Last Week in the MTC

안녕하십니가!!!! 

This week has been awesome and I am so excited to get out of here! I just got done packing up to leave. So much happens in a week even at the MTC I need to get something to write things that happen down! Something that was cool was I got to bear my testimony in Korean this last sunday! Which was a goal for me here in the MTC and it was really hard because I think the last time I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting was like 2nd grade haha. And I had to do it in Korean! 

Our branch president is a former mission president of the Daejeon mission and in my departure interview with him he said I lucked out and that I got the best Korea mission and he was 100 percent serious haha. He said that it's beautiful and that I won't be on concrete for my whole mission like the other missions. And he said that it had more of the farming land and open area. So that made me super excited. And every day I get more excited but I know once I get there I am going to be humbled for sure. I am so ready to go, but my Korean isn't! 

I had the special opportunity to receive a blessing from Grandpa Mangum this last Tuesday and that was really cool. I'm so lucky I got to see them once a week here. Every week my testimony gets stronger and I have felt the change in myself here at the MTC. I am so grateful for my experience here and these last 8 and a half weeks have been the best for me of my whole life!! Next Thursday I will be heading to my first area so I don't know when I will email again! Love you all!

-앨리스 장로

p.s.

A couple days ago when I sat in my chair, my butt caught a sharp edge and ripped a hole in my butt on my pants haha. My female native Korean teacher who is kind of scary yelled at me and said I needed to focus but I told her I ripped my pants and she thought it was funny. So there is the story for how this happened! But I thought I would never use the stitching kit and I've used it twice now!

Another view of the stitch up

Gettin ready to bounce.

Inside look at the MTC Resort

Just some pics to show you how messed up Korean sentence structure is

So Awesome to be Serving the lord with all my friends across the world!! 

I'm officially Korean

Week 7

Not too much has happened in this bubble! I'm super anxious to get out of here! And they serve the same food every week so I'm really sick of the food. Plus, it's hard watching all my friend's come in and leave. It makes me even more anxious! 

The language is super tuff. It takes all my brain power to try and speak it, but I have seen a big improvement this last week. And I definitely don't know enough to go live there! Haha but it will be fun! Every friday we do TRC which is a thing where we teach Korean speakers. They are usually returned misionaries or sometimes native members who moved near provo. And it's cool because they aren't role play investigators, and they are real lessons. This last friday we got to do Skype TRC to a member in Soele, Korea. It felt like it was our first actual lesson and it went super good! We taught about prayer, and had her share an experience. Haha in her report card she said she felt the spirit and that I needed to work on my korean haha hopefully it was because Elder Dickman is so good at Korean. I can't wait to be able to speak it! I never realized the struggle of speaking another language. It is so hard!! I also had my first Korean dream haha, the family was in disneyland or something and someone said hello to me in Korean, and I said, "Hello where are you from?" in my dream and I swear I said it better in my dream! I was pumped when I woke up because I had always heard of people having dreams in different languages, and I finally had one! 

Some nights, and especially the first few nights, I will close my eyes and just see Korean everywhere! And it reminded me of South Dakota, when that same thing happens with pheasants. And it made me miss freedom a little bit. But all is good! Remember the most important things in life! 

사랑합니다!! (I love you)

We are all in the same building. I love seeing these guys here!

Worst part of my day, but I appreciate the effort hahaha. And we enjoyed the fortune cookies!

I really like this scripture

Our korean teacher always yells at me for my spelling in Korean, the circles are my spelling mistakes haha.

Week 6

I'm happy everything is goin good at home! Not much has happened this week and the thought of me leaving to Korea in 2 and a half weeks really scares me! But at the same time I'm super excited. Especially because I've been living in the MTC way too long, and the food gets really old after you eat the same things every week. 

One of the kids in our branch had his mom send a bottle of kimchi and the whole 2nd floor smelt terrible. We all tried it and it was by far the worst thing I have ever eaten in my life. It tastes like how porta-potties smell and that's not even exaggerating. So since they have it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner there it's going to be a challenge haha. 

The korean is coming pretty good. We are learning how to testify so I'm excited to be able to do that. But I still need to learn a ton more. I know a ton of gospel vocabulary and I know how to say simple sentences about the gospel. But, I have not learned anything about how to talk in everyday life! I don't know colors, days of the week, meals, or any of those things but I know how to say stuff about Celestial Kingdom and the apostasy! I didn't realize how much I didn't know about the church! I'm learning a lot about who all the prophets are and about the Nephites and the Lamanites. Before when I read the scriptures I had no interest in them and it was really hard to read them consistently because I would just read them because I was supposed to. Now it's one of my favorite things to do. I've learned as you read the scriptures sincerely and let the spirit in, the scriptures become alive! It's kind of scary how direct of answers you can get for whatever your needs are! 

I am so grateful for my experience here at the MTC. It has been kind of hard, but it has been totally worth it since my testimony has tripled since being here! Good luck to everyone! 

사랑합니다!!!

Korean Plan of Salvation

Self-prortrait

We did a push up contest in class. I lost cause I had to count in Korean.

I tried hemming my own pants but ended up taking them in 

Week 5

Hey guys! This week has been great! And this last sunday I had a great moment during sacrament meeting where I realized I was understanding Korean! Haha I just like came to myself and thought how insane it was for only being in here a month! 

I hear that Melissa is delivering the baby as I write this email! That is so exciting!!! I can't believe how great the gospel of Jesus Christ really is! Being here and growing my testimony has really opened my eyes to what life is about! I have never known just what I have had all this time! And I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to go give the gospel to the people of Korea! The Gospel of Jesus Christ can help us with any of our struggles! And it is the way to return to Heavenly Father and live with our families forever! It's amazing and every person in the world needs it! 

Um I'm in the MTC so my stories are kind of lame, but the other day we knocked on one of the fake investigators doors and when he opened it there were no chairs just some asian blanket in the center of the classroom and he went and sat in some weird yoga sit. Elder Dickman is actually really flexible haha (I'll send you a picture that will show you how flexible he is) but then me being the least flexible person in the world struggled to even get into criss cross applesauce. We started the lesson and after about 5 minutes my legs went numb and I couldn't focus on the lesson really well because my legs hurt. But, I thought it would be rude to not sit like that cause Koreans are weird like that, so I just stayed. After about 10 minutes my foot started like bouncing and spazing out and it was super embarrassing and I could not think of anything to say and totally bombed the lesson! Hahaha so hopefully that doesn't happen in the field! 

But our next lesson with that investigator was amazing. Elder Dickman is kinda scared of him so he did not say that much, but we gave a 30 minute lesson of the plan of salvation and the spirit was directing me what to say the whole time! It's weird how you can feel the spirit with a fake investigator! It was a real booster and I know that I can do this with God's help! I love you all so much you are all amazing! Welcome to The Family Cora May!!!!!!!!!! 

- Elder Ellis 

Last time I saw Colton before he left to Australia!

We got hungry and fast Sunday and yes I drew the Panda Express

Elder Dickman in the kimchi squat, he is a flexible giant. He sits like this all the time haha

1 Month

Thank you all for the birthday wishes and gifts! It's been a pretty crazy week here at the MTC! And the most intense thing so far happened to me this week, I was brushing my teeth and the fire alarm went off. So I hurried and finished brushing my teeth and put some clothes on and left. When I was walking down the stairs I realized that there was an actual fire! Haha we have too many fire drills in life. I guess some kid put a frozen bagel in the microwave for 9 minutes then decided to go to the bathroom hhahaha! 

I was lucky and got to hear from Dallin H. Oaks on my birthday he gave a really good talk, it was about teaching main points and how to teach with the spirit! But my birthday other than all the packages and stuff was just another day of studying!

Elder Benefiel started talking about how when he went to a baseball camp with a bunch of kids in washington that did not have the same standards as him. He was just in the middle of saying how they stuck porn magazines in his pillowcase to tease him he said he ripped them up and said how he lost it on them, and how they began to respect his beliefs after and just as he was about to finish, sure enough Elder Dickman let one loose and we didn't even finish the story because we were all laughing so hard. I have NEVER felt the Spirit leave so fast in my life! Haha that's another way to know it's true I guess! 

But I want all of you guys to know how much I care for all of you! I was hosting the kids that came in yesterday and seeing them say goodbye made me kinda sad! But It's so comforting to know that we can be together forever!! Not only some things of our church our true! If you just sit back and think about what our church is, it's Amazing! And I have never been so sure that it is true in my whole life! Just look around you, there is no way God isn't there. I want you guys to know that I would never learn Korean and dedicate my life to bring people into this church if I didn't know 100% that it's True!! I love you all so much have a good week! Good luck Andrew and Melissa! 

All the Daejeon Missionaries

Elder Dickman in his prime

Thanks everyone for the presents

We tried to make a fire

Week 3

This week has been the best yet so far in the MTC! And it is getting a lot better here! I learn a lot more each week and it's so amazing learning about the gospel! My testimony has been like times by two since I've got here and I have never been able to feel the spirit this strong! 

Yesterday me and Elder Dickman gave a great lesson to our fake investigator and that made me super happy. And then, you guys sent the dart board and it was a really big hit for everyone in the dorms haha but don't think that we are disobedient missionaries because i asked for a dartboard! They call our branch the celestial branch because we are so obedient! We are not perfect, but we try to be. And that is another lesson I learned while being here! If you want to be closer to the spirit, obedience is key! What our branch president always says is, "Obedience brings miracles, and exact obedience brings mighty miracles." It makes sense now why missionaries come home so weird! 

I accidentally deleted all the pictures off my camera yesterday so I don't have as many this week! I love seeing all the pictures from you guys! Oh, and the rumor is I'm in the choir, and it was true until last week when I stopped going. Now I just study Korean more during that time while the rest of our district goes to choir! I need to go so I will talk to you next week! And Grandma E. I loved that story that you sent! Good luck to Melissa and Andrew! I'm feelin september 1st is the day! Love you all!

MTC - Week 2

Hello everyone! 

Sounds like things at home are going pretty good! Dad told me that grandpa is currently number one again so I wore my Rush shirt the other day and told everyone about it haha! 

Yeah I will be honest this place is not fun at all and it's a ton of work! And the launguage is going to drive me insane! The teacher has not said a word of English still, but everyday as I learn more vocabulary or something new I can understand that much more. The teachers here teach a little Korean stuff but they teach gospel lessons in Korean mostly!  And really it's your own study that is really how you learn it! Me and Elder Dickman have gotten much better with the fake investigators. I feel like i do better everytime! It's crazy how much we have learned these 2 weeks! 

The MTC is really weird it feels so long, but then you look at how long you've been here already and it's crazy! I love my district, they are some of the funniest people and the whole branch is awesome! I feel super dumb with them, they were all comparing thier full-ride scholarships and 30+ ACT scores and I was like I got a 19 and they were like shocked haha. I will send a picture of my district if I can figure out how to. 

We have to prepare a 5 minute Korean talk every Sunday for sacrament meeting and then our branch president (who could be a vampire) announces who is speaking on the stand! Elder Dickman got picked last Sunday and gave a really good talk! But despite all the suckiness, the spirit really is so strong here. And I have this feeling of peace and happiness which has to be the spirit because I would be so ticked usually! 

It's hard seeing the mountains outside our classroom window every day! And I am so mad I have to miss the elk hunt! I think about you all during the day and miss you all! And good luck to Andrew and Melissa I pray for you guys every day! I'm so excited for you guys! Do good in school kids! And I will talk to you all next week! ​Love you all!

Elder Ellis