May 9,2010

Dearest Family (haha),

How is everyone? Over here, across the street, it feels so different and the time flies. I have learned so much in...4 days? wow. It feels like it's already been a week. The first day, we pretty much just went through an orientation. After I left you all, I went to my dorm to drop off my stuff, which I did, and then went to my classroom. There we met our companions. My companion is Elder James Farrell Mcconnell. He is just like me. We share a lot of the same interests, we can both enjoy silence while retaining a smart sense of humor, and we both have seen the same random youtube videos. We talk a lot, but not a lot of words are shared between us. We feel that close. I have been learning spanish rapidly, having it shoved down my throat at an alarming rate! I already know how to pray and bear my testimony, and I can barely get through the first discussion in Spanish--same thing with my companion. I am very grateful for him and his quiet dignity. However I can't say the same for the other missionaries in my district. They're all great, and I treasure all of their company, but what I'm referring to, is their ability to speak Spanish. So, yesterday while we were in our classroom doing language study, I went up to the front of the class and taught the basics of Spanish for two hours because our teacher, Hermana Burns, assumes too much about their capability for Spanish.

Our district leader, Elder Ronfeldt, is huge and muscly. But he is modest and always takes time for everyone. He is also mine and Elder Mcconnell's roommate. As I said earlier, I enjoy everyone's company here. It's been a while since I last met someone new, and meeting all of these faithful young men that have the same ambitions as me, is such a blessing. I was called to be the senior companion in our companionship, and am doing my best to set an example. I haven't really had time to iron all of my shirts mom, so I iron one a night before bed. I also have to shave at night, because a half hour is not enough to get my turn in the shower, iron, shave, and brush my teeth(which I'm also doing frequently). Let me just say that the beds here are heavenly! They are the perfect hardness, and they are about 7 ft. long. Muy bien! And the Cafeteria is just like any cafeteria. But the food here is much more diverse and delicious. They have soft drink dispensers...along with fruit juice, milk, chocolate milk, and powerade dispensers. It's a buffet, you can have as much as you want, but only one entree at a time to ensure the proper usage of food, so none is wasted. My day is this: Wake up, shower, dress, brush teeth and hair, then we go to personal study in our classroom. Then we have breakfast for a half hour, and then we return to the classroom for companionship study. Then we have class until lunch. After lunch, depending on the day, we have gym or class. If we have class first, then we have gym after dinner, which comes after the afternoon class session. After gym, we have more class, and then we go plan out the next day (which at this point consists of copying the printed schedule into our handheld schedules that I love). I love having a companion with me, especially one as cool as mine. We actually were asked to go in, and take a language evaluation test, to see is we needed to move up a level. I told them afterward that I really didn't want to move up. I had vocab, but I'm pretty sure my grammar is horrendous! haha. I got two letters, one from a 14-year old girl that is the sister-in-law of one of my jamba co-workers. I had told her goodbye, on facebook, a few days before I left, and her letter was the first to arrive. Yesterday, I got a letter from Kevin, saying I was the reason he got his call. He told me he would have kept on procrastinating putting them in, if I hadn't kept pushing, and he was thanking me for it. I love the spirit here, I love the language. I have a thirst for education that I haven't felt in a long time, and it is being slowly satisfied. I am now thinking in spanish everytime I hear a word that I know, and I find myself deleting spanish words out of this letter, even as I'm typing it. From now on, my p-days will be on friday, at least as long as I'm in the MTC. I'm scheduled to depart to Chile on July 5th. So far today, we practiced teaching the first discussion(in english), and my companion and I spent a half-hour on the first two points out of 5. I don't think teaching for a set time will be a problem for us. I miss everyone. It wasn't so bad at first, but as i was writing in my journal the first night, I remembered daddy hugging me, and pulling away with wet eyes. I keep thinking that I'm home, and that I'll see you guys in a little while, but I'm not. I keep thinking "I'll look it up on the internet (not my iphone)" but I can't. It'll be okay, and I can't wait to help the people of Chile. Know that I am well, and our separation will be but a short season. I love you!