Week 5

Subject: Week 5

Another Week down at the MTC!

It's officially been a month. Hallelujah. The oldest group of Korean Speakers got their flight plans yesterday- in a week and a half I'll be in the oldest group! It's a bit intimidating, considering how little Korean I know.. haha. 

Last week at the temple I saw the most tender thing! After the session we were sitting down and I saw this little old couple in the corner. As we all know, old folks aren't exactly the most quiet, and I overheard what the grandpa was saying to his wife. He leaned over to her and said "I"m so very grateful for all the years we've had together. I'm so thankful we could come to the temple together today". It was so simple and sincere and really touched my heart. It reaffirmed for me how important families are and how lucky we are to have the blessing of knowing we can live together forever. Definitely boosted my day!

The devotionals here have been great. On Tuesday we had a real special treat and got to hear from Elder Neil L. Anderson! As you might suspect, it was really inspiring. He spoke on love and sacrifice. His one-liner for the devotional was this: "We sacrifice for the things we love, and we love the things we sacrifice for". In our district discussion following the devotional, we talked about the greatest example of love and sacrifice: moms and dads. It was really profound to think about how much my parents love me, and on an even greater scale how much our Heavenly Father loves us. As a missionary, it's my job to emulate that same kind of love... no pressure, right? But it really was a blessing to realize how much our parents sacrifice for us because they love us. Mom and Dad: thank you so much for everything :) I love you!!

During the devotional, a security personnel ran up onstage and whispered something to President Nally (President of the MTC) and then ran back off. There've been some protesters in front of the MTC lately and I was really hoping it would be something dramatic like a riot going on outside or other crazy thing (I suppose I could've even settled for a bomb threat or potential assassination). After the devotional, President Nally stood up and informed us that, instead of a riot or bomb, there was a severe thunderstorm outside and we were going to have to wait fifteen or twenty minutes until it passed. Leave it to the MTC to take anything potentially exciting and make it boring. Haha but as we sang songs waiting for the storm to pass, Elder Anderson came down and shook some hands. Unfortunately I was one row too far back to shake his hand, but as he walked by me and waved I had the Spirit testify to me that he really was an Apostle of God. Very cool. 

This week we got new Han-gook-saram-dur, meaning a group of missionaries on the accelerated course for Korean, aka native Koreans. They are all awesome and super good at English, one Sister was even so good she was correcting my bad grammar- haha! You'll all get a kick out of this: Three of the Sisters are named Sister Lee, there's a Sister Kim and an Elder Kim, and one Elder Cho. You basically have a 75% of being right if you call them "Lee"!! It's great. So apparently every Korean is a genius at piano, ps. Elder Wagner (the other ZL) and I were giving a tour to them on Wednesday night, when they saw a piano and flocked to it like flies on raw meat. They all started playing, and out of nowhere some old lady shows up and without explaining beckons us to some secret room... there's a big grand piano and the lady tells the Koreans to play on it. Well naturally they whip out these crazy incredible songs, and slowly more and more night workers filter in until suddenly they're giving a personal concert to all these MTC employees! Haha it was great, except 45 MINUTES LATER we realize it's past curfew.. anyways it was a really interesting experience. haha.

Other than that it's been a fairly average week. Elder Wilkinson and I are doing great, and the Korean is slowly but surely, surely slowly coming. The most difficult thing is that every word basically sounds the same, but I have faith I'll get it eventually!! My teachers continue to be awesome and my district's really putting forth an effort to learn faster. The days seem like weeks and the weeks seem like days, as they say.

Love you lots! Thanks again for all the letters and packages (especially Shelley's- THANK YOU SO MUCH! I loved it!!), I continue to appreciate them more than you'll ever know!

Talk to you soon,

Elder Easton                   

Week 4

Hey All!

I can't believe I'm coming up on my 4th week already! It's kind of overwhelming how fast my time at the MTC is flying by. It's even more overwhelming to realize I still don't know heck about Korean... haha. This has been a pretty decent week. It was hard to say goodbye to all the missionaries who left this week, but we've already got a new group here. They are still pretty fresh and aren't sure what's going on. I definitely remember feeling the same way!

On Sunday we had an awesome devotional by Vai Saikehema, a retired NFL player. He was really funny and it was great just to sit back and relax. Afterwards we watched the character of Christ again- seriously, anyone who hasn't read it yet I really recommend it! It was even better and more inspiring the second time.

One Elder in my district, Elder Saxton, is really good at Taekwondo and gave me some lessons this week. It was way fun (and way hard!) It's basically a lot of kicking and punching.. can't imagine me doing that? Haha I couldn't either, but I tried anyway and had a blast! Let's just say I was 'going ham'. I'll probably go professional... look for me in the next Olympics!  

The language has really been tough this week. It's really hard not to compare myself to the others, or to not get frustrated when I can't remember how to do something. Yesterday as Elder Wilkinson and I taught our investigator, I had a breaking point. I struggled to say basic sentences (ones I had even practiced before), yet alone understand the response. It was even harder because Elder Wilkinson felt it was the best he'd ever done. He did awesome at understanding and pulling from his memory what he needed to say. I guess I just didn't understand why the Gift of Tongues wasn't working for me, why I wasn't doing as well as I should've. Back at the dorms I went down and visited Elder Mansell (a friend from Brighton) and expressed the frustration I was feeling. He gave me some really profound advice that helped a lot. He said that to access the Gift of Tongues, there has to be a struggle. We have to work and feel the lowest parts in order to gain the highest. As I pondered that, I realized it's just like the Atonement- you can't just have faith and expect it to work magic. You have to really feel what it's like without it so that you truly desire the change, to match the works with your faith. I'm learning to turn everything over to the Lord, and just trust that it'll come in His time. In fact, I think it IS the Atonement you have to access, to learn a new language or go on a mission or anything really. Funny how it all circles around to the same thing. 

The rain is a wonderful change of scenery down here. It smells so good and just kind of lifts my spirits. It reminds me of a song we listen to sometimes down here- "Little Things" from the EFY cd this year (you can listen to it on youth.lds.org). You can guess what it's about by the title- finding little things all around you to be grateful for. I've really been trying to find little things to be grateful for, because sometimes the big things can get so overwhelming that if you don't keep a little peace of positive you'll burn out pretty fast. I'd just like to share some of those little things I've found this week: 

The smell of the rain

They had Kiwis one day in the Lunchroom

Not having to wait in line for the bathroom

My blue utah-state pen (it's literally the best pen I've ever used!)

How everyone says hello here

Saying "Welcome to the MTC" to missionaries who've been here for weeks, then watching them get mad... haha

Being able to pray before every study time

singing in the shower and having everyone join in

the taste of my toothpaste

How sweet my shoes look after I polished them

Okay, so some of them may seem pretty silly... but you'd be amazed how well it works! I encourage everyone reading this to really try to find little things to be thankful for this week. The big problems may still be there, but it certainly helps with keeping a happy attitude about it!

Well, not much else to report this week. Thank you again to everyone sending me letters and notes. It literally makes my day to get them! I'm sorry I'm behind in responding but I'll do my best. Just want you all to know I love you and I love the Lord! It's challenging, but at the end of the day I'm glad that I'm here. I'm so thankful for the church, for trials, and most importantly the Atonement so I can become a little bit better each day. 

Sarangheo!

Elder Easton

Subject: Week 3

Hi Everyone!

I hope your week has been swell! Everything's good over here at the MTC, I've finally fallen into the monotony of a regular schedule. It's up every morning, breakfast, study, lunch, class, dinner, class, bed. Wash, rinse and repeat. Haha it's good fun though, I've been enjoying learning Korean and increasing the relationships with everyone in my zone.

This past week we got a new teacher, Brother Madsen. It was hard at first to get acclimated to a new teaching style from a new person, but our district is slowly starting to like him more and more. Thankfully we still have Sister Sagers as a teacher as well, because we all love her!

In other news, I have an exciting announcement! I don't know if my letter has come through or not, but I've been called as the New Zone Leader! I'll be the Junior ZL for 3 weeks, Senior for another 3, and then I'm outta here! I'm excited to have some new things to do, except that I hear sundays are full of meetings. It's okay though, the other ZL Elder Wagner is a blast and I know we'll have a ton of fun together. Elder Wilkinson (my comp) has replaced me as District Leader, and I am so happy for that. He's already done an incredible job, and I'm glad that we get the support of each other in our assignments. I do get worried because he can get really stressed, but I think that as he gets more comfortable as DL the stress will go away. He is always such a good example to me of looking for ways to serve our fellow missionaries. There've been countless times where I've wanted to take a five minute nap between classes and instead he has us go out making sure everyone is alright and finding ways to serve. I love it.

The language is getting better every day. I am having less and less frustrating moments which is a good thing. I can finally say a prayer in full Hang-gu-mar (Korean), and I've almost got my testimony. Korean is a very logical language, and a lot of times if I am not sure how to say something a good guess is usually close. We had 6 Korean missionaries come in last week, and talking to them has helped loads with pronunciation and such! It's been great really getting to experience what talking to native Koreans is like.

Tuesday night devotional was incredible. Whenever someone really important comes, they always keep it a surprise until you see the speaker walk into the Marriot Center. This time it was Richard G. Scott, and he gave a beautiful talk on prayer. He started out by giving all of the Language learners an Apastolic blessing regarding the gift of tongues- that we will be blessed with it according to our faith. I've been studying faith a lot this week, and it was so comforting to know that an Apostle of God promised me the very thing I need most! Following that blessing, he gave a simple yet beautiful lesson on the power of prayer. Some thoughts I'd like to share about it is that he said to never ever speed through a prayer, but to take your time and really bear your heart. Heavenly Father is the greatest being on the planet, and we should never rush through such a precious opportunity as praying. He also said that if we should ever feel distanced from Heavenly Father, the greatest way to grow closer is through prayer. We are never too unworthy to pray, and should make it a priority to take time for Heavenly Father. I feel like often I just run through the motions during a prayer, so it was a much-needed reminder for me.

I can't even believe that two full weeks have gone by! It seems like just yesterday I walked into the MTC for the first time. Already I have made some close friends with the Elders and Sisters, and it's breaking my heart because on monday the older district is leaving to Korea. I think we all know I have a hard time with goodbyes, and I'm really sad that I'll have to say goodbye. On the flipside, next week we get a fresh new batch of Korean Speaking missionaries!! I really hope some of them are headed to Sydney as well.

Speaking of goodbyes, I didn't get a chance to see Brett before he left. I went down on tuesday to his dorm, but they'd already been long gone. I'm so grateful that he's been there for me these past two weeks, but I'm also happy for him to finally be free and out in the real world. The MTC can do crazy things to your brain, or so I've heard..! Yesterday, I was talking to one of our Sister Training Leaders Sister Pappa, when I mentioned that my cousin had just left this week for Thailand. She asked who it was and I said Elder Crump, and she and her companion started laughing really hard! Apparently Brett has gained quite a reputation with the Korean Sisters in my zone, and they all love him. It doesn't surprise me in the least that they all know Elder Crump, as he's kind of a celebriy here.

Other than that, it's been same old, same old. My companion and I are doing great, the language is coming as well as can be expected, and I'm finally getting to sleep much better. I had a cold earlier in the week, but it's all gone know which is a relief.

Well, that's about it everyone. Thanks again for all the packages, letters, emails, and notes. They mean the world to me. I love you all!!
Sarangheyo,

Elder Easton

One week down!

Herro Everyone!

I hope all is going well. This past week has been a riot! Sunday was awesome. Since it was fast Sunday, I made a goal to bear my testimony in Korean. I got up there and stumbled over the words, but at least I did it! Following Sacrament we had a devotional by Jenny Oaks Baker (for those of you who don't know, she's a famous violinist). It was awesome! I could listen to her play all day. I actually got a picture with her (even though you're not supposed to), so hopefully I'll be able to send that to you today. Following the devotional was what they like to call "Movie Night" at the MTC, basically a bunch of talks that you can choose from to watch. My district and I went to "Character of Christ" by David A. Bednar- for those of you who haven't read or heard that talk before, you need to look it up. It was incredible. The idea was that we tend to be selfish and turned inward, when Christ was always turning out to help others, even when it was realyl out of the way, or he was in immense pain. Our district made a goal to really strive to think more about others and less about ourselves.

Later Sunday night, I was feeling kind of homesick and a little discouraged about being here when Heavenly Father sent me a "tender mercy". Just before lights out I got a knock on the door, and it was Brett just coming in to check on me and ask if I was doing okay. It was so meaningful to me that he'd take the time to come ask that, and made me feel loads better. I was so grateful that Brett was in tune with the Spirit so that he could come up and do that. Very cool.

Monday was rough as far as the language. Everything looks and sounds the same in Korean, so it's difficult to memorize anything, but I'm slowly getting better. As Dad always says, "Slowly but Surely, and Surely Slowly!" That's definitely how I feel. I had a really cool experience teaching our "investigator" Pac Meen Jee, however. Elder Wilkinson and I had prepared a lesson for her on the Restoration and the Holy Ghost. It was my job to teach about the Holy Ghost, and had prepared a few lines in Korean to read to her. As I read them, however, I realized I wasn't listening to the Spirit at all and felt inspired to ask her instead if there was anything we could do for her. After stumbling around in Korean, she responded and asked us to share our favorite scripture with her. Mine is 2 Nephi 22:2, and as I read it I could really feel the Holy Ghost come into the room. I felt like I should bear my testimony after I read the scripture, and so I pulled out the testimony from Sunday and replayed it to her. As I got to the last line- I love Jesus Christ- I finally felt like I was teaching by the Holy Ghost and it was great! I may have gotten a tad emotional, haha, but leaving our lesson I was flyin high (in the appropriate way).

On Tuesday Elder Wilk and I decided to sit down next to this little old couple in the lunchroom. They were serving their 4th mission, this time heading to Winter Quarters. The Sister (I forget their names...) told me a really cool story about how an elderly lady called them up and told them she wanted to be baptized. She had been going to church for years with her daughter, but never acted on it. The problem was, she was 89 years old and bedridden with cancer. So, the ward got together and (I have no idea how) got a giant animal trough, filled it with water right outside her trailer house, and baptized her right there. At first I thought it sounded hilarious, like the most hick-ish and white-trashy thing to do, until the Sister told me with tears in her eyes that one of the missionaries held the lady in his arms, got in the trough, gently dipped her head under, then still cradling her, carried her back into her house where there were some towels waiting for her. I truly felt how much love this Sister Missionary, and the other missionaries there, had for this old lady, and it made me excited to be able to teach and love people in Australia just as much as this cute little old lady loved those she taught.
On Tuesday I got to go sing in the Missionary choir for the devotional. It was a lot of fun, and it was a nice release for me. Elder Wilkinson is so funny, he kept asking me questions the whole time about singing, such as "How does one produce vibrato?" and "Why do you think it is that the human brain prefers vibrato over straight tone?", even "How could I potentially sing a higher note than I feel like I can right now?" I think it really shows his huge desire to learn (as well as his ridicuslously huge vocabulary), how he literally never stops wanting to find out more about everything! It's awesome, he's a good example to me.

After devotionals we have a district meeting and talk about what we learned. On tuesday night, a member of the branch presidency came and sat in on our conversation. One elder (who had happened to sleep through the entire devotional) didn't say anything the whole time. After I turned the meeting over to the branch member, he immediately turned to this elder and asked, "Elder, what's the most important thing that you learned tonight?" I could tell it was a trap. It was painful, the silence that followed, as the elder tried to think of what to say. I seriously thought he was going to-pardon my language- poop his pants, when right before resistance was futile, he blurted out "I guess maybe feeling the spirit?". I suddenly realized that this elder was going to get it ripped to him, with that obviously generic answer, when instead the branch president did't say anything. After a few more moments of silence, the branch member said "Yes, that's actually right". It was hilarious! The one right answer that the Branch member was looking for, and this elder guessed it right. We all thought it was pretty great.

It was weird this weel to see new missionaries come in. I realized that the week has flown by, even if every day seemed like an eternity. I am super happy to be here, even though waking up is still the hardest part of my day. As one of our teachers said, "You'll pretty much be tired your entire mission". As I've come to finally accept that, I'm glad it's at least a good tired.

Oh, just a few more bits of news! Yesterday, our investigator Pac Meen Jee, commited to baptism! It was an accomplished feeling, especially since she commited to only one other companionship out of the entire district.. not that it's a competition or anything ;)

I also want to take a minute and thank everyone for the packages. I have become the treat-bringer, and everyone always asks me for candy or something. Unfortunately Aunt Amy, the snake wasn't a good thing to bring into the classroom, and my teacher got upset and made me throw it away. Don't worry, I went into another building and stuck it in the toilet. I bet someone had a real surprise! Aunt Kathy, thanks for those cookies, they were gone in 3 seconds, but I still was able to eat a few :) Finally, thanks Aunt Suzi for those sweet ninja missionary cookies!! They look too cool to eat, so instead I've been carefully using a few as bartering chips. So far I've been able to reserve a spot in the secret fridge on our floor, and hopefully tonight I'll be able to get my hands on some Dr. Pepper with one- that drink is to the MTC and cocaine is to the real world. Really though... you have to know someone who knows someone to get your hands on a DP or Coke. So thanks for opening the doors to all the illegal trafficking I'll soon be a part of ;)

Well, I want you to know that I love you all and appreciate all the support and prayers! I wish I could write more, but duty calls!

Talk to you soon,

Elder Easton

-- 

"Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the Restored Gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and the Atonement, repentance, baptism, recieving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end."

Week #1

Subject: Week One

Anneyoung Ah-say-oh!

That's Hello in Korean! How is everyone doing? Today (and every future Friday until September 30th) is my P-day. I am loving the MTC so far. Truly, it feels just like I am at summer camp, so it's been fairly easy to adjust so far. I love my district, and the Elders in my room are pretty awesome. Elder Ney (the one from our Stake) is actually in my room too, so it's been nice having someone I already know!

The language is my favorite part of the day. We have already learned how to read it, so I am really trying to improve my speed at reading. Tonight we have our first "investigator", Pak Meen Jee. Wish me luck!

My companion, Elder Wilkinson, is awesome. He is brilliant, he studied at Harvard last year and is already well beyond everyone else with the language. This is kind of tough, largely because I am competitive (especially with stuff like this) but I love that Elder Wilkinson is challenging me to work harder and learn it faster. All the same, he's a great guy. He's a star student and lives in Austin, Texas (except during school) but is the most humble kid in our district. He is incredibly nice, and I think him and I will really get along.

So, guess what? Last night I was made District President! It's not really that exciting, all it means is I collect mail twice a day and do interviews once a week, but all the same I am excited to have another opportunity to serve. I really want to help the other Elders feel welcome and comfortable, and I think this'll be a great way to do that!

Thank you to everyone who's sent me Dear Elder Letters so far. Those have really made my day, as it is so nice to get a touch of home during the week. I am not missing home too much yet, but whenever I start thinking about being gone for 2 years it is still a little overwhelming, so I just won't think about it! Haha.

Hey mom, I have some quick favors to ask! When you get a moment, could you send some things to me? Specifically I would like those shoes you got me last week, my Hawaiian shirt (the green one), and maybe another t-shirt? There is definitely more time to lounge around in "normal people clothes" than I thought. All that stuff should be either hanging in my closet or in one of the green bins in my closet. Kum-suh-me-dah! (Thank you in Korean) Also mom, I didn't get that letter to you sent off until today, so you probably won't get it until tomorrow. Don't worry, it's coming.

It has been so nice to see so many friends here at the MTC! Elder Crump is only two floors down, which is really nice, and although I haven't seen him much it's still great to know he's there. I have also run into several other friends, including Sarah Gunnerson, Caitlin Carr, Kolton Savage, Nate Wunderli (who's dorm is next door to mine), and Brynn Wilde, which has been super cool. My really good friend Justin Mansell is also here, and his classroom is next door to mine (he's speaking Mandarin) and his dorm is three floors down, so it's been a blessing to have his help. He's come up a few times to tell me what'll be happening and eats meals with me and my companion, which is awesome. 

Speaking of the food, it is delicious! I have loved it so far. Even with the constant warnings not to drink the orange juice, I still challenged myself and had a glass of it yesterday morning. Afterwards... nothing really happened. Maybe it's just a body type thing, but I was just fine with it.

It's still getting hard to adjust to the time schedule change. I feel like I am still asleep until around 11 am, and even with some Tylenol PM I still am wide awake at night. I think it'll just be a matter of adjusting.

These three days have already been ridiculously busy, but I have loved every second of it. It feels SO good to finally have something to do, instead of being a potato like I feel I've been all summer. All the Elders in my district have adopted the phrase "Obedience brings blessings, but strict obedience brings miracles". I'm trying my best to strictly observe all the rules.

The campus here is pretty nice, although all the buildings are just tall enough that you can't see over them, and give the impression that you're in a compound. It's a little frustrating when all I can see is sky, instead of cars or people or even the mountains, but it's nice in the sense that I don't feel like anyone's on my back about anything. Even with the schedule, there're no administrators or counselors making sure you're doing what you're supposed to, which is new to me. It's all on the honor code- that you'll wake up, be on time to class, follow the rules, etc. It's nice to be in charge, it makes me want to do it more than if I were forced to.

Before I forget, there's something I need mom and dad to do. Apparently in the Mission Packet that I received with my call ( the blue one with the baptism on it), it said I needed to bring records of my immunizations.. and I didn't. Besides being suprisingly crotchedy for missionaries, the old folk missionaries in charge gave me some info that I need you two to take care of: could you please mail my immunization/shot records to me ASAP or fax them to 801-422-0860? Maybe even both, just in case? I need them by next thursday, or according to them all hell will break loose. Thanks!

Dad, have you had a moment to get on my email and send me the information needed to email to my mission president? If not, do you know if you could take care of that? I have little to no time on the computers and I really need that taken care of. Thank you sososo much! Also, thanks for checking in on my FBI clearance. That's good news!

Well, thanks again to everyone who's sent me a message so far. I know it's only been three days but I'm already missing all of you, but am loving the experience at the MTC. Thanks for your prayers, I need each and every one of them! I'll send pictures next week.

With Love,

Elder Easton

(Ee-suh-tohn Chag-no Eem-nee-dah)

P.S. Just so you know, getting packages is like Christmas day in the MTC! Just sayin... haha. Love you all!