More Details

Here are some more details about Brock's current situation expressed to me through a letter written Thursday September 22, 2011: "Like I said in the email, an elder wanted to move up to advanced Spanish. Since they don't focus on the language at all, the advanced Spanish districts are only in the MTC for three weeks, then out to the field. So he talked to the Branch President about moving. The President asked him if he'd recommend anyone else & he recommended me. So anyways, last Friday, my teacher took Elder Condie (the one I've been talking about) and me to the advanced class to see how we felt. I understood everything & I took notes & participated so I told them I felt comfortable. She said I should decide by Monday whether I wanted to move. So I had a big decision to make and I really didn't want to go out without being ready, but I also wanted to go out. So I prayed a lot and read my Patriarchal Blessing and I felt comfortable & excited to go out instead of scared. So I decided to move."

Kicked out of the MTC!!

I am writing this post for Brock, to fill you in on a phone call from him today. He had just been interviewed by the MTC President and told of his change of plans. The Pres told him he could take the time to call home. He is going to bypass the MTC in the Dominican Republic and go directly to Puerto Rico. He will leave Monday Sept 26 at 6:20 am. It is such a coincidence that I just happen to be flying out Monday morning also. Funny how that just seemed to work out. When I told Cory about this he asked, "Did you book your ticket 5 minutes after you spoke with him?" Now why would he make that assumption? That is just a bit beyond me, wouldn't you think? Would I be one to try and manipulate the rules? Frankly, I am just a bit annoyed but such a presumption.

Well, we are happy that Brock will get 6 more weeks to go directly to his mission. It is a good thing.

September 22, 2011

Hey,   So a lot has changed since last P day. The biggest thing is that I am no longer going to the MTC in the Dominican Republic. There is an elder in my district who felt like he could move up to the advanced Spanish district so he talked to some people about moving up. He also recommended that I go too so I had some interviews, and they decided that my Spanish was good enough to move up, which means I'm now going right to Puerto Rico after the Provo MTC. I wish I had more specific information for you but they are just processing the travel plans and they said they'd have an itinerary for me today, but we just checked our mailbox and it's not there. It will probably come in the evening mail today but by then my P day will have ended and I won't be able to email anymore. So I'm really not sure what is going to happen. I do know that there is an Elder that entered an advanced district on September 7th who is going to Puerto Rico and he leaves here Monday. So it's possible that I'll be in the mission field as early as Monday! I feel ready, throughout the whole process I was wondering if this was right and if I was prepared enough but after praying a lot and reading my Patriarchal Blessing I really feel like this is what's best for me. So Puerto Rico here I come. (The other elder who is moving up just told me there might be a way we can find out our travel plans before the evening mail so I may send an email later with specific info)   Other than that, things have been pretty much the same here. I'm going to try to use the SD card reader to send some photos. I'm not sure how well that will work. We had another awesome devotional on Tuesday. Elder Russell M. Nelson came. We're two for two on apostles coming. Both named Russell too. He talked about the Book of Mormon edition of the Ensign. It's really good, I'd recommend you read it. It was really awesome, and I really have a testimony of how powerful that book is. It really is the tool we're using for the gathering of Israel and I know more certainly than I know anything that it is true and that it is the word of God.   Everyone keeps asking if I heard anything from the BYU Utah game but all I heard was silence. Beautiful silence. I had gym time outside right before it started and I saw a bunch of BYU fans walking over to the stadium. After that I heard nothing. No score updates, not a thing until sacrament meeting the next day when someone told me that someone said the score was 50 something to 10. Then the silence made sense. I'm glad to hear we won, I hope it was a fun game to watch.   Anyway, I hope to send another email later with more specific information on when I'm leaving. I'm not sure who I should call from the airport when I'm there, so a Dearelder would be good to let me know that. Also the phone number, because I only remember dad's and my old one.   Pictures didn't work, sorry   I love you, I will talk to you later. The Church is true.   Elder Brock Duclos

Deep Thoughts

Saturday, September 11, 2011

I am laying in my bed at the MTC with the window open. Why do I keep hearing "UTAH MAN"? It seems like it has played 54 times. I guess I will sleep well tonight.

September 15, 2011

Hey,


 The best best way to write me is to use Dearelder. We get Dearelders every day. We're only allowed to write on P days but they let us write home that day to make sure you knew we were okay. I'm okay with the suitcase. It was just the carrying handle that broke so it's no big deal. I'll try to send the watch home to get it replaced. I can't really think of anything else I'd like. Treats are always good, I liked those swedish fish and I did get Wyatt's letter with a dum dum in it. I don't know, you know what I like. Handwritten letters are always good, and I think the Dear elder is about as good as email, if not a little better because I can read them without using my email time and I can get them during the week. It's always nice to get letters during the week.

The MTC has been really cool. Every Tuesday we have a devotional and on Tuesday Elder Ballard came. He talked about how the First Presidency and the Quorum of the 12 pray for the missionaries every Thursday morning in the temple, that was really cool. I heard that two devotionals before I got here was Elder Holland so that was a little bit of a bummer but I am glad I got to see an apostle in the three weeks I'm here. Speaking of the Dominican Republic MTC, my branch president said it's not uncommon for elders going the Dominican republic to stay in Provo for longer than expected because they are sometimes short on room over there. He said he's seen people stay as long as 5 weeks, but I really hope I get to go over right away. I'll miss my district though, I like all the elders here. I feel like they're all my friends, and we have a lot of fun.

 Today is the first real P day we've had, and it's been really good so far. We went to the temple this morning and I saw an yson twin there. It was nice to go to the temple and take some time to just sit in the Celestial Room and think. It's a good contrast from the usual because we're usually all over the place. We have every hour from 6:30 to 10:30 packed with class and study time. I'm surprised at how much time is just personal study where we study whatever we feel like we need. We haven't even had much Spanish instruction in class time, it's mostly just teaching our progressing investigator, Berta. That's been fun and pretty exciting. So it's cool that they let us work on the things we need and follow the Spirit.

 Anyways, that's pretty much it. I love you guys and I'll talk to you next week.

 Elder Brock Duclos

Letter in the Mail

As of right now, I am leaving for the MTC in the Dominican Republic on Sept 29th. My hope is that Dad will be flying out at the same time so I can use his phone to call Mom, and Brooke, Noel and Ellie (all of my girlfriends)

There are 10 Elders in my district. One went to Boise State, one went to SUU, and 7 are BYU students. I wear my Utah stuff every night to bed. I am the only one representing the U!

I am really excited for my time here. My P-Days are on Thursday, so I will eMail then. Amazingly, I pretty much packed all I need, except for a few hangers. I can get by though.

They made me get some vaccinations and it cost about $130 bucks. The Church will send the bill to the Bishop. I did not need them, but they did it to be safe.

It is great here! I am learning a lot and the Spirit is strong. I love you. The Church is true.

Elder Brock Duclos

PS Tell Kendall thanks for the letter! He was the first one.

September 10, 2011

I've been at the MTC for three days now. I may forget how to speak English after learning all this Spanish. Things have been pretty good. I got my package and Dear Elder last night, thanks for the pillowcase and fish. There are 11 elders in my district and only three of us didn't go to BYU, but I guess I told you that in the letter I sent. Sorry about the bill, I didn't really have a choice, they took my paper and stuck a needle in my arm.

My companions names are Elder Peacock and Elder Booher, Elder Booher just joined our companionship yesterday because he moved up from basic Spanish to Intermediate. Elder Peacock is from Kaysville and Elder Hooer is from Arizona. They're both pretty cool.

The first day was really crazy. I went with Elder Tucker and he took my luggage and I went in a room where they gave me my tag and a card for my laundry and food and stuff. Then he took me to my room and left the stuff there. When he picked up my suitcase to go up the stairs the handle broke on the big suitcase. Then he took me to my classroom and left to do his own thing, and I was with my district. They're all pretty cool, and we get along well. Only Elder Peacock and I are going to Puerto Rico but two other companionships are going to the Dominican Republic so they'll come with us at the end of our three weeks. The first meeting we had was with the MTC president, not a general authority but it was good.

I wish I had a toothbrush holder and my watch broke, so that was a bummer, it's really nice to have a watch because I don't have a phone with the time or anything, also I think I was supposed to have a line of authority but I don't remember hearing that. I think I can get everything else at the bookstore here. I did need a hymnbook but it was only about 3 dollars, and the other books are just if I want to use them to study so I might buy Jesus the Christ. We get a discount here.

The classes here are really cool, we focus a lot on concentrating on the needs of the investigator and teaching them what will help them come to Christ. We have a progressing investigator named Berta who we are supposed to teach for 2 weeks I think. It's a really cool experience becuase even though we know she isn't a real investigator, we have a whole background on her and we are teaching her the lessons. We had our first appointment with her yesterday and we had a whole plan on what we were going to teach but it went a whole different direction but it went well anyway. My teacher is Mr. Barnard's cousin so that is really cool, he even reminds me of him a little bit. The language is going pretty well. It was really helpful to go to Chile for those two weeks this summer. It's made me a lot more able to have conversations with people.

The food isn't bad. It's about the same as the Heritage Center at the U. I have seen so many people that I've known. Neider, Landon Bowerbank, Steve Durtschi, Kyle Tucker, Blake Dastrup, Brycen Bigelow, and two sisters from my ward up at the U. Those are who I can remember now. It's like there was a big party here without me knowing it because I have more friends here now than there were at home. The days here are really long because we get up at 6:30 and go to bed at 10:30, but I love it here. The Spirit is really strong and I'm learning a lot. We watched a talk by Elder Holland that he gave to new missionaries a few years ago and it was really powerful. Anyways, I love you guys, and I will talk to you later.

Elder Duclos

PS today is partly a P day because we didn't have one our first week but my real P day is Thursday so that's when I'll usually email.