I'm sorry if I don't get to writing individual responses. I only have an hour, so hopefully this will suffice.
Stories from this week:
Sage Southerland works in the MTC cafeteria. It took me a few times to recognize her, but one time I saw her name tag and connected the face with the name. Funny story about her (directly quoted from my journal): "In the cafeteria at dinner we saw a group of people talking really loudly and laughing. Sage was there and seemed to be involved somehow with one Elder who was holding an apple and seemed to be the center of the commotion. Some sort of dare or wager was apparenlty reached. The Elder laid the apple on the table and put his finger beneath it and hit the apple with his forehead. There was a big bang, everybody laughed and he appeared embarrassed and stood up, shouting some sort of bravado. Sage calmly sat down at the table, put the apple on her finger on the table, and WHAM! hit it with her forehead. The apple split neatly in two. Everybody cheered." It was really funny.
Brother and Sister Janice Kapp Perry talked to us on Sunday. It was more of a comedy show than most devotionals but was still really spiritual. First, we sang "Come Thou Fount." I've heard that song more than any other song since I've been here, even more than "Called to Serve." When will it just go back in the hymnbook?
First, Brother Perry talked to us. He introduced himself as "Brother Janice Kapp Perry." He talked about his mission to France and Belgium. His only baptisms on his mission were in Belgium, only two. Later, he served on a disciplinary counsel that excommunicated two people. Two baptisms plus two excommunications equals zero. His point was that even if we don't get any baptisms (or a net plus), we can still be successful missionaries.
Sister Perry gave a really funny talk for her talk as well, but definitely the highlight (the part that got the loudest reaction) was when she talked about how she met her husband. They were in a Woodwind Tech class together but never talked until the final test. She was sitting outside the room waiting for her turn to play the clarinet and sucking on her reed. Brother Perry sat down next to her and said: "Those lips look like they should be used for something better than sucking a reed." At this point in the program, Bro Perry stood up, hobbled over to her, dipped her back and kissed her hard on the mouth. The gym exploded.
One of the other things she talked about was when she boarded a premissionary once who was called to the Provo Mission from South Carolina and he was going to enter the MTC the next day. She showed him to his room and saw that he was on the verge of tears and so she asked him if he missed his family. He shrugged and said "I guess. What I really miss is my dog. My family knows why I'm gone, but how can you explain that to a dog?" I lost it at that point and started bawling. Everyone else was laughing, but not me. I'm pretty sure Elder Petersen thinks I'm crazy. (Actually he told me later that he missed his dog a lot too.) I know you all know why I'm gone, but Mona? Sister Perry finished that story with later she saw that missionary and asked him how his dog was. He said the dog was hit by a car and died, but that he (the missionary) was okay and that he'd see his dog again someday.
The three hardest things about the MTC:
1) I MISS MUSIC. No music allowed. I don't even miss rock and roll so much, but it's a HUGE temptation knowing I have the Beethoven String Quartets right there on my shelf.
2) Mormons terrify me. I've never really been able to put this into words until now. But Mormons make me really nervous. Part of it is because I've spent so much of my time away from Mormons in large groups for such a long time. But a large part of it is there's this expectation around Mormons that we're all the same, that we all have similar goals, that we all have the same beliefs and the same paradigm of the world. But not all of us do. Four instances since I've been here: Brother Bahr in the Branch Presidency said something about the Native Americans not being descended from the peoples that came over the Bering Strait, which is actually not church doctrine. There was a long discussion at lunch about trying to reconcile the gospel with the existence of dinosaurs and Pre-Adamite peoples. Points included stuff about "maybe those weren't actually humans," or "maybe the dinosaurs were 'an accident' and had to be killed off because they would eat the humans." Some of the points were said in jest, but not all of them. The Church's official position on pre-Adamites and dinosaurs: "No position." Why would this be an issue? At least that's my paradigm, but how do you explain that? So mostly I just don't say anything. Another instance: on guy (an old returned missionary) was talking about his mission to the Dakota Sioux. He said he once wrote his mission president and asked him "why don't we just kill them all and baptize them for the dead? These are just joining the Church for the welfare." In what version of the gospel is that even the slightest bit permissible to even think, let alone verbalize? But the other elders around me laughed at his "joke." Last instance: I said something about how not everything an apostle says in General Conference is eternal truth or even necessarily "correct doctrine" in my apartment and the other elders' eyes got really wide and they seemed shocked, which led to a very miniscule doctrinal debate with one of the elders which I bowed out of as gracefully as I could and then apologized the next morning for. But seriously? This should not be news or even a debatable point. How often do the apostles stand and say "WE ARE NOT PERFECT"? Too often people's testimonies are rooted on that the Church is perfect and has never made a mistake and the apostles speak directly from God and say nothing else as if they had none of their own agency. Then when something comes up (which will inevitably) such as an apostle disagrees with another on a doctrinal point or an apostle says (I don't think this has happened in a while but has happened in the past) something directly contrary to what the eternal truths and central doctrines teach, either the datum is "falsified" or their faith is shaken. Yes, I believe the apostles are called of God. Yes, I LOVE THIS CHURCH and I LOVE BEING MORMON. As Elder Ballard said just a week ago in the MTC: "When the Apostles and Prophets speak out WITH A UNIFIED VOICE, you can firmly assume it's revelation from Heavenly Father" or something to that effect.
I guess this is my problem: I want to focus on the central messages. My purpose is to "Invitar a las personas a venir a Cristo a que reciban El Evangelio Restaurado mediante la fe en Jesucristo y Su Expiacion, el arrepentimiento, el bautismo, la recepcion del don del Espiritu Santo y el perseverar hasta el fin." Anything besides that, I want to save until after my mission, if ever. But what if I get called on to give an answer or get asked a question even just in conversation? So it keeps me on my toes and keeps me nervous, especially when discussion drifts towards politics.
That being said, I am very much enjoying my stay here and very much enjoying the people. They may be crazy and narrow-minded at times, but I'm learning to be more Christlike and accepting.
3) I miss being alone. I am a rather solitary person and am emotionally dependent on having some time alone. This is a real trial. Some days I just have to pray for strength to get through just because there's no way I can get out of being with people for extended periods of time. Luckily, my companion and I have periods where we just don't talk, so that's nice. However, I know this is something that I'm going to have to get over.
Okay, now that my rants and self-pitying are over, here are some more fun things from this week:
Language funny: some missionaries and I were talking about how we should open a lesson, and one of the suggested things in PMG is say that you don't speak the language very well, but that you'll try and be clear. I paraphrased it as "Hablamos con tortugas." I meant to say "Hablamos como tortugas." "Como" means "like" and "con" means "with." I should probably not open with "Hablamos con tortugas." That changes doctrine. No Bueno.
Sometimes, in Spanish if a word is from Greek, the ending -a denotes a masculine noun. "El profeta" or "los idiomas." However, apparently there are 3 nouns in Spanish (there might be more but I only know of 3) that ARE FEMININE but use the masculine singular article "EL." "El agua," "El aguila" and "el hada madrina." Really confusing.
Funny story from last night: we had a devotional last night like we do every tuesday, but there was a lot of hype for this one because it was the semiannual mission presidents' training. The First Presidency were on the the main campus throughout the day and so a lot of people were certain that President Monson would be addressing us. We came into the hall and 6 apostles filed in. Then it was announced that D. Todd Christofferson would be addressing us. What a bummer.
Just kidding. I'm sure it was amazing, but I zoned out for most of it and didn't even notice the "amen." Just suddenly we were getting ready for the closing hymn. But I felt the Spirit and felt instructed by that, even if I didn't catch anything of the talk.
Also at the devotional I saw an Elder Greaves with whom I served at BYS. We were counselors in the same group. He's going to Berlin, Germany.
I'm trying to attach some photos, so we'll see how this goes. Nevermind, I need an administrator for doing that. Bummer.
I took a photo today, my first. It was in front of the temple with Elder Petersen, but I forgot my camera to the computer, so sorry. But at least I got one step closer.
Vayan con dios!
Elder Taylor
