"Checking Out" - Provo MTC - 9/10/2015

The past week or so, the weather here has been such as has never been known in Texas. The temperature, perfect--slightly chilly morning and night, but just warm enough midday. There is no end to the light, cool breeze, there's the perfect amount of clouds in the sky, and the air is so crystal clear that the mountains hanging out right next to us look absolutely beautiful. It almost makes me feel like I wouldn't mind staying here for another month or so.

But I really would, though. Last Friday our district got our flight plans and Korean name tags, and since then the MTC-nioritis has been in full swing. The past few days, anytime my companion and I have talked with other missionaries and they tell us how much time they have left, I always respond with, "Wow, I'm so sorry." I'm so ready to get out of here.

Next Monday we'll be getting on a bus to the Salt Lake City airport at 3:30 AM. At 7:30 AM we fly from there to Detroit, Michigan, then hang out there from 1:00 to 3:30 PM (local time), at which point we fly clear to 인전, 한국, scheduled to arrive at 6:05 PM (local time) on Tuesday. So basically it will take up two days of my life, although really a dozen or so hours of that will just be due to jumping time zones. We were definitely surprised to see that we're headed to Detroit rather than San Francisco or Seattle as previous groups had done; rumor has it we may be going over the Arctic. If that's the case, I'd better have a window seat.

I'm sure much of the excitement I'm feeling right now will quickly be crushed when I arrive and realize I don't actually have any clue how to speak Korean, but I'm feeling confident. I'm certainly as well prepared as any other missionary. Will I miss the MTC? Probably; I certainly do love my district and my teachers. But I hope I'll love Korea much more.

Until next time.

Stay non-jet-lagged, my friends.

Elder Rees, gettin' outta here.