Whatever I feel like I wanna do, gosh!!

(Jumps down from rafters into the middle of a ton of battle droids and other assorted enemies) 

Hello there!

This is the weekly email from the one and only Ben Rivera (who is in district 2A in the Provo missionary training center who's Chinese name is Lai Zhanglao). 

This week, one of the Elders in my district went home for mental health reasons, so now his companion, Elder Cheney (aka Chen Zhanglao) is in a Tri-panionship with Elder Tree (Chu Zhanglao) and I. We're still getting used to the whole "three people in a companionship" thing, but we're all getting along well with it. 

I have endured my first 24-hour fast. We had a regular Sunday for the most part, but with extra meetings scheduled where breakfast and lunch usually are. You'd better believe that I went all out when dinner-time came. I ate: 2 slices of turkey, 1 serving of gross mushy vegetables, 2 bites (and large ones, at that) of weird mashed potatoes, 1 cup of chocolate milk, 1 bowl of ice cream, and 2 large cups full of cereal (I would've done bowls, but the cups were bigger).

Oh, and cover your ears, brothers, because it's "Righteous Ben" time. My favorite part of Sundays are the films that we watch. They do show actual movies (like the Joseph Smith movie), but, we always go to the showings of general authority talks. Having been here for three Sundays, we've seen three talks, and they are the best three talks I've heard in my life. They're supposed to be MTC-exclusive, but they might be stored on some obscure corner of lds.org or something. If they do, I highly recommend that you watch/listen to them. They are "Character of Christ" by Elder Bednar, "Recognizing the Spirit" by Elder Bednar, and "Missions are Forever" by Elder Holland. That last one has also solidified Elder Holland as, in my opinion, the scariest apostle. (In a good way).

OK, now you can start listening again, brothers. Today we went to the temple again, and I had the glorious experience of eating breakfast in the temple cafeteria. I don't know if it was really this good, or if its just because I've had nothing but MTC food for the last three weeks, but it was the best tasting breakfast I've had in... Well... Three weeks. I had some bacon, hash-browns, a biscuit, and the best cinnamon roll I've eaten in my life that wasn't made by my mother or grandmother. We also did a session, which was good. I can't remember if I already told you this or not, but you accidentally sent me one female name, but, not to worry, as one of the Sisters just did it.

We had our first TRC this week, which is basically where you teach an actual person (not your teacher) a lesson in your mission language. It was very tricky to say what we wanted to, and almost impossible to understand what they were saying half the time, but they gave us some good feedback. They were members this time, and they knew we couldn't speak the language, but in our last few weeks we'll be teaching nonmembers (who hopefully still understand that we can't speak the language).

On that note, I don't think there's a language in the world more different from English than Chinese. Just when you think you're starting to get it, they introduce something new that just totally goes over your head. I think I'm doing pretty well, though. There are people in my district who took five years of Chinese in school, or used to live in Taiwan or something who are ahead of me, but I think I'm at about where I'm expected to be at this point.

So, Utah's going to the Holiday Bowl, eh? I wish they could've won the PAC-12 championship game, but hey. I guess that's what you get for going without me. And, I heard that the 76ers got Jimmy Butler. I think that he's actually gonna make them worse, just because of his Terrell Owens-esque personality. But that's just my humble opinion.

I offer all my thanks to those who sent me mail this week, especially to you, Grandma, for the wonderful care package. I assure you, that bread is not going to waste. (and neither is anything else you sent).

Guess what? I get to call you guys on Christmas! The call is supposed to be a maximum of 30 minutes in length, so keep that in mind. I'm not sure, but it might be using Skype, so keep that in mind. Hopefully, I'll find out more this week and be able to tell you in my next letter.

Well, hopefully this letter met your lofty standards. I found it amusing from what Joe sent me that I'm still managing to disappoint you via letter, even from the MTC, but whatever. Perhaps this one can redeem me in your eyes.

Anyway, wo ai nimen.

-The Mighty Ben

P.S. I did order a mission T-shirt, because it's some sort of zone tradition and I knew you would be mad if I didn't.

P.P.S. I'm going to try to send some pictures in a separate email, so maybe they'll go through this time.

P.P.P.S. I don't know if it's to early to start talking about Christmas yet, but the freshly fallen snow has me really exited about it. If you do send a gift, please don't go all-out. And please don't send too much food. We're starting to run out of places to put it, with what everybody has been getting. The only reason I include this at all is because some missionaries have been getting some random stuff for early Christmas gifts. If it is not too bold of me to make a request, it would be for one of those blue tooth keyboards that is compatible with your phone. One of the other elders in my district has a logitech one that he claims is only like 25-30 dollars (I don't know if that's a trustworthy statistic, though). The reason I say this is because it is super helpful when he's planning lessons and stuff. I hope this doesn't make me sound too greedy.

P.P.P.P.S. I was going to tell you last week, but forgot. The second counselor's wife in my branch presidency is so much like Grandma Irene. It's uncanny. She has the same height, same hair, same super nice but also super tough air about her. The main difference is that she's from Hong Kong. Crazy similarities, though.