First Letter from Elder Pitt:
Kumusta po lahat ka?? Its been 8 days since I entered the MTC and I am so grateful for the opportunity! I love it here! To start off, the food is delicious and its all you can eat so if that doesnt make you want to come into the MTC i dont know what does! Its what signed me up! haha all joking aside it is great. The first day was very busy and long but also very uplifting, my entire district is awesome, we have two Sister missionaries, from arizona and utah, and then me and 4 Elders, all of the Elders are from Kiribati! Very small islands in the pacific somewhat nearby Fiji! They pronounce their nation "Key-Dee-Pass" and will correct you if you say it any other way hahah, the first night was rough with them mostly because they hardly know any english, and i dont know a lick of Kiribati so our communication was a little difficult. But it changed almost immediately. The first morning together the Elders grabbed air freshener instead of shaving cream to shave and were so lost on my there was no cream coming out, all while spraying air freshener on their faces. After i got them the shaving cream they didnt know how to work the pad locks we got for our personal items. Such simple things that i never really had to work to learn, was making all of them so so frustrated and anxious. Ever since then they have taught me many things and vise versa. One important thing they taught me was the importance or brotherhood. Everyone of them has each others back and will do anything for one another. They welcomed me in with open arms and we are now very close to eachother in just a matter of 8 days. My companion is Elder Mereki ("Medic") and he is the jokester of the entire zone. He asks "whats this" to everything but im glad top answer the question for him! We all worked together to get their cameras working and now all they do is take pictures its hilarious hahah! We had an Elder who was supposed to go into the MTC the same day as us show up late. His trip from Miami to the MTC was the worst. Elder Palacio and his parents drove from Miami to Denver but got stuck in a snow storm at the airport, then his dad had to get emergency surgery to take out his appendix! After all of that he flew by himself to the MTC and was 3 days late so he was behind on the Tagalog we had learned. Something really awesome occured though, because his companion from his district is from Kiribati aswell (theyre everywhere hahaha) our president had me go with him to get set apart as a missionary, and a member of the Quorum of The Seventy from the Church was going to set him apart. Sooo we both got to meet Elder W. Craig Zwick and was with him for over an hour! I think the best part was he brought us both a taco from "the outside world". I dont think i have ever eaten a better taco in my life! Easter Sunday was AMAZING! Our Branch President made us all join the MTC choir so we sing at all devotionals, we heard from Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of The Twelve Apostles! As he walked in we all stood up and sang, I am so happy we had to be in the choir because it was so spiritual and powerful. He gave a great talk on the power of repentance and how Christ is and should be the center of out lives! It really was one of the best Easters ever. That night we listened to a talk from Elder Bednar. The. Most. Amazing. Talk. I cant explain how relevant, powerful, and emotional it was. I wish i could tell you guys all that has happened. everyday is an adventure. Tagalog is beautiful, i feel bad when i speak it beacuse i know i butcher it but that is what practice is for! The teachers only speak Tagalog to us, which is rough but also really good and it pushes me to learn what they are saying. There is a missionary here in my zone from Pasco! Sister Calaway! Crazy to think we never met eachother before but we have so many mutual friends! hahah whenever the Kiribati Elders and Sisters speak in their native toungue sister Calaway and i just start talking about home! Alam ko po na ni JesuCristo ang tagapaglitas namin. I love you all and I cant wait for General Conference! Here are some pics!
Our name tags are in english not tagalog, dont ask me why because no one knows hahah the second picture is of my district! in order Elder Mereki, Elder Katutu (kahsusu) me, Elder Baabo, and down belows Elder Kainga! Sister Calaway and i takin a selfie! and then Elder Mereki and i late night studying the good word!
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Elder Pitt
