Wednesday, August 17, 2016

First P-day letter from the MTC! Week 1

Hi Mom!!!
 So it turns out my p-day's are on Tuesdays!! Mom I can't tell you how much I've learned here and how many friends I've made! I absolutely love it here and am having so much fun! Its actually kind of funny because I see Elder Hogge and Elder Reed at least 4 times a day haha! I have also seen Elder Boyle and a few other kids from Fremont. My district is literally the best district at the MTC! I love them so much and we are already best friends! My companion Elder Bland is from Arkansas and he's pretty cool. He is super quiet but can really teach with the spirit and we get along really well. Its weird because he loves basketball just as much as I do so we talk about that a lot. So half of our district is going to Atlanta Georgia and the other half is going to Mesa! Its kind of a bummer because I'm super good friends with the Atlantians and its going to be hard to go our separate ways!! Sister Drasbec, Sister Smith, Elder Slaugh, Elder Hobbs, and Elder Bland are going to Mesa. Sister Busath, Sister Bjazevich, Elder Ashcraft(also our district leader, super hilarious kid haha), Elder Johnson, Elder Holmes, and Elder Stephens are going to Atlanta. Our room is me, elder bland, elder ashcraft, elder johnson, elder holmes, and elder stephens. We seriously have the most fun out of anyone in our building!!! 

So our first Sunday was really cool and spiritual. Our District presidency is AMAZING!! Brother Shumway is the second counselor and he gave one of the most powerful talks I have ever heard. It was super spiritual and touching because a bunch of the elders that had been here for their MTC  time were leaving so everyone was crying. I have loved the older missionaries that have been here since  we got here. Elder Dininger was like my best friend and he is super hilarious! He is Asian and he left for Colorado yesterday which was hard. Sorry I've kind of given up on punctuation because its to time consuming haha. 

We got to walk around the temple on sunday which was nice because we really hadnt been out of the mtc since we were dropped off haha! This morning we got to go do endowments and that was awesome because its not everyday you get to listen to the prayer circle praying for the missionaries when you are one!! It was beautiful and really cool! And I did get the doughnuts!! Thanks a lot!! i actually didn't get them until thursday because we didn't know about the mail thing on wednesday haha! Everyone loved me for it!

It sounds like everything is going good at home!! I really miss you guys and home a lot and sometimes its hard. Well the mission is definitely one of the hardest things ive done for sure but i loooooovvvveee it! Its weird because sometimes I get super down on myself because i dont feel something, i dont understand something, or can't teach something right away. It really makes the day a lot harder and makes me not want to be here BUT then i remember my purpose, my purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ. There are other times when i'm bouncing off the walls because i'm so excited about being a missionary! its weird but i try to make my days more excitig! We study at least eight or nine hours a day, its exhausting and can get really boring sometimes. But it's ok.  I still haven't perfected studying but i'm learning;) 

Yesterday was my first TRC which is teaching our first real investigators! We taught Sam Herrera and he was really cool and really accepted what we had to say. Emi our other investigator is from Tokyo, doesn't believe in a god or Jesus Christ, and hardly speaks any english haha!!! She was really tough but we got her to understand a little bit more about who we are and what we are all about. She is seriously the sweetest person and i already love her so much!!! We teach her again tomorrow so we will see how that goes!!

oh yeah and i have played some ball, we have exercise time almost every day for an hour and so that's what i do. Me and Elder Thompson, the one from Oklahoma:), get along really well and we got to play ball together.  We dominated! just kidding. The food here is actually not bad,  but sometimes though the lines take forever and that stinks haha!

It was hard getting used to this place but now it almost feels like home! I really do love it here and I really miss you guys a lot. I love you guys!! I hope you have a good week!!

love Elder Findlay:)

I am trying to figure out how to send pictures but i can't find out how!! So I'm going to get some help later today to send them:)

MOM NOTE: We found out that Cameron's companion is from a ward in Arkansas and is friends with one of our old friends from Reno, Esther Dick (who also lives in Arkansas now).  She was able to send us his companions first letter to his family so we could get a different perspective.  Sounds like they are doing great! Except he mentioned that Cameron dislocated his ankle playing basketball and it's all purple and black.  Hmmm...Cameron neglected to tell us that in HIS letter.  Must not want us to worry.  So please pray for him that he will recover quickly and that it wont be a burden to him as a missionary. Ugh that kid!!!

He was able to figure out how to send a bunch of happy pictures...Enjoy!


Mom and Dad I got my first day doughnuts!

Elder Holmes got a burrito!  HAHA!!!


Trying to study ;)

My master bedroom.  I'm the cleanest...

My tag and Kaitlyn's tag :)

My awesome district

Elder Bland and I at the temple

Companion study

My closet

Elder Ashcroft and Elder Stephens on day one

First day...Khaki pants

Yep it's official! got my name tag

And this is me from today, happy and smiling!
 It honestly gets better and better everyday!