MTC 8 - Last P-Day in the MTC!

Here is our letter from Elder Davis! It's his last one from the MTC!

 

Bonjour family and friends!

Crazy to think that this is my last P-Day here in the MTC. This is the start of my 9th week here and also the last email you will get from me while I'm here in the United States. Next time you hear from me I'll be somewhere in France (or Belgium or Luxembourg)!

So the exciting news for this week is WE GOT OUR TRAVEL PLANS!

We leave the MTC around 2 pm on 2/18/2013. Our plane leaves the Salt Lake City airport at 4:55 pm. and then we land in the Paris, Chas De Gaulle airport at 11:25 am France time. I think it’s a 10 hour flight plus an 8 hour time difference from here in Utah. We will be traveling in a group of 12 missionaries (11 elders, 1 sister) who are all serving in the Paris mission. We are all extremely excited and I'll send some pictures that illustrate that excitement. Mom, I'm not sure what time exactly, but I'll be able to call home from the airport sometime between probably 2:30 and 3:30. I bought a special card here at the MTC that allows me to use regular pay phones for long periods of time for cheap. What I'll do is call home (using some quarters) then once you answer and I know you're there I'll hang up and call back using the money on my pay phone card. I don't know if dad is working that day or not, but let me know so I can plan on making more than one phone call if needed. I am only allowed to call immediate family. I'm excited to talk to you guys!

I got to host again this week which was exciting. We had 850 missionaries enter the MTC in one day which (I was told...) is a record for the most missionaries to enter the MTC in one day. I also got to see my good friend Elder Damon Roberts! He is doing great and enjoying his time here at the MTC. He will only be here for 12 days and actually leave the day before me! He will bless many lives. Elder Ragsdale also left for Nevada today and he is super excited to get there and get to work!

This week I met a couple missionaries from Tahiti and Guam. They both speak French, but don't know any English! They are here in the MTC learning English and going to the Montreal mission. It was really cool to run into them because I was able to talk to them in French! I was so excited that I could easily communicate with them. Their French was really good and we just small talked about the United States and Tahiti/Guam and missionary work. From what I hear though, people in Paris speak French MUCH faster than they do in Tahiti/Guam so that will take some getting used to once I'm in France.

We got 36 French missionaries which made our "zone" so big that we had to split in half. Now there are 2 French zones.

Oh Elder Williams and I had an awesome opportunity this past Wednesday. Every Wednesday, on the night when all the new missionaries come in, there is a big meeting where the new missionaries practice teaching investigators. However, before they teach the investigators, a couple missionaries who have been in the MTC for a while get the chance to demonstrate a few different teaching principles and basically show them how to get started. Me and Elder Williams were recommended and chosen to demonstrate this for hundreds of new missionaries. It was pretty intimidating. We had microphones and wires all hooked up to us and we started teaching. Believe it or not, the hardest part was teaching in English! Elder Williams and I have gotten so used to teaching in French that teaching in English was challenging. I found myself constantly wanting to use French words. Anyways, it was a great experience and I'm grateful for the chance I had to teach in English.

On some days, I feel like I'm amazing at French, but other days are very humbling and I feel like I know about as much French as a rock. Overall though, I'm doing great. I've learned a lot here at the MTC and I'll never forget the experience I had here. This place is amazing; I've never before felt the spirit as strongly or as consistently as I have here. I know God is our Heavenly Father and that He loves us. I know Jesus is the Christ and that, because of the atonement of Jesus Christ, we can someday live with our families with our Heavenly Father after this life. I promise that this life is just a small step in a bigger plan that our Heavenly Father has for us. At times, the world we live in is a scary and sad place. I'm thankful for the opportunity I have to take a message of joy, hope and peace to a world that is in desperate need of it.

Thank you for all your love and support. I pray for you all often. I pray for many of you individually. I hope you continue to stay healthy and happy and I wish you continued success in all of your many endeavors. For those of you who have the possibility of serving a mission in the future... All I have to say is there is no greater thing you can do with your life than serve a mission for your Savior Jesus Christ.

Thank you again for all the mail and prayers.

Talk to you next week!

 Love,

 Elder Davis

 

Per request, I'm sending a few more pictures this week than normal. I'm sure once I get in France I'll take a ton of pictures.

(At first, we only got 3 pictures from him, but then at like 8:00 at night we got a ton more! Turns out that the computers weren't working earlier, so he sent them a lot later.)

 

 

#1 Me and Elder Ragsdale in the cafeteria on Monday, the day before he left for Nevada

 

#2 Me and Elder Roberts pointing on a world map where we will be serving our missions. (He is serving in the alpine German speaking mission which covers parts of Germany, Switzerland and Austria)

 

#3 Elder Williams excited for travel plans

 

#4 Elder Jambor and I on the night before he left for Tahiti. He insisted I also used his funny little hand gesture haha

 

#5 Me with my itinerary!!!! Exciting day!!

 

#6 Elder Williams being a nerd haha

 

#7 Me wearing the tie Collin Park gave me. (Mom, sister Park wants a copy of this picture to send to Collin. Please email it to her. Thanks)

 

#8 Itinerary

 

#9 Some of the Parisians with their itineraries

 

#10 Me with my itinerary

 

#11 Goofy picture of me after hosting

 

#12 Another hosting picture

 

 

MTC 7 - 13 Days Until Paris!

Here's our letter for this week!

 

Bonjour tout le monde! (Hello everyone!)

I hope you are all doing well. I pray for you all often. I am another week closed to Paris. 13 more days and I'll be one a 10 hour flight to France. I'm so excited. I say this all the time, but I'll say it again, "I love the MTC, but I can't wait to leave and start working in France".

I got to host this past week. For those of you who don't know what hosting is, basically I get to help the new missionaries find their way around the MTC when they first get here. We had 600 missionaries come in last Wednesday and I was able to help 3 of them: 2 elders, 1 sister, all going to Spanish speaking missions. It was a lot of fun. It seems like only yesterday I was being dropped off at the MTC.

I get to host again next week which is awesome because my good friend Damon Roberts is entering the MTC this Wednesday! There are 800 missionaries coming in this week so I probably won’t get to be his host. But I'll probably run into him here in the MTC. There are roughly 3000 missionaries here at the MTC, it’s packed in here! Since we got 600 new missionaries, Elder Williams, Elder Jambor and I got 2 new roommates. Elder Kelly is from Salt Lake, and Elder Angell from somewhere in Utah. They are both barely 18! They seem so young, but they are pretty cool guys. It was interesting the first night they were here because we had 5 missionaries in the room and only 4 beds (Yeah, did I mention there are a lot of missionaries here already?) Luckily the elders in our neighboring room had an empty bed so Elder Jambor moved in their room and is now a part of their companionship. So now it’s just me and Elder Williams again, no more trio.

We got to teach a lot of awesome lessons this week. One lesson we taught was to a guy who served his mission in Congo (Africa). He spoke great French and we gave a great lesson on the power of the Book of Mormon. Since his mission he hadn't been reading his scriptures as much as he'd like to so we bore testimony to him the importance of the Book of Mormon and how reading scriptures everyday can bless our lives. I know that's true.

I've been memorizing lots of good scriptures this week. So far I have the first vision, the baptismal invitation, Moroni 10:3-5, 2 Nephi 25:26, 3 Nephi 5:13 and most of Helaman 5:12 memorized all in French. Memorizing things in French is tough, but it’s helpful for learning the language.

Oh crazy stuff happened in gym this past week. So the other day, we were playing basketball and some elder (for some stupid reason) decided to kick a basketball as hard as he could in a crowded gym. The ball barely missed my face and hit Elder Steve Ragsdale right in the gut! It knocked the wind out of him so bad that he stood there for a second, and then passed out and fell right on his face!! I witnessed the whole thing, but it all happened so fast that I couldn't catch him. It was actually really scary because once he hit the ground he started convulsing like he was having a seizure!! Me and a bunch of other missionaries were freaking out and tried to pick him up. We got him on his feet and he immediately snapped out of it. He was really confused, he had no idea what had just happened. We ended up taking him to the health clinic and they ended up taking him to the hospital. He is fine now. The doctors at the hospital said he had a concussion so they gave him some medicine for that. Overall, he just has a bad cut lip from when his face hit the ground. Moral of the story, don't kick basketballs in crowded gyms

Another crazy thing that happened, some missionary was playing volleyball in gym and as he was spiking the ball something happened and he landed on his head (Don't ask me how that happened, I didn't whiteness this one, I only heard about it.) I did however see him lying on the gym floor face first completely paralyzed. It was nuts, they had to call an ambulance and everything. Luckily, right before they took him away on the stretcher I saw him move his hands and feet a little bit so I know he's not paralyzed. It’s scary stuff though. I actually saw him today. He looks like he is doing OK now, but he has a thick neck brace on. Moral of the story: volleyball is a dangerous sport haha.

 

Oh, on Sunday I got to play the piano in sacrament meeting. I've never played the piano in a sacrament meeting before so that was kind of crazy. I did well though and I definitely want to practice some more so I can play in France if I'm ever needed. Oh, this Sunday was also testimony meeting which was cool because I was able to give my testimony in French in front of everyone.

Elder Williams was sick yesterday so I was obligated to stay in the room with him yesterday. I was able to get a lot of studying in though!

Oh last crazy fact of the week! Our teacher, Frere (brother) Blosil is Donny Osmond’s Nephew! Crazy, huh?

I love you all, talk to you next week.

Elder Davis

 

Only a few pictures this week :(

Hopefully he'll start sending a lot more once he's in France! :)

 

 

#1. Me and Elder Platt very washed out 

 

#2. Me shining my shoes!

 

 

#3 Me and my new roomates: Elder Angell far left, then Elder Kelly, Elder Williams, then me