Josh Mission Email Feb 9

Hi everybody!

I made it to Provo, and it’s weird to be back for sure. If any of you don’t know, the Missionary Training Center is in a bad part of town in an already sketchy city, but we’ve been thugging it out. If any of you do know Provo, 🤫.

Anyways, I got here on Wednesday after getting like 2 hours of sleep the night before but I was fine (at first). I met my companions are they’re both chillers. Elder Toganivalu is from Fiji and Elder Myllylä is from Finland. Introducing ourselves as a companionship is hilarious, they have to teach everyone to say their names and NOBODY can get it right, then there’s a flash of relief across their face when they see my name tag and go “Elder Banks!😃”. Elder Myllylä said I’m about 90% accurate with his name at this point, which is a huge win and the best out of anybody besides missionaries we run into going to Finland (cheaters)

Before I continue, I should go over the MTC life. We get up in the morning, have some lunch, and then do some studying. After that is a 3 hour class, which I thought would be hard to survive but it’s great. We eat lunch, have some free time, then go to a workshop. After that is another 3 hour class, then we have some chill time before bed. There are a few other one off things and activities and Sundays and Tuesdays are different too, but that’s the gist. Monday is my preparation day, in morning I’ll be going to the temple but after that I have a free afternoon. It’s a busy schedule, but I love it because I’m always doing something, everybody is engaged, and the teachers are phenomenal.

Having comps from outside the US is awesome, they had a good deal of medical and travel things to take care of so I get to tag along with them on all kinds of side quests. Elder Toganivalu is a beast, he had a tooth pulled and a root canal ON THE SAME DAY, and the only problem he had was not being able to eat out of one side of his mouth FOR ONE MEAL. We got to drive like 20 minutes outside the MTC for that too which was epic.

I’ve been fighting off a little sickness since last week, and on Thursday morning I woke up not feeling epic because I was super sleep deprived too. However, I began to fight it off by taking 5 NAPS IN ONE DAY. The ranking is as follows:

In the travel office while my comps dealt with visa stuff and took travel photos (fully laying down!)

On the couch at the endodontist’s office while Elder Toganivalu got a root canal (comfy 🤤)

During class with my head on top of a stack of Chinese books that was like 1 and a half feet tall (sorry Sister Porter)

At the BYU student health center while Elder Myllylä got some visa medical stuff (so close yet so far, miss yall)

MTC medical office while Elder Toganivalu got a tooth pulled (mid chair, people talking in the waiting room)

Everyone update me on the sports scores‼️ What happened in the super bowl, and how BYU is doing for everything. Rumor went around the dorms that BYU lost to Oklahoma State, if that’s the case just tell me our overall record, I do NOT wanna hear about that. 

Spiritual thought for you guys today comes from Nephi in the Book of Mormon and he quotes Isiah saying, “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation” (2 Nephi 22:2)

Being at the MTC has brought me such a great sense of purpose and so even though I’m not always doing the most exciting things, I know they have an inspired purpose and they have brought me real joy. I know life is the same, as we devote our time and energy and talents to the Lord we are able to feel fulfilled no matter what is going on in our lives.

Peace out, email me and I’ll for sure get back to you next P-Day! Classes fully in Chinese start later this week, send prayers.

Elder Banks