One last pic before he left. PS Can you tell who is older and by how much?
At the airport
I wish I would have posted sooner. I should already be fired. I started a new exercise program that is kicking my butt and taking over my life. I'm even dreaming about it! Anyway, Ethan's setting apart was beautiful. The spirit was strong and kleenex box was in good use. We all received confirmation that Ethan is making the right choice if we hadn't already. I hate not having him to text to throughout the day as I am sure many of you understand. I hear things or see things I want to share with him but have to stop myself. It'll take some getting used to.
He made it out after a long delay on Wednesday at the airport, and is happy, safe and doing wonderful things already. He gave me permission to share his letter so enjoy:
Bonjour ma famille et mon ami! (Hello my family and friends)
Well, today is my first half P-day! Woah this week has been very crazy. After the plane was late we had to wait until 12:30 to get the next shuttle and wait for another missionary to come. So I didn't even get to the MTC until 1:30 that day. We went througha ll of these lines to get all of our stuff and nametags. Which, by the way, now says that I am Elder Kirkpatrick Eglise de Jesus-Christ des Saints des Derniers Jours! I honestly can't even remember absolutely everything that has been going on the last couple of days, it has been a very crazy blur. There were so many new missionaries that arrived on my day, that we had to go to a bigger room for the greeting with the mission presidency. This is the largest group that they have had all year. Not only that, there are so many French missionaries. I was very surprised. I guess this is the largest zone of French missionaries that they have had in two years, there are about 100 total French missionaries. 10% of all the new missionaries came into our zone. There are missionaries going to Paris, Toulouse, Geneva Switzerland, Tahiti, Montreal, and Cote d'Ivorie. In my district, there are 8 of us going to Toulouse and then three missionaries going to Cote d'Ivorie (The Ivory Coast in Africa). There is a secret joking rivalry between the Paris missionaries and the Toulouse missionaries. They call us the Toulosers and we call them the Parasites. My companion is Elder Wahlquist, and he is actually from this area of Utah, as are a lot of the missionaries here. He is a lot of fun and a really nice guy, we are getting along very well. So in addition to being a new missionary wandering around not knowing anything, I was called as District Leader on Thursday night. Ahh! I definitely was not expecting that. So, that means I get to pick up the mail (what an honor) and basically go to a bunch of extra meetings on Sunday and throughout the week. Yeah.... I'm sure it will be a blessing for me in the end.
The French is going to be quite a challenge and is going to take a lot of prayer and hard work. I am so surprised walking around our floor in our residence hall just hearing all of these missionaries speaking French to each other and they have only been here after six weeks. But it isn't overly surprising since, by the second day, all of our prayers need to be in French! That was quite a surprise and has been very good, I'm still trying to work on doing it without my notes to help me with guidance... I'm sure I will be able to do it, it's just a rather daunting task ahead of me. My companion and I like to use the phrase: Accorde-moi le don des langues, or grant me the gift of tongues. That is definitely in my prayers a lot!
Saturdays are not our usual preparation day but since it is our first week they gave us today as the P-day for all new missionaries. Our typical P-days will be on Fridays so I can answer my emails on that day while I am doing laundry or something. Oh and the best way to send me letters throughout the week, rather than email, is using DearElder.com, at least for the 9 weeks that I am at the MTC. You can go online and write the letter and they send it to us for free and we can have a hard copy while we are sitting down to write our emails. Send me letters, I want to hear from you all!
The MTC is truly a spiritual place, I have never seen so many young men so committed to the gospel and learning a new language. You sit out in the courtyards and hear so many crazy languages. My companion and I were doing companion study last night and two missionaries going to Russia (which they have to be at the MTC for 12 weeks... yikes!) came up and bore their testimony to us in Russian. It was amazing and very cool to hear that. I have not seen Ladd or Brian while I have been here but I have seen Harrison on multiple occasions... I mean Elder Budge.
Well, my time is quickly running our on my computer (we only get thirty minutes) and I just want all of you to know that I love each and everyone of you and that you have all been great supports and examples to me in my life. This is not going to be easy but I know that I can do it will the help of our Savior and Holy Ghost for guidance, direction, and most importantly help with the language (I'm going to need it). Once again, I love you all and can't wait to hear from you! Au revoir!
With love,
Elder Kirkpatrick
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