First Letter from the MTC! (Week 1)

August 4, 2012

Everything is going well here, its been a little tough to get into the hang of things, but things are coming along.
So our first day here we basically just went straight to class and got right in on Spanish. They really stress that we try to speak as much Spanish as we can, but it’s hard to do especially when you feel like you need to be building up relationships with companions, which is a lot harder to do en espanol. But then the MTC presidency talked to us, and President Brown and President McIff said hi to me. They called me up onto the podium, so that was kinda cool. I saw Tucker and Boden both here; we've eaten together a bit and stuff. Then we went to a group observation of a lesson. . . And that was basically our first day.

Then Thursday we just went to class, had a lecture, had our gym time, more class, studied a lot, and met our branch presidency. The branch president quickly interviewed our entire district, and he made me district leader, which means I basically just collect and hand out everyone’s mail at the end of the day, I had to interview my elders, and just basically watch out for them. That call was nice, it kinda helped me stop worrying about myself and focus on the needs of those around me more.

Friday we taught our first fake investigator in Spanish! It went pretty well, we just spent the time trying to get to know her and asking her about her beliefs, and bearing our testimonies of God's love for her. We are teaching her again this afternoon, on the restoracion. We kinda knew what her trials are now and what we need to prepare so hopefully this will go better as well.

I saw Sister King on Thursday and she gave me some cupcakes that the district really enjoyed, I got a tie from the Jacobs that I'm wearing right now, my laundry is in the washer, and we are just getting ready for tomorrow. I’m excited for Sunday because it means we have a lot less class than the other days. I'm not too tired yet, although some of the elders in the district are struggling. My companero is very good, he is really caring and we have gotten pretty close already.

My leg is healing up really well, I've been taking all the meds and everything, it should be totally fine soon. I've been running with Elder Clawson, who is in really good shape, so I've been getting my trash kicked daily. The hardest part of being in the MTC is that I'm so close to everything and it feels like, especially towards the end of the long day, that it would be really nice to just get in my own bed and unwind with a book or something. The first night was weird, I was trying to go to sleep but I couldn't stop thinking about gospel stuff, so I kinda tossed and turned for a while. But now I'm getting tired enough that it’s always easy to go to bed.

The Spanish is coming along, I understand it really well now, it's just a matter of being able to form sentences fast enough and with correct grammar and everything. But it’s nice having a companion because whenever you need a break to think of your next sentence, he can pick it up. I think Elder Clawson thinks I’m a really quiet guy, just because I’m trying to mainly speak Spanish and can't say much. Oh well.

Well, the first week is almost done, and my time is almost up. I'm doing well, no need to worry mother, and I know that this is what I need to be doing right now. Although I can tell that in about six or seven weeks I am going to be very, VERY ready to get to Chile and start doing all this for real.

Elder Brown