Week 2 @ The MTC (How can I be Finnish when I've only just begun?)

Good morning, friends and family!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood,

a beautiful day and I'm feeling good!

Won't you read my email?

The second week has gone by, with another litany of events! I'll chronicle them to the best of my memory:

For starters, we've been extremely busy. I'm sending a snapshot of my schedule, which is more than full of classes and devotionals. It's been a bit difficult for me - I'm used to a very active and movement-oriented lifestyle, and 90% of what we do is sitting in chairs. I've made it a personal goal to eat as healthy as possible here at the MTC (the food selection is appallingly sugar-filled), and I'm happy to say that I've not yet gained a single pound! Why am I sharing this, you may ask? Because I've mentally cataloged days where I eat healthy foods, versus days that I pig out(usually on the cereal bar). I find that I'm able to feel the Spirit more, teach better lessons, and remember Finnish grammar principles better when I've had a healthy meal. Who'd have thought that your diet can affect your spirit?

Learning Finnish continues to be an amazing challenge for us. Every day, we're learning a new grammar principle. Every other day, we teach a lesson, and it's rumored that we'll actually teach members in Finland, over Skype! Fun fact: The word "Finland" is actually a Swedish word(due to the fact that Finland was part of Sweden hundreds of years ago) meaning "beautiful land", the country's true name is Suomi. Suomi means "Swampy land", on account of the many lakes(187,888 to be exact) the country has. So in the future, if I refer to my mission as Suomi, you'll know what I'm talking about.

This week has also been an incredibly spiritual one. Remember how I said last week that Elder Bednar, of the Twelve, gave a devotional? Well, it gets better. On Sunday, Elder M. Russel Ballard gave another devotional, and on Tuesday, Elder Neil L. Andersen gave one! We're so lucky to have had three of the Twelve come talk to us missionaries in two weeks!

Another significant happening: WE GOT A NEW CLASSROOM! When we first got here, two weeks ago, we were shown our classroom. Our cramped, fourteen-people-with-no-space-to-breathe classroom. I personally nicknamed it the Cupboard Under The Stairs(No, it wasn't really under the stairs, but it's a Harry Potter reference). However, yesterday, our Branch President, President Coombs, talked to the building staff, and got us an actual classroom! We can breathe! We can move our legs! I feel like Harry Potter in the second book, when he gets an actual bedroom! Yesterday was a happy day.

I have another list of inspiring/funny/nonsense quotes from Elders, myself, and others.

"The eleventh commandment, reserved specifically for missionaries: Thou Shalt Not Flirt."

-Elder Ballard

"Am I the only one that thinks Russel Crowe's death in Les Miserables was the funniest thing?"

-Vanhin Olsen, at approx. 10:47 P.M., while we were all almost asleep

"Look down, look down, don't look them in the eye."

All the Finnish Vanhinmat(plural form of Elders), upon walking past a group of freshly arrived Elders

"Vanhin Manner, you're C-3PO. Bolingbroke, you're R2-D2."

"Is it because he's tall and I'm short?"

"Yep." Vanhin Gamett, laughing at my shortness

"Everyone in Rexburg with a dog is super old, except for the young people with dogs."

-Vanhin Manner

"Well no duh!"

-Vanhin Gamett, in response to Vanhin Manner's fairly obvious statement.

Now, on a slightly more serious note, I've had an epiphany! A friend recently emailed me, asking me a gospel question. I decided to answer via a video, instead of the written word. And I figured, why not continue to do so? So here's what's going to happen:

If you have a gospel-related question you'd like me to answer, email your question to me! I'll address your question, take a video of it, and get it back to you. THIS NEXT PART IS IMPORTANT. Gmail can't send files over 25 megabytes, so I'll send a Google Drive link. MOM AND DAD. READ THIS PART. You need to share the Google Drive file with everyone on the email list. ​

Videos

​This link, right above these letters, says "videos." Share that with everyone. You should be able to send it straight in the email, without doing anything, but if you have any questions, ask Trevor. He's tech-savvy, and should be able to do this easily. Let me know ASAP if it works, and if people can access the videos. And let me know what is accessible, okay? Okay.

Now, please don't misunderstand my motives when I do this. I want you all to know, I do not do this out of some sort of misplaced sense of importance, attention, or popularity. I do this because I am an ordained servant of the Lord.

Let me repeat this.

I do this because I am an ordained servant of the Lord. As of the moment I was set apart, it became my duty to spend my days preaching the Word of the Lord, with all my heart, might, mind, and strength. I am assigned to preach in Suomi, but I feel that I also am given both the responsibility and opportunity to preach His gospel to those in my own life - family, friends, and acquaintances. So help me do so! If you have a question, ask me, and I'll do what I can to answer!

And please do write to us. We love hearing how everyone's lives are going!

I love you all, keep pressing forward!

-Vanhin Bolingbroke