Elder Grotepas : Week 5 at the MTC 2/26/13

Bula everyone,

It was nice to here from you. I have got my travel plans and I am leaving on Saturday the 2nd of March. We are leaving at 1:30 in the afternoon. The time here has gone by very fast.

Well there is nothing really new here. Tomorrow, which is Wednesday, we get to be hosts for the people that are coming in. I get to do what Tim did for me. I will be looking for Sister Wilson. At the departing devotional they said that there were 700 missionaries leaving and 850 new missionaries are coming in. I cannot even imagine how crowded it is going to be here. When I came here it was not that crowded. It is so crowded that we have to do our laundry at 4:30 in the morning because it is so packed down here in the day. You cannot even get a machine.

About the package you are going to send me, you need to send it to me before Friday. I don't know how long it takes to get here. I also need to tell you that you do not have to buy a phone card, I bought one here. I think that I am going to call you when I get to the LA airport around 4:00 to 5:00. I don't know when for sure it is we get there, but I think that it is around that time. After we fly to LA we go straight to Nadi.

It seems like everything is changing in the neighborhood back home. I have already been gone for a month, and their are a lot of people in the hospital or moving. It is said to hear what is happening to Kathy Wilson. I feel realy bad for them. It is also good that Brianna is still willing to serve her mission. Their family will be blessed for her going on a mission.

I hope that you have a good day. I love you.

Part 2

How is it going? This morning we woke up and did our laundry at 4:30 a.m. The laundry room gets way crowded like I said this morning. There are computers in the laundry room and they do not have a time limit. There are a lot of people that are wanting to use the computers because they are the only ones in the whole MTC that will allow you to upload photos onto a email. Well like I said I going to be going to leaving on the 2nd of March. I am really excited to go. I think that it will be a blast. There are alot of Elders that are here from Fiji. They always sit by us at the lunch table. They talk very fast. I hope that i will be able to understand the people in Fiji. I dont know what they are talking about because it seems that we are just learning the gospel in our language. We are really not learning alot of the small talk. I know a little bit of it like asking their name, age, where they are from, how they are doing, if they have a family, and a little bit more. But I think that as I am in Fiji that I will pick it up a lot faster because you are forced to use the language. Here you are just speaking it for the class and as much as you can outside of class. I think that it will be alot easier.

I miss working. this is killing me just sitting here. The only thing that we get to do that is physical is gym and set up the chairs for the devotional. I think that I have already told you this but oh well. Well how is everything going at home? I hear that it is changing a lot back home. It seems like whenever I leave everything happens. First you get the Subaru, Jordan gets his call, Braiden turns his in, there are a couple of people that are in the hospital, and Holly's house floods.

I think that Fiji is going to be way fun. All the teachers have told us about Fiji and it sounds way cool. The only thing is the sulus (skirts)! It is weird how you cannot sit the same way as you do with pants. You have to watch out how you sit and stand up! it will take some time getting used to. Also it is really cool how we get to have a machete with us. I always wanted to go on a mission that I could carry one around with me. One of the big problems that the teachers have told us is that they have a big problem with the Word of Wisdom down there. It is not like here where it is alcohol but it is more coffee, tea and a drink call Yangona. It is a cerimonial drink but people drink it all day long! It does not make you intoxicated, but makes you feel numb I guess. Well I am out of time. I love you and miss you lots.

Love,

Elder Grotepas