Week 5

Annyeonghaseyo! Chal jeeneh seyo? (my romanization is terrible, just sound it out and you'll get it)

Only 3 1/2 more weeks left! I can't believe it, it's going by so fast. The MTC has been great though and I'm definitely convinced that this is the best time of year to be at the MTC. First, who likes March anyway, it's just a drab month - nothing even happens. So it was a good month to come here anyway, it made the month more exciting. Then, after a few weeks of being here, it was Easter. Seriously, there's no better place than the MTC to spend that holiday. No presents, no eggs, no candy, just the true meaning of that holiday - plus we had some awesome guest speakers (Bishop Causse and Sheri Dew, like I told you last week). So that was perfect. Then, just a week later was General Conference. As you all know, it was wonderful, but it was especially wonderful because so many talks were about missionary work - it's kind of like they directed their talks to the 65,000 current missionaries and 30,000 on the way. By the time I leave the MTC, the weather will be perfect in Korea and it'll be Mother's Day so I'll get to call home after being there for only a week. I'm telling you, this MTC stay is so perfectly timed, it's awesome. So now here I am, completely supercharged and pumped up about everything, and I only have a mere 3 1/2 weeks left - bring on Korea!

Elder Ruff, my temporary third companion, was supposed to leave today but he has been indefinitely put on hold. He's just waiting for them so decide when to send him, it could be tonight, it could be over the weekend, nobody knows. Hopefully it'll be sooner than later, I just feel so bad for him - having to stay here while he knows he could've been in Vancouver already. It's been great having him here though, he's been a huge help with all of our Korean and a good addition to our clan of Elders. Don't worry mom, we'll take a picture. About pictures, I'm sorry for not sending them. It's just that whenever we come to the computer lab to write emails, it's so spur of the moment and I never have my camera with me. I just need to carry it around with me all day on P-days so I'll have it ready whenever we come to the lab. I'm taking pictures though, don't worry - these things are being documented.

Korean is fun, the MTC is fun, everything here is just such a good time. The food is fine, I don't know why people complain about it. Also, I realized another contribution to why people gain weight here in the MTC. While we all have gym everyday, "gym" is a very flexible word. Most people just play four square, half court basketball, or volleyball. In other words, they all just stand around. Luckily, the Korean Elders are deciding to get "fit" instead of "fat" in the MTC and most of us opt to going to the fitness center instead of the big gym. The fitness center is great. It has dumbells, benches, lots of weight lifting machines, and a cardio theater where we can watch mormon messages on the big screen while running on ellipticals or biking on the spin bikes. I have all those movies memorized by now, but it's great watching them everyday. The best one is definitely the father one, it's just so applicable, powerful, and the examples in it are perfect. My favorite part is the quote at the end by the Quorum of the 12 Apostles where it says that out of all of the titles of diety and power, God has asked that we refer to him as father. But yes, I'm definitely getting fit instead of fat - anyone care to guess how much weight I've lost? Send me a guess in your letters, I'll reveal the number next week, it'll be competition. Winner gets a signed picture of me hahaha. Okay, partly kidding, but partly serious.

Anyway, I've got to go. But I love hearing from you all! Here's a heads up though - if you wrote a DearElder to me, be sure to include your address so I can write you back! Some of you didn't and I don't know how I'm going to answer all of your questions because I don't know where to send the letters haha. But again, friends and family, thanks for all of your support, jokes, stories, and encouragement that you've sent me in your letters.

Kayseyo! Elder Graf