MTC 1st Week! (And first P-Day!)

Bonjour mon famille!! 

It is true and it is amazing how the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days! Today is my P-day because yesterday I went to San Francisco to the French Consolate.  It was super fun but also super tiring! I did not sleep much on the plane, but instead wrote some letters which should arrive this week. :)  The MTC is amazing and the spirit here is so awesome! I love my companion Elder Nelson; it is amazing to see how it seems how he was picked just for me! He is going to Paris so it is going to be a sad departure in a few weeks! Yesterday I went to San Fransisco with the other district which was fun but it was sad not being around him because he is just so awesome. He is an 18 year old and smiles literally all the time (Josh will probably quote Studio C for that one.)

I am glad you guys are doing some hard physical things because I am doing about the opposite. It is amazing how exhausting learning and studying can be when you do it for 10 to 12 hours straight. We have already taught two lessons which also are exhausting because you use all your mental strength in order to listen, translate, think in english, translate, and then actually say what you want to say. But the awesome thing is the gift of tongues. I have already felt its power while teaching and while learning. Sometimes I think that French is so hard and it would be so much easier to be able to just teach in English, because I have so much I want to say but I can't because of the language barrier! When I was in San Fransisco as a group we handed out 7 pass along cards and a Book of Mormon (I passed out two of the cards and the Book of Mormon!). It made me feel so fulfilled and ready to do the work but I can't until I learn the language.

As far as the language is going, it is going very well and I know so much more than I knew last week. Everyone in our zone thinks I know know a ton which is not true (although I think that Mom's lessons in French did pay off because everyone says I have a really good accent. So thanks to Mom for that.) I think the thing that has really been helping me is PVL. Parle Votre Langue or Speak Your Language. It has really pushed me to figure out how to say stuff in French rather than just do it in English which is really easy to.

As far as my first week. My teacher's name is Frere Starita. He served in Africa! He hasn't taught us much yet and mostly just got us trained about being at the MTC. We finally had our first real French lesson last Saturday from a substitute named Frere Sybrowskyand he served in Quebec, Canada. He was soooo awesome and super inspiring. He told us some super awesome stories about the le dons du langue (Gift of Tongues) and I learned a lot! My branch is awesome and all the Elders and Soeurs are awesome! We do this thing where everyone gets to prepare a 3 to 5 minute talk in French for Sundays on a topic that they give us from Preach my Gospel and then they randomly choose people to speak and announce it during sacrament meeting. Usually the new Elder and Soeurs don't speak but Soeur Arts spoke (she is awesome! she is from Holland and took like 6 years of French. I don't know why she isn't already in the field. Also her companion is from England and My companion and I always speak in an English accent with her because she has the coolest accent!). But I won't get to speak this week because it is Fast Sunday!! So excited!

Keep reading the scriptures and stay strong!

Avec l'amour,

Elder Jacob Pettingill