Week 1 - At the MTC

​To my friends and family,

Welcome to the first week of my mission! I've already got more to cover than I ever would've thought, so let's get started.

When I showed up at the MTC (Missionary training centre, for those friends who arenvt familiar with thr acronyms), I was very happy to find out that my name tag was one of the first things I got. Putting that thing on completed my attire, and made me feel so much more official. I'm officially a missionary, and it feels fantastic! I got settled in my residence room next, went to an opening meeting for all the new arrivals, and soon after got on my way to my very first class.

The teacher spoke full Japanese the second I walked in.

Now that's not as bad as it sounds! He also substituted the Japanese words we didn't know with English ones, so we started catching onto a few things pretty quick. Still, it's proven to be super tough. Admittedly, I've learned more Japanese in the last 4 days than I had from teaching myself for 2 years. And the stuff I'm learning is stuff I can use, too! I've already started to learn how to pray and give my testimony in Japanese, which I've wanted to learn for a long time now.

I also have four Nihonjin (Japanese people) in my apartment with me. That's been fantastic. They're all so nice, and they love to just talk as best they can and have fun. My companion and I are learning Japanese from them and they're learning English from us in return. It's been a good trade-off so far.

Nearly every day has been kind of exhausting. I've almost fallen asleep in most of my afternoon classes, and I did fall asleep in my sacrament meeting (Just don't tell anyone). Though I think I'm getting better. My companion gave me a good tip in saying I should take notes whenever I feel tired. It's helped so far. And as a plus, it helps me actually take notes on more of the important stuff.

On Sunday, we had a devotional with Kenneth Cole, who played a bunch of his music. The songs were beautiful, and really helped me feel the Spirit. It was strong enough to maske me tear up, if that says anything!

By Monday I had started to feel a bit sick. My throat started to get hoarse. Tuesday morning felt worse. In fact, my breathing felt a bit short. I picked something up from one of the other Elders in my district, which is supposedly pretty common at the MTC. That's alright, though. I figure if I get it once, I have a chance of being fine for the other 8 weeks. Let's hope I'm right.

Tuesday night brought another devotional. This time we had a member of the Seventy show up (I can't remember his name), and he gave a great talk on having the right attitude for the mission. My district and I talked afterwards about our thoughts, and we were able to bond very nicely thanks to that.

Wednesday is my branch's P-Day. Today I'll be doing laundry, getting a shot called TDap 98 or something (which costs like $50), and probably taking a nap. I already went to the temple for the week, and any photos from the last week will be coming in too.

I hope you're all doing well! Feel free to tell me what's been going on. I love you all, and I'll talk to you soon

Sincerely,
Elder Badick

PS. The chocolate milk here is as good as they say