Tuesday is My New Favorite Day! - Letter #2

Hello everyone! My first week at the MTC has been absolutely fantastic. I have so much to say and so little time to say it in, so I guess I'll just work backwards and launch right in! We just got back from ASDA (basically British WalMart) and that was pretty great. I got some Mountain Dew (which is apparently an energy drink here haha oops) and it was kinda gross. I asked Brother Mount, the guy who drove us, if it was against mission rules to drink it and he asked me if it said that we cou;dn't have Mountain Dew in the Doctrine and Covenants to which I obviously replied no haha he's a great guy.

 

This morning we were able to go to the Preston Temple for the first time since we got here, which was awesome. It's so much smaller than the DC Temple, which was a little weird but cool at the same time. The grounds around it (and the MTC) are way cool. There's tons of trees and flowers everywhere, it's gorgeous. England sure lives up to it's rainy reputation hahaha it was raining when we got off the plane in Manchester and literally didn't stop until Sunday morning during church. At that point, we finally got some sun. Speaking of Sundays in the MTC, they are LONG... but I love it! Church starts at nine and then besides meals we are hearing talks and being spiritually enriched all day. Sunday night we watched a great devotional that Elder Bednar gave in the Provo MTC called "Is it the Holy Ghost, or just me?" If any of you have the time, I highly recommend checking it out! It's a great message, one that especially spoke to me, because of my tendancy to stress over silly things! :)

 

I won't lie, I was very homesick the first few days, but I think I'm pretty much over that. They work us ALL day, but I love it... I have already grown so much as a missionary and a teacher. It's great. I haven't got any letters yet but that's okay hahaha hopefully soon. I have never appreciated sleep more than I do now! I have NO trouble going to bed at 10:30 and, surprisingly enough, waking up at 6:30 isn't that bad either! Well, getting up isn't, but STAYING up sometimes can be! Don't worry though, I'm not falling asleep in class! One of the coolest things about the England MTC is that it's both really small and has people from all over the world! We have about 30 missionaries here in our group and I'd say about 12 or 13 of them come from another country. I've learned so much about other cultures since I've gotten here and I absolutely love it. There are people from Russia, India, Sweden, New Zealand, the Phillipines, and Australia. It's fascinating.

 

Strange as it may sound, I actually have two companions! Elder Astle, a 6'7 blondie from Riverton Utah, and Elder Grachev, who is from Moscow Russia! How neat is that? A very unique, but awesome combo. It can be a bit difficult having two companions, but we manage. One thing that I definitely wasn't anticipating about the mission was what having a companion really meant, how they ALWAYS have to be with you hahaha even when you're going to the bathroom, they have to stand right outside and wait for you! That was a bit frustrating for me at first, but I think I've gotten used to it. One thing that I got used to surprisingly fast was not having a phone. It must just be a blessing haha cause I haven't missed it at all. At first it was a little weird because I'd think to myself "what time is it?" and I'd reach into my pocket and be like "oh whoops" hahaha :)

 

Almost everyone who is in the MTC here is serving in the London South, London, or Birmingham mission. It's a lot of fun making friends who will be in my mission before I get out there. I'm excited to get out into the field, I LOVE the MTC but I just want to be out there teaching actual investigators and making an actual difference haha. Also, our MTC 1st Counselor, President Williams, said that missionaries might be sent to usher and volunteer at the Olympics... I sure hope I get to do that, that would be LEGENDARY (had to throw in a How I Met Your Mother reference hahaha.) Speaking of which, Elder Grachev also loves How I Met Your Mother, but he doesn't get any of my references because they are in English instead of Russian. But it's cool cause I learned how to say "legen... wait for it... DARY" in Russian. So yeah be jealous. Also, I'm singing at a fireside on Sunday because they liked my voice so that should be awesome! :) Not sure what I'm singing though hahaha.

 

I'm going to include a couple of pictures if I have time. Sorry mom, but they are pretty strict about when and where we can use our cameras! We aren't allowed to use them in our rooms or in the classrooms or pretty much anywhere inside the MTC. So yeah sorry hahaha but there will be plenty once I get into the field! Anyways, how are things at home? I still haven't heard where Matt Burnett is going on his mission, can someone find that out and tell me? Also I don't have very much money, because apparently the Brits don't value the American dollar as much as we anticipated. So I have like 30 pounds, I had 35 but I bought the Mountain Dew and a little pin for my ties that is love in sign language ha probably a waste of money but I thought it was pretty sweet. I sent out a couple of letters to people yesterday so hopefully those will arrive soon! I'm gonna try and write a few more today and send them out tomorrow.

 

Anyways I'm pretty much out of time! Love you guys, write me and stuff! The work is hard but the work is great! :)

 

-Elder Frederickson

 

Pic 1: me and Elder Astle