More Photos!

I LOVE ELDER MERRILL!! (Best pal from the ward--headed to Mexico)

Temple

The District that adopted us. (Elder Davis and Elder Lindsay are standing, Front row: Elder Kerr, Elder Hangin, Elder Sant, Elder Hale)

Elder Eckblad (friend from BHS headed to Mexico)

Брат Seitz lookin ferocious

Me with Elder Logan Wilson (Friend and Lacrosse teammate from BHS)

Russian Hymnbook

I Believe in Christ

Time's A Flying!

So... Here's an update for the week. Last Tuesday was really cool... This story happened after I emailed you last week, so I wasn't able to tell you about it. So here goes. In the morning up at main campus, we met an Elder who was from Samara Russia! His name is Elder Blinkov, and he's going to the Melbourne, Australia Mission! He's traveling in a circle around the world. Well, we talked to him for a while and he told us that he was looking for Elders who were going to Samara. He knows how slow the mail is and wants to give some letters to people who will be in the mission office in Samara. His Dad works there. So we told him that the Zone Leaders from our branch were going to Samara, and he was really excited! He told us to look for him at the devotional that night, Tuesday night devotionals are in the Marriott Center. So I was pretty nervous that we wouldn't find him. That's a lot of missionaries in one place. So we got to the Marriott Center and the Sister who was ushering told us to go to the next portal because we would be in the middle, closer to the speaker. But we ignored her, and guess what? Literally the FIRST person we saw was Elder Blinkov. Man that was really cool. He also gave me a name of a member in St. Pete to find, I guess she helped him get his visa to come to the U.S. Wednesday I got to know a few of the Elders in the other districts better. Elder Hale went to Brighton and played soccer there. He's super cool. Elder Sant went to Colorado School of Mines for two years before his mission, and he loves it there. I just thought that was funny. On Friday we had Dino Night. It's where we go to the zone leader's dome and eat dinosaur fruit snacks in order of least dangerous to most dangerous. The order is: Apatasauraus, Stegosauraus, Triceratops, T-Rex, then Pteridactyl. I bet I butchered those spellings, but that's ok. That's fun. On Saturday we had a sweet lesson with our investigator Nikita. We didn't use any notes or anything and our teacher told us afterwards that it was like one of the best ever. It was so awesome to see my hard work pay off. Russian's coming. The grammar that scared me the first few weeks is now my favorite part. Reading and building my vocabulary are going to be the toughies. Sunday was a crazy day. We held a district meeting after lunch that I taught... I forgot to assign somebody else to do it. So I just talked about becoming a consecrated missionary, even though I was supposed to talk about baptism. I had to address some issues that we were having. Well, long story short I ended up crying at the end. Dang. My comp and I said the sacrament prayers in Russian also... that was an adventure. His ward did nearly everything the opposite that we do it, so we were totally out of sync. But it was ok. Our branch was given the opportunity to attend the Sunday Night Devotional on main campus, which was really cool. We sat four rows back from the front. I was looking for Elder Merrill the whole time (he's at main campus). The devotional ended and I was sad because I didn't see him. We stayed up there to watch the Character of Christ film again... I love that thing. AND GUESS WHO I SAW RIGHT BEFORE THE MOVIE STARTED!?!?!?!? GOOD OLE ELDER MERRILL! He screamed and jumped over his seat when he saw me, and I ran to him. It was so glorious. That's my week. Nothing too crazy going on in the bubble of the MTC located in the bubble of Provo. Love you guys!

Andrew

What's Up? Same Old MTC Here!

Sorry guys, no pictures again this week. I'm not going to lie, there's really nothing to take a picture of. I've gotten some good ones of my companion when he's asleep and things, but there isn't really much else to photograph. Seriously. Now I know why Elder Kelley just had quotes be his whole email during his MTC stay, some really cool things happen in the first few weeks and then it's all the same. Every day, same old same old. Not that it's bad here, it's just that it's always the same. So here are a few highlights then some funny quotes. Wednesday was actually pretty cool. We did this thing called TRC for the first time, it's where people come in and you teach them a lesson in Russian. Usually they are RMs, but sometimes they are real investigators. We taught Jeff, who got back from St. Pete in February this year. He was really cool, and he talked to us in english for a long time about how much fun we'll have. That was really fun. Also on Wednesday we (the Russians) started this thing called the "Tower Challenge" where we have to eat a whole tower of cereal in a meal. Usually breakfast. They have cereal in those huge tubes that dispense a bowl at a time. So we did that during breakfast on Wednesday, and by lunch every other missionary was doing it too. So then they started not filling up the cereal because we ate it so fast. So that was the end of that. We're trend-setters. Thursday was fun, we played volleyball at night and it turned into the Fellowship of the Ring vs. the Orks. I was Aragorn, the rightful king of Middle Earth. That was super fun. Friday I saw Elder Logan Wilson, his classroom is right beneath ours! I see him all the time. His companion is from France. Sunday is always good. During our sacrament meetings, we have two random talks that are given by missionaries in Russian. The Branch Presidency tries to rotate and not call on the same missionary twice, but Elder Davis has been called on THREE TIMES hahahah his district was doing the sacrament and the ones up at the table nearly lost it when they announced him as one of the speakers. Good times. Also on Sunday they have BYU Creamery Ice Cream for us, so that's really nice. The Sunday night fireside was by a guy named Ron Tanner. He's a film maker/producer/director I think and he played major roles in 17 Miracles and Ephraim's Rescue, not sure exactly what he did. I'll share more about that in one of my quotes. Oh also there is an Elder from Finland in our zone now, he speaks nearly perfect American English. Geez. Monday was alright. It was a great day until night gym... the spaniards (mostly going to Mexico City) decided they wanted to play with us. So there were like twenty people on each team. We were rotating though. But the bad part was that we had a ton of sisters on our team that like to play with us, and the spaniards were going sooo hard on their spikes and stuff. So we decided to wreck on them. I found their weak link when serving, probably scored 25 points in a row. No joke. then when they would serve it, if I was in the back row I would head it back and it was so sweet. I scored on every one, like 5 times. Then we dominated up front, Elder Jorgenson and I are a duo that is not to be trifled with. Anyways, enough of that. Now for some Quotes...

"It's like talking to nuns. It really is. But it gets better." -Elder Rawlings, one of the zone leaders, about talking to sister missionaries.

"Are there verbs in dictionaries?" -Elder Jaynes

"You are not 'guys', you are elders. 'Guys' are the ones at home dating your girlfriends." -Sister Roach, MTC Presidency wife, on our first day in our first meeting. 

"Listen to the promptings, then follow the promptings." -President Uchtdorf in a video we watched last Sunday night.

"Brethren, you may remove your coats." -The presiding authority. Some sweet, sweet words heard here not often enough.

"Hey look everybody, it's the missionaries!" -Elder Jorgenson, while we were having morning gym. It was funny because these guys were wearing suits but we weren't. Get it? Sometimes things are funny when they happen, but not so much after. Here's a great example.

"I'm from Boston, so I'm not from Utah." -Sister Rebentisch. She's a goof. 

"You can have a member of the Godhead with you at every lesson." -Brother Christiansen, one of our teachers. It's so true though. How many times have you thought about it like that? Having the spirit with you is sooo important during lessons. 

"9 hugs a day keeps the doctor away." -Elder Jorgenson. This guy's a hoot, you'll be hearing more from him.

"You thought I was kidding about my girlfriends? I asked over 10 girls to wait for me. Does that make me a bad person? Yes. Do I care? No." -Elder Jorgenson. I don't even know how this came up. I think he was reading a letter from one of these ten ("She's in the top two") out loud at lunch one day.

"Are we even allowed to watch this?!" "TORTURE!" "President Nally is shaking his head." -Elders and Sisters sitting around me at the Sunday night fireside. So this guy, Brother Tanner, talked for about ten minutes and then showed us a 25 minute trailer/teaser about Ephraim's Rescue and gave a nice plug for it at the end. So these quotes did NOT arise when we started watching this, it was when there was a romantical scene with some young love and kissing. Hahahah it was soooo funny. People were acting like kindergarteners. Haha it was great. I do suggest watching it though. I'll be watching it after all the cliffhangers we got. It looks really good.

Well, I love you all mutchers. I taught my first lesson in all Russian with no notes yesterday. Russian is coming, slowly but surely. I love it here. The spirit is so strong and I'm always surrounded by great people. Love You!

Andrew.... er.... Elder Gwilliam

Pictures!

My District (Grover, Rebentisch, Becker, Hansen, So, Gwilliam, Jaynes)

What we learn to say in Russian

Me with Elder Travis Chapman (a friend from the ward who is going to Finland)

Me with Elder Zach Davis (a good friend from BHS who is headed to Ukraine)

My Roomies

Guess which bed is mine? I bet you're wrong.

Our Countdown to Russia (My idea!)

Me with Elder Ogden (friend from BHS headed to Copenhagen)

Me with Elder Jewkes (also from BHS and headed to Copenhagen)

Me with my companion Elder Jaynes

The Provo Temple

WEEK NUMBERO DOS!

Hey family! How ya been? I've been pretty great here. Not much to complain about. Here's a quick overview of the week. Tuesday- P days are sooo busy. My goodness. We are always doing something. We had a nice devotional given by Elder Evans from the first quorum of the seventy (who also happens to be Parker's uncle). He did a really good job. Wednesday- Always a great day when you start off with morning volleyball. It's the best. I found out that our teacher, Brother Seitz, and Sister Rebentisch in my district had a class together over the summer, so that was funny. Thursday- Had a nice chat with an elder that's been here for about 7 weeks and he's gone bonkers. Mad. Mental. Whatever you want to call it. He's crazy.  Friday- Talked to Elder Sant from Elder Davis' district, he played lacrosse up in Colorado, near Denver. Convert of two years. He's really nice and super cool. Friday morning service at the Barbershop was fun. We learned that our "investigator" is really one of our teachers. He went to Russia, I really like him as well. Saturday- Can't go wrong with more beach volleyball. Oh yeah. I had a nice long interview with the zone leaders about sacrifice and just to see how I was doing. I really like them. They're such awesome Elders. That was the day of the storm, that was nuts. The rain was coming sideways and sometimes even up at our balcony. The next day it looked like a war zone, and according to our teachers all of Provo looked like that. We could hear the BYU cheers and announcements loud and clear. I started tuning them out becuase it was really distracting. Another funny thing on Saturday... Elder Jorgenson (been here about 6 weeks, going to Somara) was teaching a lesson and was trying to describe the Holy Ghost using a scripture. He wanted to use Helaman 5:30, but in Russian told the investigator to look up Helaman 6:30. Man it's classic. Soo worth a lookup. Sunday- Sundays are the best. Really. They're just so relaxing. I love em. A few interesting things from the day: Elder Hale's (from Elder Davis' district, man I wish I was with them) dad owns Hires Big H, so that's pretty sweet. I saw Elder Davis' dad driving around our domes. We were walking to sacrament meeting and he yelled at me to tell Zach hello. Geez. Please don't do that. Elder Davis was so glad that he didn't see them. There is an Elder here from the UK who is going to Boise. Ha.  A Sister in our district played the flute at the Sunday Night Devotional this week, she's going to be a pro... she's on scholarship at BYU for performing arts. You should all look up "Character of Christ" by Elder Bednar. It's a devotional that was given here at Christmas a few years ago, it's awesome. Best hour of screen time ever. Look it up and please send me a PDF of what he says... I want it :) Monday- I realized that I've got the greatest teachers ever. They're just so cool and I love em. A terrible terrible thing did happen last night though. As I'm sure you know, during gym time the Russians play volleyball. It's our thing. Well last week there were some Mexican Elders who wanted to play with us, so we reluctantly agreed. They were SOOO serious about it we were sad. We play becuase it's easy and we all get to crack jokes and laugh. They wanted to have teams of four, games to eleven and winner stays, loser leaves. We said no way so they all left really huffy and puffy like. So last night we showed up and they had a floodlight on the volleyball court (which is nice, it gets dark by our gym time) and we were so excited. But they had shown up THIRTY MINUTES EARLY to play volleyball and not let us join. So they left class all for forty-five minutes of competitive volleyball. What a joke. Well, I don't really have much more to say. Same old MTC grind. I'll have more interesting stories when I leave the bubble that is Provo. Love you all. Mutchers.

Andrew Gwilliam

Oh ps, the days are FLYING by now. It's sweet.

WEEK ONE!

Hello all! The MTC is great. Nothing bad goes on here. What an awesome place. So my companion's name is Elder Jaynes. He's from Bountiful, UT and we work well together. I keep him in the right place (he doesn't pay attention to important details, like where we live or where the classroom is) and he teaches me Russian (his sister-in-law is from Ukraine). I've only got one big complaint; everybody in my dome leaves the toilet seat up! It's so annoying! All of 'em. There's my companion and me and then another couple elders. Elder Gardner (from Perry, UT) who is a debater, and Elder Hoffman (Rexburg) who is artistic and loves compliments on his voice. We're at the west campus, which has been described to us as spirit paradise compared to the main campus (spirit prison) by the elders who moved here the day before we came.

So cool story time: my zone leaders came in the first night and talked to us. Elder Greenburg (a tall version of Nate Kelley, 24 years old from Georgia) and Elder Rawlings (19 from Idaho) picked me out right away and said that somebody in our zone knew me somehow, and they had huge smiles on their faces. They took us on a quick tour of campus, and we made a special stop at a classroom where I found... ELDER DAVIS!!!!!!!!! He's in my branch, so I see him all the time. Other Bingham sightings: Elder Adam Watanabe, Elder Nick Jensen, Elder Nate Hannay, Elder Brandon Mills, Elder Brandon Meldrum, Elder Travis Chapman, Elder Connor Mecham, and that's it. There's so much to say in so little time.

Second day we had a lesson taught to us by Brother Christensen from the District TV series, so that was cool. Then we met our Branch Presidency and I got called to be the District Leader, so that's cool. We met our teacher, Brother Seitz, who served in the Baltics Russian speaking. That reminds me, Elder Jaynes and I are the only ones in our zone going to St. Pete.... weird. He (our teacher) likes to give us quotes about how missionaries called to Eastern Europe are the cream of the crop, so we like that. I bore my testimony to our first "investigator" on Friday, and that was probably the most spiritual moment so far here. We had gym time Saturday morning. My zone plays a mean beach volleyball, it's awesome. SUnday was really relaxing, more so than P-day. Monday flew by! It was soo fast it was really scary! So today we went to the Temple, had breakfast there with Elder Davis and his comp. who's from Arizona and he's really cool. P-day is SOOOO busy. Not fair. Today we gave a blessing to a sister in our district who had a bad headache, and she's feeling good now, so that's a miracle. Miracles everywhere. My District! There are seven of us, two elders five sisters. Sister Grover and Sister Rebentisch from Colorado and Boston. And yes, she lets us know she's from Boston. Sister Becker (St. George), Sister Hansen (Layton), and Sister S. from Canada. She's Tongan with a long Polynesian last name. So that's cool. Card reader on this computer is not working, I'll send pictures next week. I'll also usually send some good quotes from the week, but I'm running out of time and don't want to break the rules. LOVE YOU ALL SOOO MUCH

Elder Gwilliam