Week 8 @ The MTC (5,000 Miles)

Jeff Bolingbroke
Sep 28, 2017
3 min read

Fun fact of the day: Salt Lake City and Helsinki are almost exactly five thousand miles apart! It gives me an odd urge to sing a certain song...

First things first: exciting news! We got our flight plans 6 days ago! Our route goes as such: SLC to Dallas/Fort Worth Texas, and a short layover there until we depart for a nice, long, overnight flight to London, Heathrow! We'll then go from London to Finland, Helsinki! It's a nice trip - a day and a half of being propelled through the air at 600 mph in big metal tubes with wings, hurtling over the Atlantic with all of my belongings condensed into three suitcases, to stay in a wintry wonderland for the next 22 months! I've got to admit, that's a scary thought. But hey, the Lord's with us, and he'll get us there safely.

And as of today, we're only four short days away from leaving! And two of those four days are special, indeed! Does anybody know why? You'd better know: it's General Conference this weekend! I've got to say, I'm really excited for this one. In two days from today, Prophets, Seers, and Revelators for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - God's special witnesses on earth - will give us a series of messages for our benefit. And I can tell you - having heard five of said apostles in my time here at the MTC, I can tell all of you with especial conviction that if you have a question, it will be answered through General Conference. I ask you now to do this: Think of a question you have about the Gospel, about the Church, anything. Keep that question in your mind. Pray about it. Ask God about your question. Ask Him to answer your question at Conference. Then, when the Conference sessions begin, sit down in your living room, or at your computer, and have some snacks, as well as a notebook and pencil, by your side. Listen intently to the speakers - that means don't fall asleep - and you'll find an answer to your question. Look, this is what we missionaries do. Every time we share a message, we ask for a commitment. I'm not just saying this, I expect you, if you've read this, to keep this commitment I'm giving you. Capiche?

Now, for quotes of the week!

"You ever have one of those days when all your food is orange?"

-Vanhin Bolingbroke, with tomato soup, a salad wrap with an orange tomato tortilla, orange onion rings, and fry sauce. Hey, don't judge. After eight weeks of the same food, you learn to experiment with the given dietary choices.

"What would Yoda sound like in Finnish?"

-Vanhin Olsen, while studying the odd grammatical structure of our amazing language

"It's been nine weeks and we're still learning partitive. My testimony is shaken."

-Vanhin Olsen, sarcastically

"My teeth are incredible."

-Vanhin Manner, said with no context whatsoever

"What do we do with the 'little stop guy' in the middle of the word?"

-Sisar Brinton, referring to the 'little stop guy,' or the glottlestop, in our Finnish words[think of how we Utahns say mountain. We pronounce it mou-enn, not mountain. That's a glottlestop].

Well, I believe that's all for this week! It's been an incredible first chapter of this journey, and I've loved being able to transcribe it for everyone! Now, we've been told that our P-days are on Tuesdays, and seeing as we get to Helsinki Tuesdayevening, I likely won't be able to send out an email until next Tuesday. Until then, Godspeed to you all! The next time you hear from me will be from somewhere in Finland, and I can't wait to tell you all about what it's like there!