Letter dated 23Jul2013

Dear Family: This week was another great one! Hands down one of the very best weeks I've had while in the MTC. Elder Taggart and I were passing by a pose of missionaries playing the game 4-square. I couldn't resist joining the line to relive my elementary-school glory days, so we did. And what do you know? I still had it! I probably served 6 times before I got out. It was so great. Also of interest is that I am practicing handstands, and soon I think I'll be able to stand thereon better than the average person. And my whistling skills are greatly increasing, and so I am really happy. On Sunday there was the MTC choir practice. About 1000 people are in the choir, so it sounds really good. I was the second closest of those 1000 people to the choir director, who is very entertaining and good, and my companion was the closest. It was really fun. I felt like a flute in a concert band. At one moment I became really tired and was really scared that I would fall asleep and that he'd call me out in front of everyone. But that fear caused me to dismiss the sleepiness. If you've ever heard me sing the song "Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel," you know that I always accidentally begin the song by saying "Put your should..." instead of the real first line. We were singing that song for Sunday's fireside, and I was watching it on the tv as a broadcast. And the person in charge of putting the words to the songs on the tv screen was behind, so the title of the song was still up when we started singing, so I messed up again. Some day the stars will align and I'll get it. The other day the district went about assigning each person to a superhero or a Disney princess. I was happy to get Batman :D We chose Tinkerbell for Sister Darby before she came in, and it was really funny that that day she had done her hair to look just like Tinkerbell. The other elders in my district frequently quote movies. And about 90% of these quotes are from "Nacho Libre" or "Madagascar 2". It's so funny and it always cracks me up. Because we are learning for so long each day, it can be hard to not get bored. So I've been telling a whole lot of jokes. So Elder Cushing started a book called "Schindler Jokes" which is usually pronounced in Swedish as "Whindler Yokes." They're usually pretty lame jokes, but they help me to focus doubly hard when it's game time. I lost one of my name tag, but luckily I have Joseph's name tag from his mission. So when I wear a suit I'm and I take my jacket off, I become a Czech missionary. Each day usually has its own theme of what I study and I really liked yesterday's topic, childlike characteristics which bring us nearer to God. The main one I noticed was meekness. Solomon felt overwhelmed and inexperienced to be a king, but he he was meek when he asked Heavenly Father for wisdom, and he got it. Meekness being so important reminds me a lot of my favorite poem, "If" by Kipling. It's really inspiring, and I love reading it. Have a good one!