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I hope everyone back home is doing well. I only get to respond to emails on my preparation day, which is tuesday, at the moment. I don't know if it'll change when I get in the field.
I haven't been able to listen to music that doesn't invite the spirit, so, most of the stuff I used to listen to. Even though creeping death by metallica is about the passover I don't think they'd let me listen to it. It's gotten to the point where I find myself playing riffs on an imaginary keyboard on my leg or desk. I also keep typing MTV instead of MTC. Also, whenever you search on Google it takes you to the church website, so we've got no access to world news. I would have no idea if Aberdeen have gone all the way or Scotland beat Portugal in world cup playoffs. But I understand that I'm here to do the lord's work, and to be effective in what I do I need to focus my efforts on serving.
The food is painfully mediocre as well. One of the days we had a steak, and there was a wide variety in how cooked they were. It was either so rare that the French would be impressed, or so well done that it could be classified as congratulations. I think some of us got a minor dose of food poisoning, but we are all still alive.
Aside from these things, the MTC (Missionary Training Centre) experience has been great so far. My district (classmates) are great. I get along with all of them. They're very fascinated by the Scottish accent and some of the slang I use. I had to explain "shattered", "wee" and "waffling". The elders in our district have very deep spiritual conversations, with random boyish comments sprinkled in. You really feel the Holy Ghost present when we discuss the gospel and the great mysteries of life. One thing that we reference a lot to show approval is "si bueno". Some elders are trying to learn Spanish because they think they might need it where they're going, and it's hilarious to hear "yo bebo agua" every 20 mins.
I've been to two (three) temples so far. Orem, Mt. Timpanogos and the one in temple square, which is under contstruction. I don't have a favourite, but the temple workers at Orem thought I was Irish. I actually ran into someone from Ireland and she found it funny that everyone thought I was Irish. There's also no wind and barely any clouds, so you're boiling in the sun when you go from building to building. The altitude is a problem as well. I was playing football and I turned into the Scottish Maradona for about 2 minutes, because the Americans don't play football that much, then was out of it, because we're playing at 4500 ft. I'm used to 100ft, so the air is a lot thinner here than it is in clackmannashire. You feel like you're doing shuttle runs on the peak of Ben Nevis, while it's 27 °C.
On Monday I was given the opportunity to go on a tour of Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Probably because I'm Scottish. Most of the people on the tour were all non-american, and probably wouldn't get another chance at going, so it's nice that the MTC people take that into consideration. The experience was really nice. I met some missionaries and MTC branch presidents who either knew my family through a missionary connection or had just come from holiday from Stirling, which is crazy!
They've got paintings up for the first presidency an the quorum of the twelve apostles, and in President Russel M. Nelson's painting he's holding an open Book of Mormon to 3 Nephi 12:1, which is really obvious as to why it's that scripture when you read it. I'm not going to say what it says, so that you go and look it up.
I really hope that I don't get an American accent while I'm here. Sometimes people in my district start speaking with a scottish accent when they dont mean to, which is just so funny. We wake up at 6.30am and go to bed at 10.30pm, which means that I'm going to be permanently sleep deprived from the flights on last tuesday for two years.
Scripture of the week is definitely D&C 31:3
"Lift up your heart and rejoice, for the hour of your mission is come; and your tongue shall be loosed, and you shall declare glad tidings of great joy unto this generation."
Elder Black
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