Hidden Treasures

HELLO out there!
This is Elder Shumway speaking....Alright, before I begin, I want to clear up some important matters... It seems as if some of you have been mighty skeptical about my ability to read Korean after the first day. You would be.... wrong. You see, the Korean alphabet is amazingly simple. It is composed of only about 30 or so characters. Each part of a word is made up of only one vowel and at least 1 consenant. So yes, I can now read and write Korean! As slow as I might be, I can do it. And I dont need notes to do it either. Right now, they consider us to be on week three. And instead of Korean being a 10- week program as I first thought, It is a 12- weeker by MTC standards. So yes, I am here just as long as any other person here ( Japanese and Chinese included). Apparently, the experts here consider Finnish to be the toughest to learn and they keep telling us that Korean is second hardest. (I dont think that is right. It seems easy enough so far). Who knows?
The Sunday devotionals here are amazing as well as the Tuesday Devos! I feel like Indiana Jones here or Nickolas Cage! The group before us, hid a junk-load of treasure everywhere! and they left maps to all of it! I am working on a treasure map now. I still haven't found the treasure itself but I am hot on the case! It is pretty Exciting I must admit. The Pirate goes by the name "Nimrod" (his real name was Elder DeCamp) and so far he has blessed our residence hall with many gifts and footballs! I will write some more in a letter and mail it today along with some pictures. I don't think this letter made much sense to you anyway. HaHa. But the next should clarify.
Love ya, Elder Shumway

MTC/Hogwarts

Mail is the highlight of the day here at the MTC! It reminds me a little of Harry Potter at Hogwarts! The District Leader goes off and gets the mail and while we eat breakfast or lunch. Everyone waits for them to come back and they all scream, "The mails here" in an English accent. Then the District Leaders spread their suit coats and swoop in the Great Hall where we eat to deliver them. Sometimes they jump onto the table and "help themselves to some of our pumpkin juice." By the way, I don't know about you, but pumpkin juice does not sound very tasty. I didn't even know pumpkins had juice in them. Yuck!...Needless to say, that story was a bit of an exageration. Most of the time they don't do that stuff. But everyone looks forward to the mail! Mail and gym period...But mostly it's just mail!
I'll develop some pictures and send 'em to you next P-Day. I still need to order them. And if your lucky, I might attatch some to the email as well!

Love, Elder Shumway

Shumway "Chongyong"

That's how you say Elder Shumway" in Korean. I wont get you started with the characters. They are insane!

First letter from the MTC and I only have 24:29 left on the clock... wait no. 25:15 left... No, thats not right. 23:46... Arg! now its 23:24. Dang, I have a countdown from 30 minutes and I am a SUPER slow typer!

Well, Ill make it as long as I can with the time I have and as you can
see, so far I've gotten nowhere with this letter and the time is still
clicking away! only about 21 minutes right now, so I'd better get
started...

...Ahem...

The MTC is WILD! The food is really good and really fattening! But not
to worry, I made a goal after like the third day (and five pounds
heavier) to eat healthy. So far I do well. No soda. Only water and skim milk
and lots and lots of salads and fruit! Yum!

My schedule each day: Wake up at 6:30 sharp and get ready for the day.
Report to class for 45 minutes of personal study at 7 and brekfast at
745. Then back to class to be taught Korean. somewhere in there, we
take a break for lunch and a gym period. Back to class for more of my
soon-to-be favorite languge, Korean, and then break for dinner. after
Dinner, back to class for 3 hours of personal study (scriptures, companion
study, language study). After that (now we are at 9PM) is planning
until 930. Back to the room! lights out at 10:30 followed by a goodnight's
rest!

So as you can tell, there are not many opportunities to burn off any
fat I might pick up. So I'd better leave off the pounders or suffer with
them through the mission! :-P
My Companion is a cool guy from Cali. We'll be good friends in no time!

Anyway, the CTR ring is said something close to "Joung- euee- pan". but the "euee" is one syllible and the "pan" is a mix between a P and a B sound. I guess it means more like "Righteous Class" which isn't very close to "Choose the right"

2 minutes. Now I wish I used the Beginning time more wisely. Maybe
you'll have to publish a written letter if I send one today.
Anyway, I learned how to read and write in the First Day! It is not too
tough. I am just memorizing things now! less than a minute.

Love you guys,
Elder LeGrand Shumway