Pre-MTC/Week 1

Dear Friends and Family,
So it’s finally here. After years of preparation and looking forward to it, I have started my time as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Am I still nervous? Definitely. Am I excited? Even more so than I am nervous. Alright, so Monday I flew into Salt Lake City. On the flight from Charlotte to Phoenix, I sat next to this older gentleman who was familiar with the Church and with what we did as missionaries. It was nice talking to someone I did not know but who reassured me this was the right thing to be doing and that missionaries do a lot of good in the world and that it would make me grow as a person. The other person next to us was a young woman who had lived in Everett for a couple years and had loved it. Talking with these two strangers help me calm my nerves at least a little.

Not having constant access to the internet and all the different forms of communication is weird. For most of the plane rides I just was sitting there unable to watch a movie like I normally would. I took the time to read the scriptures and some letters that I had been given which I greatly appreciated. I also was able to take the time to write some emails and scheduled them to be sent as I entered the MTC on Wednesday which was kinda cool. Still I feel weird not texting friends constantly and being up to date on what’s going on, even if I haven’t even been gone for a week yet. One of my biggest points of anxiety right now is that lack of communication. I worry about not being able to keep in touch with all my close friends and me being more interested in what’s up with them than they are in what’s up with me. So to all my friends in this email [or reading this blog], every once in a while just please send me a quick email updating me on how you’re doing. I do not need one every week or even every month, just enough to feel connected still. Maybe that’s a bit much to ask but it would definitely be a big help to me.

Monday night, we had a family dinner with who ever was in the area at Mark and Whitney’s [Elder Tonkinson’s oldest brother and his wife]. There, I got plenty of mission advice from my brothers Mark and Caleb and my cousin Ben. Everything from how I’ll probably make a fool of myself at some point by saying the wrong words in Spanish to why it’s important to communicate well with your companion. Either way, it helped some and made me aware of things that I will probably experience that the Church doesn’t put in any of the training packets.

Tuesday was pretty good. We had dinner with family friends and that was great. We also went to the aquarium and the temple. Both of which were great blessing. The aquarium was a great way to spend time with the four nephews because they were just there running around and having fun. The temple was a blessing because of the peace I was able to feel in it; that really helped calm my nerves.

Finally, Wednesday morning came, and we had some Kolaches which were delicious, then said goodbye to Mark, Whitney and Taryn. Caleb, Hillary and I then headed to sushi which is a good final meal before the next six weeks of cafeteria food. Caleb dropped me off quickly with a very short goodbye, nothing drawn out, which I was thankful for. Elder Noah Kitchen, my best friend from Ohio was there to greet me right as I left the parking garage which was pretty great. Our dorm rooms are also right across from each other so I see him at least twice a day. After getting all the materials from Preach My Gospel [a training manual for missionary work] to the name tag reading “Elder Tonkinson La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimas Días.” I then met my district (the other missionaries I will be learning Spanish with) and my companion, Elder Durbano. From Thursday to now it has felt like a dream. It still doesn’t feel real; like, I’m actually a missionary for the Church. That’s pretty much the tagline for our district. Spanish is coming along well; we try to speak as much as we can and only use English when we have to. Surprisingly, we’re probably speak about 1/3 of our time in Spanish. Its pretty incredible. We’ve learned how to introduce ourselves and pray in Spanish, and it kind of awesome to be able to do that already. Granted, spending 6 hours a day in class and then studying for an hour or more each day does help pick up the language more than in Spanish class. Anyway, I love my district. Already we’re laughing a ton and having fun all while learning Spanish and studying the scriptures. We’ve already had a “movie night” watching the required safety videos. Elder Durbano is also super fun, and we both want to stay in shape and not gain weight so we are pushing each other to exercise and run in the mornings. Overall, I’m loving it here, but sometimes I do miss it back home.

Spiritual moment of the week- During a people and purpose workshop we were constantly reminded of our purpose, which is to invite and to help bring people to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We do not convert people; the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His atonement does. We just facilitate getting that important message to them. Elder Boyle, one of the Elders in my district, put it like this: we are like a violin and we have all this musical potential to help spread the music (the gospel of Jesus Christ) and the Lord is the violinist. He is the one who creates the beautiful melody that people love. People love the musician not the instrument used to spread the music. Hopefully, that makes sense. Elder Boyle explained it much better than I.

Questions from my father: How did moving in go? -Besides not having hangers because the packing list said they would be provided in the MTC, fine. Was your companion there already?–Yes Elder Derbano was there. Where is he from?–North Ogden, Utah . . . typical. How many siblings does he have?–One older brother. How old is he?–18. Are you getting along well?–I’d like to think so, but he’s also maybe so nice he just acts like he tolerates me. Will you have time to go to the temple? Is that preparation day or another day?–Yes every p-day but currently the Provo temple is closed until the 12th of August, so I can not go to the temple until it is opened again.What are the classes like?–Gospel centered and more of an open conversation rather than a lecture. We do lots of practice speaking in Spanish and are encouraged to SYL (speak your language) as much as possible. How is your Spanish coming?–Spanish seems to be coming along alright. Until we finish basic core (first 10 days), we are going to be speaking Spanglish; and then after that, we are supposed to be trying to speak 100 percent Spanish. How are you feeling? Are you beginning to feel comfortable instead of anxious?–Since I got to Utah, I’ve felt fine. Spurts of missing home here or there though. But worst was Sunday morning when I had to speak in church.

In response to my wonderful mother, here are my top 10 things I enjoy about missionary life at the end the 3 things I don’t enjoy as much:

Good

Elder Durbano, he’s a great easy going companion. He also has a strong testimony of the Saviors love for him individually, which is powerful.
The district, we have so much fun it’s just like being with 5 close friends.
Personal study, studying my scriptures has never felt so easy and gone by so quickly and its wonderful.
Language study, this also goes by incredibly quickly and I feel like I’m learning a lot.
Teachers, both of my teachers are pretty fluent in Spanish and have good accents and have been really helpful in learning Spanish.
Schedule, we have two 3 hour classes each day one in the morning from 8:30-11:30 and then 6:15-9:15. The time in between is up to us on how to use it which is nice.
BYU Creamery, we can get mini 8 oz. ice creams from vending machines and it’s great.
Exercise time, forces me to exercise when I might have just chosen to sleep or something
Elder Willis, he’s in my district and totally ripped and has a ton of resistance bands and is helping us smaller Elders learn to use them effectively to build some muscle
The [Holy] Spirit, the Spirit here is so constant and strong and it’s incredible.

Not as Good

The food is pretty rough here.
Schedule, waking up at 6:30 is hard and so is going to bed at 10:30 because you have so much you want to get done.
The beds, I have to sleep top bunk and getting off in the mornings half asleep to shut off the alarms is kinda scary. And the beds are definitely not very comfortable but get the job done.

Anyways I look forward to this coming week and being able to share it with you all next Saturday. Also, here are the pictures for this week: