Zach Fiore Tahiti Mission: Week One: Missionary Torture Centre

Hey Guys,

The MTC (Missionary Training Centre) has been horrible and I want to come home. Its been the absolute worst.

Just kidding! Tricked you! The MTC has so far been really good. Its so weird walking around and seeing all these 18-20 year olds in the exact same situation as me. Its been kind of powerful seeing how grand everything is and seeing how many people are here. 600 new missionaries came in with me August 21st.

My companion is Elder Davis ( selfie guy in pics) is from guess where? Utah! He's been awesome and is super kind and fun. I was worried about getting someone bad, but am safe for the next 9 weeks! There's a large Tahiti misisonary population which is really cool. Our district (group) is french speaking, mainly tahiti and some Africa. theyre all really cool guys who im already bonding with.

Some things i've had to deal with: my shirt collar gets way dirtier than I expected and im scared of washing it, I hang 5 shirts per hanger since I brought none, My neck is red and in pain from wearing a collared shirt all day and I carry around a 20 pound backpack everywhere I go. Somehow everyone else is bagless in seattle and im lugging around mine. I dont know how other do it.

I've been non stop working. Language and spiritual stuff. I've learned so much but have had a headache both nights. My head's over saturated.We've mainly gone over purpose and french. I'm better at french than most but am learning so much.

I only kind of get homesick at night but the scripture Alma 26:27 has helped a lot. It talks about having patience and you'll overcome sadness and afflictions. I miss home and everyone a lot at night but I know with time it'll be okay.

Its still weird but so cool seeing my missionary tag in mirrors and windows. I haven't really gotten into a routine yet but i',m already getting the hang of things. I can't wait to continue learning more each day and to eventually go to Tahiti. I hear timeflies after the first three days (which are meant to be long), but it's already going decently fast, so it'll really fly.

Oh and I memorized Moroni 10:5 in french ;)

Love most of you and you can just hit reply to email me personally- just make sure you dont reply to all I guess. Until next week,

Elder Fiore (Zach)

1.My closet

2. Me with MTC

3. Me with Elder Davis

4. Me and Geneva ( fellow Ontario Mormon)

5. My district (french group) at Provo temple

(I (Leah) also snuck in a few from our first FaceTime call)