bore you with but they'll have to wait. Love y'all. Love you, Ninrick.
Love, Z
P.S. Oh! The nice thing about the cold? I lost my voice Wednesday, so I could use that as an excuse to not speak Spanish during our lessons. Or English for that matter. Then came the bronchitis...
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