Week 2: MTC Arrival

 I thought we might get an email or message from Eric on Wednesday, letting us know he’d arrived safely. But we didn’t. I figured no news was good news. And I could see that he had logged on to messenger, so I figured that was a good sign. 

I sent him a good night message that night and he “hearted it” around noon our time the next day. 

Then, finally on Friday, he sent a message. I asked him how everything went/was going, and he said “Good 👍🏼”

He never has been a person of many words. 😂

But he was able to call us a little while later, and it was so nice to talk to him and see his face!

And he sent his 2nd email later that day:

Friday, October 18, 2024   

10:32 pm (Mountain time)

Hey, how's it going? 

I have survived my journey to Utah. Finally got to meet all the missionaries in my district, they're all super cool, and it's clear that our group was divinely inspired to build each other up and bring each other closer to Christ.

Alright, the food here is not very good. I guess I shouldn't complain though, there's a lot of missionaries, and it'd be very expensive to get quality ingredients. But I've been lucky to be able to eat food I like for my entire childhood, something I've usually taken for granted, haha.

Our district was able to go to the temple today to do baptisms and initiatories, which was really cool. Though the temple was massive! Me and another elder were pretty impressed, while everyone else in our district used to live near huge temples anyways. I think I prefer the smaller temple as it feels more special when there's not hundreds of people there. 

Overall, I really have enjoyed getting to the MTC, and I'm excited to continue to learn and grow my testimony as I increase my capacity to serve, teach, and invite others to come to Christ. 

A scripture I've found and really enjoyed is in 2 Timothy 1:7-10. It brings me a lot of comfort, and helps me to better understand my role as a missionary, and I invite you to read it and ponder the meaning for yourself. 🤷‍♂️

Have a good weekend, 

-Élder Montgomery (the younger)