HOLA!!

Hola Familia!!!!

Everything is just going great here at the MTC. Only about 2 weeks left from Tuesday which is pretty crazy. Then I'll be going to NEW JERSEY which is pretty exciting.

Well my week hasn't been much different than usual. Last Friday we had our first TRC in spanish which went really well. Spanish is starting to come a lot better although I still have a lot I need to learn. Now our district is the oldest district in our zone. It sorta feels like we're still kinda new or just right in the middle, but all the districts that came before us are gone now. It's pretty cool not being the young ones anymore, and I think I've changed a little bit from when I first got here 6-7 weeks ago.

I do have some news though, at least for these next couple days me and Elder Clark have a trio companionship. His name is Elder Boyes and he's on I think his 13th week here at the MTC. He was in the same district as Elder Erikson and Bues. So basically since they left he has been a floating missionary. He has had to stay a really long time because he had to get knee surgery so that delayed him a bit. But he should be taking off sometime next week. It's been pretty nice having him around, but there are some things I can definitely learn from him (just how they say you can learn something from every companion... and no I don't know who "they" is).

Well as you all know we had General Conference this week, and it was an excellent experience. There is just something different about GC as a missionary. It could be because there are less distractions, or you are just more in tune with the spirit and wanting to learn the Gospel. So we spend many hours sitting in the gymnasium either watching conference or saving our seats for conference. On Saturday I decided to write some questions down (cause Elder Clark mentioned it) that I could maybe be answered during conference. To my amazement, it seemed that talk after talk was answering one of my questions. For Example... I had a question about pride. Then President Uchtdorf talked about pride in priesthood session. I also had a question about staying focused... There was a talk about that too with President Uchtdorf talking about focusing on what's important and simplifying your life. But it was definitely a great year of conference, and it was actually pretty sad to see it end, but I guess it had to sometime.

One kinda weird thing I thought. During conference I was sorta thinking about how we normally have sweet roles and stuff before conference, and then I was wondering if maybe Mom was going to send me some. I went to get the mail and saw a package slip for me! There they were! Sweet Rolls!!!!! Thanks so much mom, they were great. I'm also glad you sent me that picture of me with Elder Andersen because I was thinking about how I wish I had that. It's pretty amazing how you know exactly what I need without asking for it.

Oh another interesting thing happened on Saturday as well. I was in the cafeteria and guess who I saw???? No you probably didn't guess it right but I saw my friend Leslie. Pretty crazy huh? She works in the MTC now so that's why she was there. It's kinda weird being so close to campus cause I guess there are just a lot of possibilites of me seeing those I know.

Anyway, Sunday was a great day too. We watched conference, then had a fireside which was about music so we sang a bunch of peoples favorite hymns (only one verse) and then after that we went and watched the District. Watching it makes me super excited for the field and I'm pretty excited to leave the MTC although I'll probably miss the food here a little bit.

On Tuesday we had a devotional and I got to sing in the choir again which was great. I really do enjoy it when I go to choir although I don't have a very good singing voice, but I guess this is a good time to learn because I'm sure me and my companion will have to sing hymns to our investigators a pretty good amount. On Tuesday it was pretty cool too, while we were waiting for them to open the doors to devotional, me, Elder Loveless, Elder Carlisle, and Elder (Logan) Lewis were standing by eachother, so it was kinda like a ward reunion.

Our progressing investigator is still doing well, and I think he is looking forward to baptism which is great. Me and Elder Clark are trying to set up more appointments in the TE so that we can get more practice teaching before we leave. Spanish is still coming and some days it's really good (which are the days when I try really hard with SYL (Speak Your Language)) but I have not so good days when I speak a lot of English.

Well I don't know if I have much else to report this week. It was a good week. Only a few left. That's awesome that Julia got to come visit and see Brigham, hope you all enjoyed conference as much as I did. It's fun seeing Pictures of Rachel and Aaron with a baby, and no mom I think the "Hicks Hotline" is nice.

I've been trying to stay a lot more focused this week which has helped I think.

Caleb, you can take my clothes, as long as I get them back when I come home. I'm not really sure which shoes you took, but if they're my Fila's that's ok too!

Love you all, thanks for your support and letters and treats and everything. Mail is so fun to get while here at the MTC and in the field I'm sure I won't get as much but that's all good cause I'm not on a mission to get mail.

Anyway I figure I'll end this letter with my testimony in Spanish. Hope all goes well and everybody is enjoying working hard.

Ok, Entonces, Aqui es mi Testimonio

Yo se que La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los santos de los ultimos dias es verdadera. Yo se que El Libro De Mormon es la palabra de Dios. Yo se que Jose Smith fue un profeta de Dios y tradujo el libro de mormon a traves el poder de dios. Yo se que a traves la expiacion de Jesucristo, podemos regresar vivir con Dios. Yo se que dios nos ama mucho y quiere nosotros ser feliz y tener paz and esta vida.

Yo digo estas cosas en el nombre de nuestro salvador, Jesucristo, Amen