Michael in the MTC

October 14, 2015

On Monday, September 28, 2015 we received word that Michael would be receiving a mission call from the First Presidency by 3:00 pm that day, and that we could pick him up at the Nevada Las Vegas Mission Office the following day.  We picked Michael up on Tuesday morning, unopened mission call in hand, and brought him home.  With parents and maternal grandparents present and siblings listening in on a conference call, he opened his mission call and found out that he had been called to serve for a period of 24 months in the Washington Spokane Mission.  (Having already served for 3 months he exclaimed, "Twenty four months!  Haven't I already paid for my transgressions?!)  He was to report to the Provo, Utah MTC on October 7, just 8 days later.  The following week was a whirlwind of happy activity as he prepared to leave.  One of the highlights of that week for me was accompanying him to the Las Vegas, Nevada Temple for him to receive his temple endowment.  That was pretty special.   One of the highlights for Michael was returning to the Nevada Las Vegas mission to witness the baptism of one of his investigators.  

It was actually good that he was able to come home after 3 months so that I could see that he needed a lesson on washing his white shirts.  Hopefully he'll remember to buy Spray-n-Wash, Oxyclean, and to use hot water:).

Michael has now been in the MTC for a week, and the following is his first email home.

Hey Mom!

This week:

Back in the system, classroom Canadians, hiding under beds, and the most non-ghetto laundromat ever!

So.....where do I start?

It was odd to have to live with guys who weren't quite used to the schedule. But all of them are great! I room with five other guys, so we have a full house. Elders Beck and Harris are both from Vegas, and we have other Elders named McGoy, Bass, and Candstandse. They're all pretty good guys, but they can be a little rowdy sometimes. Already twice we have had knocks on our door after 2215 telling us to quiet down.

All of them, including the sisters in our district, are either going to Arkansas or Canada Vancouver. One of the sisters is actually from Canada, so we are always making jokes to her about the words "about" and "sorry." But on a more spiritual side, the classroom is working out pretty well! Our teachers are focused, and we do our best to listen. Right now, Beck and I are teaching two investigators for training, and turns out one of them is an actual investigator who has the job of actually letting us practice! Both experiences are going really well!

Food here is nice. I'm limiting myself on seconds, but I'm afraid to say that I'm the not best at making healthy selections. Don't worry, every morning I'll usually go and run a mile and a half at the gym, and I have been improving with those times. I was also looking at exercise rep records at the gym, and evidently somebody was able to crank out 1052 sit-ups once. I don't know how, but I'm not planning on beating that anytime soon.

I also pulled a bit of a prank on my district leader, Elder Constandse. I got back to my residence earlier than the others after zone prayer, so I decided to hide under my bed and see how long they'd fall for it. Elder Bass was in with me on it, so I pulled all my luggage out from underneath my bunk in the most unorganized manner, and what do you know, when the others came in, they seriously couldn't find me! Elder Constandse was getting really worried, and by then everyone else had figured it out (thanks to Bass giving some tips). So when Constandse sensed that something wasn't right with my absence (he was about ready to go outside to look), I crawled out. He was relieved. That was until he opened his closet and found Elder Beck inside of it. Yeah we got him good.

Funny though, the MTC laundromat is probably the most non-ghetto laundromat I've ever been in. It's nice!

But still, thanks for the love and support! Yakima's just around the corner, and I've discovered that it gets pretty rural certain places. Anyway, I'll let you know how things go, and I hope to hear from you soon!

Love you!

Camit