Fun on the Fourth

 It sounds like Jared is having another great week at the MTC.  4th of July ended up being a lot of fun for him.  He also ended up at the doctor this week, being able to watch the TV for the first time in 6 weeks.  I just hope he ends up being able to go to Armenia on schedule!  Here's Bear!

Hi there!

:p Trust me, I write as long letters as I can over here. It is crazy stressful though. Even though I don't prewrite my letters, I am constantly typing the entire 30 minutes. It's nice to hear you guys are having fun. I wish I could have gone to DCI. I really miss music, especially marching band music, but alas, it's just another sacrifice I'm willing to make.

 

   Anyways, this week was quite fun. We had a July 4th celebration on July 2nd. There was an amazing fireside put on where we sang a whole bunch of patriotic songs. Then we had a speaker talk to us, who was the President's assistant, and went with him wherever he went. He talked to us about loyalty to our cause, just like our soldiers who fight for freedom. 

    He told one story of a soldier who was involved in a terrorist attack. He was heavily bandaged all over, his entire head was covered except for a hole for the mouth and a hole for the nose. He broke all four of his limbs. The Commandant (sp?), or the 4-star for the Marines came in to visit him and said "Soldier, this is the commandant." The wounded marine reached up, because he couldn't see, and felt the lapel of the 4-star to check for all four stars. Then he pulled the General's ears down to his mouth, and with all his strength, whispered "Semper Fi". He told us we should have this same attitude towards our missionary work. 

    After the speaker, a Scottish Bagpipe corps came out in step playing "Praise to the Man" while someone was at the microphone saying, "Now we will see how the freedom of this country has allowed the church to bless all nations". Then, all in step, there came a slow procession from the back of every flag representing the countries of foreign missionaries here at the MTC. There were about 30 or 40 different flags all carried by a representative from that country. It was really an amazing sight. 

     After this, they allowed us to go outside where we could grab an ice cream bar. Mine was handed to me by President Brown, quite an amazing man [President of the MTC]. I got to shake his hand. After that we were allowed to watch the fireworks which would start at about 10:30. Our district broke off from the rest of the crowd and found a nice place in the back of the MTC (probably the best place) to watch the fireworks from stadium of fire. :) They ordered us not to go to bed until the fireworks were done, which was 11:00 so :D Great day.

     I relapsed this week and got another cold again, but it's starting to clear up again. Everyone else though in my dorm is relapsing as well. 

     On Friday we chose how our names would be spelled in Armenian on our tags. That was cool :)

     One thing I've begun to notice is that Armenian grammar is almost identical to French grammar, but not similar to Spanish grammar or that of any other language. For some reason, the Armenians really like France. Maybe this really was where I was meant to go :) 

    Well, anyways, this week was crazy. I hurt my self during Volleyball a little, but I should be okay. I got to go off campus a little which was really fun! They sent me to the BYU Health clinic, and it was weird because Elder Maughan and I saw this box looking this that had lights and sounds coming out of it. It was telling us the news of the week. I think I've seen it before, sometime in my distant past. [Mom's Note:  I thought Jared wasn't going to tell us when he got hurt!  Hmmmmm.....I wonder how badly he got hurt?  He's at the doctor's office...Okay, so this is why the missionaries shouldn't tell the mamas when they're hurt.  I'm just going to worry notw and there's nothing I can do to help!]

     One thing I've learned this week: Don't give missionaries a whole bunch of peanut M&Ms. We spent all of our free time trying to show people how to make M&Ms hover by using your mouth. We wasted an entire bag of M&Ms, and ate some. :)

      You should have seen everyone's faces when they saw me receive 13 Dear Elders on Thursday (thanks to mom :P ) I was kinda hoping for some new messages though :)

    The language is coming along fine, but I am definitely not ready to leave in 4 weeks and 5 days.

One testimony was given by one of the Greek elders that was very powerful though. He said "I was definitely not ready to go to America and learn Greek, I don't even know English very well (he's Dutch). I'm definitely not ready to bear my testimony in Greek and to serve in Greece, let alone to get up here and testify in English. But look at me, here I am. Not because I'm ready, because I'm not, but because the Lord makes up the rest."

That's how I feel. I'm not ready, but I can be made ready :)

Love you all,

Stay safe,

See you next week,

Write lots!

Jared