Elder Taylor Soper: 1st letter from the MTC!

Manahoana Fianakaviana!

Sorry, I won't have too much time to email at all because of time constraints for my first P-day, but I'll get some of the highlights of especially the first day. Whew! I made it! Man, it was hard to say goodbye. I love you guys so much! I hated looking at your faces before I turned around and got started. But, now it's all just good memories, and homesickness isn't a problem, just tough to not reminisce. Anyway, I had an ironic start to the MTC. When I got to my dorm, I did a little celebration with my host missionary, Elder Roota. I lifted up one of my hulking luggage bags and threw out my back, or pinched a nerve, I dunno! I had to arch my back forward for all of Wednesday and part of Thursday morning. Every movement was ridiculously painful, but I thought, "If I can get through this, that's actually a good start to the MTC, to overcome a trial early-on." It took me 'til about 2:30 AM to get to sleep the first night, a little tough to function the next day.

However, I'm loving the MTC! It's what I pictured, a lot of walking, a lot of sitting and a lot of numb bums. Gosh! There's so much to say, but so little time! My companion is named Elder Schnoor, from Canada. I actually found him on Instagram before I came to the MTC! At first, I was a little worried, couldn't tell if he was just aloof or shy. But that wasn't the case, he was just nervous and a little apprehensive. Now, we love each other! He's pretty business and obedience oriented, but that's really good for me. When we first met, we had a little 30 minute Malagasy lesson with our teacher, Brother Christiansen. We're Bro C's first students at the MTC ever, but he seems like a master teacher, very understanding, yet pushes us. The language is coming along super well! I can pray, bear my testimony and say "Wazzup, how's the kids? How's the wife? Want a tummy rub?"

Next, we finally got to meet the other Elders in our branch back at our residence, the best part. We are part of the Islanders branch, so we're with the Elders going to Fiji and Tonga. There's quite a few older missionaries: gigantic Tongans, Australians with crazy vocabulary, straight up wackos and more. But I love 'em! It honestly is so much fun! I'm in the same room as the new zone leaders, and that has really helped to get connected to everybody. The zone leaders are Elder Simiskey=perfect missionary, Elder Ramon (Australian)=probably my best new friend besides Elder Schnoor. We joke around a ton. I've done my best to be as jokey as possible while making sure it's still all obedient weirdness. The Tongans like me a lot for some reason probably because I told them about the "Ripping My Butt" story, heh. They kind of treat me like a mascot, but I enjoy it!

Man, I have so much more to tell you! I was made district leader over the Haitian-Creole and Malagasy speaking missionaries, so I have some mandatory meetings and initiatory duties I need to fulfill that take some time, sorry! I'll reply to the personal notes next week, and I'll make sure to reply to the new ones too!! I love all of you so much! Here are some bullet points of what I need to tell you next week! I have a few crazy stories I need to tell you too! Fantatro fa noho ny marina ny filazantsaran'i Jesoa Kristy!