MTC Week 1

My companion, Elder Bearnson, and I

It's been a crazy past few days! Right when I was dropped off, I got all my materials, went to my room, and the studies promptly began! We went right to our language class, where I met the rest of my district and my companion, Elder Bearnson. My district is so amazing! I'm sorry I don't have a picture of them yet, two Elders had to deal with logistical things so we didn't see them much and wanted to wait to take a picture with everyone, so I'll send one next week. The language classes are very hard, and the teacher EXCLUSIVELY uses French. Luckily as she was talking to us about general information, I was able to understand her a little bit due to my (limited) Spanish knowledge. Pronunciation was extremely difficult for me at first, but even after a day I can feel the Gift of Tongues working with me during every second of my language study, and I've been picking up on the language very well. I'm excited to see how far I can get with French in the little time I have here at the MTC!

Our classroom overlooks the main MTC Campus

Apart from the language classes, the other religious classes that we have had have been AMAZING! The amount of times I have felt the spirit in the short amount of time that I have been here is staggering. Every class and every study session I have had has been such a wonderful and spiritual experience for me. I have never felt the spirit more consistently and strongly in my entire life.

The view of the Missionary Training Center from my classroom     

My companion is really cool! During the first day, after we finished our first language class, we had a little orientation meeting with the MTC presidency. We were talking a little bit before the meeting started, and I found out that he lives in Cedar City and knows Paul and Mary's family! I remember my mom telling me that I should look out for a kid that got the same call as me from Cedar City, and his mom apparently told him to look for me as well, but both of us forgot until I realized that he knew the Cozzens! It was insane. He's really nice, and it's been great to get to know him. We get along very well, and I'm glad that he is my companion.

Walking back to the Residence on the first day

Our district is so amazing. We have 9 Elders, Alejo, Cortez, Wilson, Me, Bearnson, Cowley, Leudkey (I don't know how to spell his last name, sorry), Kohler, and Furness, and they're all awesome. We also have 3 Sisters, Peterson, Stanley, and Boyle, who are also great to have. All of us are going to the Montreal mission, except for Sister Boyle who is going to Arizona speaking French. Me and Sister Peterson are the only ones doing Spanish on top of French, however Elder Furness is from Taiwan and is going to speak Mandarin. I love my district so much, and I'm so excited to get to know them better.

I get two sets of name tags! One in French and one in Spanish 

The new campus is absolutely beautiful! We luckily have the opportunity to have our language classes in one of the new buildings, and it's such an amazing place to learn. There are lots of places to do our personal, companion, and language studies inside and outside of the buildings that are such wonderful places to study. Our residence is in one of the old buildings, and it is essentially like a prison (especially compared to the new buildings), however it's perfect for our needs and is fairly decent.

Saw Brad's picture in one of the new buildings! (Brad lived with us this summer)

Last night we had our meeting with our branch presidency, and they called me to be the District Leader. Basically all I do is get the mail, but I also am supposed to lead and schedule meetings, report to the Zone Leaders about each of the members of my district, and I'm supposed to make sure that all of the Elders and Sisters of my district are doing well and are adjusting to life as a missionary (which I feel I can't do since I'm in the same boat as them, but I'll try my best haha). I'm glad I can use this as an excuse to get to know my district better. They're all so amazing and I'm so happy that we're all there for each other when we need support or help. 

I'm loving the MTC so far. What an amazing place!

All in all it has been a wonderful few days so far. I'm truly enjoying my time here and I'm excited for the rest of my time here at the MTC, and especially excited to get out into the mission field and serve the people of Montreal. I'm grateful for this opportunity to serve, and I know that God will help me as I prepare to serve his children.

Love,

Elder James