First Week in the MTC!!

July 31, 2013

We were so excited and waited anxiously for this first email from Gabe!  Here are bits and pieces from his email (it was quite long so we cut some out):

"Guten Tag Jensen Family!

I LOVEEEE ENGLANDDD!!!!  Everything about it here, I could see myself living here haha.  Accents everywhere in the MTC, the british accents are so strong, but I've gotten used to them and don't even notice them, and it's weird but I can't help it, sometimes I catch myself talking in one back to them.

First: My District and Room.  I love them all, haha we are constantly laughing and me and Elder Dewey from Dancatle, Leeds area in England, and Elder Oviatt from Northern Canada have instantly became great friends, as well with the others too. My Mitelbeiter (comp.), is from Belgium, Netherlands, but born in Columbia.  He only speaks french and spanish.  So fun fact, we are the first Elders ever to learn a language in this MTC! They've had Elders come to learn English but never another language. My teachers, mainly the one is really young, 22, Bruder Linch.  He was born in Germany and went to Greece on his mission, he speaks great english.  I love him and it's his first time teaching so we are always laughing and having a good time as a district.

German: The language is for sure challenging and can get stressful, you just want to speak perfect deutsch now but you can't.  Especially when you teach the investigators.  We are teaching Stefan.  The first time was hard and just funny.  The 2nd time was brutal!  I opened it up by answering his questions, then shared my first part of info then turned it over to my companion and he couldn't find his notes so it was silence...so he told us "I don't believe in Joseph Smith" and started asking all these questions.  But last lesson with him went great!!!

Food wise: So the first week here I was still getting used to the food.  It's good food - british food, different than american food taste wise. But I've grown to love it.  It's not like a buffet, they have 3 chefs (I think) and we have a certain meal for lunch and dinner, and breakfast is usually just toast and cereal.  So the food is good and I'm used to it now.  The drinks are so different here though, like carbonated and such.  It's crazy how different America is.

Weather: So I told you how I was suppose to say goodbye to the sun..the first two days here were actually pretty sunny, but then it's become England's "real" weather lately - rainy and overcast.  But I love it, it feels great!  Sometimes we take the lessons outside, which feels good.

Companion: I love Elder Acune Moreno.  Yours and mine prayers are being answered.  It's crazy how easy it's been to be patient.  He speaks little to no english so it's really hard for us to communicate.  But I feel bad for him because they are teaching us deutsch through english so it's really hard for him to learn german.  I pray he will continue to have patience with me and the language, as well with me with him.  I pray in deutsch now so at least I think I am praying for that.  I love him though, he is always in a good mood and trying to pull jokes on all the Elders, haha he's a prankster kind of.

The British Pageant: So it just so happens my stay here in the MTC is during the first time that Britain is holding a pageant, and we are a part of it.  It's right by us on the neighboring grass field, we are a part of the finale and come out on the stage every night and sing, it's really cool!

The MTC: There are only 92 Elders and Sisters total here in the MTC and we are the most they've ever had!  We have an Elder and Sister from every continent here besides from Antartica!  So lots of different accents and cultures which is neat, we imitate each other and get in debates about our countries and stuff haha.

Elder Oviatt and Elder Dewey: We get along so good and are constantly laughing.  We just bought face masks from ASDA and will be wearing them tonight, to make our faces soft!  We are constantly singing our national anthems and saying our country's the best, and we tell each other about our cultures and compare funny stories.  We are always laughing.

So yeah I guess you could say I love it here at the England MTC!  We are busy all day and it's easy to fall asleep but we always catch ourselves staying up until about 11 at night telling jokes and laughing and telling funny stories.  Next week my favorite apostle is coming to talk to us!  ELDER HOLLAND, I can't wait for that!  I've come to learn with out a doubt that the Lord does answer prayers, and will do whatever it takes to allow his word to get out.  We have all been turned into instruments of the Lord to get his word out.  We have all been comforted because there is nothing else I would rather be doing.  I LOVE my district, and like dad said, I am trying to make the most of these 6 weeks.  We are busy busy busy so as far as time for personal gospel study goes it's kind of hard because I'm always trying to study deutsch or helping my comp.  I have to make better time though.  Until next week familie, I love you all and hope you are all comforted and know that I am loving it here! 

Tschuss, Lieben dich alt"