Elder Brennan McEwan

Hey Family!

Another week done at the MTC! Three more to go!

Anyway, this week wasn't super eventful, as usual. In fact, this week was even less eventful than normal, which is really saying something for the MTC. I discovered that they do have an indoor track here, which was really nice to run on for a while. Though I found a scale, and discovered I've gained five pounds since I last checked two weeks ago. :( The MTC is really trying to make us chubby. This one Elder on our floor has gained eleven pounds already in two weeks of being here. Then again, eleven pounds isn't a very proportionally significant gain for that particular Elder... but still. I think it's a secret plot to make us suffer and hopefully humble ourselves once we get to the field. We'll all be so chubby from all the deep-fried food and lack of exercise that walking around all day is going to feel really rough. Then we'll be like: "Oh noes I'm so unprepared I can't even walk for a day ah why did I not work harder in the MTC???" And then the MTC president will gleefully cackle and stroke his fluffy white cat, Bond villain style.

… My companion and I had a GREAT lesson on Wednesday - we really had the Spirit with us on that one and our "investigator" really opened up to us. Granted, when she explained her life story, we only caught about half of it, but... we caught the general idea at least. Our teacher ("investigator") actually interviewed my companionship after and thanked us for the lesson. Usually they don't do that to maintain the separate personas, but I guess we did something that she had never seen before: We apologized to the "investigator" because our last lesson (on the restoration) was understandable, and she understood the Joseph Smith story, but it wasn't what she really NEEDED, and so she was tuned out for the whole lesson. But when we apologized, she said our humility really invited the Spirit into the lesson. So, it was really cool to feel what a really good lesson needs to be like. I hope I can do more like that. Anyway, she thanked us for doing that, because she said she had never seen anyone do that in the MTC or the field.

I've been having a good time here. It's just that all the good experiences are pretty much exactly the same, so it's kinda hard to distinguish them from each other. My companion's mom continues to send us hilarious amounts of food. Pictures are coming - hopefully today. Our dorm has become the place to be since the delicious smell of toast wafts out of our room every night. (Did I mention she sent us a toaster and constantly keeps us supplied with bread? Hilarious!)

Oh, they're also kicking us out of our room next Tuesday. It's kinda annoying because we'll only be in the new residence for two weeks... so we'll have to pack and unpack for no real reason right before we leave. I guess they're finally tearing down the residence I live in and rebuilding a better one. Which is good for future generations, because the residence is kinda nasty. Our floor keeps it okay, but we clean the (identical) building next door... and those guys are filthy. There's this one shower that you can tell right where the water stops flowing because there's a thick wash of shaven hairs on the floor, like a pile of drift wood on a beach. *blurp* And the Elders in there are too stupid to pick up toilet paper off the ground before it gets soggy and glued to the floor by... I don't even want to know, honestly. *chug* Oh, and don't even get me started on the sinks. I caught our DL "washing" them by splashing water in them. Unfortunately, that probably counts as a job well done here, based on the sinks. *heave* I hope the new residences have pressure washers built into the walls. With acid. And 9000 degree water. You might be able to semi-sanitize the bathrooms that way. Also, they could improve a lot of things. Like, why in the world would you have four HANDICAP showers per floor of a four story building with NO STAIRS? (Split level too, so you have to use at least one staircase to get anywhere) You could build like eight showers in those two handicap spots. Or - perhaps they could make each building not perfectly identical? Seriously, if you got knocked out and woke up in one of the residences, you could be on any floor on any residence, and you'd never know. The identical-ness is also kind of soul-crushing. It drains the happiness right out of you.

Ah well. I got a bunch of letters this week, so that was nice. :) (Four on one day - that's a new record!)

Love ya guys!

Elder Brennan McEwan