Last Week in the MTC!! 11/16/2010

Learning Ukrainian at the MTC

Studying at the MTC

More studying at the MTC

Ukraine, here I come!!!

Zach and Elder Kashiwasi  (light saber battle)  Hmm.....interesting!

 Last Week in the MTC!!  (Letter dated 11/16/2010)

Alright so... I got my flight plans!! I got them on last Thursday! Here it is: I leave on Tuesday the 23rd, early in the morning. I Have to report to the travel office at 5 A.M.... there I will get my passport and visa and other paperwork that I'll need for Ukraine. So I leave from the Salt Lake Airport at 8:10 a.m., flying Lufthansa, I arrive in Chicago O'hare Airport at 12:18, I'm there till 3:45(Chicago time). It should be from 11:18 to 2:45 Utah time. So expect a phone call from me during that time from Chicago. There aren't any rules regarding the phone call except don't miss my flight. So expect a call on Tuesday November 23rd between 11:18 a.m. and 2:45 p.m. I leave Chicago at 3:45(Chicago time) and I fly to Frankfurt Germany, arriving there at 6:55(In Utah it would be 11:55 p.m. roughly) I'm in the airport for another three hours, then I board another flight to Kyiv at 9:45 a.m.(2:45 a.m.) I arrive in Kyiv at 1:10 p.m.(4:10 a.m.). They have hooks here at the MTC where I can weigh my luggage. They encourage us to be packed by Thursday, so I'll be spending most of my day today packing. I haven't used any of my cash here at the MTC, I've saved it for the flight. I'll pick up a phone card so I can call you from Chicago.  So for the Tuesday night Devotional last week, David A. Bednar came and spoke to us! It was really cool and exciting.  He talked about the importance of teaching the doctrine and not just applications or opinions. He said to explain the doctrine and the why behind what we do. It was a really good devotional. That was the fourth apostle we've had here in a row, people at the administrative staff have said that this has never happened before( as far as they can remember). It would be cool if we got another one, but I don't think it will happen, but whoever it is I'm sure it will be inspiring. We got the privilege to host new missionaries here at the MTC last week. I kinda got to welcome Mikey Morales here. I didn't host him, but I did get to seem him the first day he was here. It was cool, I'm also hosting  again this week. it's fun.

 Elder Shurtleff and Iare also doing a demonstration for the new missionaries on Wednesday. They have a "how to begin teaching" seminar for the new missionaries and we're going to be the examples of how to begin teaching for the new missionaries. I don't know how I feel about but I'm sure it'll be fine.

Something cool that happened this week was that, last night, I received what is called the Brighton Journal. I got it from Elder Davis Espilin. It is a journal, that was started by the Sandy Institute in the beginning of this year, that has testimonies and recordings of all the missionaries that have attended Brighton High and were in the MTC this year. It was really cool reading through it, I knew almost everyone who wrote in the journal. It was definitely inspiring to see testimonies of good close friends. It made me feel grateful for the friends that I had in my life. Friendship is definitely one of the greatest blessings that comes from God. I am definitely grateful for my district, zone, and the all the friends I have made here at the MTC. Now it is my turn to add my testimony of serving a mission and the church to the journal. When the journal is full, the last person who writes in it is suppose to mail it back to the Sandy Institute building.

I feel ready for Ukraine.  Our Native teacher, Brother Shelyakin, assured us that we will be fine. He said to me "Elder McEntire, I can understand your Ukrainian just fine and if I can understand your Ukrainian than the people in Ukraine will understand your Ukrainian." It was comforting. He told us that he thought we were ready and that we'll do just fine.He gave us family names to do in the temple this morning for our last temple session here in Provo. It was really cool, the temple workers kinda had a hard time pronouncing the names because it was mostly written in  Ukrainian. It was funny. Well I hope all is well at home and I will talk to you more next week from Chicago 11:18 to 2:45. Make sure everyone knows this time. Love you and I will talk to you next week.

Elder Zach McEntire

Two Months at the MTC! 11/9/2010

Mikey, a friend from Utah State

Missionary life!

Missionary life?

Two Months at the MTC! (Letter dated 11/9/2010):

It's been a good week, just a lot of studying and language practice.

So, as i mentioned last week, Elder Nelson and Elder Scott came to speak to us. Elder Ballard came to speak to us as well this past Tuesday. All of their talks were really good! Elder Nelson's was pretty basic, he pretty much just stated our purpose as missionaries: To invite other to come unto Christ by helping them receive the message of the restored gospel, through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. He went into each topic with detail. He then talked about the importance of listening and maintaining eye contact while speaking, which was something I think I needed to hear. He compared us to these lions that him and his wife saw while traveling in Africa. He said that we need to be alert, ready and attentive at all times. Elder Scott's was really cool. It was about the importance of listening and following the Spirit. He gave us all a copy of his talk, which was just a compiled list of notes from his journals on how to follow the spirit. He also gave us a lot of "Apostolic blessings" which were: protection for the sisters, confidence in being guided by the spirit, to retain what we have learned in the mission and using it through our lives, and the gift of tounges if we study and have faith in it. As I thought about it, both Elder Nelson and Elder Ballard gave us apostolic blessings, but it was the ways Elder Scott worded it that made it stand out. It was a very spiritual talk. I review his hand out often. Elder Ballard's was on the importance of being a "Master Communicator". he said to keep the message of the restored gospel simple, and he talked about how to talk unrelated questions and tie them in. He talked about some of his experiences doing this and shared with us some of his, what he calls, "Ballardisms".  It was cool hearing from three apostles back-to-back. The all left us with big smiles and a wave. Elder Ballard gave us a thumbs up and yelled "You'll do Great!" as he was leaving.

So I should get my travel plans this week! We are all really excited to go to Ukraine. I just buy a phone card before I leave, from the book store, and I would use it to call you from a pay phone in the airport. I think the call would be about 30 minutes, depending on my flight schedule. So expect a call from Chicago, D.C., New York, or Atlanta. I'll let you know about my flights next week

The weather here as been kinda odd, it's been getting pretty cold pretty fast. It snowed a couple times too. My district all loves going outside and playing in the leaves, since we are stuck in the same room for about 10 hours everyday.

The language is coming along great. I already start to think in Ukrainian quite a bit. We starting doing 100 percent SYL. It's that way from now on, except for P-day and Sundays. We've had a couple SYL days(SYL is Speak Your Language) but now we are going 100 %. It's kinda hard but it's fun and the teachers are pretty understanding and help us out. These TRC task, we plan a day in Ukrainian and share our plans with a newly baptized member. It should be fun and then we go back and teach.

Everyone keeps asking me for family photos, I just tell them they are on the way... right? It's okay, Just make sure you send them before I leave for Ukraine. Tell more about Dad's thing as the FHE activity it sounds interesting.

So, our native Ukrainian teacher, brother Shelyakin says we'll probably run into his family, only his sister is LDS. So he gave us scenarios of what would happen teaching his various family members. It's fun but hard.

That's about it, that's all that is new. I'll let you know about my travel plans next week.

Love you all!

Elder Zach McEntire

Still at the MTC 11/2/2010

Trick or Treating at the MTC

Provo Temple!

Zach and the ladies....or Sisters.

Still at the MTC (Letter dated 11/2/2010):

Happy Halloween! I hope your halloween was awesome! My Halloween experience went like this: So on Sunday there is a devotional at 7 and then after the devotional(at 8) you have the options of either going to see one of the films that are playing that night, or going back to your dorm/classroom to study. We chose to go back to our dorm to "study". I dressed up as a "ghost", which means I just put a white bed sheet on top of me. My Companion, Elder Shurtleff, was a Gypsy, we just tied a towel around his head, others in my district were a box, and a scary grandma(His mom sent him a mask). We went around our building, trick-r-treating to the few who chose to return to their dorms after the devotional. Surprising, it was pretty successful. We then took some pictures and just chilled until lights out(10:30). So.. it was a pretty good Halloween.

Mom and Dad, I'm glad you enjoyed the photos! I'll send some more home right before I leave for Ukraine. They'll probably just be of the younger districts, my teachers, and other shenanigans I've done here at the MTC. I'm actually really grateful for the time I've spent here. Although we are all really anxious to get to Ukraine, I've learned a lot of lessons here. Whether they be about the Gospel, Ukraine, or Myself. It's kinda bittersweet learning these lessons because, a lot of them, I wish I have found out earlier.But, such is life. Let me share with some lessons I have learned so far: So, we have had a few elders/sisters that have gone home from our branch. It's hard, frustrating, and heartbreaking for sure. Whether the reason may be because of unresolved transgression, physical illness or mental illness. I believe that's why it is important to make sure that, before going into the MTC, your are physically and mentally healthy and prepared as well as spiritually. It makes me grateful for the health, sound mind, and testimony that I have been blessed with. I'm sure you all know the importance of this, though. But I have confidence that these people will return to the field. I have wondered in the past that if people who fall away ever return... I found the answer in a promise in Proverbs 22:6. Another thought that came to my mind is that, people have told me that these two years will be the Lords time, but isn't our whole lives the Lord's time? Surely, since the Lord has blessed us with the life we have and the air we breathe he can take it away just as easy. So I contemplated on how we can best use our time and best serve the Lord. I found the answer in Mosiah chapter 2. I also thought that " How many times have I missed what is in front of me?" "Have I missed a message that the Lord has been trying to send me because I kept my gaze focused on what's far away/ in the future, instead of what's in front of me?" We all want to do good in the world, but how can we when we are too focused on where we are going instead of where are? President Utchdorf gave a great talk this last Conference on the need to slow down and simplify our lives. I thought of the summers in California, when we used to go see the Redwood forests/trees. I thought about how long it took for those to progress and grow into the majestic trees that they are today. Perhaps that is another way we can fully utilize our time here on earth, to fully grow and progress and take our time doing so, that we may reach our full potential. Mom and Dad, I hope you are feeling better from the respective procedures that you have both had. Another thing, so here at the MTC we have two devotionals. The Sunday devotional, where someone from the MTC staff talks to us, and the Tuesday Devotional, where a general authority talks to us whether it be someone from the seventy or the twelve, or the first presidency. Twoweeks ago we had Elder Russell M. Nelson speak to us, last week we had Elder Richard G. Scott. They were both amazing experiences. I have 30 seconds left. I love you all! 


Elder Zach McEntire

Another week at the MTC 10/26/2010

Zach and Elder Roberts (Zone leader #2 and obsessed with bubbles)

Salsa Parties! (Our Zone's version of FHE)

Another week at the MTC  (Letter dated 10/26/2010):

To start off I'd like to give you a story about what happened today. So, my companion has physical therapy for his shoulder and we go every Monday and Wednesday. But we had to go today to the hospital to see the progress of his shoulder. It looks fine and now we only have to go once a week. Here's the cool part of the story: as we were waiting for the shuttle to come pick us up from the hospital, there was a lady  that started talking to us. Her name was Jillette and she asked us if we were really missionaries and what we were doing in the hospital. I told her that we are, but in theMTC waiting to go to Ukraine and that my companion had to get a checkup on his shoulder. She told us to sit down by her and that she wanted to tell us a story. So we did. She told us this story of how she got in this totaled car crash, almost died, the paramedics had to use the jaws of life to rip her from the car. She went into a coma for 17 days. She described the coma experience as being on a white road and walking along the road with her grandmother and aunt, who were deceased. She said she could see the veil, but then heard a voice saying "go back, you're not done." She awoke from the coma, obviously, and she also said that she was heavily addicted to drugs. This experience helped her get rid of this habit. She choked up a couple times. It was amazing experience. We both bore testimony, in a subtle way, about the healing power of the atonement and how God gives us second chances. She grew up in the church but then fell away. She said she is now coming back. I thought of a quote by President Eyring "Through the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ, our natures can be changed and our power to carry burdens can be increased." It was true with Jillette. She had seen the grace and hand of God heavily in this instance. And on our drive back, we picked up a couple more missionaries and I swear I must have seen 3 or 4 cars with a "just married" painted on the back. I then thought to myself "Yup, I must be in Provo..."

So about the questions, I think they give us cards or money so we can use the pay phones in the airport during the layovers. I'll give you more info when I get my flight plans, which should be in a couple weeks! Oh, and when I said I mailed the photos last Tuesday... I really meant yesterday. I mailed them yesterday, promise. You should receive them today or tomorrow. As for Halloween, I don't know. I doubt the MTC will celebrate it in anyway. But my district probably will. I think I might put on the bed sheets and go trick-r-treating as a "ghost". 

Sorry to hear about the Maxima, I hope everything turns out fine. But I'm glad Paxton is okay. Isn't his birthday today? or soon? Give him a hug and tell him happy birthday.(Speaking of birthdays, can you tell me when everyone's birthday is so i don't "accidently" forget one.

Tell Bishop Smith and Davis that I say hello and I wish them well. Say hello to Brother Fitt and Brother Hill for me.

As for language, I've learned to give directions and ask for directions in Ukraine. The TRC task for tomorrow is that we are giving directions to someone in Ukraine, the directions are to the church. We are also teaching the plan of salvation to them in Ukrainain. So we learned that as well. My brain hurts from all this language practice. 

So the new missionaries are here, it's a little weird being the senior district in our zone. But whatever, in only like a month I'll be in Ukraine!  It's weird but by the time I leave theMTC I'll be 1/8 done with my mission. That's definitely a weird thought.

Dad, I'm sorry that I never asked you about your mission. I realized this a little while ago. Were you in theMTC at all? Could you tell me a little about your experience? I think above all the rules and little things, what kinda gets me down and is hard to deal with here is missionaries acting like they're better than everyone else. It's not common, but I've seen people thinking that they were sent to judge this "Babylon". Acting like that since they have a call from God, they were automatically better than everyone else. We are not sent as missionaries to sit on a pedestal and condemn the world. We are not sent as judges, but as servants and friends.  To find the good, which is in all people, and bring them closer to Christ. Did you ever run into missionaries like these?

Anyways, sorry to bring down the mood. Better news would be that I have actually been making my bed and cleaning my room more! We have pop room inspections once a week and I'm like never prepared. But I've been doing better these past couple weeks. And I've been getting to class on time these past three weeks!

I hope you all have a great week.

Love,

Elder Zach McEntire

Half Way Thru the MTC! 10/19/2010

Zach and Elder Ostler

Zach and his companion, Elder Shurtleff

Zach and Elder Mills (a friend from Utah State)

Zach and Elder Rhodes

Half Way thru the MTC! (Letter dated 10/19/2010:

I hope you all had a great week! Thanks mom and dad for sending me Dan's address. Could I also have Tyler's E-mail? Just making sure, you haven't forgotten about that. So anyways, I am at the halfway point in the MTC! Only six more weeks and I'll be in Ukraine! Crazy. So yeah, last week for the TRC we were assigned Natalia, crazy Ukrainian lady, but it wasn't as bad as Ithought it would be. It actually went pretty well for our first time teaching in Ukrainian. I had to pull out the dictionary a couple times to understand what they were saying. Our language went really well, but we didn't get very far into teaching. All we talked about was God, families, and prayer. Which wasn't very far since we were supposed to talk about the restoration. But it went alright. Natalia told us that we needed to focus on listening better. Listening to each other, so we don't cut each other off, and listening to the investigator. I find it a lot harder to listen to someone when I can barely understand what they are saying. But I suppose that will come when we expand our vocabulary and study more words. So that's something me and Elder Shurtleff have been focusing on  a lot this past week. Learning to listen to people and understand them, we've been doing a lot of listening exercise, and trying hard to study and expound our vocabulary even more so we can listen better in Ukrainian. She, Natalia, said she was impressed with how much we already know and well we speak. So that was definately a confidence booster. And she wasn't as mean as I thought.. so no I didn't cry. We saw her as we were in the temple this morning, she definitely gave us a warm welcome. Oh, just a couple things I would like to tell you: first, I found out that I can call you from the airport(s) during my flight to Ukraine and the layover hours between flights. I'll probably either fly to New york, then to Vienna, Austria, then to Kyiv. Or to Atlanta, then to Paris, France, then to Kyiv, Ukraine. I'll let you know what time my layover hours our and what my flight route is when I get my flight plans... which should be in like 3-4 weeks. Also, I hear that in addition to calling, the mission allows skype(webcam chat) on Christmas and Mothers day. I also hear that they prefer it because it is cheaper. So I would install it onto your computer just to make sure, ask Jay he would know about it.

Anyways, I've been learning how to shop in Ukraine and make purchases in Ukrainian. The money there is called грувня (hryvnia) and one dollar is like 8 hryven. So, I learned how to talk about clothes and buying clothes in Ukrainain. I'm teaching the first lesson again in Ukrainian tomorrow, which I feel better about then last week. But it could still use practice, just my language and grammar. Something interesting that I learned last night is, while we were practicing teaching the first lesson in Ukrainian to one of our teachers, brother Higgins; after we bore our testimony for the first time in that lesson we noticed a change in the mood of the lesson and the Ukrainian, from that point on, became easier to understand and use. Bearing testimony during a lesson is a definitely a game changer and invites the spirit. Which then can help with the language and what we need to say and talk about. I'm surprised how better the Ukrainian was after we bore testimony, it was like we went to another level of understanding.

So, the new districts come tomorrow, which means that we will be the older/senior district in the zone. This is weird to think about. But, we will give them a warm welcome to the MTC just as the older district did to us. Anyways, I was wondering if you could send some, a modest amount, current family pictures and a photo of the dog, Paxton. That would be great. I sent my pictures this morning and they should arrive perhaps tomorrow or Thursday.

шастливо! (Love and Blessings to you)

старійшина макентаєр (Elder McEntire)

MTC Week 5 (10/12/2010)

Zach and Elder Scovil (His parents and friends sent him packages of food that kept the zone well fed)

Ukrainian Name Tag!

Zach and Elder Saltmarsh

Zach and Elder Reeder (a friend from Utah State)

Zach and Elder Bahr

MTC Week #5 (letter dated 10/12/2010):
Alright, so I'll start off with this sweet dream I had in Ukrainian a couple nights ago. It goes like this: I was in Ukraine and I was in the line for a restroom. The guy in front of me turned around and said "чи вам допобається пиріг?" (do you like pie?) and I answered "так я люблю пиріг" (yes I love pie) and he asked me "чи вам допобається моррозиво?" (Do you like ice cream?) And I answered "так я люблю морозиво" ( Yes I love ice cream) And then he told me "пиріг і морозиво важливий" ( Pie and ice cream are important) That's when I asked him " чи ви знаєте що важливий також?" ( Do you know what else is important?) Then I pulled out a Book of Mormon and said "книга мормона!" Which means Book of Mormon. Sweet huh? That's the second dream in Ukrainian I've had so far while being here in the MTC. The other one was about me testifying about the Book of Mormon in Ukrainian to random people on the street. You're probably wondering how I typed in Ukrainian, well there's a program on this computer that allows you to switch which language you type in. During this week I wondered how to put all of your names in Ukrainian. Side note, I wondered this because I got my new Ukrainian name tags that have my last name in Ukrainian. So here it is: Bryan -- брайєн Darla - дарла Jay - джай Anna - анна Erin - ерін Cam - кам Tyler - тайлер Paxton - пакстон and Chelsea - челсі. So there you go. What else is new.. well the older Russian district in my zone left today. Some went to Novasebiiersk Russia, Eyakertaburg, Russia, Moscow, Russia, and Donetsk, Ukraine. It was sad saying goodbye but I know they will all be great missionaries. In a week or two a new district will come in, which means we will be the senior district. Crazy. I almost at the half way point. As for the language, I learned how to talk about food, more grammar principles, how to tell time, and we are teaching the first lesson in Ukrainian tomorrow. I'm excited but nervous. There is this crazy Ukrainian lady, Natalia, who comes to the TRC every week and I have a feeling that me and my companion will be teaching her this week. She has a reputation for making missionaries cry... yeah. She is just really harsh with her criticism and her vocabulary is way over all the missionaries heads. Which, thinking about it, might be good because I won't have to respond to her because I won't have any idea what she is saying. So I remembered that I promised you pictures last week. I will send them this week. promise. I love you all!

Elder McEntire

MTC One Month! 10/05/2010

Zach with Elder Vargin and Elder Maxymov 

Zach and Elder Turner (a friend from Utah State)

Awesome Zone 9!

Zach and Elder Shurtleff holding the Ukrainian  flag

District 9

One Month  (10/05/2010):

Crazy that is has been a month since I left, but I am getting use to mission life. Conference was awesome, ecspecially here at the MTC. It was awesome because class was cancelled on Saturday and they let the elders actually sleep in a little! Oh, and the talks were really good too. My favorite were both of President Uchtdorf's, the one on Saturday morning about simplifying life and the one during priesthood about pride. I also enjoyed President Eyring's talk during priesthood too.

So, the older Russian district in our zone got their flight plans for Russia and Donetsk, Ukraine. Seeing their flight plans and also hearing about the Kyiv temple during conference made me even more excited to get there. It's weird to think that in a couple weeks a couple new districts will be coming and my zone and my district will be referred to as the "older district". It feels like I just got here... and now a month has gone by.

Please send my condolences to the Hilton family, it is sad to here that brother Hilton passed away, but I'm sure that the knowledge that they will see him again can comfort them.

Not a whole lot else has been happening of late. I've just been trying to get a hang of this language. I learn sooooo much each day. But, right now we are focusing more on grammar principles. My head feels like it's going to explode by the end of each day, I pray really hard that I might be able to expand my mind and grasp all these concepts. Our new TRC task is tomorrow, we are suppose to help "investigators" move and talk about our family and teach them the importance of prayer in Ukrainian. And then we are to teach them the second lesson in English. I'm little worried, cause it's kinda hard to move and speak Ukrainian at the same time. I just have a lot of studying to do and prep for this task, all the past ones have been cake and I haven't really stressed about them. But I know that if I do my best and study hard and have faith, I'll be around. Oh, and we also start teaching the lessons in Ukrainian next week! I'm excited and also a little nervous, I don't exactly feel like I'm ready to teach in Ukrainian but if my teachers fell like I am, then I am. Just a lot more studying.

It's real good to hear from you and the rest of the family and that you're doing alright, and that Paxton is staying out of trouble. So, the computer doesn't allow me to send pictures, because it's the MTC and everything is really restrictive and controlling. I'll mail you some pictures soon though. Just a reminder, I hope you are forwarding these e-mails to Erin & Cam, Jay & Anna, and Tyler so they know that I'm alive and well. If you could, that would be nice. Oh, and if you could e-mail me back just so I know that you get these e-mails. Thanks! And, I'd also like Tyler's e-mail so i could wish him a happy (late) birthday personally. Oh, and if you could get me Dan Dudley's address, that would be nice.

I love you all!

старійшина макентаєр