"More of a Frat House than College"

 [Subject Line brought to you by at least two MTC teachers]

September 25, 2023

你們星期一快樂！Happy Monday Everyone!! Hope the weather is as good where you are as it is here.

Also, Happy Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement! I can't tell if that started last night or if it starts this evening, but I was reading about it a little in the Bible Dictionary under "Fasts." There's a lot of scripture in Leviticus that I don't quite understand a lot, but I think the symbolism of the sacrificed and freed lambs or "scapegoats" are really interesting, especially seeing how they line up with this autumn season and how much these symbols say about Christ and his atoning sacrifice for all of us. Definitely take a look at it if you have a minute.

We taught our friend Caleb again this week! This one was really rough, we couldn't understand what he was saying most of the time, and then we didn't deliver a super coherent lesson about prayer. It made for a good conversation to practice Mandarin though!

Elder Nash and his wife were our guest speakers this Tuesday. His wife started talking about increasing missionary effort. Elder Nash started talking about our identity (see Pres. Nelson's May 2022 Devotional) and then about the missionary identity and then about inviting and then about opposition and then about choices and then about the law system and the gospel. (It's incredible how much knowledge you can share by going 30 mins over.)

. . . Alright, I'll be honest, I didn't have the greatest attitude going into this one. Something about the way the speakers started off just made me tired all over. I also felt a little bit at times like I was listening to a sermon I'd heard ten times over. Once I started focusing in and out of what he was saying, I started learning a lot more. It ended up being a real good talk though, some things that hit me a little harder were:

-- Opposition isn't always just good vs. evil. There's opposites in a lot of good as well. The opposites of fire and water are both essential for baptism. The opposites of Night and Day are both good (as is the Cole Porter favorite of the same name). Opposition isn't always "bad."

-- Justice often has a bad connotation, but I have to remember that if there's no justice, there's no good consequences for good choices. I am so grateful that there is an eternal law of Justice along with Mercy.

- The missionaries aren't here to force conversion, rather the missionary's job is to enable someone to use their agency even more. After hearing from the missionaries, there is more opportunity to choose for yourself what to follow. After all, that's why we're all here, because we value the right to choose.

. . . aaaaand that's the end of MY sermon that y'all have heard ten times over (amen).

One of the windows broke on our floor! I thought at first someone had thrown something at it, but the custodial staff refuted that, saying there was a bird right below the window. I have a hard time imagining a bird shattering the whole pane of glass, but I suppose those government spies have their ways.

 

 

We've become the buzzards of our residence hall from the way we collect things from other districts who leave. The spoils have been astounding though! Often we get a couple packaged foods, but the highlight from this week is the Tech-Deck skatepark that someone handed over to us. Didn't make for the best study session that day, but it did make for the best kick-flips.

 

 

Yet another favorite quote from the so-called "Frat House" this week: "Shadow boxing tonight on floor 2, boys! You gotta bring coleslaw if you want in."

Yesterday I got the wonderful opportunity of playing piano accompaniment in sacrament meeting. . . after being asked 40 minutes earlier if I could do so. I suppose sight reading could be considered a form of personal revelation "line upon line."

This morning we did a big MTC Cleanse to prep for CONFERENCE ! ! ! ! It was kind of strange wearing casual P-day clothes in buildings where that usually wouldn't fly. As is often the way with group service, the first half was a lot of us helping out with one specific thing (cleaning the bathroom stall doors in this case) while the second half consisted of us standing around not knowing how to help since everything was being done already. 

Celestial Cleaning Kickoff

 We got to deep clean some other things too, specifically Elder Boyle's batch of clothes when he started the washer this morning with my companion's laundry net & half-full bag of tide pods in as well. Whatever sins were on those shirts definitely aren't there anymore.

 

That's all I got so far. I hope all of you have a great week and a Fantastic Conference Weekend!! I'm really looking forward to watching that with you here from the MTC!

Love you all!

-Elder Baer

 

More photos:

 

Brother Birch in thoughtful contemplation

Sister Hutchison with Elders Hart, Baer, Sheffield, Logan, and Elder Biggs

 

 

Cafeteria food.  'Nuff said.

 

 

 Autumn in Provo and snow on Timpanogos

 

Time In a Bottle (a Chocolate Milk Bottle)

[A reference from the title.]

September 18, 2024

Hǎo dì !

Have the trees changed color in Cache Valley? They're just starting to change on the tops of the mountains here.

It turns out all the days are now just copy and paste here. And yet there are still a couple cool things that happen like such as:

While at the MTC, my companion and I have made a new friend named Caleb! He's mucho fluent in mandarin has some ties to Hong Kong and told us about a "thundering typhoon" that's happened recently there. Never a fun thing. We had an appointment with him earlier last week and then saw him at lunch on Wednesday! He's a really fun, chill dude!

Elder Nattress was our Tuesday Devo speaker, his talk was awesome! (Even with the last name of Nattress he didn't put everyone to sleep ;)  His talk from this last April General Conference is really good as well. One thing that really struck me was a phrase he used, "If you are the only convert of your mission, then your mission is a smashing success." That was really nice to hear among a lot of talk in the church about mission "numbers."

I was standing in line yesterday waiting for an almost taco salad (they ran out of tortilla chips) and I look up and standing before me is the man himself, J. B. Haws just dishing out tortillas like there's no tomorrow. I had a very short chat with him which was cool! Y'all need to check out his epic talk, "Wrestling With Comparisons." Honestly one of the best messages I've heard.

We said goodbye to our good Portuguese neighbors in Residence 2. It's always sad to dap up the boys for the last time. Their legacy will live on, as will the size 13 black leather slippers they gave us with the blue stitching and zippers on the sides.

I met my companion's cousin at the MTC right now. He bestowed the gracious gift of even more Hi-Chews. (Big W!) As I was walking out, I ran into Elder Turner from Providence! He just got out of a 5-day quarantine 'cuz he had the dreaded Covid. He also gave us a friendly warning about the tickle monster that's been roving around at nights preying on the exposed toes of the innocent (this is why you never sleep with the dogs out) No one knows who it is though. . . Elder Turner suspects it might even be him

I played piano for devotionals - one for the new senior missionaries and one for the missionaries who have been here waaaay too long. No one knew the hymn and the screens only showed one verse, but I couldn't see them, so all 700 of us got to sing verse one three times over. Pretty epic!

I forgot my book of wisdom/study while writing this email, so I don't have a lot of neat insights to share. However, I do know that there is symbolism everywhere* that points to Jesus Christ. Look for Jesus in everything and He'll show Himself to you.

Stay cool Everyone! Lock your doors folks, stay safe from the tickle monster. And, I hope you have a great week! Stay cool!

Love you all!

--Elder Baer

*[A Baer family favorite BYU devotional -- start at minute 18:40 for more insights about what Evan is referencing.]

PHOTOS:

Once upon a Mattress?

Squaw Peak

Censorship of Winnie the Pooh in China

A missionary's best friend!

Elder Biggs

The District

Elders Sheffield, Logan, Hart, [Portuguese Elder], Baer, Biggs, Groscost

Celebrity Central

September 11, 2023

你们好！How's everyone doing!  

I hear the harvest is bountiful and abundant these days! Y'all gotta tell me how all the garden fruit tastes. It's been so long at the MTC with cafeteria, and I can't remember the taste of strawberries anymore...

Anywho! This week has been a weird mix of living the exact same (almost boring) class schedule every day while also meeting every local big name I can think of! Some highlights include the following:

We got a new teacher, Brother Birch. He's a really quirky dude but he speaks Chinese really well and he has silly games where losers do pushups.

We rolled up to our weekly Tuesday Devotional to find out Elder GARY E. STEVENSON was speaking to us! *faints* His wife talked about work ethic and how someone's shoes can say a lot about them, their attitude, and their experience. Elder Stevenson (or "Gare Bear" as a district member once said) talked a lot about MTC history, and then about the first lesson, and then about pairing scriptures with handbooks, and then he ran out of time to speak. Kinda abrupt for a devotional, but we got a good random slideshow out of it along with a bunch of shout-outs to Cache Valley, more specifically Providence, more specifically the Stevenson's ward near Foxridge. It's interesting to see how different devotionals are with different speakers. This was a really good devotional, although it felt a little less personal and intimate as when Elder Godoy came last week and told jokes and messed around with what was showing on screen.

We went on a wild goose chase when our district leader got a text, out of the blue, from a missionary friend that said Chick-fil-a was being brought by within 20 minutes. This was pretty good news! . . . except the MTC doesn't want missionaries bringing food from outside, so we all took a hike outside the MTC gates to look for a Doordash driver who had Chick-fil-a. We then had to find a way to sneak some nugs into our bags, and then we proceeded to take turns chugging a large, VERY potent lemonade. We then needed to find the nearest garbage can for the lemonade cup, which turned out to be up the hill right in front of the temple doors (noice).

 

 

I found out that one of the counselors from Scout camp at camp New Fork was a Mandarin class supervisor here! . . . And then I found out that he quit a couple days later :(

Elder Groscost generously attempted to give me a wet willy with Vasoline. I was unharmed in the incident, and I now know the Lord does deliver his people.

Sunday was, if you'll pardon my language, b*tt-fre*king wild!!! [Editor's note:  we blame Lauren for instructing Evan in this gross abuse of our mother tongue.]  We got a bunch of Elders in our branch this week so we had our priesthood meeting before our sacrament meeting to get a bigger space for everyone. Right before priesthood meeting I found out I was playing keyboard for sacrament meeting. Right before sacrament meeting I found out I was playing an additional rest hymn. Right before the rest hymn I found out that the hymn number was suddenly changed. I found out during the final hymn that "Count Your Many Blessings" has 4 verses, not 3. That made for kind of a train-wreck at the end there, but it wasn't too bad. Then the train crashed and blew up entirely (as in the style of Lawrence of Arabia or The General) when the branch president called me up to illustrate that we all make mistakes and we need to see past them. He unintentionally illustrated this further by consistently calling me "Elder Kealey."

 

I looked over my shoulder at lunch and happened to see BONNIE H. CORDON eating two tables away. *double faint* Apparently she just works here now!?! Crazy.

 

We then received word that instead of another Sunday night devo from the Mission Pres, we were getting a "musical fireside" with the JENNY OAKS BAKER Family!! *faint hat-trick* The instrumentation was really nice, the music was overall good, and any time one of the family was at the mic it was a little more difficult to relate. It was still good though. . . it made me really grateful for all of you epic friends and family members.

 

 

 

I'm sure I've chewed your ear off too much already (Mike Tyson style) but I got one more thing that I gotta share! This Friday, Saturday, and Sunday is Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah (also called the "Feast of Trumpets" or the "Day of Remembrance") is a Jewish Holiday where the Jews remember God by turning to him in prayer asking that God will remember his covenant to re-gather his people, Israel. It was during Rosh Hashanah in 1827 that the Angel Moroni* gave Joseph Smith the Golden Plates* to translate. There's this REALLY cool article I found that you can read below that goes into more depth about it. This weekend, I invite y'all to join in the celebration by doing one thing to help in the Gathering of Israel. Whether that be through proxy temple work, family history research, or helping our neighbors and friends, you and I can be an answer to prayer and fulfill God's promises by continuing our part in the great Gathering.

You can read more about the connection between this Judaic festival and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2000/01/the-golden-plates-and-the-feast-of-trumpets?lang=eng

I hope all of you have a fantabulous week! And I hope the harvest is good to you this year! 

Love you all!

 

--Elder Baer

 

 *Evan shared his love for the art of Jorge Cocco Santangelo in his call home this week

 

More PHOTOS:

 

Sleeping pranks on Elder Hart

 

Sleeping pranks on Elder Logan

Chapter 4, in which Elder Baer gives a rather detailed account of serious and not-so serious matters in an effort to illustrate how the Mission Training Center is, in fact, quite "dope."

 September 4, 2023

Happy Labor Day Everyone! How is the day off of. . . whatever you're doing?

As the weeks go by at yon Missionary Training Center, I'm continually amazed at how cool my district is. All the Elders in room 217 are real Renaissance Men. Elder Groscost played football for Alta, rocked a blond fro, and has D&D experience? Crazy! Elder Biggs was a baseball star and crushed the AP Calc test? Bonkers! Elder Sheffield lived in China and Switzerland? Wild! Elder Hart takes cello from BYU professors? Big Flex! Elder Logan has an associates degree and had sponsorship in boogie-boarding competitions? That's not even the half of it! 

I'm also continually amazed at the things one can witness at the MTC, such as the following (grab some popcorn and snacks if you need):

--I've been getting up for morning runs with Elder Groscost (he and Elder Logan are workout champs). This morning we saw a deer, a stray housecat, and a legit owl all on campus. Just goes to show, you never know "who" will want to meet with the missionaries. Could've been a great teaching opportunity if we knew the language.

--The difference in Sunday Devotionals vs. the Tuesday Devos? Wild! Tuesday Devos are basically epic conference talks directed to the missionaries from General Authorities of the Church. Sunday Devos are like gospel thoughts from the MTC president, but they're always introduced via presentations about his personal life; highlights include film from high school football career and a live Heisman pose on stage. Highlights also include our good Cantonese Elders likening the scriptures and "taking by stratagem" in chess.

 

--We got a lil' talking to after we all showed up 10 mins late to watch an epic arm wrestle between Elder Logan and an Australian Elder. 100% worth it.

 

 

--My companion ordered a mini mah-jhongg set that arrived this week. Facebook Marketplace really coming in clutch.

a

--I was writing in my journal one night when I heard a bunch of gut-busting yelling coming from somewhere on the floor above. That's right y'all, the bros upstairs doing the HAKA!! I think there was a big district of Elders from New Zealand heading out, so I'm guessing that was their goodbyes. One of the most rad things I've heard at the MTC (in addition to the organ hymns at Devos)

--All the Elders at the MTC on Fast Sunday? You'd best believe the line for dinner gets  w i l d ! The poor people serving in the cafeteria, trying to hold down Gondor under siege.

--I was sitting in sacrament meeting yesterday and our branch president asked some of the other branch presidency members to bear their testimonies. Mark and Sheri Nyman are switching out of our branch. But the CRAZIEST thing happened when he got up to bear his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It felt like I had a sixth sense flip on, where I could feel so strongly that the spirit of the Lord was upon him, almost to the point of seeing it. My physical eyes obviously just saw him, the pulpit, and the blank wall behind him, but I guess my "spiritual eyes" if you will could discern that there was power in the room. There's one more testimony that the Holy Ghost is manifested in innumerable ways.

I hope all of you have a fantastic holiday to enjoy the fruits of your labors, and a flipping good week! Love you all!

--Elder Baer

 

PHOTOS:

  More wildlife on MTC campus?

 

The district -- unity is lookin' good

Teacher, Elders Biggs, Hart, Groscost, Sheffield, Logan, Baer

 

Items for improvement

[Who puts chocolate milk in the irons?!?]