Well folks, I'm almost done here at the Provo MTC. I couldn't be more excited to leave and actually see the real world (especially France). My language skills are nowhere near perfect with French, but that will come with time and hard work, so I'm not too worried.
All the Paris missionaries got really lucky with our flight plans. Most missionaries leave the MTC around 3 AM to catch an early morning flight with tons of layovers in different places. We get to leave at noon and then our flight is direct to Paris via Delta (one of the best airlines in my opinion). So I'm happy about that. Only a few more days till I'm finally out of Provo.
A lot more happened this week than last week, but I'll try to be brief just for the sake of time.
On Sunday they asked 4 missionaries to give talks in French instead of the usual 2, because the senior missionaries in the branch presidency who were supposed to talk couldn't attend sacrament. That was nerve-wracking. Especially because the French zone for sacrament is one of the biggest at the MTC with over 60 missionaries at a time. Luckily I wasn't called on (as soon as I sat down in Sacrament I pretended to be praying until sacrament started so that I couldn't get called on haaha... I'm a genius!!).
This week I started really looking into my family history. It took me about an hour, but I was actually able to trace my ancestry all the way back to Adam and Eve (that's what happens when some lines are all royalty and their heritage was all well documented). I'll attach some pictures below of famous people I'm related to down below. Other than looking for cool people to be related to, I tried to find ancestors of mine that had cool stories. I'll share one with you right now about my great-great grandpa Michael Archibald. While on his mission he was almost killed by a mob while teaching some investigators. The dad of the family being taught didn't care for the church very much but still defended the missionaries anyway. He told them that they'd have to kill him first if they wanted to kill the missionaries. Later in his life, my great-great grandpa says that he was definitely protected by God in that time. What a cool experience.
My companion got sick on Monday and I had to do all the work for teaching the lessons. Not fun. But it's what you do when you're a missionary. The lessons didn't go too bad, so I was thankful for that.
We had a devotional from Quentin L. Cook on Tuesday (he's an apostle for all of you who don't know). It was really good and his wife did a really good job too. They talked about the impact of missionary work. They seemed really nice and cheerful. Definitely people I'd be friends with.
On Wednesday I got the opportunity to host new missionaries. It was a cool experience but also really sad. Seeing all the families cry and hug each other brought me back to when I was in that same position. I hosted 2 missionaries. One was from Idaho. He was really nice. He had a hard time saying goodbye, but he said hi to me yesterday and it looks like he's doing better. The second one I hosted was a redhead named Elder Marsden from Calgary, Alberta... He might know my Canadian fam, but IDK haha. He was really nice and didn't look to be having a hard time at all. I'm just glad I could help them adjust to missionary life.
One of my best friends since I've been here has been an Elder Couillens from New Jersey. He sleeps on the bed above me so we see each other fairly often. He has really good hair and the MTC won't cut it the way it should be... But he likes his short sides so he entrusted the job to me. Yes, I gave someone a haircut... it looked good and it built my confidence in myself. The hard part was beautiful (I'll attach pics below). Through family tree we also learned that he is my 10th cousin. What a small world lol. His dad is from France so he speaks fluent French which has been a blessing to me. Sadly, he is going to Fort Lauderdale Haitian Creole speaking so I won't see him again until after the mission.
My mom wanted me to send pics with my MTC president and his wife. At the Provo MTC that's nearly impossible, because there are over 3,000 missionaries here at a time and they hide themselves away in their brand new penthouse most of the time haha. They look kinda like Bill and Hillary Clinton, so I call them Brother and Sister Clinton (even though their last name is Martino). Speaking of Hillary, Elder Couillens who I mentioned above is an avid Hillary supporter. So for those of you who think I only befriend people with the same political views... You're wrong hah! We don't talk about politics too much in the MTC, but sometimes it's a nice late night conversation topic to end the day on. Why do I sound like a 60 year old man right now? Let me move on to another subject haha.
Me and my companion got a tutor for French. She served in Montreal so her accent is very Americanized and she's easy to understand. I literally understand all the French that she speaks which is nice, but France is gonna hit me hard when I literally understand nothing lol. Oh well, I'm still excited to get there and she has taught me quite a bit!!
I don't know if I have any other stories for this week. At this point I think everyone is super excited to get to their respective missions. Paris is on Monday and I couldn't be more excited!!!! My testimony is growing each week as well as my language skills. But once I'm there I'll learn so much more.
My email next week will be much more entertaining I'm sure. Better pictures, better food, better experiences. Get ready, people. Elder Anderson is coming to FRANCE!!!
Pictures:
1. Me cutting the hair
2. The cut
3. A package my Nanny sent me
4. One of my great great grandpas. What a boss. Reminds me of Macklemore's Thrift Shop song. Hope to be half the man he is one day.
5. Me trying to be like my great great grandpa (the Canadian and French flags were up next to each other and I was wearing my Canadian socks that day)
6. Some nose strips my mom sent me and my roommates
7. President and Sister Clinton
8. Me with the Clintons
**More pictures in additional email
I'll put some of my royal heritage in next week's email haha. Hope this gets you all on a family tree high.
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