I Love My District!

This week in the MTC was pretty eventful.  On Wednesday our district was asked to host new missionaries that were arriving.  It was intense.  Ideally, the Host/new missionary ratio is supposed to be 1:1... but there are so many coming in now that school is getting out, that many of us had to double up.  So I carried hundreds of pounds of suitcases all day.  Probably the best workout I've gotten in a month.  Many parts during the hosting session, the new missionaries have to leave their bags with the host, and go through buildings, meeting the host (with the luggage) at the other end.  So I would have to run like six different luggage items around to the other end of this massive building, I was sweating buckets.  After completing a hosting session, I would have to literally sprint back to the drop off curb and get more missionaries.  I love the job though... it gets us out of class.  J 

 

Every one here thinks I'm so old, and then they freak out when I tell them I'm only 18.  People always think Elder Christensen and I are in our 20's.  Sometimes we just go with it.

 

Elder Christensen had his 19th birthday on June 6th, and we had a nice little party for him.  His family sent him a cake and balloons and stuff. 

 

This week I was assigned as the District leader for the Cambodians...over 15 of elders and sisters.  Yes, there are sisters in my district...like 8 I think.  I'm a little nervous about "being in charge" because I'm #1 The youngest... and #2 Everyone else has lived away from home for significant amounts of time, many in foreign countries like china.  And #3…  I never considered myself as much of a leader.  Not to mention that we have the biggest district on main MTC campus.  My district is bigger than 90% of the ZONES here, so basically I have to run a zone. I've been stepping up my game a ton because of the new assignment.  I have to schedule so much more, conduct meetings everyday, and interview missionaries, attend a ton of leadership meetings... Its great J.   The best part is the opportunity I have to serve my fellow Cambo's whom I love and respect a lot.  These Elders and Sisters are prepared and everyone is unique with their own strengths and talents.

 

An elder in my district has his mom send us anything and everything we could possibly want or think of.  So far Elder Medley's mom has sent us: Kites, tons of food, snap-backs, superhero T-shirts, watches, cologne, pens, paper, you name it.  We will get another "shipment" this week.

Today we got up early and went to the temple. It was great, I like the Provo Temple.  Yesterday, Sunday, we had a temple walk before dinner.  I like the temple walks because no one is in a hurry and its a good time to meet new people and find out where others will be serving.

So the beach house is coming up, or already started? It’s cool that everyone is able to make it this year (besides Roddy and me). Be sure to send me pictures of what’s going on, especially the big Zierenberg Family photo.

 

Does everybody know an Eric Mika who played Basketball for BYU? Anyways, he's here and we see him all the time. We share the same residence building and have similar schedules.  Also, one of my favorite Cambodian teachers, Lookru Stevens (previously our investigator Sokhaa) from Burbank, Ca...  He is a men's fashion design major who graduated from BYU, he played soccer for BYU a few years ago...his name is Kory Stevens. He has a men's clothing company called "Taft clothing" or something like that. He's married with one kid, and is fluent in Khmae.  We also got a new teacher this week named Lookru Mickelson.  Super nice guy, super excited for us, we love him.  So now we have four RM teachers, all elders who served in Cambodia.

 

On Wednesday, the new Thai elders and sisters arrived, so we challenged them to a district vs. district Kickball match on Friday.  I guess our Cambodian district is super intimidating, because the Thai's were too scared and refused to play us after having accepted the challenge the day before.  I can understand why they would be scared...We have Elder Medley who played Varsity Basketball in Arizona, Elder Christensen who is super athletic and amazing at every sport, Elder Paramore who was a state champ wrestler in Oregon, Elder Eliason who swam for BYU, Elder Neuberger who used to play in the BYU kickball league, Elder Le Nguyen who everybody loves, Elder Yu who is pretty athletic and a little baller on the court, and myself.  I love my district.

 

Yesterday for our Sunday devotional, Brother Heaton from MTC administration spoke to us on the law of Chastity.  It was super good, and he taught us how best to teach it to our investigator in the mission field. He also taught us about the sacredness and what God thinks about the law of chastity. I enjoyed it.

Now that I'm the District Leader, I get to bear my testimony all the time to my district. My Kmhae is continually improving and we're beginning to read the script.  The Holy Ghost is strengthening us and helping us learn at an incredible rate. I'm grateful for the MTC and the spiritual power it gives missionaries as they prepare to serve.  I love all you guys and the support and the letters.  Thank you so much!

Love Elder Zierenberg