Week 1 – MTC

Things are going great! I wish that I could tell you guys everything that has happened to me, but I can start from the beginning. My companion is from Vista, CA. He is a great guy, and super chill.

The first day we went through some basic orienteering, but the exciting part was that we went and taught a lesson. Well, four lessons. There were thirty missionaries, and we all sat in a big room and asked questions and bore testimonies to help the single investigator. It is one thing to have the spirit and another when he tells you to say something. I learned very fast what both felt like. After that night we crashed, pretty hard. A funny note, was that there was another Romanian district that had five days left before they flew out (which apparently never happens…when two districts overlap), and so we got to hang out with some very cool Romanian missionaries that helped us a lot. We will get to see them all again, so I don’t miss them too much. The days are long, but the weeks are fast. To put it plainly. Each day, we sit in the same classroom for probably eight hours, learning mostly Romanian. Our second day in to the mission field we got an investigator and taught a lesson in Romanian that same day. It did not go very well.

We are given a lot of study materials and so preparing is something that is really huge. In one this first week we taught four lessons, all in Romanian. Our teachers speak almost no English to us and have to explain a lot with their hands. However, slowly we are actually starting to understand them and for the most part we can get the idea of what they are trying to teach us. It is amazing how the spirit helps us learn, and how hard you have to work to keep it. I am learning everyday to be a better missionary and a better companion. Sometimes it can be hard having someone with you twenty four seven, but it hasn’t been too bad for me.
As of right now, there are only 4 Elders in any MTC learning and going to Romania, and that’s us! There are only about 100 or so missionaries in the field, so the field is white and ready to harvest.

Some days feel longer than others, just because you can get so bored of sitting in a chair, so we stand up and learn the language, or sing, or pray. No matter what we are doing there is a lesson that can be learned and Romanian to speak!

Oh, a fun little thing happened, that wasn’t so little. On day three…Sunday (duminica in Romanian) My companion and I were called as the Zone Leaders. I couldn’t believe it! Our jobs are pretty simple, but we have four meetings on Sunday, outside of the regular block. I don’t like that. Let’ see… sleep is next to none. I stay up laughing with my companions… oops. Even though I am so so so tired, I still manage to learn something everyday.

I was also told that the MTC is like a snowball rolling down a hill. It is so slow and small at first, but as soon as it gets out of the baby stages, it goes by super fast! I hope that is true! I want to be out there teaching the gospel that I know to be true to the people in Romania. Other than the hours and hours of study we do a day, life here is pretty calm. We laugh to try and stay sane, and pray that we don’t rip our books in half. I like it out here a lot. After all, being happy is a choice. (Something that I am learning to be true more and more and more.)

Elder Oldham