Did you learn about how to answer 'difficult' questions from sceptical non-members?Did you learn specific Bible verses to counter non-Mormon beliefs such as anti-trinitarian quotes etc?

Did they instruct you on how to reactivate inactives?

Did you have sufficient time to learn a new language?

Hmm, I learned a ton in the MTC. Like if you're gonna baptize a family, make sure there are potential priesthood holders in it (I once baptized a family of 3, a mother and two daughters and got no praise for that).

Also, I learned that if you commit a serious sin or leave the church, your brain will be wiped of all memories of your temple experience and covenants. Unfortunately that doesn't actually work.

i guess they didn't know it would be on the internet, and you wouldn't have to remember.

Malagasy.

That's it. No deep doctrine, nothing that changed my life. Malagasy. Oh and that other men are judgmental bastards that hated me for being smarter than them. Go figure

Mostly we tried to learn the new language. (Obviously 3 months is not sufficient to make a dent in the language when your teachers aren't actual teachers, just RMs completely untrained in language acquisition). The rest was like Sunday School. Aside from the very poor language training, I didn't hear anything in there I hadn't heard a zillion times before.

What? Are you kidding me? Don't you know that the CIA/FBI come to the MTC to learn how to be as successful at teaching people a foreign language. Mormons do it more effectively in half the time. Come on now, don't deny that you know it's true. Everything is possible with Jesus!

Whoa!, did you see that monkey that just flew out of my butt, too?

HAHAHA!!! It's SO true! I don't know how it didn't occur to me what a massive fraud it was when I was in there, I just figured I was still being punished for operating my little factory as a teenager

BRT baby BRT!

What does that one stand for?

Build Relationships of Trust. It's the whole love bombing thing.

I learned which foods make me most gassy.

I learned that I fall asleep when I have zero mental stimulation, and that my companion will gladly knock my elbow out from underneath my arm that's holding up my head.

I learned a fair bit of Japanese, and to SYL.

I learned that there are people so uptight in this world that we can't be normal people around them.

I learned that I was one of the few guys to have actually read the BoM myself (twice, in fact) before deciding to go and sell it to the world.

I learned that a lot of missionaries really needed a carrot dangling in front of them in order to go, be it a girlfriend who refused to marry a non-RM, dad paying for college, or a new car.

They must have changed things, we *thought* we learned a fair bit of Japanese, then got into the field and realized we knew next to nothing.

But man, that last week in the MTC we were feeling pretty damn cocky.

They didn't teach us any of that stuff. They taught us how to be salesmen, how to close the deal, how to manipulate people's feelings, etc.

I learned that teenage boys have zero life skills. And I learned what claustrophobia is. I can not stand to be closed in a small room with other people for hours on end.

i pretended to be sick for about the entire time i was there although i just did not want to be there. Ps I made it through the entire mission although i was depressed for first 6 months. I would never go home early and risk ruining my parents lives

I memorized a lot. I learned I could survive in a prison setting. I learned how to submit to authority.

I do not know if they have a manners class anymore, but I had to sit through where to put the silverware on the table and basic table manners. But I did learn in that class that if you have a little soup left in the bowl, you tip the bowl away from you, spoon it up, and eat it.

Spanish verb conjugation rules.

Spanish verb reflexive rules, including reflexive pronouns.

Lots of spanish words.

How to pronounce ll, rr, d, b, a, e, i, o, u, h, j in spanish.

When to use an accent over a vowel in spanish.

How the actual mayan / aztec / incan ruins appeared (from the slide shows that I was shown) like nothing I would have expected if they would have been influenced by near eastern semetic roots.



What I learned on my mission?

How incredible and warm and kind and intelligent the people of latin america are.

How much history resides in latin america (pre and post 1492 CE).

How big cockroaches can get.

That cockroaches can fly.

Lol,manners class?

Mormoney,what the??
That's crazy!

1. A Foreign Language

2. What it's like to live under extreme psychological stress

2. What it's like to live under extreme psychological stress
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This
It was literally the worst two months of my life. I got to the point that I truly thought I lost the ability to feel. The harder I obeyed the worst I felt. I called home over a dozen times because I was that messed up.
I felt guilty for everytime I ever masterbated up to that point.....which was a lot. I can't believe I didn't do it for 2 years. That has got to be some sort of a record.

What kept me there? Well I thought who would want to marry someone that didn't serve a full 2 years, total psyco bullshit

diddly
--------
squat

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2013 10:28PM by jiminycricket.

That ironing boards+trenchcoat = Matrix pictures.

That I dodged the tree of life group shower just barely.

That Thanksgiving "special dinner" = just regular dinner

That Christmas in the MTC + regulated packages = horrible Christmas

That News Years Eve in the MTC = laaaamest party in the whole world

That I could develop a crush on certain sister missionaries who I knew nothing about in real life

And useful things.

Well no, not that last one.

How gas pains like sharp stabbing knives can double you over during prayer. The food. Ugh.

I already had taken French 301 at BYU, so I spent a lot of time tutoring Elders who were struggling with French.

The discussions were easy to learn. The rest was just pump up, fireside-type motivational sessions.

I got pretty bored there for 6 1/2 weeks. I'm sure if I had to learn German or Japanese I would have had to work a lot harder.

I forgot - I also learned how to make a sauna using a laundry cart and a bedsheets.

First, you duct tape the bedsheets over the group shower doorway to keep the steam in. Then you fill the yellow canvas carts with hot water and sit in them. Then turn on all the hot water from the tree of life.

Good times. Later I ended up working for the company that sells the carts to the MTC.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2013 10:37PM by utahstateagnostics.

I learned that "priesthood" leaders were bigger a-holes in the MTC than they were on the outside.

I learned that nobody remembers those who take second place, they only remember the winners and unless you're living up to all your covenants, you're only 2nd place.

What a load of rubbish!

My Portuguese was not sufficient. I learned from 2 Americans and a Korean. I found, when I arrived in Brazil, that part of learning a language is getting your ear accustomed to hearing the accent. The Paulista accent is a lot different than American and Korean accents.

Commitment pattern and BRT. That's about it. I was there in the 90's.

I also learned that if you lived in Provo you could get your friends to sneak in pizza and caffeinated drinks.