Week 1

THis is Ian's first e-mail from the MTC:

So, with my district, there's Elder Van De Graff, who's from Chicago. He's my companion and district leader. He's awesome. He reminds me of a combination of Phil and Brian Southwick. I already told you that, though. He went to LDS Business College for a while. Elder Schulte is from Cocomo, Indiana, and went to BYU for a while. He lived in Austria for two years, so he also has the torture/blessing of a German education. (It helps you understand some stuff, but it also makes you think some things are a way they really aren't.) He's cool. He's really big, but he's like a teddy bear. Elder Schulte's companion is Elder Merrill, who is from Taylorsville. He went to Cottonwood (I think that's it), and was on the swim team. Elder Pederson is the only missionary in our district who isn't going to Belgium/Netherlands. He's going to the West Indies (Suriname), and he has to learn Dutch in the MTC, as well as picking up Suranaam Tongo (I'm spelling it fonetically. Sorry if I phailed). He laughs at everything, and he's really funny. His companion is Elder Wait, and he's hilarious. Elder Wait swam in high school (lots of swimmers in our district). He's really good at keeping a straight face, which makes his jokes even more funny. Elder Wang (rhymes with Kong) is from Yorktown, Virginia, and when he got here last week he was given a Mandarin name tag, and found out he was expected to polish up his Mandarin and learn gospel vocabulary. His companion is Elder Hendrickson, the other swimmer in the district. We have one Zuster (doesn't rhyme with rooster) in our district. Zuster Welch is a solo sister, which means she doesn't have a companion in our district, so another companionship needs to escort her to most of the activities. Elder Van De Graaff and I have been unofficially assigned that duty, but the Zone Leaders told us to have other elders in our district escort her places. We have the best district ever, and our Zone Leaders, who are also going to the Belgium/Netherlands mission.

Dutch is coming along very well. I've already had an embarrassing mistake, though, which is super easy in Dutch. I was asked how I was, and I accidentally said "Ik ben heil God," instead of "Ik ben heil goed. (One of them has a long O sound, and one of them has a short O sound. But that's really easy. There are two examples in The Best Two Years, and Brother Bond, one of our teachers, once said "bless this bread in remembrance of his nakedness," or something like that.

On Sunday we had a fireside with Steven B. Allen, who's the head of the Missionary Department. He asked missionaries who had an aunt who served in Spain and an uncle who served in Belgium stand up, and Elder Van De Graaff stood up, because he did, and the camera zoomed in on him while Brother Allen found out that he wasn't the right missionary. He had met the aunt and uncle on the plane recently, but if the missionary is still in the MTC, he was in the overflow. Elder Van De Graaff wrote "Totally Embarrasses Me!" in his notes. He later had us go up and talk about some "turbulence" we might have had while serving our mission, and one elder got up and said that he speaks for all of us when he said the MTC food gave us turbulence. Andrew will love to hear that Elder Merrill was drinking orange juice earlier, and that when we noticed, we all told him it would be a long day. Along those lines for one last bit, look up the kinds of medical things you have to have for Belgian or Taiwanese visas. You know how much I hate blood tests, and the blood test was the more pleasant part of "Magic Tuesday." The Zone leaders told us to "Do it with love." It was ridiculous.

I've woken up with a sore throat every morning since arriving here, because of the guttural G sounds in Dutch. Apparently, there's a prominent Orthopedic Surgeon here in Provo named Doctor Schow. I've been asked if I'm related to him three times. On Monday we were talking to a dutch lady in the TRC, and I was talking to her about the family, and she looked at me and said "Sprecken Sie Deutsch?" It was bad.

I love being a zendilingen for De Kerk Van Jezus Christus Van De Heiligen Der Laatste Dagen. The church is true. I love you all. I'm really excited to go serve in the Netherlands. (Apparently we don't need visas to get to the Netherlands, but we need them to get into Belgium, which apparently doesn't have a government. And Brother Bond told us that we will all serve in the Netherlands, but we won't all serve in Belgium.)

I love you all (I know I've already said it), but it's true. I hope you don't miss my be-awesomeness too much while I'm gone.

Love, Ian.