Penguins of Madagascar had it right--Zoom meetings do be a lot like Benny C. talking to Dave the Octopus
August 14, 2023
大家好 ! How is everybody doing? Time goes by so fast! It seems like only
yesterday I was surrounded by friends and family, and now here I am
"out" in the work surrounded by leftover cans of ginger ale and an empty
box of Cap'n Crunch (just getting prepped for Provo).
Home
MTC has been a real treat! ...as in, I've had as many treats as I can
during all the 10-min breaks in classes. I've been sitting in the same
swivel chair for eight hours a day, and on Saturday my b*tt finally
cried for mercy so I moved to my dark green villain chair. I feel so
much more powerful already. My bed sheets have made a cool little
waterfall shmear from me rolling out of bed somewhat conscious in the
morning to paddle some pickleball, AND for the first time in this
dispensation, the floor of my room is clean! God is good everyone!
I
met all the other elders in our district (there are no sisters, oddly
enough) and they are all such bros. We've had a lot of awesome
discussions while reading in the scriptures and Preach My Gospel, as
well as a lot of slideshows that say "rules, rules, rules, and more rules," etc. We've already experienced tragedy and heartache as one of
the Elders passed on this week (R.I.P. Elder Whitehead, *sniff* we know
you're in a place now, a better MTC district. Your 2 classes with us
will always be in our hearts).
My companion is
Elder Sheffield, a California jazz trombonist who will serve in the Utah Ogden Mission!!? Wild. We're gettin' along pretty well. We taught a
lesson on Friday--our calendar had a "helping others" link to an MTC web
page with a bunch of names, bios, and train.mtc emails, and I thought,
"Okay, this will be cool, giving lessons with MTC people to practice for
lessons with real investigators." . . . and then we were teaching a REAL
INVESTIGATOR!?!? They talked about their family situation and their
school projects and their move from out-of-state and how some family
tension prompted them to look into the religion around here, and it
seemed waaaay more legit than I thought. I still have n o i d e a
whether those are real investigators or MTC trainers that are realllly
good actors. 'Tis a mystery. [Editor's note: they are real.]
While still on the
topic of gospel stuff, I have a story! So there I was sittin' in class
and an elder or two was talking about how wicked the world was, or how
they needed to stop thinking about "worldly" things, and then I thought
"hey wait a minute..." and I thought up this neat ol' analogy about how
the world is kinda like a big kingdom that's just under the heavy,
oppressive influence of "Prince John," if you will. Everyone has a
different social or economic status (serfs, servants, soldiers, squires,
dukes, etc.) and it is true that we do see a lot of people who give
in to the influence of "Prince John" (I mean if the adversary had a voice like Peter Ustinov's in the Disney retelling, I would be pretty
tempted), but I don't think we pay attention to how many good people
there are who are just waiting and hoping for something to turn around
in the current monarchy. I think the church is kinda like all the people
who remember "King Richard" and know that he's coming back to kick out
the current throne-holder. But I don't think that diminishes the good in
all the others who are waiting to hear the good news--otherwise I think
missionary work would be pointless if "the world" was just completely
corrupt.
That's all I got. Amen. Have a fantastic week everyone and stay cool!
Love you all!
-Elder Baer
PICTURES!
Home MTC - Evan in his swivel chair.
. . . and in his wingback chair
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