Happy Early Halloween & Birthday!

Our last emails from Alec before he turns 22 years old on Tuesday!

Yes, my birthday is still up there in the corner of the whiteboard, so everyone knows it's coming. Haha!

The World Series sounds pretty exciting. I'm gonna have to write to my friends from Chapel Hill that were from Chicago to see how excited they are. I wonder if either of them will fly home for the last couple games. I appreciate the game updates in the mail. 

There's not really much we can do here for Halloween. We can't wear costumes during the day, obviously. Some people switch nametags with their companions, but that's about it. At night time, though, in the dorms we might be able to do a bit of something. Maybe I'll make a costume out of those glow sticks y'all sent or something. I don't know, everyone has so much candy and food in their rooms that I'm sure there will be some kind of makeshift trick or treating. I'll put up all of those decorations, too - the door cover will be super awesome. We'll probably just all hang out and eat a bunch of food that night. 

Thank you for the package. That was super nice. I haven't tried the Cheerwine fudge yet, but I'm sure it's super good. The guy I met from Chapel Hill lives a couple floors above me and he told me he'd trade me some Cheerwine for a little bit of Cheerwine fudge, so I'll have to make that trade soon. Also, between the shoelaces in the package, and the shoelaces dad sent, and the shoelaces I bought in the store (I couldn't find them at first,) I now have a total of 9 pairs of shoelaces for my one pair of shoes. At least i'll never run out. I've already used some of the shoelaces to hang up some of the halloween decorations y'all sent. 

The first couple weeks we were all very ready to get out of here, and then the next 4/5 weeks I think I was pretty content just chilling here and being fed three meals a day. But at this point I think we're all just about ready to get out of here, even though things are going to be much much harder over there, it'll be nice to not be doing the same thing every single day. We were looking at some Ukrainian towns in Google Street View the other day so that was pretty cool to see just to know what to expect. We have a little less than 3 weeks until we fly out. Some of the other Russian speakers left earlier this week, so now we're the oldest group here, which is kind of strange to realize. 

The American-serving missionaries don't seem to handle much more than 3 weeks. After being here for so long, we've all gotten very tired of them. Every time a group of them leaves, they go around and put shaving cream on all of the doors. It's kind of annoying. 

  

As for my birthday, I really can't think of much else I need, except maybe some pistachios. Someone else got a bag and I realized how great of an idea that is. Other than that I don't think I can really think of anything, unless you happen to be able to find maybe a Ukrainian/English dictionary, but I think everyone says it's just easier to get one of those in Ukraine so I can probably just hold off on that.

We had a little party yesterday for our teacher, Sister H. It was the 14th anniversiary of her baptism day which is pretty special to her. 

There wasn't much we could do for her, but we gathered a basket of food from our rooms and got her a card and a journal from the store. It's obviously not much, but I think she appreciated the gesture a lot. 

We also somehow found hats and balloons in the colors of the Ukrainian flag ​​.

I figured out a way to hang up the hammock, if you balance it right you can set it up between two bunk beds. Elder Mangum actually spent the night in the hammock cause his room has six people in it and he just wanted a quiet night's sleep. Apparently it was pretty comfortable for him. 

By the way, Donny Osmond's nephew is here at the MTC. I wonder if it's the son of the one that asked you out, mom. Let me know when Abbie's Mormon Message is published, so I can check it out.

I have to head off now, but I love you guys and I'll talk to you next week!

Alec

Halfway Through The MTC

News from Alec:

It was 5 weeks yesterday! We passed the official halfway point this past weekend, so we only have about 3 and a half weeks left. I'm not sure if that math adds up but that's what everyone says so I'm going with it. 

Thank you very much for the package. That was awesome to get.  The cookies and banana bread were still good when they got here, and everyone thought they were delicious. I haven't found a way to use the hammock just yet, but I'm working on it.

The magnetic balls were such a great idea. It's nice to just have something to play with every once in a while. Sometimes you just need a bit of a break from studying and it's crazy the things we have to come up with for fun here. Just a few examples:

The class "pet."

1. Trying to toss the dry erase markers up in the air so they land on top of the whiteboard; extra points if it lands vertically.

2. Buying packs of rubber bands at the store to make rubber band balls. I made one the first couple weeks and it became our district's most prized possession. And then playing ping-pong/spikeball with our hands on the tables in the classrooms.

3. Playing "pocket-ball" where we sit in a circle about 10 feet away from each other and try to throw stuff like Starbursts or quarters into the front pockets on our shirts--if someone makes it in your pocket, you're out.

4. Adopting a flower from the garden beds outside and bringing it inside to be our class pet.

5. Taking plastic spoons from the dining hall and trying to put them in people's pockets without them noticing.

And here's a picture from one of our nerf battles.

It might seem like we never focus, but we actually work pretty hard 95% of the time. 

I think I'm finally at the point where I can hold a conversation (only about church stuff) and not make myself look like a total idiot. My vocab isn't great, but we've learned most of the major grammar points, so the words I do know I at least know how to use. It's just gonna take a veryyy long time until I can speak without having to think about each word I use. Ukrainian has something called cases. Basically, each each noun has to be in one of 7 cases, depending on it's purpose in the sentence (subject, object, indirect object, possession, etc.) and the ending of the noun changes depending on the case. How exactly the noun changes depends on the ending of the noun though and on gender/plurality. so for each of the 7 cases there's 20 different possible declension patterns. So it's a lot of stuff to think about just to say a simple sentence. And there's also something like 200 different possessive pronouns (my, yours, his) that i have to know, so it'll take a lot of practice. It makes me miss Spanish a lot cause of how simple it was.

Our branch president here was the president of the St. Petersburg mission a few years ago, and while there he organized the first stake in St. Petersburg. One of the native Russians who helped him do it visited our branch this past Sunday and talked to us. He lived in Ukraine for quite a while when he was in med school (he's a neurosurgeon with 2 Ph.D's, 4 patents, and currently runs a hospital in Ethiopia) so he knows a bit about Ukraine, too. By the end of the time there, we'll probably be able to understand Russian just as well as Ukrainian, because people speak both languages there. From what I can tell from all the Russian missionaries here, they're pretty similar languages.  

I got a package last week with a giant bag of tortilla chips and salsa and queso and stuff. It was super nice, but I really don't know who it came from. It looked like one of those same day MTC services. I'm just wondering who to thank for them.

There are 13 elders in my district and no sisters. In my zone though (basically my branch that we go to church with) there are a bunch of sisters learning Russian. We all have classes on the same floor so we see them a lot and I've become decent friends with most of them. 

All the other districts have about six people, usually roughly half and half with elders and sisters. And we just have 13 elders. Unfortunately, we have the same size classroom as everyone else so it gets a little cramped in there. 

Finally, here's one outside with one of our teachers, Sister H. 

 She's the teacher that's actually from Ukraine. She's very cool and a lot of fun. 

On Saturdays towards the end of class she'll usually let us go outside and we finish class out there, then she'll bring us a little football or a hackey sack or something and we'll just hang out outside for like 45 minutes after that class period is over. It's a nice break from all of the study time we have on Saturdays​​​​​​.

That's awesome that Abbie got the part she wanted in The Crucible. She was telling me all about it before I reported. That should be a fun trip to make this spring. Also that's pretty cool that Evan got that scholarship. I would never in a million years want to go to Wingate, but I bet he might like it there a lot.

Love you guys and I'll talk to you next week!

Alec

One Month In

The latest news from Alec:

Hi, guys.

Just got back from gym time. I've been playing a lot of basketball, volleyball, and they even have Kan Jam and Spikeball here, too – it's just like home. The Russian missionaries who left a couple weeks ago would play Spikeball every single day for exercise time, so they were insanely good. But now that they're gone, I'm pretty much the best one at the entire MTC. The basketball doesn't get all that competitive – at least not the games I've played in. There is one missionary in my district from Kentucky, but he's not a UK fan so we get along fine. In the other Russian speaking zone, there is a missionary that grew up in Chapel Hill. He just graduated from high school, so he wasn't a student, but he went to tons of games so we've talked a bit about that. We actually have some of the same t-shirts we've gotten from the basketball games. 

Every Sunday and Tuesday we have a devotional with the entire MTC. This Tuesday we had Elder Bednar come speak. It's the first time a member of the quorum of the twelve has come since I've been here (they had 3 in a row right before I arrived,) so it was pretty cool to see. He and his wife talked about General Conference, and what he does when he studies General Conference talks. He says he has three things he looks for in each talk: 1) the basic doctrine or principle that the talk is based upon 2) an invitation to act--and he said this one can be kinda hard to find sometimes--you have to look carefully, and 3) promised blessings. There are always going to be guaranteed blessings when we are following through on the invitation to act, and it's good to know what to expect.

I still appreciate all the Dear Elder messages. They're nice to read after a long day. A couple weeks ago I got one from Ronnie Marshall, which was nice. I also got one from some family from Rochester who said they recognized me from my Science Stage shows. That's really all they said. I have no idea where they saw me that they recognized me,or how they got my mailing address, but it was nice.

It's funny that you mentioned that Come Thou Font was one of your favorite hymns, Mom, cause it's actually in the Ukrainian hymn book, so we sing it all the time. 

In case yoiu're wondering, here is what a typical day is like for me:

We wake up at 6:30 and get ready for the day. I hate waiting in lines for showers, so I usually shower the night before, which means I can lay in bed for an extra few minutes. Then we're supposed to be in the classroom by 7:00. We have 50 minutes of personal study - they give us a topic to study - and then we have 30 minutes for breakfast. The food here really isn't so bad, but I can't stand mass-produced scrambled eggs, so I pretty much just eat cereal or a bagel every morning. After breakfast we have a 3.5 hour block of class time, usually with one of our teachers. Then there's lunch, then another 3ish hour block of class time, sometimes with a teacher, sometimes not. After that class time we have an hour for exercise time. I've been going out to the field as much as I can while it's still warm. Then we get half an hour to shower/get dressed before dinner. After dinner, there is another 3.5 hour block of class time, sometimes with a teacher, sometimes not. I actually prefer not having a teacher. The teachers are great, but I feel like I learn a lot more when I can go at my own pace and focus on what I need to focus on.

It sounds pretty dull, but it's really not. Either we're focusing really hard, so time goes by fast. Or we're not focusing at all, so time goes by fast. It is pretty amazing, though, how well you can focus when you don't have a phone to distract you. 

Sunday will be the halfway point of my time at the MTC. Tomorrow will be the one month mark. It's crazy because time feels like it goes super fast and super slow at the same time somehow.

A couple things from the past week:

First, one of the missionaries choked on a Pez and had to go to the ER in the middle of the night. We've been giving him a hard time about it cause, who chokes on a Pez? He was ok, he just coughed so much that he like tore a muscle and was hyperventilating and everything, but now he's fine.

Second, I got a haircut last Thursday, and Elder Mangum (he's in Donny Osmond's ward, btw) decided to style my hair. Here is a picture of me looking like a real Utah Mormon. 

I immediately changed it so I didn't look like a typical Mormon, but it was interesting to see what it would look like if I was. 

Here is a picture of our birthday party for Elder Mangum. His parents sent him hats and we wore them for like 10 minutes. That was about the extent of the party.

I have to go for the day, but I love all of you guys and I hope everything is going well at home!

Alec

The Routine & The Un-Routine

News from Alec!

Hello everyone, 

Things have definitely started getting colder here. Supposedly after October 3rd, we're required to wear our suits every single day. I think it'll warm up in the next few days, but it's been pretty chilly the past couple. I got a haircut today and the lady that was cutting my hair asked me if my family was going to be making it okay through the hurricane - so I guess it's pretty big if people are hearing about it out here.

Very little is new at the MTC, but I've gotten into a routine and it's not bad. We've pretty much had every single item on the menu and they've started to repeat stuff, but overall it's not bad. Every Monday, they bring in food from some outside place--we've had Subway and some Hawaiian place from BYU and this past Monday was Chick-Fil-a day, so that was a nice surprise!

General Conference was this past weekend, so it was pretty great listening to the instruction from the general authorities. It was also great having a break from the normal schedule. Saturdays are usually just like any other day – pretty much 16 hours of study time (including meals), but this past Saturday all we really did was watch General Conference. We did have to watch it in the big assembly hall with very uncomfortable seats, but it was still much better than sitting in a classroom. I think overall, including General Conference, Devotional, Movie Night (we watched a new Meet the Mormons this past week) and showing up 30 minutes early to each session – we spent something like 18 hours in those seats this past weekend. 

The Devotional on Sunday was also a lot of fun. It's usually a general authority that comes to talk, but on Sunday we had BYU's a capella group, Vocal Point, come. They did a little concert (with hymns) and each told a story from their mission. That was cool.

Yesterday (Wednesday) was also a very different day. Our district was supposed to be hosting (taking new missionaries that just got dropped off to their rooms and showing them around) but my companion was sick, so instead we spent all day running around to the health clinic. We went there first thing in the morning, but they were closed. We went back an hour later and made an appointment. Then we went to class, and then went to our appointment at 10:20. After waiting another hour and a half, he was basically told that nothing was wrong with him, but to get a chest x-ray anyway. So we got to walk to the BYU Student Health Center by Heritage Halls (I didn't realize how close to BYU we were or where in Provo we were until then) to get the x-ray. It was actually super nice to leave the campus, even though it was only like a third of a mile away. We got the x-ray, went back to the MTC health clinic and waited another hour and a half. The doctor said he was fine, but to get some Sudafed. Soooo, we got to walk all the way back to the BYU Student Health Center to get it from the pharmacy there. Turns out all he had was a pretty bad cold. It was nice to do something different, and, to be honest, I didn't really want to host new missionaries in the first place. It sounded like it wouldn't be fun watching all the new missionaries crying as they said bye to their parents for two years. But, the rest of the district who did it said it was actually pretty fun.  And my companion is doing fine now, so all is well.

Here's a picture we took on our field trip off MTC campus to the BYU Health Center. I think this is the only picture I took this week.

Not all that much exciting stuff happens to take pictures of I promise!

I got a package from Aunt Holly yesterday with my baptismal pants, a bunch of candy and an Angel Moroni tie. That was super nice of her. I appreciate the stuff y'all sent too. That shaver has been sooo convenient to have. The nerf guns are a lot of fun, too.

(Editor’s Note: I don’t know what he’s talking about. Nerf guns? Ha ha. Who would send that to the MTC? I’m sure that’s not allowed.)

Love you guys! Hope everything is going well back home!

Alec