Tate-MTC week 7

 Nyob Zoo Nej!!!! 

This was my last week at the MTC. I leave on Tuesday August 2, 2022 at 3:45 A.M. This week felt so quick. I'm getting tons of mixed feelings about leaving, obviously I am sick of the MTC but I'll be teaching people soon which is so weird to me.

This week:

MONDAY: On Monday I was walking to breakfast and I saw a snail on the sidewalk so I took some pics. That snail was lit. I feel like we were friends in the premortal life. Also I got a new film for Barrel Stigma, it'll premier May 30, 2024. That's all my manager told me I could say. Oh yeah I got a horrible haircut. It's so bad. I look like Eminem or Logic, in a bad way. Lot's of my friends were leaving this week.

TUESDAY: We had this service thing where we cleaned someone's building. In the building I found the most putrid thing. It was a mega stuffed oreo. I'm sorry but if you like mega stuffed oreos you're unearthly. Only single stuffed but I can tolerate double stuffed. Like if you really desire that much oreo cream just do it yourself. There's more oreo cream than cookie in mega-stuffed. It makes me sick to my stomach that people like that. Anyway, I'm still grinding the Hmong and it's pretty good. Nothing compared to actual speakers, but it's ight. After service we did a haka for the tahitian district. In the video I'm the closest one. It was sad to see them go. They've been with us since week 2, so for 5 weeks. One of them can't go on a mission because they had to get surgery. I feel so bad for him because he learned French then Tahitian in french. At the end of the day there was a devotional. It was about being instruments in God's hands. Then he showed us all of these cool book of mormon props.

WEDNESDAY: Tuesday night Elder Plate fell asleep and started snoring so I recorded it. It was so loud, at least 100 decibels. I had some good competition in ping pong but they all left. Shout out to Elder Child, Sister Allen, Mr. Timu, and Sister Smith. Oh yeah don't worry I know why you're really reading this email. You wanna hear about the checkers match me and winitana are having. So it 3-2, me in the lead with 4 stalemates. We were playing a world series so best of seven. Everyone knows that the person who hits three first has a 78% chance of winning the whole thing. But I didn't let that get to my head. So we began. It was pretty even until I made a fatal mistake. I moved my back row corner piece which set up a huge double jump for him and I wouldn't be able to attack back. So I did what any logical person would do-attack the other side. This futile attempt at saving my left side of my board unphased Elder Winitana. He calmly defended and continued attacking. I at least minimized the double jump to a single so that was good. Skip to the end he had four kings and 3 pieces while i only had 3 kings and 1 piece left. It was pretty hopeless but I actually managed to get into a position where he couldn't move his singles. So almost a stalemate. We kept shifting our pieces around for a while then I asked, "wanna call it a draw” and he almost laughed and confidently moved one of his kings towards mine. I then blocked the move then before i knew it I was cornered. Desperately clawing for my life I tried pushing back but I was outnumbered. Then suddenly he moved a piece and I could see light, there was hope. He had made a mistake that I could capitalize on. I double jumped two of his kings. Then I sealed the deal. 4-2 Elder Porter the Checkers Champion. Down 0-2 to 4-2.

During the day I told Elder Plate I recorded him snoring because it was loud and he was, " I don't really ever snore so I am surprised you heard me.” Then that night he hit 120 decibels, I swear. I had to put on noise cancelling headphones and I could still hear him. He was sawing logs fo sho.

THURSDAY: I don't really know what I did thursday. It was pretty boring. But I forgot to mention me and Hannah did the MTC stanky leg before she left. It was pretty lit. 

FRIDAY: Played some ping pong per usual. But also I got a picture with a random elder in our dorm. He's pretty chill. Also at lunch we saw this guy walking weird. Like super weird. It looked like a Jim Carrey act but idk. Also Elder Winitana brought lollies from New Zealand and they are so good. I'm not a gummy boy but their gummies are so good. 

Today: Tried sneaking into breakfast with normal clothes. To eat breakfast you have to be wearing church clothes. And me and Elder Winitana were not so we went to sneak in and this worker started to pursue us. She must of been an olympic speed walker because she was zooming. She was only looking at us and like running over anyone else in her way. I thought quickly and went straight for the food and picked up a donut and quickly scooped some eggs onto my plate. My thought process was if I was already eating she wouldn't be able to tell me to leave. So I shoved tons in my mouth and it actually worked but she caught Elder Winitana. The springs holding the beds in our rooms look like the ladders in Paper Mario. I miss that game.

Quote of the week: "Faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind for one will dispel the other" 

Kuv nco nej!!!!!!

Tate-MTC week 6

 Nyob Zoo nej! One more week then i'll be in the field. Kinda scary but exciting. 

This week was so fast but the days were very long. Sunday was pretty usual. I'm always so hungry on sunday for no reason. Then there was a devotional but i don't really remember what is was about. Oh yeah, before the devotional, we went to go play ping pong but on sunday it's closed. Don't worry no one stops me from playing ping pong. So we were waiting there for a bit and then we saw a security guard walking out. He opened the door to exit and we both exchanged looks, when my eyes met his i could tell his exact thoughts. That one glance told me everything, "I'm not getting paid enough to stop you." So i caught the door before it shut. Then we played some ping pong. 

Monday: Not too uneventful. Elder Winitana's mum snuck us some Mcdonalds. It felt like elementary school where you would walk in late from a dentists appointment with some chick-fil-a in your hands and you were a celebrity. I have got to see my friend from college, Hannah Geary. Her last name is pronounced Guh-EAR EE. Her companion has a speech impediment. I didn't know this and i thought it was an accent for some reason. And i asked her where you from and she said Utah. I then pushed further because i was curious why she had an "accent" and i then asked Why the accent. And she said oh i cant say my Ahs (R's). I felt pretty dumb after that. I hope she doesn't think i was trying to bully her.

Tuesday: Me and Elder Winitana began a checkers battle. I'm not the biggest fan of checkers because i prefer chess but i agreed anyway. First game i could tell he knew what he was doing. When he double jumped me, i was like ok play time is over. I doubled jumped him right back twice. In the end i was up 3 kings. He came back and won still. He's skilled but i wasn't about to give up but we didn't have time to play another game. 0-1 Elder Winitana. Then we had a devotional that night. It was about looking for a miracle everyday and writing it down. Then thank God and acknowledge him. So now i've been trying to do that but i'm not very good at it. Hopefully i can get better at it.

Wednesday: Back to the checker grind. I was thinking about it all the previous night. Anyone who knows me knows that once i'm obsessed with something you can't stop me. So we played again right after lunch. This time he completely crushed me, but not my spirit. In fact, when i lose it pumps me up. Since we had time for another I insisted and he gladly accepted. This time i was meticulous about every move. Then all the sudden i got a perfect plan to sacrifice a piece to break up his structure. Elder Winitana's Defense is impecable so i need to break it to make progress even if that means sacrificing a piece. After i did that it was like taking candy from a baby. Double jumps even a triple jump. Easy dub. Elder W, 2-1. Then we went to class. Also when i try speaking french now, only Hmong comes out so i'm losing the French. It's ok i'll just relearn french when i get back.

Thursday: Played some ping pong. I was playing with Elder Loughmiller and then someone was like play me now! This Elder was particular cocky so i was excited to humble him. We rallied for a bit then he was like, "alright lets start." I let him have the serve first and his serves weren't bad. As i scored points he always had a different excuse. He was like it's the paddle. Then he said, " The balls here are so light, and then was like lets switch sides" I offered if he wanted to use my paddle. He was like yeah. I still beat him 11-4 so def wasn't his paddle. He was honestly even less humble after so i guess i failed. Then other people who were watching were like, "were you raised by Monks???" It was funny.

Friday: I woke up late but also got to bed on time so idk why i was so tired. Maybe from playing ping pong. Today was the day i was gonna beat Elder Winitana in checkers. After lunch we went straight to the chess/checkers room and began. It was a really intense battle but i came out on top. Were pretty even. 2-2 with 3 draws. Then we played one more and I won again. 3-2 me now with 4 draws. Were not done playing and i can't let my guard down so lets see if i can keep the lead. Also I played people in ping pong using my phone as my  the paddle. I lost to Elder Winitana 7-11. Then i rematched him to 21 and it was really close. I won 21-19. 

That's pretty much it for this week. I'm really excited to leave to the field and start talking to Hmong people gospel stuff. Kuv nco txhua leej txhua tus.

Quote of the week: "Choose your Love, Love your choice"

Love this quote, it helps me to not doubt myself as much. I always tend to second guess myself.

Kuv hlub nej!!!

Tub Txib Porter

Pics: My companion falling asleep per usual in class

Tate-MTC week 5

 Nyob Zoo!!!

This week was lit. On Sunday i gave a talk and me and elder winitana performed love at home. The talk topic was how i've seen God's love for us. I pretty much said i've seen God's love through other people like my family. Since God loves all of us and we are his children then we should love each other. 

Anyway iv'e been grinding hard in Hmong. I've been trying to learn coupletes. They're pretty much phrases that repeat a word twice to enhance the meaning. The title is an example of a couplet. A very common one is txuas leej txuas tus which means every single person. 

The devotional tuesday was cool, it was about to put your whole heart into everything you do. And a theme of loving others even your ideals are different. It was funny because my friend from the tahitian district had to give the prayer and he looked nervous and a got a picture. He looks like a roblox character.

I also played a good amount of piano that was fun. It's always nice to be able to have a break on the piano. All the days blend together now honestly. 

Dont worry, I'm still a beast at ping pong and have humbling lots of elders and sisters that thought they were the best. Maybe they were good in their family but their in the real world now. 

I miss watching movies so bad. The sound track, the character development, and the picture. I miss it all. One of my favourite kind of movies is slice of life movies. One of my favourite movies is, "Still Walking" everyone reading this that is not a missionary should watch it right now. Listen to the acoustic guitar score. It's too good. I wish i lived in this movie. I wanna go to japan. 

Quote of the week: "Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved." I've been working trying to think outwards more versus inwards for myself and it's hard at times but it makes me feel so much better when i help others before myself. It seems like your problems almost get solved on their own when you put others first.

I miss all of you, Kuv cia siab koj zoo tshaj plaws

Tub Txib Porter

 

Tate-MTC Week 4

 Nyob Zoo kuv tsev neeg.

I hope you guys are all doing OP-ly. This week was pretty fun. We learned a lot of hmong per usual, but this week we have definitely worked harder at Hmong specifically. I could maybe have a convo with someone if they were nice and slowed down for me.

I've gotta couple stories.

1. The elevator 

2. Never washing my hand part 2

3. July 4th

4. Tones suck

So me my companion Elder Loughmiller and Elder Bulpitt, who is gone:(  we were going to schedule a haircut for Elder Loughmiller, and we took the elevator. Going up was fine we pressed the floor and arrived at the the barbershop. Coming back we were going to the elevator again and I was like "what if someone actually needs to use the elevator and were taking it from them?” We laughed and then pressed the down button. Right after we pressed the down button a very old couple who had a cane and were hunched over asked us if it was going up. Then we were like oh no it's going down but you can come. And then they were nah we'll use the stairs. So three 19 year-olds are using elevators and two 90 year-olds are taking the stairs. Oops.

Next was the 4th of july which was fun because we got to watch freworks from the top floor of our building. Not much of a story but still fun.

We had a devotional on Tuesday and Elder Bulpit had to say the prayer which meant he had to sit up with whoever was speaking and it was a quorum of the seventy dude. And he needed a companion so I sat with him. The only thing was I stuck out like a soar thumb because I forgot to wear my suit. So every guy was wearing a suit except me with a short sleeve button shirt. After the devotional, the quorum of the seventy dude shook my hand and asked where I was going on my mission. I said Wisconsin, then he quickly replied, "Where’s  your suit?" I told him I spilled milk on it which idk why but that was the first that came to my head. Then he smiled and said we'll just pretend your going on a foreign mission. 

In Hmong we learned a sentence that is the same word but different tone. It's Pog pom Pov pov pob. It means, “The grandma sees Pov throw the ball.”  Pov is a common name. The last letter of every word is a tone. So it's G tone, M tone, V tone, then B tone.

I'm excited to go to Milwaukee, but I don’t know enough Hmong yet so that makes me nervous. I miss being able to listen to music, although it's being to play the piano here all the time since theres a lot of them. I have played a moderate amount of ping pong this week but not as much as I would like. 

Quote of da week: At the devotional Elder Robbins was talking about how we need to balance all of our virtues. If we are patient we need to balance it with it's complementary virtue, dilligence. Here's some more that balance each other. Justice and Mercy, Science and religion, Uniformity and flexability, submissiveness and braveness, dependence and independence, faith and works, asking and working it out in our minds. He specifically was saying that Justice is not the opposite of mercy it's complementary. He also said all these traits act as checks ands balances for each other. It reminds of traditional Chinese medicine I learned about in my medicinal plant class. The way they treat people was if someone had a stomach ache they would give something to balance it. It's all about balance in T.C.M. Just like Yin and Yang.

I have learned a lot being here and I know I have a lot more to go and I’m excited. I wanna hear from you guys so please lemme know how your doing.

Tub Txib Porter

Tate Week 3 MTC

 Nyob Zoo tag rhno cov phooj ywg. Kuv kawm lus hmoob ntxiv thaib kuv nyiam lub MTC.

Ok so this week was super quick. Monday we played ping pong per usual, then we said bye to our friend group from our zone. It was kinda sad. Then Tuesday, we played volleyball, basketball in the morning. There was also a devotional with one of the quorum of the seventy. He pretty much was saying the importance of building relationships with others, and if people don't accept the gospel, still keep the relationship you have with them.

Also we shook Elder Gong’s  hand, I haven't washed my right hand since. Dag xwb. 

Hmong grind has been getting better. I have been studying with Elder Winitana the Hmong vocab. The way we study is by playing heads up.  Also we learned about the Hmong clans. There are 18 different clans/last names. If one of them likes you they can adopt you in the clan. I hope I get Thor clan. Except it's pretty rare. 

Also on Tuesday I accompanied Elder Winitana and Elder Te kira and Elder I, in a Tongan version of love at home. Don't worry I snuck a couple jazz chords in. I've got to play lots of volleyball and I blocked Elder Rodriguez Lucero so I’m pretty much a pro! 

And I’ve played a lot more jazz piano. I was playing and these two elders were like teach us! So i was like sure, then as I was showing some stuff more people gathered and it was like a master class lol. 

Elder Winitana: Still OP at Bball, he's also gained 40 lbs since the beginning of the mish. But don't worry he's letting me hold him accountable. I make sure he doesn't eat 8 plates anymore. He also has done 3 haka's this week. New Zealand culture is lit. 

Elder Loughmiller: He's district leader, and still writes a lot. We also found someone who looks like him if he came from the multiverse. He is the version of Loughmiller who chose a different path in life.

Elder Plate: He's definitely settling in and is adjusting now. If your ever bored just ask him any question it doesnt matter what, you will go through every topic ever.

Quote of the week: The past is behind learn from it. The future is ahead so prepare for it and the Present is here, live it. -President Monson

That's it for this week sorry it's a little mundane. 

Sib Tham dua!!!!!!!!

Tate Week 2 in the MTC

 Nyob Zoo kuv neeg!

This week was up and down fo sho. The way I will lay out the email from now on is going through the week then talk about companions and friends. So I met some people that all speak french and it's fun to talk to them and refresh my vocab. They are all going to Tahitia.  When I get back I will learn more french and I will learn chinese. It's nice because French people all know somewhat how to play chess. The chess tables are in the same area as ping pong. Also Hmong is coming along, but I haven't been working on vocab as much I should be. I keep losing my key to my dorm and my card for the buildings. I'm on my third key now. So i'm down 6 bucks. Also all the apostles have been here so that's lit. Elder Bednar gave an OP talk about obedience. He said Intelligence is applying the knowledge we have towards obedience. Then he explained the difference between transactional obedience and transformational obedience. 

Also DO NOT EAT THE MEATBALLS! Elder Winitana and I ate them and our stomachs hurt for like 3-5 hours. Then we played basketball. But seriously, I hadn't felt that much pain in a while. My stomach was on fire and the pain was also stabbing.

Update on Elder Winitana: He eats a lot, I bet him 2 dollars that he couldn't eat more than 8 plates of food. I lost 2 dollars. Elder Plate the big guy got a little jealous. Me and Winitana have been working on a song to perform too. He's pretty good at singing. Elder Plate said me and Winitana couldn't break his stress ball. We broke it and it blew up everywhere with a purple slim shot out onto the walls. Hey, we were stressed! Also we had to do a service project and clean some bathrooms.

Update on my companion Elder Loughmiller: He's writes in his journal for hours. Idk if i said this but he has diabetes so his pancreas sucks. Whenever we play ping pong and he starts losing he says his blood sugar is low and he is losing his fine motor skills. I don't not believe him it's just funny to me. 

Elder Plate update: He's funny to other people, just not to me. He's been making more friends and putting himself out there so that's cool. He has a lot of knowledge about stuff but I think most of it is pseudo-knowledge. He has a girlfriend he texts a lot, and that's why he came on a mission. I think it was because her mom wants her to date a return missionary. Kind of a frail reason to go but you do you. He's definitely grown a lot since last week.

I hope everyones weeks were OP and lemme know how your guys' weeks were.

Signing off,

Tub txib Porter

Also smells bad in Hmong is Tsw Phem which means evil smell.

Nyob Zoo kuv neeg

This week was up and down fo sho. The way i will lay out the email from now on is going through the week then talk about companions and friends. So i met some people that all speak french and it's fun to talk to them and refresh my vocab. They are all going to Tahitia.  When i get back i will learn more french and ill learn chinese. It's nice because French people all know somewhat how to play chess. The chess tables are in the same area as ping pong. Also Hmong is coming along, but i haven't been working on vocab as much I should be. I keep losing my key to my dorm and my card for the buildings. I'm on my third key now. So i'm down 6 bucks. Also all the apostles have been here so that's lit. Elder Bednar gave an OP talk about obedience. He said Intelligence is applying the knowledge we have towards obedience. Then he explained the difference between transactional obedience and transformational obedience. Also DO NOT EAT THE MEATBALLS. Elder Winitana and I ate them and our stomachs hurt for like 3-5 hours. Then we played basketball. But seriously, I hadn't felt that much pain in a while. My stomach was on fire and the pain was also stabbing.

Update on Elder Winitana: He eats a lot, I bet him 2 dollars that he couldn't eat more than 8 plates of food. I lost 2 dollars. Elder Plate the big guy got a little jealous. Me and Winitana have been working on a song to perform too. He's pretty good at singing. Elder Plate said me and winitana couldn't break his stress ball. We broke it and it blew up everywhere with a purple slim shot out onto the walls. Hey, we were stressed! Also we had to do a service project and clean some bathrooms.

Update on my companion Elder Loughmiller: He's writes in his journal for hours. Idk if i said this but he has diabetes so his pancreas sucks. Whenever we play ping pong and he starts losing he says his blood sugar is low and he is losing his fine motor skills. I don't not believe him it's just funny to me. 

Elder Plate update: He's funny to other people, just not to me. He's been making more friends and putting himself out there so that's cool. He has a lot of knowledge about stuff but i think most of it is pseudo-knowledge. He has a girlfriend he texts a lot, and that's why he came on a mission. I think it was because her mom wants her to date a return missionary. Kind of a frail reason to go but you do you. He's definitely grown a lot since last week.

I hope everyones weeks were OP and lemme know how your guys' weeks were.

Signing off,

Tub txib porter

Also smells bad in Hmong is Tsw Phem which means evil smell.

Nyob Zoo kuv neeg

This week was up and down fo sho. The way i will lay out the email from now on is going through the week then talk about companions and friends. So i met some people that all speak french and it's fun to talk to them and refresh my vocab. They are all going to Tahitia.  When i get back i will learn more french and ill learn chinese. It's nice because French people all know somewhat how to play chess. The chess tables are in the same area as ping pong. Also Hmong is coming along, but i haven't been working on vocab as much I should be. I keep losing my key to my dorm and my card for the buildings. I'm on my third key now. So i'm down 6 bucks. Also all the apostles have been here so that's lit. Elder Bednar gave an OP talk about obedience. He said Intelligence is applying the knowledge we have towards obedience. Then he explained the difference between transactional obedience and transformational obedience. Also DO NOT EAT THE MEATBALLS. Elder Winitana and I ate them and our stomachs hurt for like 3-5 hours. Then we played basketball. But seriously, I hadn't felt that much pain in a while. My stomach was on fire and the pain was also stabbing.

Update on Elder Winitana: He eats a lot, I bet him 2 dollars that he couldn't eat more than 8 plates of food. I lost 2 dollars. Elder Plate the big guy got a little jealous. Me and Winitana have been working on a song to perform too. He's pretty good at singing. Elder Plate said me and winitana couldn't break his stress ball. We broke it and it blew up everywhere with a purple slim shot out onto the walls. Hey, we were stressed! Also we had to do a service project and clean some bathrooms.

Update on my companion Elder Loughmiller: He's writes in his journal for hours. Idk if i said this but he has diabetes so his pancreas sucks. Whenever we play ping pong and he starts losing he says his blood sugar is low and he is losing his fine motor skills. I don't not believe him it's just funny to me. 

Elder Plate update: He's funny to other people, just not to me. He's been making more friends and putting himself out there so that's cool. He has a lot of knowledge about stuff but i think most of it is pseudo-knowledge. He has a girlfriend he texts a lot, and that's why he came on a mission. I think it was because her mom wants her to date a return missionary. Kind of a frail reason to go but you do you. He's definitely grown a lot since last week.

I hope everyones weeks were OP and lemme know how your guys' weeks were.

Signing off,

Tub txib porter

Also smells bad in Hmong is Tsw Phem which means evil smell.

Tate Enters the MTC in Provo

 Nyob zoo Everybody,

This week has been a bit crazy because now it's in person MTC. So now our district (Elder Winitana, Elder Loughmiller and Elder Plate) are all sleeping in the same room. It's bunk beds. I am on bottom and Elder Winitana is top then the other two are on the other bunks. Elder Plate is very energetic and a little childish. He's starting to get on all of our nerves so were gonna have to talk to him. 

So we have a fridge in our room, because Elder Loughmiller has diabetes, and Elder Plate was complaining that it was hot. I was like maybe it is because we have a fridge and it pumps out hot air (that is how a fridge works). He was like "Dude, I worked in construction all my life fridges do not produce heat." So yeah that's him. Plus he's a little stinky.

Elder Winitana and I have been playing some early morning b-ball. That's been fun even though he's actually good and I Sam trash. He played on the BYU team so he's ‘Aight.” Also he's taught me some Maori, He taught me paru, which is stinky. You can prolly guess why we use it. We have been also practicing Hmong a lot. Oh yeah we played knockout and Winitana came in last and I came in second to last which means I can make it on the BYU bball team.

We had to teach our first lesson all in Hmong. It was awful. Plus Elder Winitana was laughing the whole time while Elder Loughmiller and I were trying to teach. So we were laughing too. So the title of this email means to regret. But we thought it meant sorry, so we kept saying that to the person we were teaching in Hmong.

 Elder Loughmiller is like super smart. He brought his 2nd place debate champion trophey. So he can argue pretty well. Good thing he's my companion. He usually tests out his argue skills on Elder Plate. 

Quote of the week: "Before you try to persuade someone,  you have to be genuine friends." 

I'm having a blast out here and can't wait to hear from my fans. 

Kuv hlub nej, 

Elder Porter