Week 1 - 9/30/2017

I've been in the MTC for four days now. Day one was the longest I can remember. I was happy when all my roommates said the same thing. People who have been here for a long time have said that the first week is always hard and that once you make it through Sunday the time flies by.

On our third day, we did a group introduction of everyone in our district. I was very interested to learn that almost every one of us had a physical or learning disability. One of the elders was dyslexic like me. Two of them grew up with speech impediments. And one of them has a kidney that is working at 17% of what it should. I feel like I've known them all way longer than four days.

Everyone back in AZ might be interested to hear that I ran into Elder Simon from the Peoria North Stake. And my PA fam would be interested to know that two of my four roommates were homeschooled for part of their life.

My zone has a strange tradition called "No Bear." The rules are that if you fart outside of your room or the bathroom you have to say "No Bear." If you don't and someone catches you they say "Bear." If you get a bear you have to go on your hands and knees and yell like a bear during zone prayer. If two elders have a bear they have to do a "Bear Off." The elder who gets more people clapping for them wins the Bear Off. One of the Elders in my zone, Elder Benson, got five Bears in one day. It was a zone record.

I love you all miss you and hope to see you in two years. -Elder LaFond

Note from the editor - I hesitated over Eli's story of "No Bear" whether sharing this juvenille game would keep with the spirit of the blog - sharing the story of Eli's time serving the Lord as a full-time missionary - in the end I decided to include it. After all, Eli and the young men and women he is serving with are all around 18 -20 years of age - their youth is part of the story.