Last Week in the MTC

Last week here at the MTC!! Getting my last few breaths of American air and last few sightings of snow for a couple years. The weather was really nice this week and I heard the snow will be coming down right after we leave, I was happy about that. 

Finally getting down to the nitty gritty of the MTC experience. Getting our flight plans last Friday was a BIG DEAL!! It also made this last week a little slower haha. We've got a nice bit of travelling ahead of us. We leave Salt Lake City on Monday and fly to Chicago O'Hare. From Chicago, fly across the pond overnight to London Heathrow. From London, a very very very very very long flight to Johannesburg and then finally over to the ISLAND. We will get there late afternoon Wednesday....Yeah pray for us haha

Our Malagasy teachers this week have been talking about Madagascar culture a lot. They hold off till the last week so we arent always asking about Madagascar and such. Seeing their pictures and videos makes me that much more excited. Trust me, yall will probably get loads of pics next week haha. 

Its incredible how fast time has gone here at the MTC. They told us when we got here, "The days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days" Couldnt be anymore true. It has just flown by and I'm really glad it has. 

This week I realized on a few occasions that this whole life is based on one thing: LOVE. As it says in the scriptures, God's purpose for us is "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." The whole reason he created this Earth was for US! What an incredible concept. All the challenges that are thrown at us, are for us to improve and grow. We are given certain challenges in this life because he knows we can handle them. He knows we are strong enough to overcome. He knows our limits and will never push us past them. Proverbs 3 tells us to trust in the Lord with all our hearts. And to not rely on our own understanding. He has a plan for us. I know he does. 

Have a good week yall,

Elder Hein

Found my boy REID!!! BYU Soccer repping at the MTC. Send this to the coaching staff. My neck looks massive. I haven't gained weight though. (haha)

Got some suspenders. I heard GQ wants a cover boy for a potential Mormon missionary issue. Send them this pic hahaha

Anxiety, Week 5, Malaria

Manahoana, 

Not too busy a week here at the MTC. It seems like it has been the same thing for the past few weeks haha. I love it though. Each day goes by faster and faster. Our district has become super close with our teachers and they have really helped us out with the idea of planning. Not just for missionary life, but for life in general. I've already seen the benefits big time.  

We are counting down the days left here at the MTC. My district is getting super anxious. Sure, we might not be ready for the language, but we are ready to go TO THE ISLAND. Cant wait to feel some humidity and see some lemurs. The whiteboard gets a little boring sometimes. We leave on the 28th which means 11 days from tomorrow!!! We get our flight plans tomorrow and everyone is super excited to see what airports we will be sleeping at overnight....hahaha. Two and a half days of travel will be tough, Im preparing my mind and body. Im preparing my body by sitting in class with my feet barely extending past my knees. I am also preparing my knees by jamming them into my desk during class. Even for a dwarf like me, you gotta prepare for that spacious leg room. 

I guess the big event of this week was Wednesday's meeting with the doctor to discuss Malaria. Madagascar is home to the deadliest form of Malaria...very comforting. But they talked to us for a while about prevention methods and signs of getting the virus. There is a cure...dont worry Mom. We have also been given pills to start taking next week. Doxycycline or something like that. One of those bad boys a day for two years...YUMMY

Well thats pretty much it! One more email from the United States and I will be off to Madagascar. This gospel is the gospel of Jesus Christ. No doubt in my mind. I know it is. I woulda ran home already had I not known it was true. When Christ atoned for us, he had each one of us in mind. EACH ONE OF US. Very hard to wrap your mind around. But I know he did. 

I feel my Savior's love. 

Love yall

Elder Hein

Me and one of my good friends from BYU. He left Monday morning for Cancun Mexico. Great elder

Malagasy Slip Up

Laundry Time!

Howdy!

Another great week here at the MTC. They are starting to go by faster and faster. Its crazy to think that we will be on a plane two weeks from Monday....a very long plane(s), I might add. Its funny hearing Elders going to Mexico or Europe, "We have to travel for 15 hours!!!!" Us Malagasies just smile and wave because our travel will be two and a half days at least. 

General Conference was great this weekend. The sessions have never gone by faster, atleast for me, and I thought everyone that spoke had great messages. The motif of the Atonement throughout Conference was beautiful. It is always great to hear from called servants of the Lord. 

Not too much new material this week. Dad asked for a average scheduled day here at the MTC so here it is. Every day is a little different but this is the general schedule. 

600- wake up, iron shirt, shower, etc. 

700-Personal study in the classroom 

800- Breakfast

830-Classroom instruction (Malagasy, teaching, missionary stuff, etc.)

1130- Language Study (No teacher, just ourselves)

1230- Additional Study Time

100- Lunch

145- Classroom Instruction

445- TALL (Computer program to help us learn the language)

545- Additional Study Time

600- Dinner

645- Additional Study

715- Gym

800- Shower, get ready

830- Study in the classroom or chapel

900- Plan for the next day with your companion (lessons, etc.)

930- back to the apartment

1015- quiet time

1030- lights out 

They have us scheduled to every second of the day hahaha. But its good, i like the structure. 

My big news of the week was my first awful language slip up. Its incredible how an extra letter can cause so much embarrassment....

So we are teaching a lesson in Malagasy obviously, to an investigator (our teacher) about prayer. He has a tough life and cant really find work everyday. As a companionship, we had a great lesson about prayer and i was gunna wrap it up. I told him he could pray about anything, life, his family, his work, it doesnt matter...well atleast thats what i wanted to say. Instead it came out, "You can pray about anything, life, family, work, but not breastfeeding...." He started dying laughing and i didnt know why hahaha. After the lesson he told me what I had actually told him, I couldnt stop laughing hahaha. 

Well thats pretty much it. Have a great week yall. God bless. 

The two best districts here. Greeks and Malagasies. Left to Right: Elder Armando (malagasy from Mozambique) Elder Martinez (Greek from Spain) Elder Pedersen (Greek from Norway) Elder Von Scheel (Greek from Denmark) Elder Morgan (Greek from England) Elder Leppard (Greek from England) Me Elder Thompson (Malagasy from Utah) Elder Trujillo (Malagasy from California)

Elder Leppard and me. He's from London and will probably play Rugby at BYU. He's probabaly my best friend here, Great guy. Turned down some semi pro contracts to come on a mission. He keeps me in shape haha

Week 2

Fianakaviano sy namana,

Hope all is well!!! All is well on my front after finishing week 2 here at the MTC. Not too many new things to report but there are some. 

First off, SNOW. Its cold up here. It has snowed in the mountains 4 nights in the past week and has rained here in the valley. It is only a matter of time before we get snow here on campus. I do not personally enjoy the cold....why did I chose BYU again?? hahaha

The West Campus improves each and every day as they have built three domes to house us for gym. They will soon have a full weight room, basketball courts, etc. like the Main Campus does. Knowing my luck, it will probably open the day before we leave. There are two elders from England that are both going to Greece. Both of them are in quality shape and they provide a workout everyday for me. Pushups, situps, sprints, jogging, etc. so Im staying in good shape!! 

To answer a quaestion Ive gotten: In the whole world and out of all the MTCs around the globe, there are currently only 5 Malagasy speaking missionaries training to go to Madagascar. My district is it. Every six weeks new ones come in. Before us they had two districts of 7 missionaries each. All speaking Malagasy. That was a record. Some six week periods, they dont have any Malagasies at all. So we are a very few number. My zone is like that too. Our zone has the missionaries that go to not so common places to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because of this, we are all pretty close. 

Other than that, I have accomplished a few things this week. I am beginning to predict the food pattern here. Yeah I'm awesome. Second, I'm on the verge of finishing my first complete chapstick...lets hope I dont jinx it. Lastly, I have become a professional shoe shiner and ironing champ. Mom, you should be proud. 

This is God's work and I'm humbled to know that I am apart of it and that some people in Madagascar need to hear what I have to say about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Mazotoa!!

Elder Hein

Getting colder in Provo.

Can anyone read anything besides Elder Hein?

The view from the exit of the Provo temple

These are the folks I study the Malagasy language with every day until we depart for Madagascar around October 28th or so.

My bed!  

The view from my classroom in the Missionary Training Center.

First Email

FIRST EMAIL HOME FROM THE MISSIONARY TRAINING CENTER IN PROVO, UTAH

Manahoana (hi in malagasy)

Finally we get a P Day to write back. Thursday is the lucky day. What an incredible, exhausting, fun, spiritual, hard, tiring, overwhelming, awesome, tiring, (did i mention tiring?) week. What an unbelievable place the MTC is. It truly is led by Christ and the Holy Ghost is ever present here. 

Hope yall got my letter. Thanks for the DearElders and emails. Also, the package was great. My companion says thanks for the goodies. 

So I am living in West Campus which is Wyview. Its really open and free and has a great atmosphere. Ive been over to main campus a few times now for different things and it feels alot less fun. Tons more missionaries, but all round up into one pen. They've got us taken care of here at the MTC. The food is slightly better than average. But sometimes its hot, brown, and theres plenty of it. 

The Malagasy is coming along....the first week was so tough. The language is so foreign but the teachers help us excited to learn and we are doing alright. The language is easier in some repects to English, but also much harder in other aspects. 95% of all verbs in Malagasy start with M. So there are about a million different combinations of letters after that and it is very hard to remember. And about half the words end with -ana or -nana. Its crazy. We taught someone for the first time yesterday without notes in complete Malagasy...it was rough.

The District like i said only has 5 missionaries. 4 elders and one sister. I like it because its kinda us against the world. I like to think they send only the best to Madagascar. The few. The proud. The Malagasys. I was called to be district leader and its a great experience to serve my district by being a leader. The branch president is great and we have good meetings as zone leaders and district leaders. 

There are 7 districts in my zone. Malagasys, Malays(Singapore), Armenians, Greeks, Latvians, Lithuanians. Every district is super small like us. Average of 5 to 8 in a district. We have a lot of foreign elders and sisters in our zone which is super sweet. New Zealand, Canada, Norway, England, Scotland, Wales. We are all pretty close. There are 45 or so missionaries in my Zone. 

The Brits love me because i play soccer haha. We played for gym one time and it was really fun. A bunch of Americans getting whipped by Brits for a week...until I showed up haha. It was a good time and i got called a "proper pocket rocket" for my soccer abilities. We have gym for an hour a day which is great to get out of missionary clothes. 

This has been an incredible week and my love for my Savior Jesus Christ has only grown. Ive felt the Spirit many times this week and know that this is what im supposed to be doing. Jesus died for me and all of us, and two years of service compared to eternity is literally nothing. All he wants us to do is reach out to our friends and love and serve them. 

Love yall, (Tia anareo) 

Elder Hein 

THIS LETTER WAS WRITTEN BY HAND AND RECEIVED ON SEP. 26, 2013.

Manahoana!

I'm alive and well.  I got to the MTC yesterday and was transferred to the West Campus.  Super nice.  Way better than the old original campus.  We are in the Wyview Apartments.  Our Apartment has a living room, kitchen area, bathroom with shower, and 2 bedrooms.

My companion: his name is Elder Trujillo.  He is from Sacramento, CA.  He is 19, almost 20, and studies computer engineering.  Super cool guy.  Really relaxed, quiet but has a big testimony.  He speaks spanish, English, a good bit of French, and now Malagasy.  He plays piano and trumpet and just genuinely enjoys life.

My district: we have a booming district of 5. Haha.  2 Elder companionships and one solo sister!  The other two elders are great guys.  Elder Thompson is from Orangeville, Utah.  Really humble guy.  Easy to get along with.  His Dad fell inactive a few years back and he's hoping his letters home change that.  Really powerful stuff.  His companion's name is Elder Armando.  He is from Mozambique.  Speaks french, portuguese, some African language, some English (pretty good) and soon Malagasy!  He has already served for 5 months in Mozambique due to visa issues.  STRONG TESTIMONY.  Always humming hymns.  Sister Guilamba is by herself.  She is also from Mozambique and speaks the same languages as Elder Armando.  She's and amazing missionary already.  Great spirit about her and I think she knows more than us Elders!  We are a very tight-knit district which I like.  Us 4 elders live in the same place.

Tonight, I got called as District leader.  I heard it's basically just a glorified mailman, haha.  Hope I do well!

Malagasy is crazy hard.  So strange and they just talk nonstop in it.  We've learned how to greet, pray, and say testimony.

It's going great here.  Do't worry about me.  I will write on my next P-day which is Thursday.  We didn't have P-day this Thursday though.  It will be on email.  I will have more details.

Love y'all and remember to try and look at people through Christ's eyes.

Elder Hein