Nate is a Missionary

"Bring out your dead. Bring out your dead" - Monte Python

"That sounds like Rock and or Roll!" - Reverend Lovejoy

"Security is tight, like unto a dish" - NK

"They give me no EAGLE POWERS! They give me no nutrients!" - Nacho Libre

"Get ready you devil dogs because the Master Bebop Blaster of all time is about to give you a SOUL INJECTION!" - Radio, Brave Little Toaster

"Package a day keeps the spirit away" - NK

"Non parlo Italiano"

"VERERDI NOTTE CALCIO!!!"

This week was, as Tyler describes it, "The highest of the highs, the lowest of the lows". But, lookin' back on the week I only remember the highs, however, lookin' over my journal entries I found a few juicy tidbits I could share about the funny (not haha funny) things that happen here at the Lord's Training Center.

"Bring out your dead. Bring out your dead" - Monte Python

Well the week started off with our District Leader waking up in the middle of the night puking his guts out. We gave him a blessing to help him feel better but for the next couple days he was out of it. Turns out there was an outbreak of the flu that ended up getting hundreds of missionaries sick here? They had stop giving us metal utensils at first and eventually stopped giving us ceramic plates to combat the disease. They also fed us steaks for some reason this week? But without a man's utensil or a man's plate... I just couldn't bring myself to eating more than three...

"That sounds like Rock and or Roll!" - Reverend Lovejoy

They MTC is getting a lot of ground keeping done this week. They have chainsaws and big machinery going on constantly! But that is not nearly as distracting as the raspy voice of John Fogerty blaring out of the construction workers radio!  It truly is painful! I find myself telling my companion to take different routes so that I don't put myself into that kind of temptation! Out of all the things I miss the most... good old fashioned rock and or roll have got to one... and of course my family.

"Security is tight, like unto a dish" - NK

The Missioni Presidenti got in this week. And, as you'd expect, so did hundreds of armed security guards? Yeah... So we wake up one morning to find the whole campus on this lock down with checkpoints and security guards everywhere! They called in all the missionaries into a big 'ol devotional and told us that there were 110 mission presidents getting trained there and that... (wait for it)... ALL of the FIRST PRESIDENCY, and 11/12 Apostles were on campus on that very moment! Knowing that the bigs were in town it made me okay with having to checked every time I went into the main building and having polizia watch my every move.

"They give me no EAGLE POWERS! They give me no nutrients!" - Nacho Libre

In conjunction with having all the mission presidents here they also shut down our cafeteria... We have been eating synthetic meat and cheese out of brown paper sacks for the past four days... They have had to adjust eating times so that all 4000 missionaries come to eat at almost the same time so the lines take about 45 minutes? But it is a small price to pay for so great a cause.

The lines for din din.

 "Get ready you devil dogs because the Master Bebop Blaster of all time is about to give you a SOUL INJECTION!" - Radio, Brave Little Toaster

I don't know how big a deal that WORLD WIDE MISSIONARY BROADCAST was, but here at the MTC people were going crazy! They had all 4000 missionaries walk down to the Marriot Center to watch the devotional where we got to see 11/12 apostles and hear the new plans for missionary work. If'n you don't know, the missionaries are now going to have access to Facebook and more of the Internet ("FB" as kids these days call it) to contact members. I honestly don't know how I feel about that? In fact... As of right now I don't think I like it? But the brethren see a bigger plan here so I'll trust them. They are also having members and ward councils play a bigger role.

"Package a day keeps the spirit away" - NK

My companion is funny guy. He has gotten a package a day (in most cases 2-3 packages a day)! He also gets about 7 letters a day from his family? I think that's very curious behavior. We literally have gotten about 50 pounds of food and goods from Anziano Smith's kindred.  And these packages aren't exactly the smallest of packages? They are like 2 feet by 2 feet boxes?! We've gotten fresh baked bread every day and also a Fruit Bouquet! Let me just sincerely thank you right now for not doing that. It is seriously distracting and probably not a good thing for the receiver or sender (who lives in Atlanta). Craycray. But it doesn't seem to be an oddity for him, so life goes on.

"Non parlo Italiano"

Well... The daunting thought that I am 1/3 done with the language program when I in way feel 1/3 done with the language program. I catch on to stuff but not nearly as quick as what I feel we should be catching onto? We leave for Italy in a month. I'm just hoping that all of our trainers and the Italian people are patient with our language? I don't really know how the other language departments are doing but I think most of our learning is gonna come in the field.

"VERERDI NOTTE CALCIO!!!"

The one moment of the week that truly brightens my day if FRIDAY NIGHT SOCCER! A big rivalry has developed between the Roma missionaries and the Milano missionaries (the two missions in Italy). Pretty much in every aspect of our stay here at the MTC there has been a friendly competition between.. well... whatever one can compete at here at the MTC. All of the Italian missionaries have the same schedule and live on the same floor. The biggest and most intense of these "Roma v Milano" rivalries comes in VEREDI NOTTE CALCIO! At 8 o clock we all go the pitch (yeah I play soccer I know that word) and start the game! Both teams have tied 1-1 record right now! Pray for the Romas to bring home another victory!

Ciao.

This is my teacher, whom my district leader says I will be some day.

My district drew a picture of the evolution of me on our chalkboard.
It goes me, Fratello Weller (my teacher), to a General Authority.

Welcome to the MTC

"Yeah... We call that the dork dot" - Lady who gave me my name tag

"Inflammable means flammable? What a country!" - Dr. Nic

"But Fratello (Brother)! The acoustics in the bathroom are fantastic!" - Anziano Kelley

"Handier than a pocket on a shirt" - Old MTC proverb

"In Bocca a lupo (In the mouth of the wolf) " - Fratello Weller (Mia teacher!)

"Different yolks for different folks"

"Yeah! I really just never got a handle of the language!"

After a little bit of thought and a bit of writing this email... I've decided to start every weekly email with a few memorable quotes or thoughts from my week that'll spice up the letter writing process! Each quote'll match up with a story or experience I want to share with the folks back home!

"Yeah... We call that the dork dot"

Not gonna lie.. The first week in the MTC is brutal! They work you through the language learning process and it is a culture shock for everybody that dares enters these walls. After my parents dropped me off they sent me through a long line of smiling saccharine elderly sisters that gave me my name tag (which... if I may say so... looks pretty fresh), a couple thousand pages worth of Italian language books, and a big ol' "Congratualtions Elder! Welcome to the MTC!" After all this I inquired of the orange sticker on my name tag to which she said "Yeah... We call that the dork dot". She never did give me a straight answer. I figured it out that all the fresh missionaries 'get' to wear them so that everybody knows you have no clue whats going. But I liked it!

"Inflammable means flammable? What a country!"

So the first shower in the MTC was an interesting one. You'd think that the red knob would imply hot water? Nahh.. Here cold means hot and hot means cold. Wished I would have known that before I got into the shower just to get back out in about one minute with a mild case of hypothermia. We live on the third floor so the hot water takes a while to get up to the top so when I checked if cold was hot cold was cold. But now that COLD IS HOT the morning routine is truly a pleasure!

"But Fratello! The acoustic in the bathroom are fantastic!"

So I have instituted nightly hymns and nightly prayer before going to bed every night with all of my room mates (Which are all going to Rome). Each night we sing a hymn out of my Italian Hymn book and then say night night prayers as a room. Well.... That idea caught on so that the whole district (10 missionaries headed to Italy, 4 to Milano 6 to Roma) sung a hymn in Italian and said a night night prayer. Well that caught on so that now the whole floor (about 32 missionaries headed to Italy, 18 to Milano 14 to Roma) sung a hymn in Italian. Well.... Elder being elders... We ended up singing "Called to Serve" at the top of our lungs in the bathroom one night to which we were quickly flushed out (no pun intended) by a few of the campus security and told to return to our cells.

"Handier than a pocket on the shirt"

I've always admired Tyler's use of the multi pen... But I've never appreciated its full potential until entering the MTC! I absolutely rave about the multi pen now and converted everyone in my district into investing in one! With four colors and a creative mind you can organize your notes like no other ballpoint writing utensil can! The only thing is... It's hard to know what to write down if you can't understand anything the teachers tell you.

"In Bocca a lupo"

Our teacher "Fratello Weller" is a kind hearted man with short ties, big black glasses, belt buckle shoes, and skin tight suit pants. As you know... In the MTC they only talk to you in the language your learning, in my case Italiano. It is real juggling act trying to feel the spirit and interpret what the teacher is saying while trying to take notes on the gospel lecture and notes on how to speak Italian. After Friday's lesson the whole district had a verbal and emotional breakdown because none of knew what to do or how to speak Italian. Fratello Weller, being the spiritual giant that he is, gave us a real powerful lecture about how the spirit can teach us the language. He wrote the phrase "In Bocca a lupo" on the board, which is an italian idiom meaning "Life is hard". I honestly learned a lot from that lesson and actually felt, for the first time, that I could understand what he was saying. It's amazing how when you tune into the spirit it truly can teach you.

"Different yolks for different folks"

I really am loving my district and my companion (which I'll tell you about him when I get to know him a little better... It sufficeth me to say he is a good kid from a wealthy family in Atlanta)... But anywhooos... Every single person in my district is from extremely different backgrounds and each has had different trails in their life. Anziano Romano is a city boy from inner city Boston, Anziano Smith is from an expensive prep school in Atlanta, Anziano Carter is the big teddy bear, Anziano Smith is actually Italian but doesn't speak the language, Anziano Gardenhier wants to compose movie scores for living.. Listen... What I'm trying to say is we are all so different that is makes us great. Surprisingly enough we all get along really well despite being from all over the place! And the best part of all... None of us have a clue how to speak Italian.... Honestly... This week has literally been the most frustrating week of my life, for everybody in the district because none of us know how to learn the language when we never have time to.. learn the language.

"Yeah! I really just never got a handle of the language!"

It's this phrase that keeps me going. I can pray in Italian, speak extremely broken Italian to stumble my way through lessons, and maybe pronounce everything right. I keep praying for the spirit to help me teach and for things to start aclickin'... But as of right now. I don't know what's goin' on! :)

God bless America.

Pace (It's italian).