One week in the MTC

We were visited by Elder Ballard of the quorum of the twelve apostles on the first day. And by both Elder Holland and Elder Nelson on the second day, I got to shake both of their hands, but not Elder Ballards. THREE APOSTLES IN TWO DAYS!!! It was awesome.

The arch way looks so much cooler in real life, because the temple spire is right in the middle, but you can't see it in the photo. Elder Romney is the one in the photo. We had a pagent that we walked in singing at the end of. 

 

The food is great, we had hamburgers an fries for lunch yesterday, and some really good salmon for dinner, so I have already had fish & chips. I am uploading some photos from the plane, and the MTC.  My MTC companion is Elder Romney, and yes he is related to Mitt Romney. He is his fourth-cousin, but he has never met him. He was born in the US, but lived in Mexico. So he has dual citizenship and speaks both spanish and english fluently, without an accent.

 

Roomate name tags at the MTC

Elder Green is from Lehi, Utah and he had an awesome sort-of faux-hawk style hair swept to the side, kind of like I used to do mine. He just got it cut and came into the computer room here at the MTC. it is really short, and weird to see. Elder White is his MTC companion, he is from England and he has the proper "posh" accent. I always think of Harry Potter when he talks. He really knows his stuff, and he is good at talking about the gospel. Our MTC district is Nephi, and our leader Elder De Beer. Elder De Beer is from South Africa. His accent is very fun to listen to and he is a pretty goofy guy. He knows when to be serious though. He jokes about how Africa doesn't have food and planes and stuff. He is white, like Karissa except with bleach blonde hair. It is funny because there are two other Elders from places in Africa and they are both black and don't speak English well at all. Elder De Beer is fluent in English. The other two Elders from Africa tell him that he is not from Africa because his skin is white. They joke around quite a bit it is pretty funny. Elder White likes the same kind of music as me which is typical of someone who lives in England. He thinks I'm one of the coolest  Americans he has met.

 

Elder Romney is in the middle with Elder Brown.

 

 

Here at the MTC, the days are long. We seem to be in the district classroom forever. We exercise for an hour each day. So far we have done regular work outs, played basketball, Rugby, football (soccer), volleyball, and Ping-Pong. We do this around the world Ping-Pong, where we run around the table counterclockwise and take turns hitting the ball. We have played with about six people at the same time. The Elders that told us about it have gotten up to 20 or so on the same table. the rules are the same as regular Ping-Pong, but after two faults, you are out. when you get down to only two people left playing, you stay on one side of the table instead of running around, and you have to spin after every hit. At about 2:00 in he afternoon, I am ready for bed, but I have to push through until 9:30 before I can go up to get ready for bed. My throat is still a little soar, but not as bad.

 

Once I got off, in Minneapolis I was with a group of other missionaries for the rest of the time, so it wasn't a problem. The Amsterdam airport is massive. we had to get from one side to the other in about two hours, and I think it took about 45 minutes to get to our gate. 

 

It has only rained a little since I got here, but it doesn't matter because while we are at the MTC we don't go outside a whole lot. I just got back from the store, ASDA, which is like Europe's Walmart partner. Just bought some sour patch kids and some body wash. I ran out of the stuff I brought this morning, so it was perfect timing. I bought the sour patch kids because Elder White who is from England said that they don't sell them here because he had never had them. When he first said that I almost cried, but turns out he was wrong! 
More pictures while at MTC.