A Grind

August 13, 2018

Hello everyone, 

Ok so my first week as a missionary. It was pretty crazy. I have learned a ton in such a short amount of time and yet still have so much more to do. I am always busy here at the MTC, which I guess is nice. Keeps me focused and makes the time kind of blend together. So it's been a blur but I will do my best to get out as much as I can from the week. 

Wednesday was when I arrived. I walked up from the parking garage and pretty much walked through every building picking things up. My tag and my MTC card are the most useful things that I picked up. My card lets me buy things and get into places. So after walking around a lot I dropped off my stuff in my residence hall. It is right in the middle so that is really nice. We are on the top floor, four stories up so that’s good fun too. 

I met my companion after I dropped off my stuff. His name is Elder Chen. He is awesome! He is way smarter than me and pretty much better at everything. It makes me work hard which is nice. He is super patient and helpful with everything. 

The rest of the first day was just lots of introduction meetings that let you know that you will be taken care of here at the MTC. We had dinner a bit late. It’s always all you can eat. Which is really really good and bad all at the same time. My companion and I seem to always eat too much at every single meal haha. The first night was good. We went back to our residence hall at around 9:30 and met the rest of our roommates and zone. The other roommates are elder Ginn and Elder Card. They are also awesome! Everyone here is awesome. My companion is from Utah, elder Ginn is from Texas and elder Card is from Canada. We have had a good time! Every night we say a zone qi dao or prayer. Can’t do tons on this thing. Anyway it is amazing. The first night was a shock because all of these elders in my zone speak Chinese! They have only been here a few weeks so that gives me comfort. They are all very funny and uplifting, which is nice. 

Thursday, Friday and Saturday all seemed to blend together for me. It is the same schedule most days of the week. Sunday and Mondays are the different days.  We wake up at 6:30 and have an hour of workout time. The gym here is super nice. I am very blessed. Then we go get ready. All the elders on our floor share a bathroom so that is super fun as you can imagine. After were done getting ready we go to breakfast. Then we are allowed to go anywhere to study. The MTC is super nice. Tons of things to look at and it is always peaceful. We have an hour of personal study and then another hour of companion study. After that we have an hour of language study outside of the class. Then we go to lunch. The food here is always different and you can always find something you like. Which is nice. After lunch we go to class for a good 6 hours. It is a grind.

 I have four teachers and they are all amazing! We focus a lot on our purpose as missionaries. They can bring the spirit into any lesson so quickly. It’s very helpful. We do a lot of language in class as you can imagine. The Chinese is hard but I have been reassured that it will come. 

This week has been a great lesson of obedience for me. Exact obedience brings blessings. I know that that is true. I know that the Saviors atonement is real and can help us through any situation. His grace is sufficient. After class we do dinner and then have some time in the evenings either to teach people or do more studying. Might seem like we have lots of free time but as a missionary we always seem to find a way to be doing something. 

Sundays are the different days. We have church as a zone, which is really cool. We are the Chinese zone. Think we have around 30 elders and sisters total. Church is the best part of the week. Even though I didn't understand all of what was said because it was in Chinese, I could feel the spirit. I have tried to focus less on specific things and more on the feelings that I receive in the moment. The spirit really is the best teacher. Sunday after our meetings we have a devotional. My zone sets up chairs for it as our service. We got the best service because we are here the longest. Nine weeks!!! It’s a blast. They show a "movie" on Sunday nights. They are just talks or church videos but it’s the closest thing we get so that is pretty fun. The one we watched last night is called the Character of Christ, I would like to invite you all to watch it. Changed my perspective of a lot of things.

 Anyway sorry for the rambling and for not being very organized. Still getting the hang of all this stuff. This Church is true and we are all sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father. Jesus Christ is our savior and the way we can fulfill our purpose is through following his perfect example. 

I LOVE YOU ALL, have a fantastic week.

Elder McRoberts