Everyone,
First, I can confirm, that it's called the Empty Sea, not
the MTC. (Just kidding.) The MTC computers don't have spell checkers, so if I
can't figure out how to spell something correctly, I'll just leave it spelled
wrong. So, the MTC. I've learned so much. It's insane. I've felt like every day
flies by! I feel like I don't have enough time to do everything, but somehow, I
always do get everything done. We had a devotional Tuesday, and Elder Clarke of
the 70 talked to us about being 9:30 missionaries instead of 9:00 missionaries.
Missionaries are allowed to head back to their house/dorm/room at 9:00, but you
can stay out until 9:30 at the latest. Anyway, he's just saying we need to work
hard enough to always stay out until 9:30. I've been staying out until 9:30
every single night. So that was nice to know that I was staying out so late
because I was doing it right!
I guess I should talk about everyone around me. I'll start
with my companion, Elder Fogth. It's like saying folks with a lisp. The G makes
more of a K sound. He's from Orem, and he's super awesome. He's so weird, but
he's seriously such a great guy! He doesn't really care what other people
think. He's bold and super nice and a people person. He only listens to vinyl
records (like hippies) because they have better sound quality and it's exactly
what the artist wanted you to hear. He follows this super weird movement in
Iceland where they basically sing rock lullabies. Pretty weird. Anyway, he's
hilarious. Our entire zone is OBSESSED with him. It's actually pretty nice,
because so many people will just come and talk to us and try to get to know us
instead of us having to get to know other people. He's heading to Singapore,
English speaking with me, so I'll definitely be seeing more of him. Our
district is made up of 8 Elders and 4 Sisters. Elder Fogth, Child, and I are
heading to Singapore and we're heading out August 1. I don't have flight plans,
but that's what our branch president told us. It's a 27-hour flight plus a 14
hour time difference. Elder Fogth likes
to tell everyone that it's the longest flight in the world. Someone might have
to fact check that for me. Elder Child plays violin and I feel like I know him
from somewhere... But I don't. He reminds me so much of my first seminary
teacher, Brother Crawford too. Then we have Elders Nielson, Otero, and Richins
who are all going to Perth Australia, and Elders Fata and Jensen are going to
Micronesia and Guam. So the Elders all have pretty neat missions. The Sisters
are all going to Oregon. I think Portland. Not sure. Like I said, entire zone
is obsessed with Elder Fogth, so I meet so many people every day it's crazy.
Ok, first day in the MTC. I said by to family after eating a
super good lunch at Olive Garden. I went
through everything and get my nametag. It has an orange dot, and when you have
an orange dot on your tag, everyone says "WELCOME TO THE MTC!!!"
Really happily. So I kept that dot on the back of my tag after Wednesday and
put it on yesterday so everyone would welcome to me again. Best decision I've
made on my mission yet. We got to eat dinner, then kinda went wherever they
pointed us, and met the zone. The zone meeting was pretty awesome. We figured out that we had 7 more days until
we had a P Day. So we went EIGHT DAYS without a P Day. But it was still
awesome.
Thursday we went to class and met our teacher, got to know
the other elders and sisters, and basically just had our first lesson. I felt
like it was super-fast, but everyone else says it went super slow. I met tons
of people I knew, and keep meeting new ones every day. At night we met with our
branch presidency and their wives, and they're all super cool. Especially
President Durfy. Elder Fogth is our District Leader, and he's in charge of the
12 of us that stick together and have class together (the district). I'm a zone
leader along with Elder Richins. There's at least one zone leader in each group
of people, so I think there are currently 6 zone leaders in our zone. It was
pretty hard at first, because the senior zone leaders (the ones that had been
there for two weeks) weren't helpful at all. Elder Richins and I asked them for
help a lot and they said not to worry about anything because we didn't even do
anything. So we didn't worry about anything! That'll come up later. Just
remember they told us not to worry about anything because we didn't have to do
anything.
Wednesday, I noticed that our teacher prays super awesomely.
She prays just like she's talking to us, and it's so personal. I set a goal to be able to pray like that by
the end of my MTC stay, and I'd say it's going pretty well. My faith has grown
so much. It's awesome. We had two 3 hour lessons that day, and it was awesome!
I never thought I'd enjoy having 6 hours of lessons on the same exact thing and
love it. We learned about the Gospel of Christ for 21 hours by Saturday night I
think. We finally started learning the
missionary discussions, but that knowledge of the Gospel of Christ is so
important to what we actually teach, and the underlying message in every lesson
is the Gospel of Christ. So that was super cool just to have the lessons
transform like that just from learning something so simple but so complex. We
learned that the district that left Monday had an elder that had to leave after
day two because he was so stressed, so that kinda worried some of the elders in
our district, but we're all great! So it's cool! We've all been loving the MTC
and bond so well together. We're probably the best district ever. On Wednesday
I felt like I knew everything about Elder Child, and it was super weird. I'm
pretty sure I know him from somewhere, but I don't really know where I would
have known him. I think it was Friday that I just felt like we're gonna be
companions sometime. So if I'm his
companion in Singapore sometime, just know that I called it while I was in the
MTC!
Friday, we kinda roamed around during lunch and had to
figure out our mailbox since Elder Fogth is District Leader. We figured that
out, and went to class, so the day went by fast since we were so busy, but it
was just a bunch of class and learning. It was fun though. Saturday we learned
a ton, I got a package, we exercised, and set 10 goals that we're keeping
really well. Elder Otero told us the first day that some of the dorm rooms have
hidden stashes behind the light switch things and other places, so we tore
apart our room the first day. We didn't
find anything, but we DID find places to stash a bunch of stuff, so we'll have
to use that before we leave for other elders. Spread the rumor.
Sunday night, we had a devotional where we watched Elder
Bednar's talk, 'The Character of Christ'.
It was super awesome. You can only watch it in the MTC. Anyway, he
talked about turning outward and serving others. If you lose yourself, you find
yourself. There was so much in there, and I just wrote down what I heard from
the Spirit more than what was actually said. I don't remember that well what
was actually said. It's something you just have to go watch. Sorry Dad, I guess
you're just gonna have to go on a mission to learn more about it. Once we
finished the talk, everyone started standing up, and ELDER BEDNAR WALKED IN. It
was awesome! Then we had this huge Q&A where missionaries asked questions.
One of the favorite things I heard Elder Bednar say was "A sister does 10
things, and makes a minor mistake on 1.
The other 9 are perfect, and the mistake is all she remembers. An Elder
does 10 things and does awful on 9, and just mediocre on 1, and says (as Elder
Bednar pounds his chest with his hands) 'YEAH'" So I guess we just need to
raise our standards as Elders. It was pretty funny. He also said the Spirit
isn't limited to one way of communication.
We should always be able to recognize the patterns of the Spirit.
Earlier that week, our teacher challenged us to drink 64 ounces of water a day,
since some of the elders (not me) hadn't had a cup of water since they got to
the MTC (only juice.) That day, I ended up drinking 90 ounces of water…because
overachievement! I drank the 64 ounces of water before lunch just so I could
tell her I did it before she left. Also, during lunch, there was a little girl
(probably 4 years old) hiding from us around a pole. She'd run around it, then peek at us, then
when we waved, she'd run back around and peek again. So I hid on the other side
of the pole, and when she peaked around the corner, I jumped out and scared
her. She started laughing. It was pretty funny.
So remember how I said that the zone leaders said I didn't
have to worry about anything as a zone leader? Sunday, we went to priesthood
meeting. They decided it was a good time
to tell me I had to teach a lesson for priesthood meeting that was supposed to
be 50 minutes. So I taught a 50-minute lesson on the spot! And it was actually
really good! Luckily the two districts of elders in there participated a lot
and made tons of comments, so it was pretty easy to make it 50 minutes/ I learned that I needed to talk to the other
zone leaders that weren't actually in charge if I want to know what I am
supposed to do. During lunch, I was talking with some elders, and met an Elder
Bagley. I knew that I was related to quite a few Bagleys, so I asked him if he
had any family in Richfield. He
did. Then I asked if it was actually in
Koosharem. And it was. And then we figured out we're third cousins! So that was
SUPER AWESOME. He's Elder Aaron Bagley, and he's going to Ohio in a week. He
said his dad's name was Greg Bagley or something. I can't remember. I left my
planner in the room. Anyway, I got a picture with him. And I see him all the
time now!
Monday, Elder Fogth and I taught 3 lessons and prepared 4.
One fell through. We have what's called TRC, and you just get fake
investigators and teach them. It seems pretty real sometimes, so that's good. I
love teaching. It's my favorite thing to do in the MTC. Oh, and I forgot to
say, but the entire district thinks that I look like a teacher. So that was
pretty funny. We were guessing occupations, and literally everyone at the same
time said that I'm gonna be a teacher. A few of them even specified math
teacher. So I thought that was funny. I do like math! The second day we were in
the MTC, Elder Fogth lost his MTC Id card, so we looked for it, and finally
found it on Monday when we were going to replace it. We ended up giving some
blessings to some of the elders, and the next day we gave a few to the sisters.
It was cool.
Elder Nielson has this workout that we do every night. I
only do it because he's kinda the odd one out in our district, and he needed
someone to get close with. Anyway, it's been fun. My arms are always exhausted.
I definitely am not going to do this once I leave the MTC; totally not worth
it! Yesterday, the fresh meat came in. I saw Elder Caleb Tinsley today. Oh, and
I wore my sticker I saved from my first day yesterday. So everyone was
welcoming me. It was pretty awesome. And this morning we all got to go to the
temple! So that was super, duper awesome! I love the temple. It's the best.
Then we did laundry and between loads wrote emails. So that was my 8 days! My
next emails probably won't be this long, but Elder Fogth took forever to figure
out the picture stuff, so I had lots of time to write. I decided I had so many
pictures I should just upload them for everyone to see since I can only send
like 5 at a time. So pictures are here! And feel free to send letters through
Dear Elder to unit 66! I've been loving the MTC, I love my district, my
companion, and my zone! I seriously love it here. My companion is super
awesome. Couldn't ask for a better one.
Love you all!
Elder Ben Mullins
The picture with me making a heart with an elder is my third
cousin, Elder Bagley. The other pictures
with just one elder is my companion, Elder Fogth. I'll try to limit my picture
taking to 5 next week so it's easier to get to them all. I don't know if it'll
even work. I guess we'll see!
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| Elder Aaron Bagley--We are 3rd cousins! |
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| Elder Fogth |
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| Elder Fogth |
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| Class time |
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| Stretching? |
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| My first care package from Alexis |
*Note from Mom: We were so surprised to see that he met his third cousin, Elder Bagley. His dad, Greg, actually baptized me when I was 8. My dad didn't have the priesthood so we asked Greg to do it. He was a priest and was preparing to go on a mission. I was his first baptism. I am so excited to send Ben a photo of Greg and me on my baptism day. I sent one to him to give to Elder Bagley and another for him to send to his family. Greg has always held a special place in my heart, because he baptized me. Here we are now 36 years later with our sons meeting in the MTC for the first time. Pretty cool!
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| Greg Bagley and Dahlene Curtis on her baptism day, March 22, 1980 |
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