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