5th MTC email

By now you've probably discovered that my weekly letter is late. Due to unforseen circumstances (I forgot), I was unable to post it until this past Monday.

Actually, most of the reason was that I ran out of time on P Day, and didn't manage to finish it. Then I forgot what I was going to write to finish it, and then finally posted it Sunday night, when I had enough time to wrap up the ending in a very disjointed way.

So to make up for it, I'm writing to the family first with my email time, so as to be able to write a nice, long letter.

First off, thank you very much for the British stuff; one Elder in my district found it very funny when I was singing "I am British, I have a Teddy Bear!" Thanks lots, everything in the package is really cool. And it got here surprisingly fast, too!

Speaking of which, the postcard you sent to me from Devon took about 2 and a half weeks to arrive, but it was a beautiful postcard, so I'll forgive Royal Mail. Just this once. Thank you very much.

This past Monday I got, in total, seven letters and a package. I got a letter from you, a letter from Granny and Grandad, a letter from Julian, a letter from Grandma and Grandad,a letter from Chris, a DearElder from you, and a package from that same person from my forum who sent me a package this time last year. How cruel of her! She sent me a big box of comics and magazines! I've since locked them securely in my suitcase, where they can't distract me.

I actually feel, however, that I have been blessed a lot for my obedience in this manner. My concentration has inceased and I've been more focused, and far less distracted. I feel like, even though I wasn't really struggling to leave comics and games and stuff behind (certainly not as much as my companion is struggling to leave American football behind), making the pro-active step of locking everything away and saying "I've been tempted, but I won't give in" has helped me to strengthen my resolve, and the Lord has blessed me with an added measure of resolve for doing so.

This past Saturday we taught a lesson to a pretend investigator in Cantonese. It was horribly, horribly simple, but we did it! That's the important thing. And as we shared our testimony with the investigator, the spirit was really strong and we gave a powerful and convincing testimony of what we know to be true. My lessons have gone from being very powerful and impressive, to being very simple but very centred around teaching by the spirit, which is the whole point of the MTC. Learning a language is just an appendage to the real work we do here - learn to, as D&C 50:14 says, teach by the Spirit.

Being a District Leader is a very different experience to what I was expecting. The best part are the Leadership lessons we get, where we're taught how best to lead others. The District Leader before me, who is now Zone Leader, is a very military man who went to an Air Force academy, so he commands a lot more respect than I do, and leads through strictness and commands. I'm trying to lead more out of love than I see him do, but still want to be able to have the presence that he has when he's at the front of the classroom. A member of our Branch Presidency, Brother Hitchcock, leads through love. He gives all the Elders hugs every time he sees them, and always wants to know how we are doing. I want to be a leader more like him. He seems to have a great deal of respect for me, and a lot of expectations for me, so I'm striving to live up to that.

Elder Matthew Loffhagen

PS If you do go to Legoland, can I add a pirate's Eyepatch to my request of a Boba Fett keyring? More will become clear when I get around to sending you more pictures! :P

4th MTC email

Something happened this week that I really wasn't expecting. Well, two things, actually.

The first is probably the biggest, so I'll save that 'til last and give you the second piece first - yesterday, one of our teachers burst into our classroom and started tearing things off the walls - all the names of the books from the scriptures, D and C 4, and the account of Joseph Smith's first vision. He told us to tear up our Joseph Smith visions and throw away our Books of Mormon, because...wait for it...

...they've re-translated the Book of Mormon! Because Cantonese evolves so quickly, they have to keep re-translating it. Loads of stuff has changed; the names of the books, all scriptures we've been working to memorize, and everything the teachers know as well! Weird, huh? I've talked more about this in a letter I'm going to pop in the post soon.

The second big piece of news came last Saturday - the Older District of Cantonese speakers have left for Hong Kong, and as such we need new Zone Leaders. Our District Leader was called to serve with his companion (he was going to be released as District leader anyway, having been in the calling for 6 weeks) and so myself and my companion were called for by a member of our Branch Presidency. The big news is...

...My companion got called as District Leader!

Only kidding!

Actually, it was me. I'm the new District Leader, and am very scared by all of this. But I'm looking forward to the opportunity to serve and become a better leader and a better missionary, and also, I'm running out of email time. Aiyah! (That's a Cantonese exclamation like 'Oh no!')

I love you all! I hope Bethany's birthday went well and that you all had a good time at Bluebeckers. I hope you all ate a rib for me!

3rd MTC email

I've already burned through nearly half of my email time writing to Chris, so apologies if this is too short.

Yesterday, during our weekly devotional from a General Authority, we were singing prelude hymns (3 before the meeting starts to invite the spirit), and the chorister (who is also the choir director, and AWESOME - that's 'Sai Leng' in Cantonese) said "And the next hymn we shall sing is If You Could Hie to Kolob." The place was suddenly abuzz - everybody was looking forward to singing it, especially myself, and my companion who had never sung it before. The spirit was really strong and it was absolutely great, and I thought of you, Dad. I remember one time, possibly in a Ward Picnic or something, when I was a lot younger, that we were all singing hymns, and you said we should If You Could Hie to Kolob. Mum said no, and in the end, we only sang the last verse. I was so little that I didn't really appreciate it, but I certainly did this time we sang it. My studies have revolved around the Plan of Salvation for the past weeks as we've been learning to teach it, and the Book of Abraham (particularly the facsimiles and their links to the Endowment) has opened my eyes so much; similarly being able to go to the temple every week has been wonderful.

And on top of that, yesterday, we also got the opportunity to watch President Faust's funeral. I'll send you a photocopy of my notes, because I don't have time to write them out here, but every speaker (apart from his son, they were all Apostles) spoke of how great a welcome he is recieving on the other side of the veil, and how his life is not yet over. It was fantastic.

So in summary, I'm doing really good. I'm really enjoying my time here, and am not quite so desperate to get out as I had been previously - I am enjoying the atmosphere and the opportunity to be surrounded by righteous Latter Day Saints.

Elder Matthew Loffhagen

PS I managed to bump into Elder Kerr this past week; he said that he was indeed related to Steven Kerr - he's his son! It's a small church, after all!

PPS I'm sending a letter to accompany this as well, of course, which should have more to say in it. This week I'm writing my emails first and letters second, so things are slightly out of order.

2nd MTC email

All is well here in the MTC. I've been sick for a fair while, this time with a cold, and I was really worried yesterday that I wouldn't be able to sing in choir, as I've got a horrible cough and had almost lost my voice. But right before we were about to sing, my throat cleared and I was able to sing with full vigour and conviction. As soon as we finished, my voice dissapeared again. This was clearly the answer to the fervent prayers I'd been saying, pleading with the Lord that I wanted to praise him in song, but needed his help to do so. The choir director is a great man - as well as teaching us to sing the hymns, he also has a laugh and a joke with us, and ALSO manages to get across a spiritual point. This week it was on that exact topic - giving your all to praise the Lord. He said how when we give an offering, it has to be the best we have to give, like burnt offerings in times of old, and the Lord blessed me that I was able to sing with all my might as an offering to him.

We taught a pretend lesson in the Teaching Resource Centre last Saturday. It didn't go all that well - my companion likes to avoid using scriptures and just tell people things with a very sombre attitude, while I want to do the opposite; use scriptures to back up our points, ask questions that provoke thought, and present the material in a way that makes it engaging as well as spiritual. It's tough to balance, so for the most part, I'm just letting him lead the way. Being a Utah boy, he's had a lot fewer opportunities to hone his teaching skills, and certainly never had anyone like Stuart to temper his doctrinal sword. It will be interesting to see which style resonates more with the people we teach once we get into the field - but as he's going to Australia, Cantonese speaking, and I'm going to Hong Kong, we won't actually get a chance to teach together.

Everyone in my district is Cantonese speaking, and with the exception of Elder Dallin, are going to Hong Kong. It's not been easy for him to be the exception, but he seems to be coping okay. A new district entered our branch last week who are going to Australia, so he has some common ground with them. He's just frustrated that they arrived after him, but will leave before him.

I volunteered for a wonderful opportunity this Sunday - I get to teach the Plan of Salvation in District Meeting (kind of like Sunday School)! I've been working on some visual aids to map out the plan that are very similar to the ones Murray made when he was on his mission for the same purpose - tell him I said thank you for the idea, and for him teaching me that lesson in Seminary.