So the weeks are definitely all blending together now and I cant picture my life outside of this little plot of land we call the MTC. Sometimes I even dream about going places by myself and taking a nap whenever I want (or just a nap in general). Next wednesday we start consecration week (one week of Albanian only, no english) and I am scared out of my mind. We leave in 3 weeks for Albania!!!!! and the last week is a lot of orientation (in english, thank heavens) and general excitement to leave. I know I had a few grey hairs going in, but I am willing to bet a large sum of money that when I get home I will look like Anderson Cooper, and thats not necessarily a bad thing. What I am trying to say is that I AM STRESSED. Woah buddy, does this place ever humble you. On top of learning one of the hardest and most unknown languages on the Earth, we have to do it with a smile on our face. Now forgive me if it sounds like I am complaining, because I am not. I am learning so many lessons here not only about the gospel, but about what it means to be a man. One of our weekly mottos was: "Jini Burrë".
This past tuedsay we had Elder Richard G. Scott of the 12 come and speak to all of the missionaries at the Marriott Center. Let me just write down a couple notes that I took:
- To reach a goal never before reached, we have to do things never before done
- When we pray privately to Heavenly Father, we can just talk to him. There is no need for a formal prayer. After all, He is our father.
- If God withholds an answer to our prayers, it is so that we can grow in faith
- Pray even when we have no desire to
- We will learn that we have strength beyond what we thought we had
- He will fit the task to our ability
Elder Scott was Definitely one of the best speakers we have had so far and obviously he made several good points about prayer and missionary work.
Today we went to the Temple for the first time since we have been at the MTC. Normally we would go every week, but it has been closed for cleaning. It was such an awesome experience to go with the people that I have grown to love in the past 6 weeks. Its really hard to have any negative feelings in the temple. After we finished a session, we all were able to eat in the cafeteria at the temple. Now before you point and laugh, let me just tell you that we have been suffering from a lack of good food as of late. The temple had AMAZING food. I had a ham and cheese omelet, 3 sausage links, a massive waffle with blueberries and whip cream, and a ton of milk to wash it all down. It was probably the best breakfast I have had since Kneaders the morning before I got to the MTC.
Well... Thats about it folks. I hope that this has been an enjoyable read for everyone and I look forward to writing next week!
Love,
Elder Tyler Allgaier
 |
| On our Sunday walk taking pictures with the Albanian flag |
 |
| Jorgensen wearing all 3 flags |
 |
| Price, Rawlings, and I with the flag |
 |
| Elder Price had his birthday and we celebrated |
 |
| Price and I with the edible house we made that he got for his birthday |
 |
| A mega worm that we ate |
| |
I love you Elder Tyler Allgaier! I love reading your updates! Mitä? Finnish is not an easy language either. If this old grandma can learn it, somewhat, as a senior missionary you can learn Albanian as a young missionary! I am proud of you!!!
ReplyDelete