It's finally Pday and you had a few questions so let me answer those before I say anything else:
Was your first day pretty exhausting?
Honestly, not really! Everyday here has been filled to the brim with work to do. I've definitely felt worn out each day but not entirely exhausting.
What did you do after we dropped you off?
Well I rushed rushed through station after station grabbing a bunch of papers and envelopes. Just a bunch of stuff I needed to carry around. one of the first things I got was my missionary badge though! I was sooo excited to see that.
What did you do all day today?
I really just tried to get a feel for everything. We had a meeting with everyone from the transfer inside the main biggest building. Oh and fun fact: We are the LARGEST transfer in MTC history! I think it was around 530 total missionaries! We started out by singing "We'll bring the world his truth" (favorite hymn btw) but we had a lyric change. Instead of singing "We will be the Lord's missionaries..." We sang "We are now the Lord's Missionaries" which when I read that I instantly got the chills. It was so spiritual. Ok, now that I've answered those questions let me talk about my last few days:
Day 1: Everyone here is absolutely insanely nice and caring! It's actually a little bit scary... We started our first day in a classroom with 13 other missionaries in my district (We are District A, there's a district B and combined we make up branch 39).
My companion is Elder Weber - he's a super easy going and very nice elder. Turns out his father actually creates his own ammunition including 556 ammo which is what my rifle uses... I'm definitely keeping a note of this for when I get off my mission haha. After that class we had a workshop called "People and your purpose" where we had actually BYU students (nonmembers) come in with real questions. As brand new missionaries we asked them questions and tried to give information (not necessarily biblical references) to comfort them and their concerns. It was amazing to think that we had actual missionary experiences with people who have real concerns on our first day!
Day 2: We woke up at 6:30 (obviously) and I really wasn't all that tired. My companion and I went to the MTC store to pickup a bunch of books that every new missionary needed. Elder Weber somehow got a missionary daily planner in his pack which we actually have to buy. Well somehow he got his for free and that made me jealous so I went out and bought my own haha.
After that we had another workshop on "people and your purpose" and honestly more than anything else we are learning how to befriend strangers more than anything else. We want to be their friends and create a loving and trusting connection. Teaching the gospel will come when it feels appropriate to share. We then met our branch president - President Samuelian who has such a calm, but very powerful spirit. He seems like such an amazing man. It has been stressed so much that our job as missionaries is to invite and help others come unto Christ. Nothing more and nothing less. After today I felt I was getting closer to "losing myself in the work." Although, I don't feel I'm entirely there just yet
Day 3: We started our morning with a classroom session. We mainly talked about how to initiaite a conversation with a stranger. How to keep a convo going, knowing when to shut up, etc etc. We also had the opportunity to meet with a nonmember at BYU just as companions! This was the real deal, not a roleplay or anything like that! This was definitely an intimidating experience, but I thought it went well. We asked him lots of Q's all similar to something like "Why are you interested in the church?" or "What would you like to gain out of meeting with us?" His name is Tanner btw. He's a super nice guy and we have an appointment with him on Monday!
Later in the day my companion, Elder Weber, and I studied together to try and figure out what exactly Tanner needs and how to create a lesson that fits for his needs.
After that we had our first exercise time. Turns out I'm a master baller at basketball. We picked teams by shooting 3pointers, so I said to another elder in my district (Elder Hatte) this:
"Elder Hatte, here's what's gonna happen. I'm gonna shoot this 3 pointer granny style and I'm gonna bank it. Then you're gonna try and 1-up me and do the same thing but facing the opposite direction of the hoop."
So I took a granny shot and actually somehow made it! Then I took a side angle and watched Elder Hatte shoot. His shot was waaaayyy too high up in the air. It was so high up it actually hit the support beams holding up the basketball hoop and the ball deflected straight down and into the hoop! My entire district was freaking out for the next 5 minutes and we kinda forgot about the game entirely. Needless to say that has been the highlight of the MTC so far.
Some things I forgot to mention: I absolutely LOVE my district! We have grown into a family, what has seemed to be overnight. I love every single elder and sister and I love how well we mesh together. It'll be sad to see them go in 2.5 weeks.
I also have a few spiritual quotes/scriptures from studying this week:
"Obedience brings blessing, EXACT obedience brings miracles."
1st Nephi 11:22 which says "And I answered him, saying: Yeah, it is the love of God, which shedderh itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is THE MOST DESIRABLE above all things."
That's what's been going on so far. I have pictures but they were taken on other Elder's phones. As soon as I get them I will share them - at the very latest by the end of today. I love you all, stay safe!
~Elder Breshears
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