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.
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
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