Email #2 from the MTC!

OK, well so its the beginning of week 3 , which means that I'm 1/4 of  the way done?! Strange.

Things have continued to progress here. Our previous investigator, Anh Ninh, became one of our teachers. So now we have two teachers. We still have Cô Hương as one teacher, and Anh Ninh is now called Thay Tuân and is the other. Class has become much more helpful as we have the two teachers. Now instead of one class period being taught by Cô, and the other just us studying by ourselves, Thay teaches during the other one. We have also started working more on becoming better missionaries in general, not just learning Vietnamese. We have done a lot of role play in ENGLISH!! It is so awesome to be able to teach in English. I feel like I can actually follow the promptings of the Spirit and teach what the "investigator" needs to hear. In Vietnamese, that is near impossible. As we are focused so much on just trying to say things, its really hard to try and pay attention to the Spirit. And even if I felt that there was something that I needed to say, I wouldnt be able to say it anyways. So, I have really enjoyed the opportunities to teach in English.

This week we start with 2 new investigators. We taught Chú Cương on Monday, and to our surprise Chú is actually Thay Tuân, or Anh Ninh, or whatever his actually name is. We start tomorrow with Chi Tuyên, who is actually Cô Hương. Go figure. Apparently there arent very many Vietnamese speakers. Anyways, our lesson with Chú went very well. We didnt take any notes in at all, which was a first. We were abel to teach the lesson, with our only big mistake being to not start with a prayer. But even at that, we did still give Chú a Sách Mặc Môn. It was exciting to see that we knew enough Vietnamese to teach at least a little of the first lesson. We will continue to improve a lot and are excited to teach Chi Tuyên tomorrow.

There have been a lot of awesome experiences, which I really can’t write. I simply don’t have time in my êđ minutes of email to read everybody's email and then to write EVERYTHING that I would like. But my experience here has continued to get better and better with every day.

This last week flied by. We learned that Anh cả Phan will likely be leaving here in the next few weeks. He is already pretty good with Vietnamese and can hold conversation with the teachers. We will certainly miss him, but he's ready for it. That willl likely leave me, Anh cả Pham, and Anh cả Robison in our room and as a trio. The Houston trio. Then the other room of các Anh cả with be the California missionaries. Anyways, we will miss Anh cả Phan, but its exciting at the same time.

I'm glad to hear that everything seems to be going well at home.

I'm sure there were a lot of questions that you guys asked that I dindt answer, but just ask again and hopefully I'll get to them next week.

Love,

Anh cả Manhardt

Elder Manhardt with his family and President Kirk just after his setting apart as a missionary.

First email from Elder Manhardt!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Well, its hard to think that I've been here for almost a week! The time goes quick, but at the same time, it feels like I have been here for a LONG time. Out of the 2500 missionaries here at the MTC, there are 6 of us learning Vietnamese. 3 of us are going to Houston, one to Anaheim, one to San Jose and one to Cambodia/Vietnam. My companion is Elder Pham. Elder Robison is in my room along with his companion Elder Phan. Yeah Pham and Phan. try and keep it straight.

After I got to the MTC, I was brought up to my room where I dropped off my stuff. Then it was straight to class. There’s only one problem with class though... the teacher only speaks in Vietnamese. Imagine gong in to class and not understanding one word.... and when she tries to explain to us what she was saying.. that’s in Vietnamese too. Well, it seemed like life was going to be rather unpleasant. But we are all learning quickly. Thursday came and went, though we learned that we would be teaching our first investigator the next day. Again, in Vietnamese. Boy, was that scary. We panicked and tried to learn as much as possible. I wish I really knew Vietnamese for the lone reason that it must have been hilarious to hear what we said. The issue with Vietnamese is that its tonal. So simply saying a word with the wrong tone completely changes the meaning. Oh, well. We're learning. And quite quickly I might add. I've been here for 6 days and can already pray and bear my testimony in the language. There's obviously still TONS to learn, but at least we're getting somewhere. To this point, we've taught our investigator 3 times, and we are teaching him tomorrow as well.

Lessons are still in Vietnamese, but there is a part called guided study that our teacher speaks in English. Usually she is talking with us individually and mostly just getting us to plan and figure stuff out, not teaching us language stuff. Maybe one time where I have a little more time to type, I can explain a little more about that and our teacher. At first we didn’t like her classes that much, but as time has gone on, I have come to appreciate her and her lessons.

I've been able to see quite a few of my friends from school that are still here at the MTC.

Our district ( the 6 Vietnamese Elders) all get along pretty well, which is good because there's no time to argue. Things are incredibly busy here. Sunday was the first semi-relaxing day, but even that was packed with stuff. One of my favorite things about Sunday though, was the chance we got to leave the MTC campus and walk around the Temple. It was great to leave behind some of the work and just relax. Tuesday will be my P-Day, so this is when you can expect to hear from me. We also get to go to the Temple and do an endowment session on P-Day. We do that in the morning. It was awesome to be able to do that.

This whole email just kinda feels like a jumble of info, so hopefully you follow at least a little. There's just so much to say, and very little time to say it. Maybe in the future I'll be a little more organized, but honestly I doubt it. Ha. The only hope is that things may start to slow down a little and I can actually explain things.

All in all, it’s been a great experience so far.

Hope all is well out there.

Love,

Elder Manhardt

Address for letters or packages until the end of November...

Elder Matthew Manhardt
MTC Mailbox # 121TX-HOUS 1129
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Welcome to Elder Matt Manhardt's official blogsite for his mission!  I'll be posting pictures when I get them and other correspondence from Matt, er, I mean Elder Manhardt during the next two years as he serves his mission. 

Exiting the Salt Lake City airport



Arriving at the MTC (Missionary Training Center) in Provo, UT




Saying goodbyes to wonderful friends




...more wonderful friends






And...he's off to learn Vietnamese and everything else he needs to know to serve as a faithful missionary for  the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!