Elder James Chronicals - May 14th 2019

Ethan James          Tue, May 14, 9:02 AM (1 day ago)

Boa Tarde/Bom dia Irmãos e Irmãs! It's so good to be able to email you all on Preparation Day! It's been just over 5 days since I left, and since then, I have spent my time here in Provo, Utah, at the Missionary Training Centre! While I reside here, my Preparation Day is on Monday, and during that time, I get to visit the temple across the road, I get to do my washing, eat breakfast and lunch, have an afternoon nap (not really but I do anyway) and we have a class at 6PM. It's currently 3:30PM on Monday which means its 7:30AM on Tuesday in the future! How's that for yah!? -=| THE MTC |=- The Missionary Training Centre or MTC for short is great! The food is actually amazing. We drink around 3 drinks at each meal cause everything is on tap, so a glass of water, a glass of chocolate milk and assorted soft drinks to cover the last, which is most excellent. The learning side of it all is absolutely amazing. I have far outdone myself, as I thought I wouldn't be this far in my language study. I can read the language with a middle ground of understanding it, I have a few things memorised and my accent is coming along great. I already have an American accent which is awesome! I'm kidding of course, but I am adored by many for my accent. People get upset when I tell them we cull kangaroos because they are a nuance but it's true!  Our District (class) consists of 11 people, 8 sisters and the trio of elders, including me, and we are part of the largest Branch in the MTC, consisting of Portuguese, Italian and Romanian. What a blessing! In our District, I am the District Leader so I am practically in charge of our group, which is pretty neat, but I don't really have any control, I just answer for everyone when talking to the MTC Presidency. It's a great calling and responsibility as I get to personally know each individual missionary in our District My companionship is a trio. Elder Slade is from West Jordan, called to serve in the Massachusetts Boston mission, and Elder Freeman from Southern California, called to serve in Mozambique Maputo with me! Both these elders are excellent examples to me and help me understand the language greatly, as Elder Slade had studied Brazilian Portuguese for a year prior to serving his mission, and Elder Freeman studied Spanish for a while in school, and a lot of the principles he learned can be utilised, which is a blessing to the two of them are to me, as I have NO TRAINING in Portuguese or any romance languages. I only know Asian languages which is NO HELP honestly, but we are doing super well! -=| THE TEMPLE |=- The temple is just across the road which is crazy, and literally, driving down any road in Utah, there are just temples and chapels everywhere. In the Provo Temple, they run Endowment sessions every 20 minutes, and in the Brisbane Temple, it takes us an hour to get through one before you can enter the next! It is actually crazy! But the temple is so different, there is so much woodwork and darker colours, and we don't move rooms, which saves so much time, which is probably how they can get through sessions, mind you, they have 4 layers to the temple, and 6 endowment rooms, 12 sealing rooms and a full industrial grade laundry downstairs. ITS SO INTIMIDATING HONESTLY, but what a blessing to be able to attend the temple every week! Anyway, it's been good to let you in on what happens over here in the American Continent. It's pretty good actually, but the food is so sugary. And most Americans hate Vegemite which is upsetting cause it's SO GOOD. But if you have any other questions or want some more in depth knowledge or something, just email me! Thanks for reading this weeks issue of Elder James' Chronicles! Love you all! Elder James

Ethan's First Bulk Email

From: Ethan James        On Wed, May 8, 2019 at 8:03 AM 

        Hello friends and family!

        I arrived in Utah yesterday and I have been staying with Sam Ryland, who has been a close family friend to the James' for a long time, and the man has been kind enough to let me use his Basement as a crash pad, and his computer, AND a spare phone as a means to set up emails and what not, so here is the first email of many to come!

        *DISCLAIMER*

        The group email can be seen by all that are listed. If you don't care that your comment/reply can be seen by everyone, reply here! If you do care and want something more personal or private, don't be afraid to send a direct email to me alone! I will try to get around to every one of them and I appreciate any email that comes through, as well as physical mail also! The address will appear at the bottom of this email.

        Also, I have a tendency to use a lot of sarcasm. If you take offence to anything, it's either an inside joke for some, or light-hearted comments; nothing derogatory or demeaning will ever be said about anyone. Missionary work is not about putting down others, its about lifting up everyone and helping them understand the love Christ has for them, by sharing the love we feel from our Saviour with those we teach and serve with! 

        -=|THE FLIGHTS |=-

        Let me tell you: a 13hr flight is a lot of fun if you enjoy cramped space, no leg room, stuck in the window seat with no breathing room, needing to pee since about 2 hours in and can't watch movies to kill the time. Film music and nature sounds were good to listen to, non lyrical things and what not, just to sleep to and rest my eyes when I could. I only took 30 million 30 second power naps. The food was really good actually. I have a habit of going away to camps and only remembering the food I ate and that would be all I speak about for the rest of the week. Here's the run down! Salmon salad for Main, Hot Chocolate, Deep Dish Pepperoni Pizza, Mango Weis Ice Cream, LOTS OF SPRITE, Zucchini quiche-ish breakfast thing with beans and some sauteed spinach, and juice. So all around not too bad. 

        Anyway, got off the plain 13 long hours later at LAX around 6am in America (11PM Brisbane) and proceeded to walk to baggage claims, going through customs and the Non-US Citizens line. Great fun can definitely recommend doing it all without any help, was not panicking in the slightest. But I made it through to the baggage claim belt and met up with a Sister that was also on the flight. I can't remember names for the life of me currently, it is 7:30 and I am awake which is a surprise to be honest. But yes, this Sister and I got to chatting and she is heading to Provo to teach the people of Canada, Vancouver in the English language which is super awesome. THEN AN ELDER CAME BY AND SAID HE WAS HEADING TO CANADA, TORONTO TO TEACH THE PEOPLE THERE IN THE CANTONESE, MANDARIN AND ENGLISH LANGUAGES. Guess I missed the Canada memo :/ Its a blessing in disguise ;) 

        We moved out from Baggage claims and went to get some grub, ate, went to the next gate and proceeded to wait out our 6hr layover before we could get on the flight to Salt Lake City. What a comfortable experience. Had some more power naps, met up with a Sister and an Elder from Melbourne, serving in Vanuatu and Madagascar respectively, and after another 3 grueling hours, we were able to board the plane and fly to Salt Lake City. I was asleep for all of it so there is not too much to this section of the story so far.

        -=| SALT LAKE CITY |=-

        So we landed in Salt Lake City, the Sisters and Elders I traveled with all shared each others emails and we then went our separate ways, meeting up with friends and family alike to spend the next 24 hrs with. Sam was waiting at the Arrivals gate which was really easy to see him from, and we picked up my luggage, and traveled around to get a few pieces; Some short sleeve white shirts, some food, some ties and some doughnuts. By the way, 7Eleven Krispy Kremes are absolutely garbage and stale compared to a fresh Krispy Kreme straight from the place that they are made! We then went out for dinner to Wingers which has world renowned sticky wings, so I ordered their Cheese Steak Sandwich. Was really good, just a shame the serving portions for SMALL are FREAKIN' HUGE and I couldn't finish all of my fries. BUT FREE REFILLS EVERYWHERE YOU GO AND TAKE HOME CONTAINERS ARE A THING, SO TAKE THAT RIBBETTS! 

        Sam lives in Spanish Fork, Utah, which is a 20 minute drive from the MTC. Its absolutely beautiful honestly. The mountain ranges around here are stunning and something to behold. Just down the road, at the end of the estate, there is a wind turbine farm and that's sweet as to see that cause they are a lot bigger than you think. I will add some photos onto this chain when I get the chance to upload some! But yeah, its really nice out here. Went for a walk at 6am, still reasonably dark out, roughly 47 degrees Farenheit, so around 5 degrees Celcius, and it was a comfortable cool. Very enjoyable to see the sun rise over the mountain ranges surrounding the valley! 

        That's all I have to report so far! I plan to enter the MTC in the next 5 hours, and I'll be there for 6 weeks, learning Portuguese, getting up to mischief and loving the gospel so much more every day! I'm not too sure about the P-Day for MTC or for when I am in Mozambique, but when I find out, I will let you all know, that way you can look out for this email on that day! 

        I love you all so much and look forward to sharing my journey with you all!

        Elder James

        *MTC ADDRESS*

        Send any letters or packages if you wish here, labeled with Elder James on the front and  

        H O P E F U L L Y I receive them. Just email me if don't get anything in return or don't hear from me in a while!

        2005 900 E, Provo, UT 84602 

Date: 9 May 2019 at 12:19:09 am AEST

Also this is Brother Sam Rylands front doorstep. It's unusual to see so much overcast in the Summer time but it's super beautiful to see this as you walk out the door nonetheless!

On Wed, May 8, 2019, 8:04 AM Ethan James 

    OOH ALSO I DON'T HAVE A NAME FOR MY EMAIL CHAIN, HENCE THE ELDER JAMES' TITLE CURRENTLY.

    Send me your thoughts on what I should call it and next week I'll announce the winner!

Ursula James                        May 11, 2019, 8:16 AM (4 days ago)    

  

Hey honey I figured out why I didn't get the bulk email.. cause my email address is wrong.. dough!!!

… it’s………………………… I forgot the "01"... I hope you are doing well.

I found a FB pager for Missionary Mummas and that has been really nice to read the experiences of other Mums and their Missionaries..

I also found a page that Sis Senna has put up to keep us all informed about our Moz missionaries.. it is "Mozambique Maputo Mission. Parents, Family and Friends".. I believe you are allowed to join that one also..

Lauchlan and Jayda came to visit last night it was really lovely to have them just pop in.. we had a good chat about all sorts of things.. they are super easy to have a convo with... They were just checking in on us to see how we are all going.. Super sweet of them!!

Izra 's friend Ella invited him to their Pre-Formal gathering at her house... It was another moment that I as a Mumma had a little cry cause it was really nice and thoughtful to include him in a little of the grade 12 fun... He went for a ride in Ellas' parents Comby Van.. which was decorated with colourful fairy lights and they had a doff doof play list going off... They dropped all the kids at the Bris Convention Cent and Izra got out and hung with them for a little.. He was walking them into the Center and he saw Chappy.. and heaps of students/friends who missed him... Then Mrs Overs saw him and was very suspicious as to why he was there and questioned him 3 times very harshly... She was assuming no doubt that he was going to try and sneak in... But he assured her he was just walking them in and coming out again... Then he came across the road to where I was parked and I took him to Garden City to hang with his boyz (who did not want to go to the formal.. too many people!!) and they went to see End Game..

Love you honey.. Hope you are doing well.. enjoying the all you can eat buffet food life style at the MTC :) and soaking in the language!!

até a próxima vez

Eu te amo

Mumma xxxooo