MTI -The Lost Post

***This post is out of order, but I thought it was lost and just found it.  Those closest to me will understand!

MTI, or Mission Training International, will be our home for a month.  It is located in Palmer Lake, CO, and to say that the area is beautiful would be an understatement.  We are in a kind-of compound nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains with 27 other missionary families.  It has been such a blessing for our family!  Friendships were quickly formed between kids and adults alike.

The weekdays are filled with classes that guide language acquisition and phonetics right now.  We are busy working out our lips and tongues all day (while watching our mouths contort in a mirror)!  It feels great to be a little silly, as it relieves the pressure that we all feel about learning new languages for the sake of the gospel.  I will NOT be posting pictures of these exercises!  We also have counseling sessions and sessions about expectations and the paradoxes of going/leaving.  The days are mentally tiring, but we always feel just a bit more prepared, a bit more confident, a bit more 'normal' at the end of them.  Our friendships go a little deeper each night as we sit around and process everything we've learned that day.  We grow a little closer as we share our stories and our struggles with one another.  It is hard to describe how sweet this time is!

The boys are having a blast and they are learning the same things that we are.  They go on field trips, talk about their Yay moments and their Yuck moments, and they spend time with other kids who are getting ready to say goodbye to all of their friends.  Elijah has learned how to sing "God is so good" in French and Swahili.  Aidan is learning Hindi, as well as "God is so good" in four languages!  The best part about this is is that their confidence is being built.  They are discovering that they can learn a new language and it can be fun.  We love seeing their faces when they share their new accomplishments each day!

The program here is intense, but they are mindful of this and our class days end at four during the week and we have the weekends off.  That means time for processing the info we shoved in our brains and time to relax and have fun so we are ready for the challenges of the next day.  Today we are headed to Pike's Peak!