Elder in England: Week 1: Made it to the England MTC!

(Dear friends and family - his email has not been working until today. Here is letter and pictures from his first week at the MTC in Preston, England.)

July 9, 2014

Hellloooooo!!!!!!

Sorry I haven't been able to respond to any of your emails till now, today's my one and only Preparation Day here at the MTC.

The trip to England went pretty well - I was able to meet up with another missionary as soon as I got to the gate (remember the Deatons that told us their missionary was going on the same flight?), and a lot of people talked to us while we waited.

One family came by and gave us some pass-along cards, which I realized I'd never seen or used before, and a returned missionary came by and talked to us for a while about his experience coming into the mission field - he accidentally drank beer on one of his first days. Whoops.

The flight to Chicago went well, I got to nap for a bit and have fun talking to the person sitting next to me. They didn't have all the missionaries sit together, so we just sat wherever our tickets told us to. I was able to get a little sleep while we were flying, so that was nice. We got to the Chicago airport, and a family we'd been talking to in Salt Lake offered to take some pictures for us and showed us how to get to the next terminal. Once we found the terminal, we decided we'd go ahead and call our families and then eat. We then found another missionary going to England, so we sat with him till it was time to board.

The plane we took going to England was HUGE. Usually, whenever I'm taking a plane somewhere, I'm taller than the entrance and have to crouch to get in the door and as I walk up and down the aisles. I could actually stand all the way up in this plane. While we were flying the 7 hours to Manchester, they played movies, brought you food for dinner and breakfast, and helped you fill out a landing card (for US citizens). I tried to sleep on the way there but I just couldn't fall asleep. We got to the airport after a while, and we were able to get through immigration without much of a problem, so we just got to sit and wait for a while for all the other missionaries to arrive.

After everyone was finally there, we got onto the "coach" (bus) and headed out for the MTC. I forgot what some of these high school kids were like. They're super hyper-active, loud, don't care what anyone thinks about them, and like to have fun.

We got to the MTC, and I honestly don't remember too much of what we talked about that day. All I remember is a little bit of what the MTC Presidency told us, and then falling asleep through pretty much every meeting I went to. After our meetings, we got sorted into companionships and districts, and we got everything put away in our rooms. It's been a little difficult trying to get everything sorted and trying to keep to the schedule, but I think it's been getting better as the days have gone by. After we finished everything up for the day, we went to bed. I think that was one of the best nights' sleep I've ever gotten.

I've been having a good time while I've been here at the MTC. I'm loving the lessons we're learning, the teachers are a LOT of fun, role playing with investigators has helped a bunch, and the food is good. They're taking us to Manchester tomorrow to contact real people (YIKES), so wish me luck!

You were right that they like gravy and that it can sometimes be a little bland or tasteless, but they've started giving us some food that's a little more American, so that's good. I found out they give gargantuan cupcakes to people when it's their birthday, so I'll try to have someone take pictures tomorrow. Nobody celebrated the 4th of July over here - surprise surprise - but just for fun, the kitchen staff made barbecue chicken and apple pie for dinner. Then the MTC President came into the cafeteria with a big American Flag and put it front and center. We also sang a few patriotic hymns for our district meetings, which was fun (our district is becoming known for their horrible, loud, incessant singing).

My companion's name is Elder Rammell, and he was called as District Leader a day into our stay here. It's been interesting being the leading companionship for our district because I always seem to be running behind schedule and Elder Rammell always seems to be the crazy excited one, but we're having fun with it and learning a bunch.

I was feeling pretty overwhelmed my first day in the MTC because I was just so exhausted, lost, and confused, but things have gotten better since then.

Tell everyone I said hi! You can tell everyone that I'm doing great, that I'm learning a whole bunch, and that I'm excited to go out and serve in the mission field!

Thanks mom and dad - thank you so much for helping me get here and be who I am. I will always be grateful for my family.

Love, Elder McOmber