Week 1

This was my first real week in the MTC. You usually have class early for a few hours and a night class for a few hours, and study and work out time in the middle. Sometimes the language is really frustrating because I really just want to know it and I am working hard. Sometimes that’s how life is and you keep pushing on. When I was getting frustrated about the language, it was because I was only thinking about myself, that I wanted to learn it for me. When I realized it isn’t for me, it is for God and the people in Marjel, it started to click more and I could remember things easier. We have taught a few lessons in Marshallese with notes, and then we couldn’t use notes and weirdly enough if you just have faith that you prepared for the lesson and that God would help you, the lesson will go great. Its crazy how much you remember during the lesson but then forget after. 

On Sunday we don’t know who is speaking in sacrament until the branch president announces it, so everyone has to plan a talk and so when it happens in the field we will be prepared.

Early the next morning we had a service assignment, so we had to wake up a half hour earlier. One elder in our room, Elder Carr, had a dream that the zone leaders were yelling at us cause we were late, so then he woke up in a panic, looked at his watch, and only looked at the "40" and thought crap its 6:40! and then woke us all up. Turns out it was 5:40. It was hilarious though, he is also so funny. 

The MTC all-time record is 38 real full pullups. I really want to beat it. We have a pullup bar right outside our resident room. My current record is 25, but by the time I leave I will get 40. Everyone calls me Harry Potter, mostly because of the glasses but now after someone saw me do pullups they started calling me jacked Harry Potter.

We sent off a few elders as a zone. It was so cool. We sang God Be With You Til We Meet Again – a verse in Tongan, Samoan, and Fijian. Then we sang it in English. I’m already in love with the island culture. There is so much love here and that’s how it always should be. 

Then the next day we welcomed the new elders, just what they did to us when we came. It is videoed below our zone is the best.

We have a Marshallese elder and he is so funny. I can tell how much favoritism he shows towards our district because we are trying to learn his language. Shows a lot about the people in Majel. He talks to us for about an hour everyday about his testimony and the islands. I can’t wait to learn more about the culture!

Elder Underwood