MTC - Week 7

MTC - Week 7

Thanksgiving this week was really fun. I was not that excited for it because I thought it would be lame and sad. I ended up having a really good time. Our district was ushering for all the devotionals on Thanksgiving, so we got to see some behind the scenes stuff. Dallin H Oaks came to speak to us for our morning devotional on Thanksgiving, all of our district got to say hi and stuff to him before the devotional. He brought a lot of his family with him and they played some music for us, it was really good. He talked about being thankful and talked about some of the history of Thanksgiving.

Afterward, since my companion, Elder Brandner, got interviewed by the church news, he makes it into this article.

 Here is the link to the article. https://www.lds.org/church/news/givethanks-in-all-things-elder-oaks-tells-missionaries-on-thanksgiving?lang=eng

After that first devotional we had lunch, which they ended up making our dinner. They had turkey and potatoes and everything for us. It was very good, but it was not as good as my mother’s Thanksgiving dinner. Either way I was extremely grateful for all the cafeteria workers that spent time away from their family to cook lunch for us. They just had us pack up a sack dinner right after lunch so the cafeteria workers could go home. 

After lunch we had another devotional where they explained our service project for the day. They had someone from the Church Welfare speak and the head of Feeding Children Everywhere speak. It was interesting hearing the head of the Feeding Children Everywhere speak because he was not LDS. After we heard them speak we started doing our service project. They had us preparing meals for children in need throughout Utah. We only did about two hours of service but we prepared about 300,000 meals which we were informed is a new MTC record. It was fun to do service on Thanksgiving because, as I would help assemble each meal, I could think about how fortunate I am and how much I have. 

In the evening they had a Gratitude devotional where they just showed some short Thanksgiving videos and then had Elders and Sisters share some of their talents. It was really nice to watch and be grateful for everything. Overall, it was a really good Thanksgiving and I was happy that I got one last good Thanksgiving before leaving the States.

Teaching the member in Thailand via Skype was really interesting. It seemed to me that we could communicate somewhat decently in conversation, but there were a bunch of times that we would ask a question and they would just start going way too fast and bunched together to understand. We would usually just say something like "good" afterward to make it look like we understood. I feel pretty confident now in the language though. I can understand almost anything now if it isn't said to fast, I just don't know how to reply to some things yet. We do another Skype lesson tonight so hopefully that goes well.

My ankle is doing better. I still haven't been cleared to do gym time yet, but I think I should be able to have it in a few days. I have been really missing running every day. The last week, at least they have let me do ten minutes a day on the exercise bike. They let me do that earlier because there is no impact on the bike, I guess.

Yesterday, I got called as the online coordinator for our branch. I don't really do much except teach all the new missionaries how to use the computers here and tell them all the rules and stuff. Speaking of new missionaries our nun Thais come on Wednesday (nun means younger in Thai) I am really excited to have them around. Apparently in the new group there is someone who already speaks Thai. It will be fun to have him around to help settle arguments about vocab and tones.

It seems weird that our district is only two weeks away from leaving now. We should get our flight plans this Wednesday I think we will be leaving really early in the morning, and go through either Japan or Hong Kong.

Well not much else everything is really good here and it is nice to think about how close our district is to leaving.

Elder Cheney

Here are two links to our service project:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865642547/MTC-missionaries-spend-Thanksgiving-preparing-350000-meal-packs.html

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865591538/MTC-missionaries-find-charity-service-in-lentils-and-rice-on-Thanksgiving-Day.html?pg=all#FlP5250f5fF7gtBu.01

MTC- Week 6

MTC- Week 6

Another week down at the MTC, it seems like the weeks are really going by fast now. I like how fast they are going by because it means I am getting that much closer to going to Thailand. On the other hand, a month and a half of my mission is already over. I am enjoying it so much I really get bummed out by the thought of my mission going by.

My ankle is doing better now. I was able to get off of crutches on Thursday. I am pretty much walking normally now but I still don't get any gym time, because I have to do physical therapy stuff to strengthen my ankle. I do miss getting my gym time everyday but I think I should only have to do physical therapy stuff till Friday. Then I can go back to running.

Later today we are going to Skype a native Thai speaker in Thailand to teach a lesson. I am excited to do that because that will be the real deal of what it is like in Thailand. I think it is cool that we get to do that. I feel the last few weeks here my companion and I have really been improving our speaking ability.

It is weird that Thanksgiving is this week since I really don't have any concept of the outside world at the moment. I only realized Thanksgiving was coming up, earlier this week. I am not sure exactly what is going to be going on but they passed out a Thanksgiving schedule yesterday and it looks like we will be preparing food for people in need and we will have a General Authority come to speak to us. I don't think we really get a good dinner, it sounds like we will get a sack dinner. It is a little disappointing, but it is good. That way all the cafeteria workers can go home for Thanksgiving. I am kind of glad I am in the MTC for Thanksgiving, because there wouldn't be any type of Thanksgiving in Thailand. It will be nice to serve people on Thanksgiving; we can remember how fortunate we are as we serve those who are not. It will also be a nice break from the same daily schedule. 

It’s weird to think about how close I am from going to Thailand; we are 3 weeks away now from going I think it will go by pretty fast.

We had some good devotionals this last week. On Tuesday, we got to hear from Kim B Clack he talked about: Obedience, Work hard, Feel the Spirit, and Love the people. He also gave a few stories about missionaries out in the field who just got there but where able to speak to investigators in ways their companion couldn't because of how they were following those things. He was super cool to listen to and makes me think about how I just need to focus on living obediently and do the other stuff and I don't need to worry about the language as much.

Elder Cheney

MTC - Week 5

MTC – Week 5

This week has definitely been interesting, I have still been having a good time learning Thai. Our class is making great strides and we are only half way through the MTC. We are doing well and don't really have problems teaching lessons or answering questions in Thai anymore. Most of the time now, if our lessons don't go well, it is because we were not teaching what the investigator needed to hear. I can’t wait until our district gets to go to Thailand.

We had our half way point at the MTC was last Thursday; it is weird to think that one month of my mission is already over. It makes me a little sad because it seems like it is already going by fast.

We got to host new missionaries again last Wednesday. It was still enjoyable but barely any new missionaries came in. I suppose the summer rush is pretty much over. The MTC has way less people here then when I first got here. I think it is down to about half the amount of people maybe a little more.

So, funny story, I was playing volleyball last Friday after my run and while I was playing, I jumped up really high to spike the ball. So anyway, when I came down I landed on top of Elder Brandner's foot and I sprained my ankle pretty bad. They have had me on crutches since then. I shouldn't have to be on them for too much longer but I won’t be able to do any activities on it for a while. I really just hope I can get back to running at least because that isn't as bad as basketball or anything. I was planning on challenging the mile record last Saturday.

Being on crutches is really a hassle. It takes longer to walk everywhere and you can’t really carry anything in your hands. I do feel like I am getting a good workout on everything except the bad leg. Elder Brandner and my other roommates have been helping me out a lot though. One of my roommates; Elder Jeffery, sprained his ankle recently and has been telling me that I probably can’t do anything more than walking for about a month. I really hope my injury is not quite as lasting. I feel like I have to explain what happened to people about 20 times a day. Good thing it is a short story. 

Later that Friday our language teacher, Brother Tirrel, gave a really good spiritual thought about devoting ourselves more to the gospel and that as we do this, our language will follow. It was really good.  My favorite part of the spiritual thought was when we were reading in 3rd Nephi chapter 5. There is some really good stuff in there and I encourage all to read it.

Earlier in the week I auditioned to be in a small choir that will sing to general authorities and other people early in December. I haven't found out if I made it yet but the other members of my district that auditioned said I did a really good job. I am not sure if they are saying that to be nice or if I actually did well. Auditioning was a little stressful. It felt like I was on American Idol singing in front of the MTC presidency's wives.

Not much else happened this week, I am still doing well,

Elder Cheney     

Week 4

Week 4

I have had another great week here at the MTC. This week we made some goals to help us learn Thai faster, and so far they are helping out a lot. We are reading Thai script more now, and we sing hymns and stuff like that from Thai script. I have been enjoying learning how to read that and have started trying to read the Book of Mormon in Thai.

Earlier in the week I had the opportunity to give a blessing. It was for one of the Laotian speaking Elders (the Laotian Elders are stateside). He broke a piece of bone off under his knee cap and has to get surgery that would have a two or three month recovery. I was not that close to him or anything but I ended up giving the blessing which ended up being a surprise for me. I felt the spirit really strongly while giving it and it was awesome. He had to go home the next day because of the surgery, but I think he will recover fine and get back to the MTC soon. There were only 2 Laotian speaking Elders here and now there is only one, so the Elder that stayed here now hangs out with the Thai District all the time.  Elder Brandner and I hang out with him a lot. He doesn’t have an assigned companion so he just makes sure he is with someone. Laotian is really close to Thai so we can talk to each other and understand a lot of stuff. Laos is in our mission so I am hoping I get to spend some time there during my mission and be able to say I am fluent in 3 languages. 

Our Phii(older) Thais left this morning. It was nice to have them around because we could ask them questions about the language and questions about the MTC. I think we will be fine without them. We all are doing well at the language and can usually ask each other and someone will know the answer.

Our district got to host new missionaries on Wednesday. I enjoyed it a lot and had fun showing new people around the MTC. I hosted one elder who was a convert to the church and had only been a member for 16 months. He was from Peru, and the two sisters that taught him in Peru were able to pick him up from the airport and drop him off at the MTC. It was pretty cool to see how someone I teach might be led to go on a mission. We get to host new missionaries again this Wednesday. 

I am still doing well here; I have still been trying to break the mile record. It can be hard to get a good time on the track because the track isn't big and a lot of people run on it. I still think I can break the record because I have 5 more weeks to train for it. I have also been playing a lot of volleyball during my gym time. It is a lot of fun to play here. There is a guy who has the same gym time as us that played on the University of Hawaii volleyball team. He is really good and just looks like he isn't trying most of the time.

We had Richard J. Maynes come to speak to us on Tuesday he talked about making the efforts we need to, to be good missionaries. He told a story about when he was at a gas station and he saw some missionaries and he waved to them. The missionaries waved back and nothing else happened. He explained that as he was standing there he realized that the missionaries should be using an opportunity like that to meet new people. So he said he asked them how they were doing and the missionaries said ‘good’ and didn't pursue any further conversation. This made me think about how I need to work to become more social when I meet new people. It made me want to work so that I will be able to talk to new people easier so that I don't miss out on any opportunities to teach. 

Overall, I had a good spiritually uplifting week and I hope I can continue to have these experiences.

I hope everything is still going well.

Elder Cheney

MTC- Week 3

I am still having a great time at the MTC. We had Neil L Anderson come this Tuesday to our devotional. It was awesome to hear from an Apostle, and I hope we have the opportunity to hear from another Apostle while we are still here. We got to sing "More Holiness Give Me" at that devotional. It was awesome, and the devotional was broadcast to all the MTC's around the world. 

Daniel left for New Mexico this morning. I got to talk to him for a while during our temple walk yesterday. I am happy he is going out, but now I don't have any friends from home here at the MTC. It isn't really that bad because I have 11 new friends in my district. I really do like everyone in my district. 

I had to teach the priesthood lesson yesterday. It wasn't too bad. Because we have Mongolian, Laotian, Cambodian, Cantonese, and Vietnamese speakers in our zone I didn't have to teach my lesson in Thai. I was really nervous about giving my lesson, but I only ended up getting through about half of the stuff I had prepared. I was teaching about faith in Jesus Christ. I found a lot of good articles about the topic and when it got to the time that I was teaching my lesson I could feel the spirit really strong. I got a few compliments on my lesson, so I felt pretty good about it. 

Last night, we ended up not having choir practice because it was Fast Sunday. I was a little disappointed. Choir is one of the things I look forward to most each week. It is a good time when you don't have to worry too much about learning the language. 

I feel my Thai is still coming along well. We had an English fast on Wednesday where we didn't speak any English all day. I couldn't tell how much it really helped because, normally, when you don't know a word or something you just ask. But when you are English fasting you pretty much don't say what you want to say. Our district was thinking we will try to just use more SYL (speak your language). It gets confusing though when people rush through a sentence half in Thai, half in English. Teachers have been telling us if we know how to say a word in Thai, there is no reason to say that word in English. I have been trying to do that as much as possible, but it is really easy to slip back into English. 

Halloween was kind of funny here at the MTC. I was dressed up as Elder Cecil. It was funny because that morning they did a Teaching Thing where we just thought the RM's were playing the role of themselves which was nice because you don't have to try to explain a lot of stuff with them, you just give a spiritual message and they share their thoughts about it. Well anyway, I was dressed up as Elder Cecil and when I went to introduce myself, I got confused for a second and had to explain what was going on. Later in the evening, a few of the elders from our district went trick or treating around our residence. We had pretty good results for the rooms not being prepared for trick or treaters.

I had to stop eating peppers every night because they were giving me some stomach problems. I still am trying to eat spicier foods so it doesn't get bad once I get to Thailand. 

Our Phii Thai's leave in a week. (Phii means older in Thai) It is nice to have them around to help us learn, but I guess in a few more weeks we will be the Phii Thai's

I am still doing great, I love being here, It is nice to be in a place where everyone has the same beliefs. I am still pretty anxious to go to Thailand, but I don't think I would make it in Thailand if I went there now, so it makes me appreciate all the time I have here to learn.

Elder Cheney