Letters from London: Elder Hruby's Mission Blog: Week 2: MTC

What is up my dudes? Another one down and only 102 to go WOOHOO! There a couple of things I will tell you before getting into my week. First, Much love for all the packages. Everyone here gets so jealous because I am like the only one that has gotten anything since we have been here... sucks to suck for them. Second, and probably the most important, I found out that my P-Day in the field will be Wednesdays. I don't think I will be able to email next Tuesday because we will be traveling that day, so I am not sure if I will get to email the following day (Wednesday) or not. I know you guys are not used to that and will take some getting used to, but I am very happy its on Wednesday. They say it is super nice to have it in the middle of the week, so I am sorry it's inconvenient for you guys but you can suck it up. On another note I LOVE my district. Like it's hard to put into words how freaking awesome they are. It actually is kinda scary because most people don't like the MTC and can't wait to get to the field, but I love it so much and those around me that it will be hard to leave them and go to the field. The lord provides a way though so no worries. Now for my week...

Tuesday: After emailing you guys our district walked into town and just did some exploring. It was so cool to see what real England is like. We went to a little market and just walked all around. Other than that we just hung out and then it was back to normal classes that night.

Wednesday: Had my most successful study time since being here this day. Sister Lance and I memorized all the 42 gospel principles in our study time which was pretty neat. During our exercise time we went and played some volleyball which was litty. Our district absolutely dominated, as always. Elder Murtonen was a Finnish stud when it comes to volleyball. We taught a lesson to our investigator, Kyle, and at the end we invited him to be baptized. He said Yes! Although it is fake it felt so real. It was also really cool because we were the first ones here to get an investigator to commit to baptism! That night we had a devotional and the are seventy and his wife brother and sister Tunnicliffe spoke to us. They talked to us about how to be good missionaries. One of things they said that stuck with me was "You've had eternity to prepare for your mission and you'll eternity to ponder it, but you only have two years to live it... so live it!" I guess when you put it that way it really makes you realize how short of a time you are really out here serving.

Thursday: We had the good ol fashion service today, AKA cleaning. It actually is nice because you are doing something different. During our exercise time we played some basketball and volleyball. It was great to work up a sweat. We learned lesson three in the afternoon which is the "Gospel of Jesus Christ. We taught a new investigator named Mohammed who is from Iran. He has a super interesting and sad story. We just got to know him and briefly talked about the Restoration.

Friday: We got to go on a church history tour today! It was so cool to see where the church started here in the UK. We got to go the where the first baptisms happened and we got to see Gordon B. Hinckley's first house here. We had choir practice in the afternoon which is always a good time. We taught Mohammed again and talked to him about the Plan of Salvation/Refiner's fire and taught him how to pray. We also practiced contacting on trains which was really entertaining and a good time.

Saturday:We had service again this day. Gotta love it! During our exercise time I did some lifting and then some epic ping pong of course. We had the coolest teacher this day. His name was Elder Peal. We did knocking since it was a new teacher and ended up teaching a guy named Alex who was 19. The rest of the day was just regular classes.

Sunday:Sunday's are the best in the MTC. I spoke in Sacrament meeting! I talked about how we, as missionaries, got to where we are today due to the Holy Ghost. It went really well... I think. In Sunday school our district talked about what our mission plaque scripture was and why. For Priesthood we talked about the Book of Mormon and how it is the keystone of our religion. And then the best part of the day... NAP TIME. BLESSSS UPPP!!! It felt so nice. We took our group picture of everyone at the MTC and then we had a devotional. During our devotional we talked about the power of the Holy Ghost and watched a talk given by Elder Bednar. He told some pretty cool stories of how the Holy Ghost affected him and how you can't worry about if it is just you or if it is the Holy Ghost. During FHE I freaking killed it and won so many different prizes. The haters were hating that is for sure. I wrote in my journal this night "I LOVE MY DISTRICT".

Monday:We went to Manchester again! It was gloomy out so people were not happy at all. It was a very tough couple hours until the very end. After a quick prayer with Elder Murtonen we found two really cool guys who talked with us for a while. One of them was from Finland, so Elder Murtonen talked with him for a good while! After we got back it was back to the classrooms. We taught this guy who I think was trying to act special so that was entertaining to say the least! We learned lesson 4: The Commandments.

Tuesday: We went to the temple again this morning which was amazing as always! After the temple we walked to the bookstore to see what kinda of goodies they had. We are gonna head into town again today and get some fish and chips as well as maybe some shopping! I'll let ya know next time!

Extra: Well I am not sure when I will be emailing you all next, but I just love you guys so much. It is crazy to think that the next time I will be in my first zone in the field! It is actually happening! I love you guys so much!

UPDATE: We just got back from market and it was the best thing of my life. This random guy came up to us and just started talking to us and we talked for like 45 minutes. It was the coolest thing ever! We got his number and we are gonna talk to President Bunker to see if we can meet with him on Thursday! It's the first real thing I've gotten to do. He was the sweetest guy who was baptized 17 years ago but I think he had a really bad experience with the missionaries teaching him. He kept asking if we were gonna call him and if when we said how much we cared for him and how cool he was if we actually meant it. I'm so excited!!! Also I'll send you pics from this week.

With Love,
Elder Hruby