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| Grandma and Grandpa Ekins dropping Elder Eck off at the MTC curb. |
Nathan had a wonderful time in the MTC. His companion was half Samoan and from Utah. I pictured a large Polynesian boy, but the pictures arrived after he was in the field and it turns out Elder Tabile is pretty much a darker version of Nathan...their body type is the same, hairstyle grew out at the same time and styled the same, and, according to Nathan, their voices even sound the same. I assume they will be life-long friends. The fact that the Tabile family moved to Gilbert (3-4 miles from us) while our boys were in the MTC has got to raise the chances of them staying in contact over the years.
I'm proud of him for his eagerness to learn all he could in the MTC...both spiritually and the language. Sometimes he seemed almost insane with his desire to do all he could to learn before his time there was up. I recently spoke to Elder Tabile's mother (1 1/2-2 months since they left the MTC). She repeatedly said how grateful she was for Nathan being her son's companion...for driving her son to focus and do more than he might have done.
Nathan has outdone himself (or at least his older brother) in sending pictures. I have a lot of catching-up to do! I hope you enjoy this little blog. As I begin to edit his letters, I find myself feeling bad for including only what I deem important and worry that more scholarly/spiritual things are what he would want me to include. Hence, I'm including more of his letters than I planned on. What a GREAT two years we have ahead of us!!
6/26/10 Hola Eck Familia
YE-HE-HE-HEOUS!
(Translated: an enthusiastic "yes") Good morning/afternoon/evening/dias/noches! I'm finally writing you all from the MTC and the experience here is better than I ever hoped for. Well, not that I really did much hoping but still, es legitimo. Just like mi camanero Elder Tabile (Ta-beel). But the guy's awesome, to give you some ideas in his own words he's "half samoan-poly and half white" we aren't sure but we agreed he's probably about 5'6". He was a football player, baseball player, and soccer player... just to give you a another good idea of the guy. But we play soccer every day that we have our district's hour long recess and tear it up. He's excited to be lifting with me (the gym is closed;they're training all the
mission presidents and hogging the buildings). Seriously, if we walk anywhere near the gym, we get a "Elders, where are you going?" ... in a tone I'd use for the phrase, "Hey criminal, where the heck do you think you're going? Into the land of NICELY treated people? Back in your cell." So, unfortunately, the security is such that not even my usual strategy of walking like I have important business is out-maneuvering their clever surveillance. Fortunately, I'm good at making them feel silly for trying to cut me off by answering their question openly and walking on (As if I really believe they were asking out of curiosity.). So anyway, gym's closed. No lifting for another two weeks and it's a little agitating, especially these first few days when there isn't a single self-directed activity but a bunch of meetings that they don't warn you about right in the middle of your scheduled study hours. But not too different from school... I've thrived of course :P Elder Tabile and I are pretty dynamic, keeping each other on task.
We have to do what are called "companion inventories", where we name things each other are doing well and what we can do better.. He and I spend most of the day doing this anyway, pointing out how we could focus better, etc. But as soon as they said we'd be doing this "comp. invent." I turned to Elder Tabile and told him that he really was too good at soccer, he needed to probably tone in down a bit.. He laughed then got serious, "Yeah, Elder Eck, you're kind of beastly out there, I think you're too much of a beast. Ok...well on a positive note, I like how your voice sounds like mine.."
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| Nathan and cousin Cari Robison...showing great restrain in not embracing each other. |
We were kind of the rogue Elders for a while. I mean they all seem to look for our approval and stuff and laugh at our jokes, but we're rogues as in we get lost a lot and get too caught up in seeing his friends (he's from Utah) or just chatting with other Elders and Cari.
(His cousin that he associated most with in college, preparing lunch together weekly, etc..she was called to the Phillipines.) The one time I saw her yesterday, I almost gave her a hug but luckily she stepped back and reminded me. She saved the newbie.
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| Nathan's MTC district |
FYI: In my "district" there's 10 elders, 6 to Paraguy and 4 to Neuquen.. The Neuquen ones are the coolest : Knudsen (Kah-noot-sin), Allsop (yea just all-sop), Tabile, and Eck vs. Brown, Richards, Larson, McGee, Davis, and Hunt. Haha just kidding they're all great guys and we'rea ll unique which makes it better and there's a lot of syngergy aside form the occasional attempt to be super spiritual, but I think the distric attitude is shifting as time goes on and the attitude of real love for the people rather than time to be the best missionary is setting in.
7/2/10- Week 2 (Semana dos)
First full P-day today. Elder Tabile and I really don't know what to do with it. I've sown up the orange tie and we took some pictures for you guys...which I can't even send, I guess. You know how dangerous letting us send digital images home can be! We actually spent the first three hours of P-day studying the
Book of Mormon together. It's fun discussing each chapter and Elder Tabile keeps telling everyone it's his favorite part of the day... "It's like watching a movie at the MTC!" Haha
Great to hear about
Peru and the relatives
(He's talking about Aunt Christine, cousin Beth, and Grandma Dorothy who were here babysitting and cleaning while Art and I were in Peru to pick up James. We left for Peru six days after Nathan left.) Mom, glad they are so good at cleaning. Maybe two years from now the house'll still be clinging to this period of cleanliness ;)
(Don't I wish! That dream has already been shattered.) I wish you the best of luck in your struggle. And it's awesome picturing you guys braving Peru; you're probably home now right?
(We still had over a week left.) Tell me all about it. It doesn't take that long to read and I really want to find out whether you got mugged by some old lady or not for your root beer candy goodies ;)
(Pheww! No muggings, but the root beer barrels that my sister-in-law Heather suggested...because they had been to Columbia and seen what a hit they were...were great to hand to strangers. Mostly because they didn't melt and make a mess like my candy kisses did.
I even handed them to begging old ladies, who I'm sure were hoping for something bigger and better.)
I've been doing great, handling the 8 hours of sleep well despite popular opinion :P
(Nathan is infamous for falling asleep anywhere and all the time. It really is amazing.) I'm promised AMAZING spiritual experiences at these MTC meetings...I don't know yet; I've learned a lot for sure though. I would just have to say that it's the personal communication with God at the end of the day, and as I overcome the weaknesses of a new missionary, that I feel the most touched by the Spirit. Spending all day in His service would do that kind of thing though. I'm learning to literally have a prayer in my heart at all times; it's the only way to keep mentally engaged when I keep hitting mental roadblocks. I'm humbled when prayers to God seem to be the only thing with the power to move them. He's humbling me and teaching me. It's great.
Elder Tabile and I have made a lot of plans and continue to talk everyday about how we can do better, and we're still having fun. Our Zone leader really doesn't like me though, I don't think. After we started singing "If you like pina colodas" in the residence halls he seems to have felt differently about us.
(This put a little bit of horror in my heart.)
The weight room opened, but the weights are lame... only 250 for the bench ( a machine, so I have to do it literally 30 times). All of them are pretty lame, so I'm doing what I can.
Yesterday we had our first teaching experience with a fake investigator. I kind of felt like I had the gift of tongues as we talked with 3 different investigators for 5 minutes each just about life. Opened my mouth (which meant saying a word and praying for the next one to come) and the Lord filled it, I think, but the lesson was in English. In summary, it went well. He said he felt comfortable and would have been interested, but advised us to not try too hard to finish the lesson. I don't know...your basic stuff I guess.
Spanish is coming great. God definitely helps those who put their shoulder to the wheel, but I better keep that prayer in my heart to get it from him. I'm grateful.
7/9/10- It'ssss a good'un
Gee you guys, your words, although short have me spiritual reeling as I try to recollect some experiences to share and express some of the inspiration of the past week. You guys are driving me crazy though, I thought I was the one at the spiritual headquarters of the world.
(We were still on our trip in Peru. I'm not sure what we shared that left him spiritually reeling. Probably our Sunday visit in the small town of Urcos and bearing testimony there, etc.) I love this work so much and it's great to be one of the few lucky missionaries to be hearing the ending of their big brother's mission play-by-play as they start theirs. Good old Jehovah raining blessings eh?
Well let's see what I can do to compete. No handing out of goodies or treats but I've definitely been practicing passing out the gospel as much as possible. I've taken to shouting bits of my testimony to passers-by as we go to different activities since it really seems to be helping me to remember and commit to handy memory some of these foreign phrases, it's not so bad though. Since the concepts all make sense to me it's coming down to building up a solid vocab and since Spanish is pretty much English with -o's at the end ;) I'm doing well. The occasional -miento at the end of the word does throw me off though. But Dad, I remember suddenly, as Enos did the words of my father... What were you saying what seems like ages ago about your memorizing characters? You used flashcards right? I'm using a lot of words each day and it's working ok, but I'd like to know if there isn't some faster way to retain them and really commit them. I'd love to get some advice from the world traveler.
Mom, thanks for writing me, I really appreciated your testimony before I left; it's given me confidence in going into these teaching sessions that I can't undervalue since it gives me super-confidence in my ability to relate to people. (I told him how great he was with people and that it would serve him well in the field. He's a great listener, advice giver, and terrific with children.) The other missionaries don't seem to get it, though, and cut me off when I started sharing with a mock-investigator the story of Danny trying to put the toaster in the bathroom sink (she'd said she had an independent 2-year-old). And actually the Elders were lucky I'd committed myself to keeping a prayer to God in my heart all day or I'm pretty sure I would've missed the prompting to keep my chastening to myself.
But an aside to Danny (who I have yet to hear from... DANNY). I was telling my companion Elder Tabile as we left the temple the story of me and you shouting "SHI'U SHI'U NI!!!!" from the top of the guard tower at Shi'an and when I shouted the famed lines a group of Taiwan-bound elders must've walked past because they gave me this bewildered look and one responded timidly, "shi'u shi'u?"
James, thanks a ton. Right now as I begin I think of you constantly, how you thought the guys who couldn't learn Spanish were dumb, etc haha. I'm feeling a bit of the sting of that insult as the other guys pull away from me with their high school Spanish experience. But again, it's all pretty much vocab and I think I'll be smoking em pretty soon, but we'll see; God has proven he has no qualms with humbling me severely so far ;), but please James, any studying advice--for teaching, spanish, study, or otherwise at the MTC... share it. I'm realizing God expects me to use every resource I can while applying faith. He's blessed me a lot, but with a brother like you at my weekly fingertips, I think I can be expecting some tremendous blessings. Love you Elder! Good to hear the beautiful ending to your service of the Lord's children.
To anyone who can help: I need to hear form the little ones! Where are Christie, Sophie, Kami and Aaroni? I miss those guys a ton when I get on here and nights when me and the other Elders are sharing funny stories of our former lives. And Kami, you PROMISED.
Ok you guys, love you all, last week I was so panicked because I thought it cut me off before I clicked "send"; glad you got it though. And Mom, don't worry... I found the address.
One final note, spanish is good, teachign is improving as I get out of the mode of just talking objectively about the gospel and move into pasionately adding my promise to the Lord's about them. God is helping me a lot in those areas. I've found as I have true faith and hope it just happens, but it definitely is after the trial of the faith. He's humbled me to some serious reverence by the way, despite having fun I think my attitude is much mroe of a missionary and that is a miracle that juts happened without me making much effort. But the real blessing in my life has been companionship study of the Book of Mormon. I've been reading about Jesus myself, learning a lot and loving every bit of guidance which our Savior offers...and it's a ton, but we;ve been reading Isaih ansd the spirit of propehcy has come to us. It's all about missionary worka dn I can testify with boldness God loves his children adn watns to bless them form those. OK bye guiys,. Pics dont work here adios!
7/16/10- I've taken to shouting bits of my testimony to passers-by as we go to different activities since it really seems to be helping me to remember and commit to handy memory some of these foreign phrases, it's not so bad though. Since the concepts all make sense to me it's coming down to building up a solid vocab and since Spanish is pretty much english with -o's at the end ;) I'm doing well. The occasional -miento at the end of the word does throw me off though.
James, thanks a ton, right now as I begin I think of you constantly, how you thought the guys who couldn't learn Spanish were dumb, etc haha. I'm feeling a bit of the sting of that insult as the other guys pull away from me with their high school Spanish experience. But again it's all pretty much vocab and I think I'll be smoking em pretty soon, but we'll see. God has proven he has no qualms with humbling me severely so far ;) but please James, any studying advice--for teaching, Spanish, study, or otherwise at the MTC, share it, I'm realizing God expects me to use every resource I can while applying faith. He's blessed me a lot, but with a brother like you at my weekly fingertips, I think I can be expecting some tremendous blessings. Love you Elder, good to hear the beautiful ending to your service to the Lord's children.
[God has] humbled me to some serious reverence by the way, despite having fun I think my attitude is much more of a missionary and that is a miracle that just happened without me making much effort. But the real blessing in my life has been companionship study of the Book of Mormon. I've been reading about Jesus myself, learning a lot and loving every bit of guidance which our Savior offers,and it's a ton, but we've been reading Isaiah and the spirit of prophecy has come to us. It's all about missionary work and I can testify with boldness God loves his children and wants to bless them from those.
7/20/10 - The Weeks Turn into Days and the Days Turn into Weeks
I'm so amazed that I'm at my 4th week already, although, I look at so many experiences over this time and how I'm really starting to wonder if there ever was a world outside the MTC, I realize maybe it has been too long ;)
A bit of news though, turns out
Argentina doesn't have any Visa problems like some of the missions including
Mexico and others, except that is, for the Neuquen mission. For some reason my mission area is infamous for visa delays, while none other is. I'm not sure yet whether it's just taking a while for the Argentinians to get over losing the world cup or if it's seasonal and in the nick of time it'll open up for us Neuquen elders. If not, I'm still praying for our visas to go through, I want to start falling in love with he Argentinians as soon as possible, but if not, God has a purpose in it, I'm also praying that I will be guided in my studies to be ready for that purpose, which I know will be the greatest blessing for me.
my Spanish feels a semester's worth of school better versus a week ago. And my prophecy of last weeek wasn't too far off the mark since the hard work me and Elder Tabile put in to our Spanish study plan has paid off and I just have a bit harder to work and I think I'll be passing the guys who took it in college. German experience really is the blessing, and also the Lord has suited me to the task, slowly however.It's been humbling trying to give lessons pnly to get lost in what you were trying to say and forget your reasons for saying it. God hasn't given us a Spirit of fear though, and with prayer I haven't let any such Spirit stay in mind long enough to keep me from working. This is supposed to be hard, and part of the hardness is even persevering and overcoming
Any advice on ways to really recognize the love of the Savior in your life? I come to such a brick wall whenever I try to pull that one off, it's only by mid-lesson inspiration that I've hoped to come by them lately, any advice?
Please write when you can, I know it's hard. I've come to a strong testimony of God's purpose for families and I'm so grateful for mine. Love you again, Bye bye! You fruit loops!
7/23/10- P-Day is Stressfull !
Yep, REALLY fast it became my least favorite part of the week :P gotta write you guys...;) really though whenever I know it's coming up I cringe a bit thinking about how I've got to give up the gospel a little bit right when I feel like I'm getting into a groove. Eh, that and it seems like the MTC has messed with it a little too much...with no temple visits they awkwardly throw in a study session instead of letting us mix the study in with our preparation tasks like I'd prefer. Anyway, it's stressful to think about, especially remembering that there's going to be a big red countdown on the top right of my email screen. But right here, right now, it's the best. I miss talking with you guys; there are times in mid-paragraph where I forget the red countdown and my mind is at ease for once here. Thanks fam, for writing and all. I need to respond to Aunt Alice somehow/ let her know I'm excited for Argentina too
(His dad's only sibling served in the same area). It's really cool thinking about what a family mission Neuquen has become... hope I do her and Melanie justice.
(Also his cousin, Melanie Kenney, just returned from the identical mission when Nathan got his call.)
I've been appreciating the study. Got a lot of direction this week and know strongly of how God answers our petitions, in his own timetable. I had to wait a long time and all I wanted to know was where he would have focus because I felt lost with no investigator to focus on; took awhile, but answers came.
7/30/10 Temple Opened!
Yep, we all got to go today. Kind of interesting to go through a session with a bunch of the guys you joke around with all day, but cool for the same reason; the temple really is the Lord's house. Standing in there with all of them made me think a lot on the potential of God's children. Which was cool because I went in hoping to take away a spirit I could share with people who don't have a temple 15 mintues away like some of us. I I hope I can really provide that Spirit for them-to feel and begin that desire to make their way there. The more I'm guided by study and inspiration, the more I can't help but feel more and more gratitude for the temples that really are the great blessing of Christ's gospel.
I'm loving the Savior more and more right now, reading beyond his ministry and into what his apostles have to say, the guys who really knew the Lord. I'm touched with how inspired they are and how moving their words are about these truths. Weirds me out that so many people confuse the principles or just ignore them to suit their fantasy as they're blown about by all the winds of doctrine.
I love the MTC. I was really was reluctant to give up the study to go to the temple. Haha! Things worked out well though. I think we tend to be a little too high strung; it's good to have companions that make us take breaks and remember that we're human.
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