First Week - July 15, 2019

First week of the MTC is over! It wasn't near as bad as I thought it would be, I guess I don't mind studying for 8+ hours every day. My first companion was Elder Bickmore, he's also speaking Mandarin, but going to Singapore! He's super nice (and smart). He got a 1550 on the SAT, took like 11 AP classes, and got a full tuition scholarship to BYU! He's pretty amazing, he taught me so much while he was my companion! But the reason I said "first" was because apparently they made a mistake and assigned me the wrong companion. So 2 days in, they had to switch us all around. It was sad, because Elder Bickmore was awesome, but my new companion is great too! My new companion is Elder Beam. He's actually half taiwanese-he lived in Taiwan (Kaohsiung) until he was 8, so he already knows a LOT of Chinese, which is super helpful when it comes to language study. He's also a convert, he got baptized last year! He's going to Scotland/Ireland on his mission, which borders my mission!

My district is super awesome too! The other Elder Ensign (Matthew) isn't in my district, but he's in my zone, so we still get to see each other a lot. My room (the elders in my district) started having "movie nights" every night before we go to bed, where we watch the Safety Zone and the District (Missionary Training videos), so we've been having a pretty good time! The sisters are super nice too! Our district spends like 6 hours in class together every day, so I feel like I've known them for months when in reality it hasn't even been a week. The other Elder in my district is Elder Lindsay, he's going to Arcadia California. We have 4 sisters, 3 are going to Taichung, Taiwan (Sister Low, Berglund, and Sheffield), and the other sister is going to Arcadia with Elder Lindsay (Sister Davis). All of us are speaking Mandarin.

The MTC isn't bad at all! You aren't ever bored, there's always something to do. The food isn't bad either. I'm constantly feeling the Spirit (it's like a spiritual powerhouse here!), and any fears I had about going on a mission vanished almost immediately when I walked in and saw the 2,000 other missionaries there (army of Helaman???). I've learned a lot of Chinese, but I still have a long way to go... Every week you're supposed to write a talk on a specific topic that changes every week, then on sundays during sacrament meeting, they call up like 3 missionaries without warning to give their talks... in chinese... so that's SUPER stressful! But they said they wouldn't call us up on our first two weeks, so I have 2 weeks to prepare to actually give a talk.

Overall my first week has been good! I have awesome teachers, and I'm surrounded by amazing people all the time! I'm so excited for these next 8 weeks, and even more excited to go to England on September 10!

Also, so you all know, I can read emails throughout the week, I just can't reply to them until P-day, which is monday. So send me emails! Also, if you know anyone that wants to be added to my email list, have them email me and I'll add them! And if you ever want me to take you off the list or change your email let me know!

我爱你们!

with my companion Elder Beam

-高长老 (Elder Ensign)

with my former companion Elder Bickmore

Here's some pics with my two companions. The elders in my district are from left to right me, Elder Beam, Elder Bickmore, Elder Lindsay. Also found Elder Benjamin and Elder Norris!

with Elder Norris

with Elder Benjamin

(left to right:  me, Elder Beam, Elder Bickmore, Elder Lindsay)