Wednesday, March 26, 2008

First Discussion in Korean

Hello out there!Sorry, I dont feel like opening this one with anything exciting. But what is exciting is that Just this last week I've gotten really excited about Korea and preaching the Gospel there! Before it was just like, "Ill deal with that step when I get to it". But now it's like, "Send me over there!" All we do in the MTC is in preperation for the next two years.

Oh... It looks like I have almost a month left in Provo. But Im sure that those of you who are keeping a tally already knew that as well. I was really hoping that they would do an MTC choir for General Conference. And they are!!! HaHa just kidding. No choir this time. But Choir here is great nonetheless! My fist week in the choir we sang "Come Thou Font" like the arrangement that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir does. That one has been my favorite so far. But I've been going ever since. Tuesdays are thus pretty hectic since we go to the temple and then, right after, go to choir and then right after, have dinner, then right after that, have a devotional by someone from the 70 or Maybe a member of the quorum of the 12.

My new mission president is a guy by the last name of "Jennings". Apparently, his son won a couple million on Jepardy a while back. You might have heard of him. Everyone up here has. They say that the only people who could beat him were his parents, so it looks like my new mission president of Busan, Korea is a bright lad!

Yes, I got the Easter package you sent me. My roomies really apreciated the cookies. Thank you for the egg hunt. I think I will need to just hide them around our room, however. I just don't think the schedule has time for a full out treasure hunt. Oh! Speaking of treasure, I finally found the treasure of "Nimrod". But it was a lousy treasure anyway. Not worth the time.

The first lesson in Korean was alright. It was really slow, but me and my companion stumbled through it nonetheless. This week we give it once more. It should go better. :-)

Love you all!
Elder Shumway

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

"Almost P-Day!"

Its another beautiful Preperation day in the MTC. Every day prior to this blessed day is given the title "almost P-Day". Thats kinda the slogan around our disrtict. When we wake up, we say "It's Almost P-day!" When someone holds the door for us, you say, "Its almost P-day!". The phrase can be pretty much exchanged for any common phrase. Even if you're mad at someone or are getting a little frustrated, you can yell, "It's ALMOST P-DAY!!!" and people will understand what you are feeling. But today IS P-Day, and it is only a week until the next P-Day!
Yes, I got your package. Thank You very much for it. I tried the homemade stuff and like it. So yes, thank you. Unfortunately, I've realized that that sweater doesn't go too well with any of my 2 suits so I might have to wait till I'm out in the field to sport it.
Wow! I've been gone a month and you're already planning a Disneyland trip. That is pretty exciting! I envy how little time Caleb has left, but I know I will feel differently once I actually get out there.
This Saturday, me and my companion are teaching the first lesson in Korean. All of it. 35 minutes worth. In Korean. I think we can do it. They say we can take notes in if we need to, but I think that's cheating so I wont do it. I'll let you know how that goes. The next week is general conference so we wont teach that week.
We have a couple awesome teachers! Brother Wells and Sister Lee. They are both really great! But Sister Lee is pregnant and this is her last week. So we get one new teacher.
The two districts that were above us left. That was a little sad but it means that we are that much closer to leaving... They gave a bunch of candy to the younger district (us) and a lot of pass downs. There is a drawer in our room that is completely full of candy. It is pretty wild, and with all the new packages coming in, There is no way we will run out of junk. So thanks for sending more healthy snack stuff in the package. That stuff is hard to come by.
Well, now I see why I normally waste time in the beginning of emails. I have 6 minutes left, and nothing to write about.

Love ya, Elder Shumway

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Japan Declares War!

(radio crackle)......
This just in...
Japan declared war on Korean on the seventh of March, 2008.........
in foursquare...
(radio crackle)
Yes, As of only a few days ago, Korea is officially at "war" with the Japanese.
Let me give you some background information...
First off, No one plays foursquare except those who cant play anything else well. So if you can imagine a group of kids who are not coordinated enough to play the regular sports (basketball, Volleyball, running, or even Jump rope)... those are the people one the foursquare court. (no offense to anyone that likes foursquare. That is just the way things go in the MTC.) For some reason, all of the Koreans are pretty cool kids. The Elders speaking Japanese however, have a dozen or so of "foursquare kids".
Alright, so anyway, a couple Koreans decided to try and play one time during gym and they dominated the court...
So the Japanese declared war...
in foursquare...
As lame as that sounds, that is the peak of excitement in the MTC. You might imagine that not too much happens out of the ordinary here, so when something like "war in foursquare" is declared, people get excited.

Alright

The

more

spaces

I

Put,

The

longer

the

letter

is.

I have a measly 13 minutes left and I dont know what to talk about...
Oh, Korean is getting a bit better! Thank you for your prayers on my behalf! But by no means, should you give up now... I am getting a lot better at managing my MDT (Missionary Directed Time) and because I can manage it better, I can study more.
Ethan is almost out, that lucky dog. I saw him once more at a breakfast and we talked for a little bit. And although I am not ready, I sort of want to leave for Korea already. I dont like to sit for a while in one spot, and Although the MTC is really great and uplifting, It is very repetative. The food is good, but fattening. They do everything to their food to make it taste good. I dont really think they put a lot of effort into it being healthy. So the sooner I can leave this food, the better. I really like Korean! it is a really fun language to learn! I would write more, but I am almost out of time. Plus, when I am under pressure, and there is a countdown flashing at the top of the screen, I cant remember all the questions I need to answer and all the details I want to include. I will reread some letters and send a regular letter today.

I love you all,
Elder Shumway

I still have
thirty seconds left.........................................,..................................................................

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Life in the MTC

Yesterday, I finally saw my fellow comrad, Elder Larry Ethan "Superman" Milton! It was pretty exciting! He reminded me that he gets out in a couple weeks, and I get out in like 9. Thats a long time to be in the MTC. They have a clever saying here: "the weeks go by days and the days go by weeks." Days are long, thats for sure. I sit in class almost all day everyday. I count down the hours until I can crawl back into bed. When the day is finally over and I can retreat to my bed in my room, only to wake up really crankily and start the next day.All of these days kinda mash into one. Every day is almost the same as the one preceding it. But before you know it, P-day is almost here.
And so, here it is, right now... And I am sitting in the computer room typing out this letter, knowing perfectly well that what I want to say is too much for my "hunt N Peck" typing technique is able to handle. So rather than try, I like to add a little variety and have fun with my letters. I like to ramble off and take a while to actually say anything about my week. This, as you might have guessed, is what I am doing right now.
And with half of my time wasted, I think it is time for me to cram some of my week into the rest of my letter...
The Week:
Hi,Well this week was really great! Thank you for your letters! They were great!
Yes, Sundays are really awesome days and the Devotionals can be really amazing! So far it has only been members of the 70 and an MTC branch president that have spoken to us, but that have been really good and uplifting!We go to the temple every P-Day and I think I look forward to that the most. I will mail you a copy of my schedule.
I think I am beginning to see the difficuly in Korean. I can not seem to memorize very quickly at all. The goal is to memorize at least 25 words every day, and I am lucky if I can get even 10. Things just aren't clicking as fast for me as they have been for others.
oh well...The food is still pretty good. I think they try to make us fat, but if I watch my weight, I will do OK. Gym is really cool! I start off with running a couple miles at the beginning and that really makes me feel good the rest of the day!
One of our sister missionaries was choking the other day and an Elder had to do the Heimlich Maneuver! That was kinda cool to see!
Love ya