Week 2 in the MTC

Abinadi District with  (teacher) Bro. Teal

Hey guys,

I am finally getting used to MTC life. It feels a lot like dorm life but has way more classes and activities packed into one day. It feels like I have been here for a month instead of two weeks. However, my district is not the ones that have been here the longest. There is a district of missionaries who are going to the Alpine German speaking Mission that have already been here for six weeks.

Sounds like Tyler is doing well in wrestling. Isn't that like three or four pins now. Woo hoo! By the way I leave for the mission home on the 31st of January. We're taking a bus up to the mission home which will be nice. I'm not sure when we leave on the 31st but it will probably be announced by President Bunker sometime this week. Speaking of President Bunker, he announced this Sunday that we will be having a devotional this Wednesday about changes to the missionary schedule. I do not know everything about those changes but President Bunker told us that missionaries will now be able to go to bed at 9:30 instead of 10:30 as long as they do not have an appointment at that time. I guess we will be allowed to fit daily planning into some other part of the day if we have down time. However, President Bunker said that the schedule at the MTC for us will still be for us to go to bed at 10:30 and the next group after us will be able to have the choice to go to bed at 9:30. So I will not get to use the schedule change until I leave for the field.

Last Sunday, we had a special guest speaker, Donny Osmond. Most of us, including me, had no idea who he was until he mentioned that he was captain Shang in Mulan. Then most of us paid close attention to the rest of his talk. Apparently he had a son that came to the Preston MTC and served in the Scotland Edinburgh Mission and he currently has a son serving in Italy. Almost everyone seems to have a connection to Scotland or Ireland.

Today we get to go to the temple at 2 later today. I am looking forward to it. We have one Elder in our district, Elder Cosmas, who will be going through for the first time. We figured out last Sunday that Elder Obedmoth's name is actually Elder Cosmas because somehow they put his first name instead of his last name on his badge.

Last Sunday we watched a devotional by President Bednar that he gave to the Provo MTC back in June 2009 about finding how to listen to the Holy Ghost. It was a really good devotional and had a lot of good stories and experiences. It really helped me to know that in order to feel the Spirit we need to continue to press forward in faith.

I feel like I am ready to leave the MTC and get out to the field but I still have one week left. This Thursday we are going to some church historical sites around Preston. I think one of them is the river where the first member got baptized in England although I am not sure. I am not sure if you guys knew this but President Hinckley served in Preston or at least England for his mission and we might go to some sites that were important to him during his mission. I am not sure what it all entails but I am looking forward to it.

Last Thursday, street contacting in Manchester went good overall. It was really hard to get people to talk about religion but we were able to give out a few pass along cards and have some good discussions about the Church. I did not expect a mission to be easy and was glad to finally get some real experience talking with people.

We have had many teaching lessons with "investigators" here at the MTC. It seems that teaching gets easier and easier and we keep learning new aspects that we can include in a lesson. It is much easier to teach when you have a companion to teach with.

So like in about half an hour we are supposed to get haircuts. So I probably will have a completely different hair cut in the next pictures I send you guys. Just kidding.

So I do not know when I leave next Tuesday so I do not know when I will have a chance to email you guys next week. Hope you guys have a good week. Hope you get more pins Tyler. Love you guys,

Elder Calley

Week 1 in the MTC

Kyle and his district in front of the Preston Temple

We got a nice long letter from Kyle this week.

So this week has been a busy week. The MTC is so jam packed of classes, devotionals and teaching for us. It has been pretty hard here but it has been really enjoyable here too. We have something going on from 7:00 am to 9:30 at night.

 I just got all your letters this morning so I don't know how long it took but thank you guys so much for them. ( Just for your information we sent Kyle a snail mail on the day he left for his mission, so it looks like it takes a week for letters to get to him.) So as far as meeting anyone from the US I have met quite a few Elders and Sisters, most of them are from Idaho and Utah. However, I am the only Elder from America in my district. In my district, I have Elder Firstbrook as my companion who is from North Hampton, England. He is a good first companion and has helped me learn a lot. Elder Foster is from Essex, England, he was baptized two years ago and is our District Leader. By the way our district is called the Abinadi District. There are about four other districts that are here for the next two weeks and probably about 50-70 people here at the MTC. Elder Obedmoth is from Uganda and was baptized a year and a half ago. He is a great missionary and an inspiration to me. There is also Elder Baklan from the Ukraine. He is really good at doing an American accent in French. Elder Smith (young missionary) is from Melbourne, Australia and can do very good accents as well. Last night he introduced me to this paste called Vegemite and it tasted horrible but is supposed to be good on toast. As far as the Sisters go there is Sister Yu from Taiwan, Sister Schulze from Germany, Sister Ellsworth from St. George Utah, and Sister Naef from Washington state. By the way I got one of my bags the next day and the other bag the day after that.


Also not to make you guys jealous or anything but it is way warmer here than back home. We are definitely in the mid to high 40's out here. However, it is very rainy and foggy here. There is no snow out here but it did snow a little bit on Thursday but it didn't stick. The food here is not too different than stuff at home except it tastes slightly different, definitely not as good as your cooking Mom, and most dishes are called different things. For example they call French Toast here Eggy Toast. By the way we are getting a new MTC Mission President today. President Preston  is leaving today and President Bunker is the new Mission President. President Preston has been a great Mission President for the week that I knew him. It is weird being in England but it kind of feels like a home away from home. One thing that I have been grateful for this week is the preparation that I have had. Going out with the missionaries, taking mission prep in the ward back at BYU and as well as taking the mission prep class have really been helpful this week.

I have learned so much over the past week about being a missionary and have had to get used to having a companion by me almost 24/7. This Thursday we get to go to Manchester to go tracting and preach on the streets. I am so excited and also a little bit nervous. A lot of the things that I am learning about in the MTC are different than what I expected when I arrived here. I've learned that it takes a lot of hard work. The hard work I learned in wrestling and while I attended BYU has started to pay off a little bit. Another thing that I have had to rely on this week is the things that I learned from seminary. Many scripture mastery's have been used this week. I am so grateful for the opportunities that I have had in the gospel. I know that serving a mission will bless others’ lives. We were shown a devotional by Elder Anderson on Sunday and in it he showed a video of him with other missionaries and members that were new converts. It was really neat to see how new converts had the desire to serve missions and how they will be able to bless the lives of others just like how they have had. It really helped me put in perspective just how huge missionary work can be and how much of an impact I as well as other missionaries have on others. I love you guys and hope you are all doing well in frigid Minnesota.

Elder Calley


Kyle's Address until Feb 1st or there about:


Elder Kyle Calley
Temple Way
Chorley, Lancashire PR6 7EQ
England
United Kingdom

He made it to the MTC!

Kyle made it to the Missionary Training Center (MTC), after a change of plans. We're glad to know he's there and all is well. Or will be once he gets his luggage. Here's Kyle's letter . . .



Hey guys,

I guess I had better start where I last saw you guys. So at the airport in Minneapolis my flight got delayed due to the pilots not being able to arrive on time and would cause me to miss my flight to Manchester. I had to switch flights so I flew from Minneapolis to Amsterdam and from Amsterdam to Manchester. It was fine. The only issue is I have to find my luggage because it was not on the same flight. It should arrive tomorrow though and someone here is working on it. So I do not have any worries about that. England is very different. I will have to get used to the unique sayings they have here. At the airport I was the only one from the U.S. However, it was cool to see just how many people have the gospel in their lives and how it is the same wherever they are from. I'll have to make this email shorter than I would have liked because I have a lot to do here. I'll make sure they are longer next time. By the way, preparation days are on Tuesdays here so you can expect to here from me then. Another thing I learned was that I will only have one trip to the temple here. I hope you guys are doing okay and am glad that I can be spending my two years serving the Lord in Scotland/Ireland. I love you guys.

Elder Calley

P.S. nobody so far has said my name right.

(It's pronounced Call-E and it doesn't rhyme with alley)

And he is off!

And he is off!

So today we took Kyle to the MSP airport.

We drove in a snow storm to get him there but got him there safe and on time.

Kyle and all his luggage

Had some last minute adjustments to his suit. I should carry a seam ripper with me.



the last good bye

We are excited for Kyle's wonderful journey first to the MTC in Preston England and then to his mission in Scotland/Ireland.