Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Elder Palmer

Elder Kuyler Thompson and Elder Ryan Palmers have been friend since elementary school. Elder Thompson was Elder Palmer's Host when he got to the MTC today.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Hello

I love it here at the MTC! I am in a 3-some companionship with Elder Honeycutt from California and Elder Watkins from Canada. We get along really well despite the fact that it is super hard to keep track of all three of us. I already have had so many great experiences and learned more than I could have even imagined! The days are jammed packed with things to do throughout the days, I don't know how I even keep going, for 14 hours a day, non-stop! The food here is great! It's not all you can eat like a buffet, but it IS all you can eat, so you can go back and get as much as you want... although eating three times a day, I'm not as hungry all the time anymore! The gym is super fun! We have it every day. Yesterday we played basketball, volleyball, and went jogging around the track a little bit. I have learned so much about the importance of keeping a schedule and sticking to it, I can already tell you that it is going to help me out a lot!
I have seen all of my friends now! There's so many people I know here, that everyone in my district jokes about me knowing every single person in the MTC! My district is really close, there's 11 of us in it total. The other elders are so great and so friendly and loving. It feels like we have all been friends our whole lives.
Right now, I'm just in the laundry room waiting for my clothes to wash and dry. It is my P day on tuesday and it couldn't have come soon enough! As much as I love it here, I am super worn out! I can see how some missionaries could become stir crazy. The secret is to just stick it out, know that bedtime will come eventually. Every day has a beginning and an end, even though it seems like it is forever away, you just have to be patient. I heard a quote from someone here, that the days seem like weeks, and the weeks seem like days. That is sooooo true, I had no idea that a day could be so long! But today I realized that I've been here for a week, holy cow!! It does not seem like that long!
I haven't really gotten a lot of time to write letters because there has been so much preliminary stuff for us to do. I have learned so much about teaching by the spirit. It is SOOO important. You can be the smartest, most knowledgeable person in the world, and you can explain stuff so perfectly, but unless you have the spirit, you are going nowhere. We have to be willing to sacrifice anything we have to in order to have the spirit, and that's exactly what I will do.
Thank you so much, in advance, for your support for me! I love you both and everyone one else, let them know that I'm doing well and strive to be the best missionary I can be!! I'll hear from you soon!