Wow! I am so grateful for the outpouring of love I found on this account and the wonderful letters I have received with encouraging words and fun stories!
What an amazing week! I don't really know where to start! Getting dropped off was hard, and for a few seconds I wasn't sure if I'd made the right decision. But that thought has not crossed my mind since. I have never been happier and more in tune with myself and the spirit than I am right now in the MTC. And although I miss all of you, I can proudly say I am a member of the Lord's army, called to fight for him in California, and I can't wait to get there.
DAY 1: They throw you through this assembly line at a rapid pace giving you bags and books and your name tags, people dragging you all across campus and I was legit super scared. Then they toss you in a class room with your district, who are just a bunch of other scared and confused Elders and Sisters. No one really talks, except the teacher. But fun fact! Michael Avila's older brother is one of our two teachers! So that was cool. He's amazing. He knows so freaking much about the scriptures, and Preach My Gospel (PMG for short) that you can ask any question and he'll quote the reference, page, and relay the answer word for word. And they aren't easy questions.
My district is amazing and we've become best friends since we've met. I'll just give a brief description of them.
Elder Golden: My companion. Silent but Sassy.
Woops. I didn't finish but hit the wrong button. Let me start where I left.
Elder Golden: Legit didn't say more than 2 words the first few days. Like nothing. And then when we started getting to know eachother, I learned he is the funniest kid I know. He has the best on liners I've ever heard. Legit. They're a riot. He's also going to my mission
Elder Paxton: StereoTypical Rich Pretty boy who says the most controversial things. Everything that he says is funny because it is offensive to some group of people. But we love him. He is also going to my mission. And he has a girlfriend that he's "in love with" who's "waiting for him", but they met July 3.... Yep. 12 days before he came here.
Elder Carter: The genius. He knows so much. Wants to be a Doctor, and knows so much about EVERYTHING. He also tells everyone a bunch of useless facts but we've come to love him for it.
Elder Osborn: The spiritual Giant. He was very quiet as well at first, but has such a strong testimony it's amazing.
Elder Webber: The leader of the pack. Also him and I have become best friends. We plan on being roommates in college and that's a legitimate fact. He's so awesome. One of my favorite people ever.
These are also all 5 of my roommates so we have lots of fun. There are some sister too, but the only notable thing is that one companion ship is made up of a Liberal and Libertarian both going into Political Science and Debate and Law type things and they argue all the time and they have personalities that are exactly like Leslie and Ron swanson from community.
Our other teacher is Brother Savio and he's the most Christlike man I've ever met. Most people are indifferent towards their teachers, but not our district. We understand that we've been blessed with 2 of the greatest people we've ever had the pleasure of knowing. Lessons from them are true gifts from Heavenly Father.
The rest of the days sort of blur together. Although we had 2 missionaries who left this last Monday. One was this overly hyper funny guy named Elder Bozue, and the other was this dry laid back guy named Elder Flemming. Elder Flemming and I hit it off really well, and fun fact: He's got a full ride to ASU to play Defensive End. He's massive. And I can proudly say that I've played volleyball against a Division I athlete, got stuffed by him and got a spike from him straight to the crotch. I will cherish those things forever. It was sad when they left, but they'll do great in the field.
Sunday was amazing, and we got to watch a talk by Elder Bednar called: Character of Christ. It was the most influential thing I've ever seen. I'm not joking. It was so incredible. Unfortunately you are only able to watch it in the MTC, on sunday nights, but I think you can read it online. Not sure.
Every day we have hours of study time (Both personal and companion) 6 hours of classroom time, and hour of exercise time, and the rest of the time is spent teaching recent converts who pretend to be investigators. It's a cool experience because they're all (Mostly) Really great actors. Except on of mine and Elder Golden's investigators. He's an actual investigator. Played football at UNLV and has a mormon girlfriend. It's been very stressful for me trying to figure out what to say to him and how to help him. But it's brought me closer to God during the process.
I love how simple the Gospel has become for me. I spent a lot of time worrying about complicated specifics and advanced concepts, but here in the MTC we have to learn and teach from a basic level. And the gospel, at it's core, is so simple. I have found a lot of joy in the New Testament, especially the four gospels, and have spent most my study time in those books. I love learning about Christ and his atonement and teachings. Because truly, the Gospel is as simple as those basic teachings of Christ.
I don't have much time, and still have to write my parents, but that's the main jist of what went on! I leave monday! I'll try and send some pictures to you all soon. Church is true. I love you all and miss you. Stay strong. See you in 2!
