Arrived at Fresno Mission

I’m here in Fresno and safe. We got here and got picked up by president and then he sent us out knocking doors and that was funny because some guy was bashing on us so that was awesome but we got a few addresses and numbers so that was fun but they told me to keep it brief and tell you I made it safely…my pday is on Monday so I will fill you in on Monday. Oh its extremely hot over 100 so I'm sweating a lot.

Leaving the MTC

I am leaving the MTC in like 15 minutes but I thought I would send a quick email. I'm excited to talk to you guys today and I should have about an hour to talk so thats good. hopefully I can figure out how to use a pay phone since I've never used one before. I can't believe how fast these nine weeks have went, seriously the fastest nine weeks of my life! I've seen some of the greatest, and most intense parts and comb overs I've ever seen, it's been wonderful. This week has been awesome, can't remember much about it but the salta people left on Sunday so that sucked to say goodbye to them because I was very close to two of them in that group but after the mission I will defiantly hang out with them cuz their awesome. Now its the Fresno peoples turn to leave, we have 19 people in our travel group, 12 Spanish and 7 English, I think thats a lot of people to be going to one place at one time so I think the work in Fresno must be doing pretty well. I have learned so much at the MTC and am grateful that I got to spend nine weeks here because its really not all that bad, its a very spiritual place and I have grown so much on my mission already. Something I learned this week was that the mission has a two-fold purpose, one to bring others unto Christ but also for the missionary and I have seen myself change quite a bit over these past few weeks. Well I better go cuz its time to check in at the travel office and I get to talk to you guys in a couple hours so we can talk about things then.

MTC Week 8

I'm so close to being out of here!!! I got my flight plans this Thursday and I leave the MTC at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning and my flight is at 12:40 p.m. so I should have a while to talk to you. I got your phone card with 6 hours worth of talking so that should defiantly be enough cuz I'm thinking I'll have about an hour or so to talk on the phone which is exciting. I'm also looking forward to being in the outside world after two months of being stuck in the MTC and seeing nothing of the outside world which will kinda be weird. Oh don't send out anything else to the MTC because I probably won't get it since Monday is a holiday here in Utah, so I probably won't get any of it and same with the dear elders. So this week has been a really good one because I'm cramming in a lot of last minute Spanish stuff and although I feel pretty good about Spanish now, I know that as soon as I get there people will talk so fast and it will be hard to understand but I pray that I'll be able to understand what their saying so I can help them even if I can't say things that I want to yet. So the Spanish all in all is good and I feel like I know a lot of Spanish if its about the gospel! Were wrapping up our class time and the teaching has been going really well and I've noticed that even if I can't say what I feel I can kinda get around it and use the vocab I use but I'm excited for the day that I can say what I feel. So this Friday I have in- field orientation which is a day all about preparing for the field which is exciting because they have a lot of cool people that teach it and that means that class is over with!! I haven't been able to go the temple because it is still closed but thats fine because we get five hours of personal time where I can do whatever I want which is awesome. My time at the MTC has been so fun mostly because I got an awesome district that all get along and no weirdos so I'm thankful that the time here has been a blast. These past few weeks have also been great because I've learned so much more about the gospel and has been a very spiritual experience and time of growth spiritually speaking.

MTC Week 7

So I was hoping that I would be able to email you after I got my travels plans but they haven't come yet so I'll probably get them tomorrow or Friday at the latest which is super exciting because then I know how exactly how long I have left but it defiantly is under two weeks now which is exciting. This week has been super boring since class is getting to the stage where the teacher can't help much anymore and it's up to us now to learn all the Spanish before we leave. The whole MTC is going through a deep clean so the gym has been closed for the past week and this coming week but its alright because I just go out outside and play soccer which is a lot of fun and am getting a nice tan from that. The temple is also closed for a deep clean so we just have an extra 4 hours to do stuff instead of going to the temple on Wednesday which is good and bad at the same time. About sending packages, it would be good if you sent the next one to Fresno because I 've collected at least 20 pounds of Spanish books and such and I leave soon so I wouldn't want it to arrive here after I leave

week 15

So the weeks are really starting to blend together and I forgot all that has happened this week but last Monday we weren't able to do missionary stuff so we went out of town with Diego to a really good Mexican restaurant. It was a lot of fun and he was excited to take us because he was bored since his wife was stuck in Connecticut because of the snow storm. On Tuesday, we had an exchange and I stayed in Reedley with Elder Castillo who I've already been on exchange with twice before so it was awesome. We committed two people to be baptized for the 27th of this month so hopefully they are ready for then. The weather has really cooled down and its jacket weather, I didn't think California got cold, so that was a surprise to me. All I had was my rain jacket so a member gave me a really nice jacket so hopefully he doesn't ask for it back. We biked during the days this week and we talk to everyone but its been really tough because we have had no luck with that at all. So its been a bit discouraging considering we've talked to about 100 people and not one has even shown a bit of interest. On Saturday, we went to the funeral for the sister in our ward that passed away, it was the first funeral I have ever went to so that was interesting. On Sunday, we only got one investigator to church but she went up and bore her testimony and said that she is no longer waiting for her dad and wants to be baptized. We went over last night and she prayed about a date to be baptized and she told us to come back tonight so I'm excited to see what she says. I hope its before November 30 because I think that I will be transferred at the end of this transfer and I want to be at the baptism.

MTC Week 6

So another week has gone by and moving into the seventh week here at the MTC. It's crazy how fast time goes here. This was a good week. On Saturday night we had a special July 4 celebration and it was really well down. We had a good speaker, sang some songs, had a cool video presentation on all the missions around the world and its crazy that there are so many missions now! After that we were able to go watch fireworks which is a treat because it was at 11:30 and we normally have to be in our rooms by 9:30 so that was cool. On Friday one of my two teachers left to go home because his family is having health issues so that kinda sucks that he left because he knows us really well and we now just get subs that don't really know us or where we are at with our Spanish but it keeps things interesting because every teacher is different. On Sunday night we had Jenny Oaks Baker at our fireside who is Elder Oaks daughter and this was a different fireside because she gave a talk but every 5 or 10 minutes she would play a song on the violin which was really cool because she is very accomplished and used to play with the National Orchestra so she was really good. My studying has got a lot better and I really enjoy the personal study time because I learn so much every day and I know have a lot of good notes and scriptures for my lessons. My Spanish is coming along but I'm getting more nervous for when I leave because I will have to teach people for real in Spanish so I hope I learn a lot more in the next 2 and a half weeks. I can't wait to get out of here because my back is starting to give me problems because I'm sitting down for over 14 hours a day with only getting 50 minutes for gym each day so I can't wait to get out in the field and be on the move all the time.

MTC Week 5

Another week has flown by already but it was a good one. This past Friday night we got to hear from Elder Bednar in a special Friday night fireside and it was really good, it was about being a "Preach my Gospel" missionary. I got really good seats, probably about 25 feet away so that was cool. After the fireside we were able to meet with our mission president and he made a good first impression because he brought ice cream sandwiches which was nice (The little things mean a lot when your in the MTC). We had a camera crew from the church in our meeting and its going to be on lds.org sometime this week and then in a month or so its going to be used in some church production so I could be a movie star here really soon. The meeting was really good and you could tell how much he loved us because he told us that he has been praying for each of us by name since we got here and that meant a lot. We just all shared our testimonies and told a little about ourselves so that was cool. He then asked what he and Sister Galwix could do for us and everyone was saying a bunch of stuff and then when it got around to me I told him the food has been tearing me apart and then told him I want to go out for a steak when I got to Fresno so he promised he would take me out for a steak and that worked out well cuz it was a joke but looks like I get a steak out of it. He promised everyone he would do anything they wanted and you could tell he really meant it and you can sense that he was a genuine guy and he asked from us is to work hard and never lose his trust. After the meeting we just talked for an hour because he really likes to talk and it sounds like you also got to experience a little Galwix. Thats so awesome that you were able to talk to him and I'm so glad that I got him as a mission president. I wasn't sure why I was called to Fresno and even when I entered the MTC I didn't know why I was called to Fresno but I now know why I was called to this mission, and thats because of President Galwix. We took a picture with him and I sent that today so you'll get that soon. His wife is super nice too and I feel so lucky to have a Mission President that cares so much about his missionaries and I'm lucky that I was here while he was because everyone says that the Mission President is always closest to the ones who were at the MTC with and because all my two years will be with him. I can't believe how fast time flies in the MTC, it's been 5 weeks already so that means I only have 3 and a half weeks left and thats a good things because I'm eating the salads and wraps now which means its time to go. My Spanish is slowly progressing but I know that it takes about a year to be completely fluent so I'm just going to keep working at it. I got an email from president this week so I'll print that off because it has all of his notes from his meetings with the apostles so I want to read that. Thanks for the Doctrines of salvation, I love to be able to read those at night and I have one more book that I want but I'll send you the title next week.