July 19, 2023: Week 2 in the MTC

 "I've had a fairly standard childhood. Eight days old and still living with my parents. How sad is that!"


I type this email with minecraft socks on, and wearing crocs of the same nature.

This week was sooo much easier than last week. With our one week of experience we now consider ourselves the ancient and wise elders on campus. Just don't ask us what the best time to do laundry is because we will never know. 

We started our German immersion classes! Now we spend about 6 hours a day learning and speaking German, or at least trying to. We also try to do one day a week where we speak as little English as possible called our SYL (speak your language) day. It's hard, but we're slowly making progress. We're not expected expected be fluent at the end of our training, but it is kinda wild (in a cool way) how they send us, a bunch of 18-20 year olds fresh out of high-school into a completely foreign country and are expected to get to work with only 4 weeks of experience in a language. And the fact that it actually works shows how blessed missionaries are and can be.

Wir haben unser erste Lektion auf deutsch gelehrt! (We taught our first lesson in German!)  My comp was a bit nervous so I taught it all and he gave me emotional support when needed. It was tough but I think we got what we wanted to say across.

We changed our workout time so I don't get sick anymore! and mornings are way more laid back.

Other highlights:

One of the sisters in our district  has a secret admirer that delivered her a bunch of cinnamon rolls but for some reason the rest of the 6 sisters in our district decided to do a sugar fast for the next 2 weeks because the MTC wasn't challenging enough.

Seriously though most of the sisters are already better missionaries than I think any of us elders will ever be. Something about having an extra year to learn before coming out and they just naturally connect to people easier. 

I think our district leader is like my redhead doppelganger we have way too many specific similarities in our childhoods and general interests 

Lego Batman quotes are keeping me sane right now. It can literally lighten any mood no matter what. 

Went to the temple at 6:25 today, got back at 8 and had the most legendary p-day nap 

Played the black magic game with the smartest dude in our district 3 days ago and he still hasn't figured it out

My companion ate 7 plates of food in one meal

We mixed up our laundry with someone else and couldn't find them so we just stuck them back in the dryer after 30 min... hopefully they don't have to go commando for the next 2 years of their life

My group was 650 missionaries (the record), last week we got 400, and today we got 800 new missionaries here

Probably forgetting stuff but really we're just settling into the mtc experience. Not a whole lot of new stuff going on, but as always it's been incredible and I couldn't be more excited to get to Germany!

Tschüss!
Elder Tage Rex

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