Pictures from the MTC

When a missionary leaves the MTC Zone all of the elders of the branch sing "God Be With You" in their own language.

Elder McConnell and his cousin Elder Forrest Stephenson


Elder McConnell and Elder Davies the day Tyler left for Taiwan

11 Weeks and Hanging On

Hey everybody :-) I'm emailing today :-D YaY! I got to catch you guys all up on the latest news of the MTC :-) I got the time, a computer that works and a keyboard that doesn't go into shock whenever I want to use the paragragh key :-D So here we go.

So basically, I'm pretty sick :-P Unfortunately I've been sick for more than a month now :-P NOT FUN. Another thing that isn't very exciting is that I don't believe that the gall bladder was the problem :-P I was hoping that after the surgery that I was feeling sick because of the surgery itself and the different medications that they had giving me. Unfortunately I've been off of the different medications for a couple of days now and i haven't had any changes :-P So now I'm sick and I don't have my gall bladder :-D I guess now when I eventually get better, my gall bladder won't get infected with some deadly disease 'cuz I don't got one :-D So thats a plus :-D

It's been pretty tough :-P I think that I'd be alright if I had only been sick a week and then got better, but this has been starting to wear on me a little bit :-P I don't really know whats going to happen next and I don't know what I need to do to get better :-P Spooky. HOWEVER, :-) ;-) I am, in fact, THE one and only James "Jamie" Farrell McConnell the FOURTH, and I don't got the time to be stressing about this and I don't got time to be worried about you guys being worried about me :-D I've got other things to do and so do you all :-D So hop to it!

So an update on where me and the other Elders of District X are at in our MTC experiance. Because we have been here so long (Me eleven, Them fifteen), our zone has too many districts than we have classrooms, so we have been evicted out of our classroom. :-( :-D We're homeless! :-D It's crazy :-D So basically now we bunker down in 11m, in and out of the classrooms and hallways because people are using those rooms as well :-) We just can't win :-D

Actually the other three Elders got their travel plans I think wednesday, and they are heading off to Mexico on moday and tuesday :-) So now I'm stuck :-D It's aight, I'm just going to move in with another district and chill there. After Elders Payzant, Porter, and Blackham leave, I'm going to be the oldest missionary in the zone :-D And you know that I'm gonna abuse that power :-D I'll let you know what happens.

Just a little note to you all that have been writing me, I do have your letters and I will be writing back as soon as I can :-) Unfortunately, there's too many of you now and I don't have the strength to get a letter to all of you :-) But when I get better, I'll be sure to write aMAzing letters :-D

Forrest is doing good :-) I can't believe that it's already been more than two weeks :-D He's doing great with the language and he's already got a feel for the place :-) I heard that Pres. Smith was gonna step down and make way for Elder BIGDEAL :-D ;-) but that might just be a rumor :-D

Unfortunately, I have very little to write about :-P I apologize sincerely for that :-P I might email more later today if I get Dear Elders or something.

So Mom, Dad, Sam, Meri, Grace, and Sophie I love you all and the rest of you who read this are alright ;-) :-D

With complete love
Sincerely
Elder Jamie McConnell :-D

Surgery Day 1 and 2

Elder McConnell and Mom before the Surgery

Morning After Surgery with his brother and sisters

Jamie with Sophie

Grace and Sophie walking for Jamie

Jamie, Sam and Meri


Elder McConnell and Elder McConnell

Doctor Appointment with Jamie

Everyone:

Today we were able to go down to Provo to see Jamie during his doctors appointment and it was a good experience all the way around. Even with the results that Dr. Peterson had given us. Basically, his gallbladder is not working and they are going to take it out lapriscopically (scope). The shocking part is that it is happening tomorrow morning. Barb and I will travel down to the hospital tomorrow morning and be with him when he gets out.

It was a neat experience for me to see him and to be with him and his companion, Elder Porter. Elder Porter is another elder in his group that has had visa problems. He's been in the MTC for 15 weeks with no end in sight! Anyway, in just the short amount of time Jamie has been there at the MTC I can see the maturity and self confidence that he has. He speaks with confidence about not only the gospel but how he feels both pysically and spirtually. While we were waiting for Dr. Peterson in the clinic room we all cried a little bit. We know that he is in good hands and that the many prayers, fasting, and thoughts and letters in his behalf have lifted his spirits up through this trying time. Barb and I shared with him that this is part of his mission experience and that he will be a better missionary and person because of it.

As we dropped off Jamie and Elder Porter at the MTC, it was a whole lot easier the second time around!! Even though it was Move In Day for a lot of other elders, this one was a little bit sweeter knowing that we are going to get this resolved and move on.

Again, thank you for your thoughts and prayers. They have been very helpful for Barb and I but mostly, Elder McConnell.

James

Dear Sam:
Hey! Howzit going?

It’s been alright here. I'm not dead so that’s a plus. But it’s been pretty tough. If there's one thing that I've learned here these last like three weeks, it’s that if you get stuck, sick, or injured and you're trying to get stuff done, then you cannot give in to despair and give up. I think that I’m just now starting to understand a little part of what you went through when you were hit by that car. The days would be filled with emotional and literal pain that it would be almost impossible to be anything close to hopeful and happy. The thought of another tomorrow would be feeling like it was crushing you. You just wanted it to end. You just wanted your pains to be done. Thinking back, I think that it’s amazing that you’re the awesome person you are, even after all of that.

There is a cool video on mormon.org in the new video section on the 2nd page called the infinite power of hope. It’s pretty cool, it’s by President Uchtdorf.

Anyways, I wanted to say thanks for being that example to me.

So….life’s even more boring now than it was before I was sick. When you’re in and out of bed and the doctors’ offices for several weeks, the story’s the same.

I ran into Forrest on Wednesday though. That was cool. He was in the MTC cafeteria when he ran into him. We started talking for a bit then I asked where he was heading and where his class was. Forrest said “I don’t know”. So I asked him for his schedule and he was like “I lost it”. So I was like “What are you doing?” So Forrest said “Dude, I have no idea what’s going on here! My parents dropped me off two hours ago and now I’m eating ice cream!” Too funny!

That’s about it for me. Stay cool, have a good summer.

Elder Jamie McConnell