First Email

Hola Familia y Amigos!

I'll keep the rest of this letter in English even though I've already learned a ton of Spanish. In just a week here I've probably learned more Spanish than I learned in two years in high school. It's amazing how much of a miracle that is.

I've had soo much fun in the MTC already! It's hard to believe that I've already been here a week. I feel like I just got here, but at the same time I feel like I've been forever. Life outside the MTC seems like a dream almost. It's really true the saying I've heard that each day feels like a week, and each week feels like a day. The days are really long because we start each day getting up at 630 and don't go to bed until 10:30 but they're so much fun.
When I got here the first day they put us right to work. We started off with a Spanish lesson for a few hours and then moved right into teaching "investigators" after lunch. They were people who at least most of them were actually members, but it was still such an awesome experience to kind of learn how to teach people.

I really love all the guys in my district. My companion is another kid named Elder Joshua Thomas (I feel like everyone has that name). He's a great guy though. He helps me do my best to be 100% obedient up here. He also has all the hook ups. He knows so many people here and he's had friends and family members who have hook us up with all sorts of snacks and treats which is awesome! The two other elders in our room are Elder Patrick Armijo and Elder Brandon Randall. Elder Randall is from Mesa and he went to Mesa High. Elder Armijo is from Texas and he's the funniest guy in the world. They are such a funny companionship because Elder Armijo is really loud and talkative while Elder Randall is a really quiet guy, but I think every companionship could learn something from them because they work so well together. And mom you need to ask Sister Armijo (Queston's mom) if they could be related to Elder Armijo in my room. He doesn't know if they are related but that would be awesome because as far as he knows he's the only member in his family and he just became a member October of 2011.
I've also gotten a lot of opportunities to see my friends here. As I was walking away from the car with my host missionary I saw Elder Thaddeus Wright and so he took over and helped get settled into the MTC. I've also seen Elder Trevor Lyon a few times and Elder Dalton Anderson. They all seem to be doing great and having an awesome time. I also got to see Elder Sean Cooney yesterday which was his first day here! And Elder Taylor Heyman too! It's awesome to see all the friends I have here and how all these other guys are trying to do the right thing.
So on our second or third day we began teaching discussion. And not in English, but in Spanish. That was really hard. I hardly knew any Spanish and yet I had to teach an "investigator" about the Gospel in Spanish. The first discussion was really tough because we had a script written out and we just read from it while we couldn't really understand anything he said. The next few times we went in though we took less and less notes with us and it was amazing how much better the lessons went. Even though I know I said many things wrong, the Spirit we could feel there was so awesome and I know that even though the investigator might not have been able to understand me, he at least felt the Spirit and knew the things I was telling him were true.

I love how much closer I've grown to my Heavenly Father since being here. The Spirit is everywhere at the MTC and it's so awesome to be able to have him as a companion with you always. I also got to go to the temple for the first time at the MTC today and since my companion and I barely made it for a session ahead of us we got a chance to wait in the Celestial room for like 20 minutes for the rest of our district. It was so nice to be able to just sit there and feel the Spirit and just think about everything. I love being out here on a mission so much and I miss all of you, my family and friends, a ton, but I know what I am doing is right and that I and my family will be blessed because of it.

Well I'm out of time (they only give us 30 minutes to email) so I've got to go. My P-day is on Thursdays so I will email home every Thursday. Oh and can you tell Katie and Alli and Curt and Brother and Sister Farnsworth thanks so much for the cupcakes! It was the first mail I had got and it was so nice of them! It really meant a lot to me.
Oh and can you also maybe tell people they can use dearelder.com to send me mail until July 3rd. While I'm in the Provo MTC if they write a letter there then they can print it out and give it to me the same day usually so it's really fast.
And sorry I'm asking a lot, but if you could could you please send up two or three more pairs of shorts and probably 4 more t-shirts i can excercise in. We have excercise time every day and I sweat a bit so I usually need to wash them soon. Sorry the email was so long, but I just thought I'd let you know how everything was going my first week. I love you all so much and I miss you all! Thanks for everything! And I know that the Lord will keep me safe and watch out for me while I'm on my mission!