We had pretty good week. We learned a lot more about verbs this week. It is just such a different language than any Latin language. Verbs come first, then the Actor of the verb, than the Object that verb is being done on, then who is Receiving the object/action, and then the Location comes last. We work on translating stuff for lessons a lot, and also speaking "Tag-lish" in order to get used to the format.
Apparently we get to watch the Provo City Center Temple dedication on Sunday morning. We are going to go to the gym to watch it on the big screens. That will be really exciting.
On Monday, Brother Spencer had us read 1 Nephi 18 as a class. He had us replace "build/construct a ship" with "speak Tagalog." It seemed pretty helpful for the missionaries from Kiribati.
Elder Mwarie answered a more difficult question in class one day, so Sister Brock said to snap in order to applaud him. I just said "pasensya" (sorry/patience) and held up my hand. She was embarrassed, but the class and Brother Cutler thought it was hilarious.
On Tuesday we had TRC ( I don't know what it stands for, but we teach church members (who actually speak Tagalog) who come to the MTC, in order to prep for sharing a message at dinner or lunch with members in the field. Elder Mwarie apparently misunderstood what was going on, and started asking her if she would get baptized, and so I had to clarify. He was a tad embarrassed, but it was all good. The members were great, and we got more experience teaching in the language.
We also had choir on Tuesday,, and the main choir director was busy so we had some other guy. It was awful . He kept adding in fermatas every fourth or fifth measure, and ritardandos and accelerandos before and after that, and weren't consistent. It was very frustrating. The song is actually really nice, but it had no flow when we sang it. It's called "This is the Christ." The lyrics were actually written by James E. Faust from the point of view of the Nephites in 3 Nephi.
I also saw Sean Burke! He served in our ward back home. He's now going to BYU and working with visual media and production at the MTC for devotionals and such. It was nice to see someone I know from home.
The devotional was Elder Jorge Zeballos of the Seventy and his wife. She said that we need happy missionaries. Nobody wants to let sad, grumpy, or tired, strangers into the home. He talked about making sure we tell whole truths. He said, "If I say 'we are the MTC,' it is true. If I say that 'it is snowing,' that is not true. If I say, 'We are at the MTC, and it is snowing,' the whole statement is false. We can't do that. That's what Satan does." He also said that our purpose is to "Invite others to COME to Christ," and not to "GO to Christ. "Come" implies that we are already there. We have to be there in order to fulfill our purpose.
Tuesday was also Elder Collins's 20th birthday. We gave him a hard time all day. Lots of love in the zone. Apparently they did the same thing to Elder Decosta last month on his bday. Collins's parents sent him Hostess cakes, which we all got to share. It was a good day.
The Kiribati missionaries had to take another English test yesterday, so we had to leave study time early. From there we went straight to the main building so that we could host new missionaries. There weren't very many this week, so I only got to host one missionary, but he is from Turkey! He had an awesome accent, and is going to Berlin for his mission.
We got two new "investigators" yesterday as well. They are Deloni (Sister Brock) and Francisco (Brother Spencer.) We taught "Deloni" in the afternoon, and she didn't seem very interested. We are teaching her again tomorrow. We taught "Francisco" after dinner, and he seemed much more attentive. We teach him again on Saturday.
Elder Lowry (hilarious guy from Evanston, WY) wrote "aplaya manok" on the board in the hallway, and got one of our teachers to help him convince Elder Collins that it meant seagull. It literally means "beach chicken" and is not another name for "seagull" in Tagalog. Elder Collins has been obsessed with telling people now.
The view from the temple is amazing. I forgot to take many pictures. Not much changes here, so I don't think about it.I'll try to remember more this week.
Funniest Tagalog messup this week: Elder Solis was practicing teaching with me. He was trying to say "Nagmamahal po ang Diyos sa atin" (God loves us) but he accidently said "Nagmahal po ang Diyos sa atin," (God loved us.) I pretended to be upset and said, "Bakit hindi nagmamahal po Siya sa atin ngayon?!" (Why doesn't He love us now?!)
Apparently, before we got here, some elder was trying to say "Pinatay po ng mga tao si Jesucristo" which means that "the people killed Jesus," but said "Pinatay ni Jesucrsto ang mga tao" which means "Jesus Christ killed the people." Our teachers said we can avoid this problem if we study...
Naniniwala po ako na puwede magbalik tayo sa Diyos sa pamamigitan ng pagbabayad-sala ni Jesucristo!
Hey, can you thank the Youngs for me? That was very nice of them. My whole zone absolutely loves them now.
Also, this is Elder Knowles. He's in my zone here in the MTC, and he has this blanket. He said that he was kind of cold one day, and this huge missionary from the Marshall Islands saw him and said in this huge, deep voice: "Hey, Knowles! You want my blanket?" He is a scrawny white kid, so he said "Okay?" and the Marshallese missionary threw him this blanket, and told him to keep it. It is absolutely fantastic.
I love you all!
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