Last Week at the MTC!

Bună Ziua!

The MTC experience is almost over! We do have our travel plans now. Getting them made the fact that we will be in Romania all that more real. We leave Monday morning. We have to report to the travel office here at the MTC at 5:30 Monday morning. This is getting really exciting, and really scary. It's just as bad as four weeks ago. Everything I know is going to change again, except for the gospel.

We had Neil L. Anderson for our Tuesday devotional this week. It was great, and I did sing in the choir this time. He shared a wonderful message about love and sacrifice on a mission. He even brought one of his missionaries from when he was mission president in France. That Elder broke his new bike, tore his best suit, and had his watch and all his money stolen all on the same day. Hopefully I don't have that specific trial, but I know sacrifice on a mission will count for something. After the devotional, there was a heavy storm. They had us wait in the Marriott Center for a while, but eventually we had to go out and get soaked. It made for a more interesting evening.

On Sunday, I was assigned to give the talk in Sacrament Meeting. Since we are in the branch with the Italians, we do everything in English. I was still a little nervous, and had so much I wanted to say about Enduring to the end, with only 5 minutes to talk. It went well enough.

We are learning the language better now, but our mess-ups are also getting funnier. In one of our lessons with "Anca" this week, we taught about the law of tithing. However, the dative case is kind of tricky, yet very important. There is a difference between "to give" and "to give to." Anyway, one of my companions explained to Anca that to pay tithing, she had to give herself to to the bishop. The lesson lost all focus with the laughter. I tried to save the lesson, but soon stumbled myself, explaining that we would "show" her in church. Sora W made us leave for a few minutes to regroup and get the lesson back in focus. However, I am now much more skilled at using the dative case.

My favourite food at the MTC would probably be the ice cream they get from the BYU creamery. Most of the food is decent, sometimes really good, sometimes not so much. I do enjoy the unlimited root beer. But they don't have root beer in Romania. nu exista. :( At gym, I really enjoy volleyball. Our whole district does, so that makes it fun. When we don't do that, I just run. 2 1/2 miles in the morning really makes me feel great. I also seem to be a lot faster than I was before. The MTC is great.

I have loved my experience at the MTC, but now I have to move on to the real thing. I better enjoy feeling like a vet while I can. Romania will probably be very overwhelming. I have had some very personal spiritual experiences with my companions, but I know that they will just be bigger and better in Romania.

Thanks so much for your love and support!

Elder Lybbert