The MTC Grind

(Elder Cummings)

你们好！

(that means "hello ya'll")

First half-week of online Missionary Training Center(MTC) has been done, and it has been tons of fun! We wake up and exercise and get our personal and companion study done, have some workshops and classes, and then with free time I study some more Mandarin so it's awesome. My virtual companion, Elder Liang, is a Mandarin wizard! The man has Taiwanese parents so he speaks and understands so much of it already. On top of that he's from Texas as well. On top of that he has a black belt in Taekwondo and is training in Judo. On top of that, he is a beast at the cello, he's been playing it for many many moons. On top of THAT, I did not know any of that until I squeezed it out of him; he is super humble in that way.

It's been amazing already and I think I'm only on day 4 of 9 weeks of training. I've just been smothering myself in Mandarin hoping to immerse myself as much as possible while I am home. It's an awesome, beautiful language, you'll see more why when I do my little spiritual message. My good friend Elder Ryan Fagergren has come over some and we've done some classes together and studied together. He's learning Japanese and going to the Japan Sapporo mission like a beast. He also says while Mandarin Chinese sounds like singing, Japanese is rap so if you're in to that kind of stuff take up some Jap(I don't personally care for rap so yet another reason why Mandarin is awesome).

We had a chance to do some service today and helped somebody move a bunch of their stuff out of a storage place into a condo. It was so much fun. Elder Fagergren and I pull up and there is like 3 other sets of missionaries helping too. As in-training missionaries still, we both felt we needed to earn these experienced Sister's and Elder's respect, so when everything was full and the time came to move everything to the condo and there was a grill still there with no room to pack it...Elder Fagergren and I offered to walk it to the house while everyone drove there. Definitely was not needed, but it was worth it: we earned their respect.

Anyway I have a cool thought/discovery and a testimony to go along with it. So Chinese doesn't really have words. Chinese characters carry meaning and putting them in combinations with other characters allows you to translate it into an English word. A good example of this is the word prophet in Mandarin: 先知(xīan zhī). Now you don't need to know how to say it to understand this.. 先( xīan )means "first, foremost, or beginning," something along those lines. 知 comes from the phrase 知道(zhī dào) which means "to know". put together you get 先知: prophet. Which taken character by character roughly means "first to know". This was awesome to me, because it's an amazing example of the purpose of prophets in our lives. Prophets are there to warn us and protect us from dangers of our day. As a prophet, Noah, warned the people of the earth to repent of their wickedness and the flood that would come. In the Book of Mormon, Lehi warned the people of Jerusalem of it's impending destruction and warned them to repent. Prophet's are our watchmen; they are called of God to guide and direct His children on the earth. They have been called in ancient times, and they have been called in modern times. President Russel M Nelson is the prophet of our day. I know he has been called of God because I have felt the Holy Ghost's confirming witness in my heart that he is a prophet of God. Listen to the prophets, past and present, and you will not be led astray. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Cummings长老

Id like to say I was incapacitated or something...

(Elder Slade)

To the best friends and family a person can hope for,

So, I'm being transferred. I'm going to Ammon North 1, which is in Idaho Falls. I will be in a trio, one of which will be Elder Thompson (never met before) and another new missionary coming in. It should be fun. I'm sad to leave some of the people in Sugar City. The people here are so nice, and I've come to grow some good relationships with people. I am excited for a change though! I'll be transferring on Thursday this week.

Other than that, no much happened this week. This week we had an exchange, and I went with an Elder name Elder Bottorff, also know as Commander Bottorff, because he knows a lot about war history, and he's a zone leader. They've started to call the district leaders under him Lieutenants. I guess that makes me Lieutenant Slade. I like the ring of that. This week we also helped someone put sod in their yard. That work is not meant for someone with twig arms like me. I woke up sore the next morning.

But today I'd like to talk a little bit more about what I talked about a few weeks ago, between the different between knowing something and doing something based on that knowledge. One of my new favorite quotes is, "What we do, depends on how we feel about what we know." That's one of the differences between faith and pure knowledge in my opinion. Faith includes an emotion, a feeling, a hope based on what you know, thus causing you to make decisions. For example, Jesus Christ was real and lived. He said He died for us. Of that, there is too much historical evidence to refute. However, how I feel about His life, ministry, suffering, and subsequent death is what makes me want to share that with others. I love my Savior for everything He did for me, and I respect and honor him as my older brother. I cannot express in words the gratitude and awe I feel when I think of His atoning sacrifice for me. I both know that He died for me, and I feel the underlying love that was the motivation for that sacrifice. And that feeling results in the Lord blessing me with increased knowledge. If you can't feel that love, then I would invite you to be humble enough to let Him into your lives, for that is how we come to that conclusion.

The title came from a text by someone we texted about a month ago, and he finally responded by saying "I'd like to say I was incapacitated or something, but I just totally forgot to respond." It was a pretty funny moment. An interesting fact about Idaho schools though: a lot of Idaho schools have a break called Spud Harvest, where they are out of school for 2 weeks at the beginning of October to pick Potatoes. Shout out to potatoes, for ruining our youth's education. Thank you. We sure appreciate you. Lol, jk.

Pictures:

1. Us by the sign for Teton, one of the towns we cover

2. I made lemonade a little while back. Very sour.

3-4. Attacked by a cat in the middle of a lesson.

5. I may or may not have covered my companions desk with sticky notes while he was in the bathroom...

6 Months!

(Elder Slade)

To the best friends and family a person can hope for,

This week is a big week. In two days, it's my 6 month mark. Can you believe it?! It seems like it's zoomed by. I've been in this area for 6 months. In a week and a half is transfers, and most likely I'll be leaving. I'm kind of ready for a change though. I've called every person in our area. I think they might be ready for a change as well.

This week we have also been doing a lot of service. We did a bit of stucco, painting, pulled some weeds, moved rock for some landscaping, a little bit of everything. What's good though is that we have been able to reestablish contact with a few people we haven't been able to reach in a while because of service! So that's good! We also found a new person to teach this week! There's a family that allows us to visit every once in a while, and we eventually shared a message to the mother on the porch, gave her a Book of Mormon and set up a time to come back! That was our miracle of the week!

Today for Preparation Day, we went on an 11 mile hike! It was long. I didn't realize how long 11 miles is. My legs are weak now. I'm also sun burnt. But it was worth it! It was super beautiful! It reminds of my companion s favorite verse, which is Alma 30:44. It's a long verse, but it mentions that "all things denote that there is a God." When I see the beauty of the Earth, it shows to me that there is a God. What show you that there is a God?

Interesting fact! People outside of Idaho eat more Idaho potatoes than the people in Idaho. Makes sense to me. The people in Idaho are probably all sick of potatoes.

Pictures:

1-5. Pictures from the hike. The mountains in the background are the Tetons. We saw the trail that said "Not Recommended". So we went up that trail.

Obese and Hardworking Fish

(Elder Slade)

To the best family and friends a person can hope for!

Howdy everyone! Another week gone, and another on its way. This week we have tried to look for lots of service, because as much as I like setting in the apartment texting and calling, we decided we wanted some variety and change in our lives. So, this week we helped a lady move an outdoor fireplace 10 ft which involved lots of digging. I snapped one of the shovels, either because I'm too swoll, or because the shovels were 100 years old. (Probably the former). We helped at a food bank, where we ended up getting lots of free food. (Anyone want some potatoes?) We also helped paint a house, and we wrote some letters to some people who live in a assisted living home. It was fun! It helped this week move a little faster, and it felt good to get out a little more.

Service is a wonderful thing though! Aside from the personal blessings that come from it, like being happier, it serves the purpose of helping others feel loved and cared for. Have you ever had a bad day before, and then you come home and you find that someone has made your favorite meal, or done your chores, or made your bed? It makes you feel good, and just brightens your day. Service is ordained of God, as He wants us, His children, to take care if one another, and to help others feel of His love. I can't think of any bad things that come of service. I'd invite you this week to look for those around you that you can brighten their day, and help them.

The title comes from learning of this one place in Idaho where there's a huge gathering of fish we're people often go to feed them. Because so many people feed them, they get fat, and decide to stay there waiting to get fed. Elder Baron said the title when he heard about them. But, fun fact for the week! You'll be really surprised about this one. Here it is: The potato is Idaho's official state vegetable. Woah! Mind blown and such! Who would have thought?! I was sure it was going to be celery or something, but I guess not.

Love you all! Hope you all have a great week!

Pictures:

1-2. I took up a new hobby during lunch time this week. It's called carrot carving. At first I did it just with my teeth, then I used a knife. My first masterpiece is a potted plant, and the second glorious creation is a pawn from chess. Their starting at $10 a sculpture. Any takers?

3-4. Us with goats. We saw them and were like, "We have to 'go'at get a picture with them." And so we did.

July 13, 2020

(Elder Petersen)

Hey y'all what's up?

So the past couple of weeks have been a little interesting so to start off we are teaching a husband and wife couple who are inactive, inactive to the point where they really don't know really anything about the church. We have been teaching them with the wife sister who is a missionary right now in South Carolina and this past Wednesday we had a lesson with them and went over the word of wisdom with them. In that lesson the spirit was so strong that as we talked Ryan who is the husband started to cry. In that moment he realized that he could change and become a better person then he once was, he realized that the atonement truly was the only way for him to be able to live with his Heavenly Father again. This was probably the highlight of my week being able to see the change in the lives of those people who we teach whether member or nonmember. It is such a powerful experience to be able to help people make these changes in their lives one that I truly love. Other than that highlight of my week due to reassignments to our mission we are having another transfer this Wednesday although I have not been transferred nor has my companion Elder Bedah the mission is being changed up quite a bit. I really hope y'all are enjoying my emails even though with most of them there could have been a lot of improvement, I do know that I am not the best at writing and I do have trouble trying to think up stuff that you would like to hear about. So please let me know if there is something that you would like me to write about. So this last week I was experimenting and I made some raspberry rolls that turned out really good hear are some pictures! We also had zone conference so hear is one of our zone pictures.

July 8th 2020

(Elder Petersen)

Hello everyone how's life?

So not much has happened since last email except that we did in fact have transfers this last Wednesday, I stayed in Providence with my Companion Elder Bedah. We had zone conference this last Thursday in person which was really nice due to the fact that we previously had not been able to meet in any large group of missionaries in the past. So it was really nice to catch up with some friends that I had not seen in person or otherwise for the past three months. Other than that we honestly did not have very much going on just calling lots and lots of people to set up as many member appointments as possible so not much has happened.

4th of July

(Elder Slade)

So, this was a fun week. I ate a lot of food on 4th of July! I went to 4 or so picnics/BBQs. By the last one I could hardly eat any more. The people up here are too kind. We also were able to watch a parade that day! They weren't allowed to throw candy or anything (lame), but I jokingly thought they should throw out hand sanitizer. We had to be in by 9, but we were able to watch a few fireworks from the apartment. Other than that, the only difference from a normal day, was that we were able to call home. Our mission President suggested we could run a 5k as well, as long as we ran in our proselyting clothes. Color me lame, but I decided I didn't want to run 3 miles in a white shirt and tie. Maybe next year.

On Tuesday, we had our first in person zone conference in about 4 months. It was a great experience with lots of helpful trainings. A big topic we talked about was conversion. Rather than a testimony, which is knowing the gospel is true, conversion is more of being true to the gospel. If we know something to be true, it should cause us to make changes to our lives, and even changes to ourselves. Sometimes we know things to be true, but for some reason it doesn't result in anything. For example, we may know that Krispee Kreme donuts are the best donuts in the world, but we don't put in the effort to drive to it and buy some (man, I wish there were Krispy Kreme Donuts in Rexburg 😥). We may know that family is the most important thing, and then spend all of our time working, or doing other things. My invitation to you is to evaluate what you know to be true, and then make changes accordingly. I for myself know that the Gospel is true, and know that my Savior lives, and thus I will try my best to follow Him, even if it seems like it's too hard sometimes. As long as we keep improving and trying to become better and to change, we will be alright.

This week, we also had an exchange Wednesday with some other Elders. I with an Elder Moore from South Fork Utah. He's a funny guy! We got lost looking for a house that were going to do service in, and we ended up in the middle of a field on some back road, our car extremely muddy because we had to drive through some really large puddles. Also, today we went on a hike to Mesa Falls! It was beautiful! I'll include some pictures. This week I learned that apparently Idaho sponsors a semi-truck that pulls a giant fake potato that drives through all of the 50 states. It's apparently called the Big Idaho Potato Truck. Very creative name. You'll have to look it up though. Apparently if it was a real potato, it would take 7000 years to grow.

Pictures:

1-4. A few or the many pictures at Mesa Falls. You should go if you are ever in South East Idaho.

5-6. Elder Baron and I next to a giant gorilla.