Hello Family and Friends, I fist want to thank all of you for all of your love and support. You are all so kind and i appreciate everything that you have all done to help me be here in the mtc now. I only have 30 min to read and right everything and am already down to 26 so I may make some mistakes, but I will try to get everything out that i can. It is a crazy feeling to finally be here in the mtc and be a missionary. For a long time it has felt very surreal, but now that i've been here for a week, I am starting to adjust and I am starting to get into the routine. It was really hard to say good bye to everyone on the day that I went it. It was fun to have mom and dad there, and the bowens, marcie, and grandma and grandpa, and it was also good to see cassie and mady before coming in too before they take off to singapore. when it was time for the final hug, it was hard for me to hold back tears that everybody else had, but i was able to do it, and as soon as I walked into the campus I was immediately pushed through lines where i was hearded around with hundreds of other missionaries to get our pictures taken, get our nametags, drop off some forms, and some other things that i cant even remember. After that I went to the bookstore and picked up all of the books that I needed, both english and spanish, and then i dropped my bags off in my room (igot the bottom bunk) and then it was off to class. Hello Family and Friends, I fist want to thank all of you for all of your love and support. You are all so kind and i appreciate everything that you have all done to help me be here in the mtc now. I only have 30 min to read and right everything and am already down to 26 so I may make some mistakes, but I will try to get everything out that i can. It is a crazy feeling to finally be here in the mtc and be a missionary. For a long time it has felt very surreal, but now that i've been here for a week, I am starting to adjust and I am starting to get into the routine. It was really hard to say good bye to everyone on the day that I went it. It was fun to have mom and dad there, and the bowens, marcie, and grandma and grandpa, and it was also good to see cassie and mady before coming in too before they take off to singapore. when it was time for the final hug, it was hard for me to hold back tears that everybody else had, but i was able to do it, and as soon as I walked into the campus I was immediately pushed through lines where i was hearded around with hundreds of other missionaries to get our pictures taken, get our nametags, drop off some forms, and some other things that i cant even remember. After that I went to the bookstore and picked up all of the books that I needed, both english and spanish, and then i dropped my bags off in my room (igot the bottom bunk) and then it was off to class.
In class i met my companion Elder Derek Thompson from Dallas Texas, and my district of 12 total, and my two teachers. Everyone seems really great and things have gone well so far. My teachers names are Hermana Rivas and Hermano Mcpharison. They are both really great and i've learned a lot from them. Her. Rivas only speaks in Spanish. It was hard to understand everything at first, but now as i've heard it more and she talkes slowly, and with my past spanish classes, i can understand just about everything that she says. I dont know how the Elders who havent ever had any spanish are doing tho. She is from hawaii and served her mission in ecuador and is going to be having her first baby in about three weeks so i think we;ll get a new teacher then. Brother Mcpharison is way awesome and is a really great teacher. He is kind of a quite guy, but he says a lot of really powerful things. He teaches more of the gospel with some spanish and sister rivas teaches more spanish. In class the spanish is coming along and i have learned to pray, bare my testimony, and even teach a short first discussion all in spanish. It is a little shaky, but i think that my spanish will get better exponetially every week, and everyone here is very helpful and we all help eachother get better.
At dinner the first night and other times that i have eaten i have seen all of my friends from home and from BYU. It is so great to see everyone again and see how amazing everything has been for the elders that have been here for a while.
The first night and stilll a little bit every night it has been hard to sleep. We have so much to do everyday! we are literally scheduled for every minute of everyday. Even our Pdays (wednesday) are scheduled and super busy. Other than the mild sleep problems though, everything has been great. Waking up at 630 hasnt been too much of a problem. my room wakes up at like 615 or 620 to try and get to the showers and class on time tho. I usually take a slightly cold shower in the handicap shower because nobody else likes it because its cold, but i get in and out quick, do some pushups/situps to wake up a bit and then i'm ready to go.
I ahve a really great branch presidency. Church on sunday was great, and sunday as a whole was also. Every week every missionary has to prepare a talk. Then it is announced in church who is going to speak that day. We are supposed to work towards speaking in spanish so that well have a lot of talks ready to go when we get to mexico.
I am not sure when i'm going to get to mexico tho becuase of visa problems. Many elders going there have been here for 13 weeks. I have heard many rumors. Ive heard mexico shut its services down during the world cup, i've heard that mexico is being slow because they dont like arizona and some border disputes, and also that they are switching systems and that it should be fast again soon. I hope the last one is right, but it is very likely i will be here for more than 9 weeks. Pray for me that I will be able to get out on time.
During exercise time which we have 5 days a week i have been playing soccer because the gym is having bleachers added to it so there is no basketball. I am getting better at soccer for mexico tho, and it is really fun, even though there are a lot of people.
The spiritual thought that i would like to leave this week that is something that i have heard a lot about it on Prayer. In a devotional last night by Elder Gene r Cook of the seventy, he talked about ways to have the spirit with us and be blessed as we serve. One of his points that really touched me was the power of prayer. Prayer is something that i sometimes take for grantite. It is amazing to think that we actually have the ability to talk with God. God has blessed us with this gift and we should always use it and respect it. We should stear clear of repetative prayers and always pray very sincerely and with all of our hearts. there is a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 19:38 that you should all go read, and if you are not mormon, copy and paste it into google and you can see it. It basically talks about how great of blessings we can receive through prayer. I have received answers to my prayers this week and have been constantly surrounded by the holy spirit, and have been comforted with my troubles. I am going to try my best to always leave sincere and heartfelt prayers.
I'm at the five minute mark and those numbers that are counting down make me very nervous! I'm at the five minute mark and those numbers that are counting down make me very nervous! WEll that is my week in a very very summarized nutshell. I love you all very much and appreciate all of the support you give me! If you want to write me, letters are amazing to get and i will for sure write you back next wednesday. an easy way to write if you dont like letters is DearElder.com. I'll get your message that night and it will make me happy haha. I love you all again and hope you all have amazing weeks!
Love,
Elder Bradley Smith
In class i met my companion Elder Derek Thompson from Dallas Texas, and my district of 12 total, and my two teachers. Everyone seems really great and things have gone well so far. My teachers names are Hermana Rivas and Hermano Mcpharison. They are both really great and i've learned a lot from them. Her. Rivas only speaks in Spanish. It was hard to understand everything at first, but now as i've heard it more and she talkes slowly, and with my past spanish classes, i can understand just about everything that she says. I dont know how the Elders who havent ever had any spanish are doing tho. She is from hawaii and served her mission in ecuador and is going to be having her first baby in about three weeks so i think we;ll get a new teacher then. Brother Mcpharison is way awesome and is a really great teacher. He is kind of a quite guy, but he says a lot of really powerful things. He teaches more of the gospel with some spanish and sister rivas teaches more spanish. In class the spanish is coming along and i have learned to pray, bare my testimony, and even teach a short first discussion all in spanish. It is a little shaky, but i think that my spanish will get better exponetially every week, and everyone here is very helpful and we all help eachother get better.
At dinner the first night and other times that i have eaten i have seen all of my friends from home and from BYU. It is so great to see everyone again and see how amazing everything has been for the elders that have been here for a while.
The first night and stilll a little bit every night it has been hard to sleep. We have so much to do everyday! we are literally scheduled for every minute of everyday. Even our Pdays (wednesday) are scheduled and super busy. Other than the mild sleep problems though, everything has been great. Waking up at 630 hasnt been too much of a problem. my room wakes up at like 615 or 620 to try and get to the showers and class on time tho. I usually take a slightly cold shower in the handicap shower because nobody else likes it because its cold, but i get in and out quick, do some pushups/situps to wake up a bit and then i'm ready to go.
I ahve a really great branch presidency. Church on sunday was great, and sunday as a whole was also. Every week every missionary has to prepare a talk. Then it is announced in church who is going to speak that day. We are supposed to work towards speaking in spanish so that well have a lot of talks ready to go when we get to mexico.
I am not sure when i'm going to get to mexico tho becuase of visa problems. Many elders going there have been here for 13 weeks. I have heard many rumors. Ive heard mexico shut its services down during the world cup, i've heard that mexico is being slow because they dont like arizona and some border disputes, and also that they are switching systems and that it should be fast again soon. I hope the last one is right, but it is very likely i will be here for more than 9 weeks. Pray for me that I will be able to get out on time.
During exercise time which we have 5 days a week i have been playing soccer because the gym is having bleachers added to it so there is no basketball. I am getting better at soccer for mexico tho, and it is really fun, even though there are a lot of people.
The spiritual thought that i would like to leave this week that is something that i have heard a lot about it on Prayer. In a devotional last night by Elder Gene r Cook of the seventy, he talked about ways to have the spirit with us and be blessed as we serve. One of his points that really touched me was the power of prayer. Prayer is something that i sometimes take for grantite. It is amazing to think that we actually have the ability to talk with God. God has blessed us with this gift and we should always use it and respect it. We should stear clear of repetative prayers and always pray very sincerely and with all of our hearts. there is a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 19:38 that you should all go read, and if you are not mormon, copy and paste it into google and you can see it. It basically talks about how great of blessings we can receive through prayer. I have received answers to my prayers this week and have been constantly surrounded by the holy spirit, and have been comforted with my troubles. I am going to try my best to always leave sincere and heartfelt prayers.
I'm at the five minute mark and those numbers that are counting down make me very nervous! I'm at the five minute mark and those numbers that are counting down make me very nervous! WEll that is my week in a very very summarized nutshell. I love you all very much and appreciate all of the support you give me! If you want to write me, letters are amazing to get and i will for sure write you back next wednesday. an easy way to write if you dont like letters is DearElder.com. I'll get your message that night and it will make me happy haha. I love you all again and hope you all have amazing weeks!
Love,
Elder Bradley Smith
No comments:
Post a Comment