Greetings to friends and family from the lovely Preston Missionary Training Centre (As spelt on the sign) in England!
Upon arrival at the MTC and post-orientation, we were assigned into companionships. The Elder I was assigned to was Elder Halverson, who happened to be the chap who I high-fived (Coincidence?). Also, driving on the wrong side of the road isn't so bad. It's more like you're in a mirror. And the country here, absolutely beautiful! Love it, stone walls, old houses, sheep, stone cathedrals, roundabouts, every field of grass looks like you can play golf on it.
On Sunday we had a devotional with Elder Donaldson of the Seventy, recently released, and we found out he is going to be the new mission president of the mission I'll be off to! Our MTC President, President Preston, also spoke as well. Now he, he is a marvelous teacher and man. It's like, unreal how incredible this is.
God speed
Elder Kinville
All the flights were wonderful! At Denver, I had to walk half a mile or so to get to my gate and only five minutes to do it. The flight to Manchester was great. We flew out of Newark. There, we met some other Elders who were also off to Manchester and we talked a bit. I met an Elder who was also going to Scotland and Ireland and my enthusiasm and excitement to go made some England Natives laugh that I was that way. Mucho bueno. The last buildings I saw from the US were the Empire State Building, Freedom Tower (The new world trade center, whatever it's called), and The Statue of Liberty. It was gorgeous to see them as we flew into the clouds and off to skip over the pond.
Upon arrival at the MTC and post-orientation, we were assigned into companionships. The Elder I was assigned to was Elder Halverson, who happened to be the chap who I high-fived (Coincidence?). Also, driving on the wrong side of the road isn't so bad. It's more like you're in a mirror. And the country here, absolutely beautiful! Love it, stone walls, old houses, sheep, stone cathedrals, roundabouts, every field of grass looks like you can play golf on it.
I am doing extremely well and am most definitely enjoying my time here. The food is absolutely marvelous as are the instructors. With the instructors, we do small roleplays where they're investigators or less actives or whatever and we teach them and whatnot to practice people skills and learning to teach people not the lessons. Those are quite fun, but the first one we totally sucked at. My alarm clock is also beautiful. Wakes up my whole room when it goes off.
In my room, I have two Elders from Utah, one from Washington, one from Albania, and one from Hungary. It's so swell to talk with people not from the United States. Among the missionaries, I think we have Elders from United States, Chile, Samoa, South Africa, Brazil, UK, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark (Elder Olson, by the way, swell chap as well), Mauritius, Hungary, France, Spain, Colombia, and Portugal, I believe. Such great Elders and there is such a marvelous spirit here!
I've picked up using the word swell, because we can't use the words cool or awesome or guys. I've already been using chaps, so not to worried about guys. Swell has replaced cool and awesome, so note that.
On Sunday we had a devotional with Elder Donaldson of the Seventy, recently released, and we found out he is going to be the new mission president of the mission I'll be off to! Our MTC President, President Preston, also spoke as well. Now he, he is a marvelous teacher and man. It's like, unreal how incredible this is.
This morning we went to the temple, and it was a beautiful temple. It's a two minute walk from the MTC and I am so glad it is. Such a great time. The outside of the temple looks a lot like Rexburg's temple. The inside, totally different.
One thing I regret: Not bringing a camera. My companion, however, has one and is willing to take some photographs of me and has sent me one of me right next to the MTC sign. Today, we went to ASDA (UK's Wal-Mart) and the cameras were sold out. As soon as I can get one, I totally will and you shall be spammed with pictures of me and the Scottish countryside! Bwahah!
The keyboard here is different. The @ sign is on the same key as ' and the ~ and # characters are on the button next to that, while " has replaced @ on 2 key and £ has replaced # on the 3 key and ¬ has replaced ~ on the key right before the 1 key. Also, next to the Z key is the | and \ key. It's pretty neat, though disorienting after working with American keyboards for such a long time.
The keyboard here is different. The @ sign is on the same key as ' and the ~ and # characters are on the button next to that, while " has replaced @ on 2 key and £ has replaced # on the 3 key and ¬ has replaced ~ on the key right before the 1 key. Also, next to the Z key is the | and \ key. It's pretty neat, though disorienting after working with American keyboards for such a long time.
Feel free to ask me questions, comments, replies, but please understand my MTC preparation days are Wednesdays and therefor I cannot really reply until then. After next Wednesday I do not know when my preparation day is in the field, so I cannot say when that'll be. If you there are friends/family of mine who's email I do not have, please send it to me and I can just mass email them.
Have a good time and do many good things!
God speed
Elder Kinville
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