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| 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
Kyle's Address until Feb 1st or there about:
Elder Kyle Calley
Temple Way
Chorley, Lancashire PR6 7EQ
England
United Kingdom
