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

Week 3 at the MTC ( 9/28/2010)

Zach and Elder Egan (a friend from Brighton High School)

Fake Hugs!

Spirit Bomb!!

Zach and Elder Bybee

Zach and Elder Young

Letter from Week #3 at the MTC dated 9/28/2010:

I'd like to start off with a little story from this past week. So on Saturday, I believe, there was what was called a teacher tornado. It happens every friday and saturday night where teachers from other classes come in and give a short 15 minute lesson on whatever. So one of the teachers was sister Chenina, who is a native from Russia, she was baptized at age 16 and served a mission at temple square and in Washington. So we naturally asked her questions about Russia and serving a mission. The last question that was asked was, "What advice could you give us about the culture of Ukraine?" Since she has been in Ukraine several times. She answered that while she was serving at temple square she met many people from different nations, all with different backgrounds and cultures. And although many nations have different traditions and ways of looking at things, there is one common culture and way to treat people that all nations share and that is love. This is true. If we can't be genuine and show that we really care as missionaries, what makes us any different from door-to-door salesmen who are only interested in getting your money? That is another lesson that has somewhat been stressed here at the MTC. I still feel like they could talk about it alot more. The main points they dry to drill in our heads is the importance of being obedient and the importance of working hard, I have yet to hear a whole lot about the importance of being genuine loving people. Although I have heard a couple talks on the subject, so this notion is not totally forgotten. I have met many people from all over the world here at the MTC. I have met elders and sisters from Russia, Ukraine, Germany, New Zealand, France, Canada, Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan. And it amazes me how different we are, but how united and similar we are at the same time. We have gathered from all over the world to learn and study and do a very important work. Missionay work, helping others to understand and grow closer to Christ.

Anyways, tell Tyler that I wish him a happy birthday and that I'm sorry I couldn't say this to his face. But I'm sure he understands. As far as the language is coming we've just been focusing on grammar principles alot lately, which blows my mind. I barely understand English grammar, and Ukrainian grammar is way more complicated. There so much that I want to learn about this language and this country, but I can only take so much new vocab/grammar/phrases and other facts before I get headaches. At the end of every day I feel like my brain is totally fried.

I have another story before I sign off. There is one elder, Elder Vargin, who is from Russia, Moscow,  who asked us, Ukrainian district, and other elders in the zone to write there testimony in Ukrainian/Russian because his girlfriend is in Ukraine and her parents aren't members. So he wants them to better understand the importance of this work. It's funny because most Russians don't feel like they need to lean Ukrainian, but he has. When we asked him why replied in his deep Russian accent, " I lean Ukrainian because I love my woman." That's awesome. So I tried my best to write a sincere and honest testimony. It was pretty short but it was the best I could do. He was so stoked when I gave it to him. I could tell that this was very important to him and I was glad to help out. Tell the rest of the family that I love them and I hope to hear from them soon.

Love,

Elder McEntire

MTC Week 2

Temple Naps..the highlight of our week!

Elder Phillips and Zach

Zach and Elder Bonous (serving in Russia)

Zach and Elder Tucker (a friend from Utah State)

MTC buddies

 

 

 

 

Letter from week #2 (9/21/2010):

So even though this is only my second week here at the MTC... it feels like I've been here forever.Your sense of time becomes really messed up when you enter the MTC. Anyways, My Ukrainian is coming along really well. We started learning grammar principles, which kinda makes sense and no sense at all at the same time. I barely understand English grammar, let alone Ukrainian grammar. But, I'll just have to keep working on it until it becomes clear to me. Yeah, I got the package. Thanks! I really needed those things and the laundry bag. Last week I just carried my stuff to the laundry room, which was fine because it was only the first time and I had like just a shirt that needed to be washed. Other than grammar, I started to learn alot more conversational Ukrainian. And I learned how to talk about families. So I can keep up a conversation in Ukrainian pretty well, a shallow conversation, but a conversation nonetheless. Tomorrow, in the the TRC(Training resources class) me and my companion are getting to know the "investigator's" family and we are teaching the first discussion in English again. We do the lessons in English up until week 4, I was told. Then we do it in Ukrainian. Which makes me a little nervous, but I'm sure at the rate I'm learning the language, I'll be fine. I also learned some other cool phrases in Ukrainian like: "I'm a big deal" "Yeah, I'm awesome" and "I was born ready!" Which I'll probably never use while in Ukraine, but doing gym time while were playing volleyball and soccer n' such I say those phrases all the time. I would show you, but this keyboard doesn't have cyrilic characters. I couple things I learned are that in Ukraine there's an old communist saying that the older generation still believes to be true and it is "In contention, truth is born". So apparantly, Ukrainians love to argue and debate, which is something that I know  will not teach them anything. Also, they hold tradition very dear and close and they'll say that their parents were orthodox and their parents were orthodox, so I must be orthodox.  We're learning to get past these points and arguments. I know that if we present the truth and we do it in a way that the spirit is present, no arguing, they will accept this message better and be more receptive. Yeah, other than that, the MTC is great. Oh, the gym is closed till the 29th because it is being renovated. So for the time being we just play volleyball out on the field, which is still way fun. And I do bump into people from high school and college, like all the time. So it is really comforting to see friendly faces wherever i go. My district and zone is pretty awesome. There are ten missionaries in my district, eight elders and two sisters. Alot of them are from Utah but are couple are from Arizona, Washington and Hawaii. And the best days here, by far are P-day(Tuesday) and Sunday. Sunday because after Sacrament meeting, which ends at two thirty, the rest of the day is free time. We get to do pretty much whatever. We usually got to the temple walk, which is where missionaries go to the temple and walk around it and talk pictures with others, chat, and just hang out. I usually take a nap in the shade at the temple, which is heavenly. And p-day because pretty much the whole day is free time, well up until 7 where there's a mandatory devotional but those are really cool so I don't mind. Me and my district usually go to the temple and do laundry and plan how we are going to teach the discussions for TRC, which is every Wednesday.  Oh, and the food is sometimes really good and sometimes really gross. But usually pretty good, you just have to be careful what you eat, because eating some of the food there will result in some pretty bad consequences.. if you know what I mean. Oh and tell Erin that she could use these e-mails for the blog. I just sent it up for my friends who are too lazy to write me and figure out how I'm doing for themselves. So tell her she can pick and choose what she wants to update and post on it. Whatever she wants to do with it, I don't really care.  And tell her that I'm pretty disappointed that I have not received any mail from her or Cam, haha. Anyways, I have to go because I have like two minutes left on here.

Love you,

Elder Zach McEntire

Zach goes to the MTC!!

The first Sunday with some of my district.

Free time: Balancing books on heads and having races. It's a great way to practice posture, pass the time and stay awake.

MTC trick: May the force be with you...

Zone leaders, Elder Noren and Elder Bangerter.

This says: Listen to me...

Elder Daniels, a friend from Utah State

Zach entered the MTC 9/8/2010. He was excited to learn the language. He was nervous to have a scheduled routine. But, he was ready!

His first letter home written on 9/14/2010:

My first week here at the MTC is going great! I'll start off with a little quote: "If I have learned anything it's not to mess with mother nature, Mother-in-laws, and Mother-freaking Ukrainians!" - The Italian Job. Anywho, I'm lovin it here. The first couple weeks were a little overwhelming, but I'm trying to be like a sponge and absorb up everything. My teacher, Brother Shelyakin, is a native Ukrainian. Which makes him a little more difficult to understand, because of his accent. But, I learned that it's gonna be helpful because I'll be use to the accent. The first day here shared an old Ukrainian proverb: "The two greatest lies are that you are better than everyone and that you are worse than everyone. Be yourself." And that's true because you learn at your own pace. The thing that I'm trying to get use to the most here is all the structure and rules because I'm not use to having every second of my life planned and on a schedule. My companion's name is Zach Shurtleff, so we have the same first name! He's a really nice guy, but our personalities are pretty different. He's more of a red personality, assertive and a take-charge kinda guy who believes all the little rules are important. And then there's me, white personality, laid-back, easy-going and I try to be more about the spirit of the law rather than the letter of it. But we get along great! We taught the first lesson yesterday, it was just on the fly, and our teaching styles are pretty different as well. I tried to ask the "investigator question to get him thinking and followed it up with scriptures. Compared to my companion who just lectured him the whole time. So we've got find a complimentary system were we can balance both are strong points. We giving the first lesson again, tomorrow. But I'm not worried because it's in English. As far as the language goes, we didn't start the first day, but the second! I already learned to pray, bear my testimony, contact people, introduce myself and read/write in Ukrainian. We don't pray in English in our class anymore, so they pretty much just thrusted me into it. I'm surprised at how quick the language is coming and how the Lord helps and blesses me. My district is also pretty sweet too. We are all Ukrainian speaking and going to the same mission the same day! We all got here the same day too. It's comforting to know that I will be with and go there with the same people. The rest of our zone/branch is Russian speaking, either going to Russia or other parts of Ukraine. We got a really warm welcome because the other Ukrainian district, before us, left week. So, they were all excited to see the new Ukrainian missionaries. The first night, in our room, everyone was like "Get out of the way, I want to meet the new Ukrainian elders!" Oh, and I was called to be the senior companion over my companionship. I wish I could write more but, I've only got so much time on here. Tell the rest of family that it would be better to Write to do dear elder rather than e-mail because I don't get a lot of time to e-mail people back. Oh, A couple suggestions for stuff would be: My Utah State sweatshirt because sometimes we have gym in the morning and it is freezing outside! Oh and my journal, the one with Jesus on the front. Thanks! I love you all so much

Elder McEntire

We love you Zach!!!

The church is true, see ya in two...

Well, I'm leaving this Wednesday for my Mission. So this will be my first and only post on this blog. After I leave, I will dump it on my family. I just wanna share a few feelings and thoughts in this post. What's gonna happen is that I will be set apart tomorrow and report for the mtc(missionary training center) on Wednesday at 1:15. Then I will go through training on teaching, the language, and the customs of Ukraine. I am definitely excited for whats gonna unfold for these next two years. People have come up to me this past weeks and have told me, "Oh, you're gonna change lives and change the world out there!" I have given some thought on this, and whether or not I will change lives will be up to God. So whatever happens and whatever experience I go through I will take with me for the rest of my life. So, here I stand, ready to welcome whatever I will face in Ukraine with open arms, unafraid and with faith. I encourage whomever may read this to do the same in your daily challenges and struggles. Welcome them and have faith that you will get through and be taken care of.
I can't promise you I will change lives or the world, but I will promise you that I will come back a better man and with a stronger testimony. Oh, and I will try oh so hard not to be awkward when I come home haha.
Anyways, my family will keep you posted on this blog with pictures, videos, letters, and anything else. The Church is true, and I'll see ya in two...